Aside the American
involvement in Korean War, a few people in the world knew about South
Korea. Even the industrial revolution of
70s and 80s failed to introduce "South" Korea to the rest of the world because
almost all exported merchandise was marked "Made in Korea", implying
that there was only one Korea, the communist Korea. Probably the dictatorial governments in both
the nations for a long period of time made it difficult to separate one from
the other. A prominent Korean
missiologist, Dr. Jun Ho Jin, often used to joke with us in our seminary days
about the place of South Korea in the world.
In the early 1990s, he was invited to minister in Eastern Europe; his
host came to receive him with a Hyundai car.
Excited to see a brand from his country, Dr. Jun excitedly complimented "You
have a nice car!" With great
pleasure and excitement, the host replied, "Yes, Sir, the North Korean
cars are great! Do you know they have a
car building company called Hyundai?"
My own revelation of South Korea
came only after the 88 Seoul Olympics.
Until then, I had the similar assumption that all the merchandise marked
"Made in Korea" came from North because South was just a breakaway
part waiting to be united with the rest.
Same thing can be said about the
church in Korea; especially the presence of numerous mega-churches in South
Korea clouds our vision of reality in such a way that we think anything from
Korea is super spiritual because people like David Younggi Cho are born there--because
a one time poor nation became an industrial miracle in a short span of 20
years. Surely God was blessing the
Korean people with material blessings in response to their spiritual hunger and
the price they paid for believing in Jesus Christ. The breakneck speed of industrial development
under the strong dictatorial rule of President Park Chung Hee was so
spiritualized that it was considered to be God's reward for the Christians' spiritual
excellence and prayer. The Tertullian proverb
"the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" was almost replaced
in Korean psyche as "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of economic
progress". During that economic
boom, millions of Koreans joined the church and in no time Korea became the
second largest missionary sending nation in the world.
Unfortunately after the Asian
economic crisis the growth of the church went in the reverse gear; the
protestant church has since experienced a steady decline and if the trend does
not change, in 20 to 30 years, these mega-churches might look like the senior
citizen's asylums. In the mission
fronts; Korea still has about 20 thousand missionaries around the world, but
compared to their numbers, the positive impact is yet to be felt in many of
these nations where they work. Rather a disturbing
fact concerning the relational difficulties with the native Christians continues
to follow the Korean missionaries; particularly in the developing nations. Interestingly, the Catholics on the other
hand are doing very well; they have experienced steady growth after the
economic crisis and the non-Christian Korean population is rather willing to
give them the benefit of doubt. Missionary
like Father Lee Tae Seok who gave his heart for Sudan is revered by the
Catholics and non-Catholic Koreans alike.
The decline of Protestant church
at home and the relatively spineless impact of Korean missionaries abroad signal
to a symptomatic problem within the protestant communities. And the crux of the matter might have to be
with the Tertullian proverb. "The blood
of the martyrs" is surely the seed of the church; it cannot be the seed of
economic development. But in my
estimation, the protestant church in Korea, subconsciously, has made a fatal
mistake by believing that the economic progress was somehow God's reward for
their spirituality. The Christian
martyrs who gave their lives in this nation stood to lift up the Cross of
Christ and taught their fellow believers to carry the cross daily. However, though the Korean landscape today is
filled with the high-rise church steeples and crosses, if a martyr from the 19th
or 20th century had to visit, he/she would be terribly disappointed
to see them far removed from the everyday life of Korean Christians; in fact
the currency has replaced the cross.
Churches have become like gigantic corporations and companies who only
care about the number of people and amount of money collected on Sundays. Fulfilling the founding/Senior Pastor's dream
of becoming a mega-pastor by either expanding his mission work/television network/books
or a building project becomes the primary objective of the local church's
existence. In a church like this, so
many innocent Christians are used, abused and abandoned after their usefulness
is exhausted and no wonder the church is declining; survival of these
mega-churches is now depending on the death of the smaller churches. There is a marketing strategy of self-help
gospel preached from these mega-pulpits as bait by demonstrating how the senior
pastor has succeeded by applying those principles. The lure of the currency of comfort more than
the cross of Christ attracts these members from the smaller churches. Every month, hundreds of smaller churches are
shutting their door for Sunday worship because the bigger church in the city functions
like a modern mall.
I am afraid that the Cross of
Christ has ceased to be the moral and the spiritual compass for the Korean
Christianity; the cross has been safely kept on top of the church building so
that Christians don't have to carry it daily. In the mission field; thousands
of missionaries fly out of Korea every year with great ambitions but very few
last in the mission field more than three years. Those who remain in the mission field find
their heart become increasingly negative towards the very people they thought
were gong to offer their lives for. The hierarchical
and class mentality becomes their biggest obstacle in respecting the local people
who are poorer and lower compared to the missionaries; Korean tradition,
culture and language tell that you cannot respect a person who appears to be
lower than you. To make the matter more
complicated, Korea's economic development becomes the starting point in sharing
the gospel; and this raises the false hope in the hearts of the impoverished
seekers. Eventually through various
ways, the local people hope in the missionary to meet their material needs rather
than trusting God for their salvation from sin.
But for the number and success oriented missionary, it does not matter
how the local people understand the gospel so long as they come and he has some
good report to send back to his donors. Thus,
the protestant church in Korea and its missionaries are still trying to
convince the world that the "blood of the martyrs is the seed of economic
development".
Nevertheless, the blood of the
martyrs will not go in vain. Even though
the cross of Christ is now relegated to the roof tops, it will stand tall and
continue to pierce the Korean hearts so that they will experience the true life
in Christ; so that the church won't have to stop growing when some economic
crises comes upon. Every time I drive
through the countryside and come across an empty village church with its cross
on top, my heart simply breaks in knowing that at one time there were men and
women, boys and girls, who made that ground holy by their steadfast faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, by their willingness to carry their cross even to the
point of being martyred for their faith.
There is so much holy blood of the saints spilled in this land and God
will not allow the god of materialism silence that seed which Tertullian talked
about. I believe a new generation of
Korean saints carrying the cross of Christ will rise up to dislodge the
currency driven mega-churches and pastors.
I believe a new generations of Father Lee Tae Seok will rise up to
re-define the Korean missions instead of allowing the donation hunting
missionaries destroy Korea's image of a nation where so much holy blood had
been spilled for the cross of Christ. May
be the Cross of Christ is left on the roof top for the time being, but even
there, it will stand tall and God will draw his people to himself!
No comments:
Post a Comment