Presbyterian Church of Korea

[1] Some biblical historians consider the Sorae Church, which was established in the early 1880s by Seo Sang-ryun, as the origin of Korean Presbyterianism.

[2] Calvinism first arrived in Korea in 1865 when pastor Robert Jermain Thomas was captured and martyred during the General Sherman incident.

[3] The first Korean Presbyterian church was founded by Seo Sang-ryun, who was converted into Christianity by Scottish pastor John McIntyre in Manchuria,[4] in Hwanghae Province in 1884.

[5] Full-scale missions took place 20 years later when Horace Newton Allen of the Northern Presbyterian Church was admitted into the royal court of Joseon as a physician.

[8] McKenzie died after a year and a half while working in evangelism and medical care in Sorae Church, Hwanghae Province.

Sŏ Kyŏng-cho [ko] (Hwanghae), Kim Chong-sŏp, and I Yŏng-ŭn (both South Pyongan) were elected as elders in 1900.

On September 20 of the same year, three Korean presbyters and six ministers organized the Council of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Chosun)[spelling?]

The five local councils were re-organized into the seven sub-presbyteries (Korean: 대리회; Hanja: 代理會)[11] of Pyongbuk, Pyongnam, Hwanghae, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Hamgyong, and Gyeongsang.

[14] Nevertheless, many Korean Presbyterians were suspected of being political agents by the colonial government and were arrested, often without proper explanation or trial.

In one incident, a group of Presbyterians was accused of plotting an assassination of then-Governor-General of Korea Terauchi Masatake in Sonchon.

[16] Tensions between Christians and the colonial government led many Korean Presbyterians, such as Kil Sŏn-chu, to become closely involved in the March First Movement of 1919.

[16] In September, a complaint documenting the requests of the church to the colonial government, which included an end to the ban on Bible study courses, was drafted among six missionary councils.

[citation needed] In the 1950s, the Presbyterian Church of Korea suffered from a series of schisms over issues of theology, ecumenism, and worship.

While many acquiesced to this, there were Christians at Pyongyang Theological Seminary who adamantly opposed it, holding that the Bible prohibited such actions.

In the 1970s, the KiJang Presbyterians would produce some of the key leaders of minjung theology who advocated for social justice issues under the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee.