| True Jesus Church in Korea | |
|---|---|
True Jesus Church in Korea |
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| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 한국참예수교회역사 |
| Hanja | 韓國참예수教會歷史 |
| Revised Romanization | Hanguk Cham-yesu Gyohoe Yeoksa |
| McCune–Reischauer | Han'guk Ch'am-yesu Kyohoe Yŏksa |
The True Jesus Church is a nontrinitarian Christian denomination begun in China, growing out of the Pentecostal movement. Since its foundation it has spread to other countries including Korea.
On 30 July 1941, a Korean national named Bae Sang-Ryong [1] who was living in Nagasaki, Japan wished to know more about the teachings regarding the Holy Spirit so he visited the True Jesus Church in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka and asked to see Elder James Uwai [2].
After Elder Uwai described the teachings and beliefs of the church, Mr. Bae Sang-Ryong accepted the laying on of hands from the Elder and began speaking in tongues. So on the 31 July, Mr. Ryong accepted water baptism and became the first Korean True Jesus Church believer.
In April 1943, another Korean that resided in Japan named Jung Tai-Joon [3] also visited the church and after a period of examining their teachings, he received baptism from Elder Uwai.
With World War II in the Pacific, and Japan gradually losing, Brother Bae and his family returned to Korea on January 1945 and lived in Gimcheon. In May 1945, Brother Jung also left Japan and lived in Busan.
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As Brother Bae Sang-Ryong moved to Gimcheon with his family on January 1945, he preached to a Korean who lived in Osaka, Park Chang-Hwan [4].
After accepting the gospel, Brother Chang-Hwan Park voluntarily offered himself to serving the Lord and started the missionary work in June 1947. Brother Park Chang-Hwan then spread the gospel to a Korean Presbyterian church members Hong Jong-Bae [5], Park Pi-San [6] and 30 others who later became church members and started holding services and held the first evangelical service in October that same year.
During that period, the Korean brethren proposed forming a centralised church governing structure to keep the order so Brothers Bae Sang-Ryong and Park Chang-Hwan were chosen as Elders; Brothers Park Pil-seon [7] and Chun Mei-Sun [8] were appointed as deacons.
In 1948, a Seventh-day Adventist Church theological student studying named Mr. Wu In-jjeo [9] came to deacon Park Pil-seon with the intention of distributing some of his church's magazine publications. But after hearing deacon Park's testimony, he joined the church in October. The first True Jesus Church in Korea was then formally established with Elder Bae Sang-Ryong elected as committee member.
In August 1948 the Gimcheon church received a message which read, "In Yongmunsan there are people willing to receive the gospel, please hurry!".
So the church sent the two deacons Park Pil-seon and Hong Jong-Bae to the area and a result of their preaching, a former Presbyterian church pastor Yi Seok-Joo [10] and another presbyterian believer Ryu Mun-Ryeol [11] from Gangwon-do.
In February 1949 during the second evangelical service, the second Korean church was established with Brother Heo Byeong-am [12] appointed as a committee member.
During and after the evangelical sessions held by Elder Heo Byeong-am in February 1949, Jang Dal-Sun [13] , a female Presbyterian pastor from Seodo and fellow church members were invited to attend. After holding family bible sessions many believed and several prayer houses were established so by May that year, the third True Jesus Church in Korea was established with Brother Jang Dal-Sun chosen as committee member.
In April 1950 the first major Church Delegation Conference was held.
During the outbreak of the Korean War, a portion of the believers went into safe hiding while others like Elder Park Chang-Hwan, Jung Tai-Joon, Wu In-jjeo and Brother Li [14] fled across the Rakdong Kang, with their entire families and relatives and hid in Cheongdo and Mae-Jeon.[15] After the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953, they returned to their homes in Gimcheon.
There are currently (2004) 23 churches, 8 prayer houses and 3727 believers in the following South Korean Provinces and cities [16]:
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