BORN TO SACRIFICE
While many Christians in the West pray for revival, their brethren in Korea claim to have been living in continuous revival for almost 100 years!
The story is at once tragic and glorious.
Until the 19th century, Korea was an isolated, primitive land, dominated by superstition and fear. In 1866 a Welsh missionary arrived to distribute Bibles but was murdered as soon as he set foot ashore. Amazingly, forty years later, the fire of revival was to burst forth on that very spot.
By the turn of the 20th century Korea was under Japanese occupation and more missionaries had arrived. The political atmosphere was volatile, and the churches lived under a cloud of tension. However, news of the 1904 Welsh revival filtered through, and faithful men and women began to pray fervently that God would pour out a similar Holy Spirit blessing on Korea.
In 1907, at a Bible conference in Pyongyang, a sudden urgency to pray gripped the bulk of those present. They continued in prayer for hours, all praying together at once, and God's presence was felt. One after another, men rose to their feet, confessed their sins and fell to the floor, weeping and crying aloud for mercy. The meeting ended at 2.OOam.
The meetings continued for several days and increased in power. Everyone was under intense conviction of sin. Enemies made their peace with one another. Stolen goods were returned. People confessed and wept over their hatred of the Japanese and Americans. Then came the strong sense of cleansing, of acceptance by God, and of His empowering by the Holy Spirit. People returned to churches all over the land and kindled flames of revival that are still burning today.
More sorrow and suffering was to follow, however. During World War 2, Christians were martyred by the Japanese for refusing to bow to the Emperor's statue. With the war over, only a brief respite was allowed before the northern half of Korea came under a harsh, repressive communist regime. The churches continued the 1907 pattern of fervent prayer, thousands regularly arriving at 5.00am, in all weathers, to cry to God. This in turn, brought a fierce backlash from the Communists. Christians were crucified, preachers had their tongues cut out, and children caught at secret Sunday schools were deafened by having chopsticks rammed in their ears.
The 1950 war between communist North Korea and the United Nations forces brought even greater suffering, but it allowed hundreds of refugee Christians to come south, bringing the revival fires with them. In another of God's amazing pieces of timing, revival broke out in Seoul (capital of South Korea) almost the very day the war ended. That revival blaze is still going strong fifty years later.
Cell groups and intercessory prayer have since been key features of the continuing success of the Korean church.
In 1954 a young Buddhist, dying of tuberculosis, was powerfully converted to Christ. His name is now known worldwide as pastor of the world's largest church: David (formerly Paul) Yonggi Cho. From small beginnings with a second-hand American army tent in Seoul, the Yoido Full Gospel Central Church has grown to a staggering membership of over half a million!
Two features of the revival in Korea, which Spirit-filled pastors in that land consider indispensable, are cell groups and intercessory prayer. Yonggi Cho's church pioneered a vision of home cell groups to draw in and nurture the fruits of revival, which has been taken on board by churches throughout the world. The aim is to bring the life and power of the Holy Spirit to where the people are. Cho's church has tens of thousands of such cells, meeting all over Seoul. Members are encouraged to be bold and compassionate in reaching out to the unsaved.
Cho's mother-in-law pioneered the vision of Prayer Mountain: a piece of rural land bought by the church and devoted to intercessory prayer. Christians can go and shut themselves away in purpose-built prayer cells cut into the hillside, and spend hours, days or weeks seeking God's face and claiming His changing power for people and situations.
The story throughout Korea however, is not one of undiluted triumph. Some faith visions have failed to materialise, and Korean church leaders have seen numbers start to dip. They blame it fairly and squarely on the influence of Westem affluence and materialism, which has blunted the cutting edge of prayer and lessened the urgency of gospel outreach.
Yet, with an estimated one million Christians throughout the land praying together at any daylight hour on any given day, there is strong hope that the Holy Spirit will continue to move in the power that has meant continuous revival for 90 years in Korea.
Source: Colin Whittaker, Great Revivals, Marshalls; Rene Monod, The Korean Revival, Hodder.
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