The Korean Protestant Church was born under the influence of the American evangelical movement of the nineteenth century. Most of the first Protestant missionaries to arrive in Korea had been impacted either by D. L. Moody’s revival movement or the Wesleyan Holiness movement of the nineteenth century. This influence was most directly apparent in the Great Korean Revival of 1907. W. N. Blair, a Presbyterian missionary, called this event “The Korean Pentecost.” The implication was that the Korean Protestant Church had now become a true church.
In this respect, Korean Church historian Min Kyoung-bae describes the 1907 revival as “The event that created the prototype of faith for the Korean Church.” One of the first to model this kind of faith was the Reverend Gil Seon-ju (1869–1935). Reverend Gil was the leading figure of the Great Revival of 1907, and through his exposition on the end times, he gave hope to many Koreans during the early years of Japanese colonization. In addition, he fought liberalism and worked to safeguard conservative Christianity.
Following Reverend Gil, the leading figure of the revival movements that took place between 1930 and 1960 was the Reverend Lee Seong-bong. Reverend Lee was a Holiness pastor, but he did not limit his activities to the Holiness Church. Having started his life as a Christian in the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church, he joined the Holiness Church upon entering the Holiness-affiliated Gyeongseong Bible School [currently Seoul Theological University]. He was the representative revival preacher for the Holiness Church, but his ministry was pan-denominational. Following Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule, Reverend Lee became the representative revivalist for the whole Korean Protestant church.
Reverend Lee Seong-bong’s core message focused on the four gospel principles emphasized by the Holiness Church: rebirth, holiness, healing, and the Second Coming. But this message was not exclusive to the Holiness Church; it was the common emphasis throughout the Korean revival movement. Rebirth is foundational to all evangelical faith, and holiness is the goal of any sincere effort to become a whole Christian. In fact, the Holiness Movement provided the background for the Great Korean Revival of 1907. Healing is a central theme in popular Christianity, and it was especially emphasized by the Reverend Kim Ik-du. Also, under the difficult circumstances of Japanese rule, ‘end times theology’ became a subject of much interest to the Korean people. A central figure representing this type of eschatological faith was the Reverend Gil Seon-ju. In other words, although the four gospel principles central to Reverend Lee Seong-bong’s message were the focal points of Holiness Church doctrine, at the same time, they were also the points emphasized by other Christian leaders of the day, as well as by Korean evangelicalism throughout the following decades.
The Korean church continues to be influenced by evangelicalism, a movement that evokes a revivalist Christianity. Reverend Lee Seong-bong was an advocate of this current in the Korean church, and he expressed well the populist Christianity that has been central to evangelicalism. It was through the medium of grassroots revival movements that the Christian gospel was transmitted to the common classes, and, in this respect, Reverend Lee’s contribution was pivotal. Without such revival movements, Christianity would not have taken such deep root in the hearts of the Korean masses.
