Abstract
The Korean American church has recently developed social concerns toward the outer world beyond the in-church boundary. However, the Korean American church’s socio-political prophetic participation in the outer world (e.g., the anti-war campaign, HIV/AIDS protection movement, and the anti-immigration law protest) is visibly weak. Nevertheless, compared to its socio-political activism, the evangelical mission work toward both co-ethnic groups and other ethnic groups has been strong ever since the Korean American church’s conception in America. It is no wonder then that the Diasporic Mission code has been one of the most fundamental ingredients of Korean American faith. The chapter introduces three style variations of the code: the Ironic Reverse style, the Internal Otherness style, and the Identification Partnership style.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19–20)
In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3)
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Notes
- 1.
Rob Moll, “Missions Incredible,” Christianity Today, February 24, 2006. As of January 2014, based on KWMA’s data (The Korea World Missions Association), Christian Daily reports that the Korean Church has now sent out 25,745 missionaries worldwide. Christianity Daily, “Korean Missionaries STILL On the Rise!,” http://www.christianitydaily.com/articles/76898/20140112.htm (accessed April 23, 2014).
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
According to the same Christian Daily report above, each year the Korean Church is now adding on average more than 1000 new missionaries.
- 4.
Here I use the term “modern west,” since these days it is commonly accepted as a historical fact that by around the seventh century, Nestorian Christians had already arrived in China. Also it is credibly argued that Nestorians flourished not only in China but maybe also in Korea as a minor religious sect. In Soo Kim, History of Christianity in Korea (Seoul: Qumran Publishing House, 2011), 16–25.
- 5.
Specifically, for Koreans “fundamentalist” and “evangelical” mean, among many things, the inerrancy and the verbal inspiration of the Bible, the significance of individual conversion experiences, the active role of the Holy Spirit in faith, exclusive commitment to Christ as the only savior of the world, and so on. J. Lee, Korean Preaching, 59–74.
- 6.
Sung-Deuk Oak, Making of Korean Christianity Protestant Encounters with Korean Religions, 1876–1915 (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2013), 89. For a detailed discussion on western premillennialism’s impact on Korean premillennialism, see Chong Bum Kim, “Preaching the Apocalypse in Colonial Korea: The Protestant Millennialism of Kil Son-Ju,” in Christianity in Korea, eds. Robert E. Buswell and Timothy S. Lee (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006), 149–166.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
Kim, History of Christianity, 180–185.
- 9.
By 1909, there were 45,000 Bible study meetings or Bible schools, the number of which grew to 112,000 by 1934. Harry A. Rhodes, History of the Korean Mission: Presbyterian Church, USA, 1884–1934 (Seoul: YMCA Press, 1934), 564. Also see Donald Baker, “Sibling Rivalry in Twentieth-Century Korea: Comparative Growth Rates of Catholic and Protestant Communities,” and Byong-suh Kim, “Modernization and the Explosive Growth and Decline of Korean Protestant Religiosity,” in Christianity in Korea, 283–308 and 309–329.
- 10.
In 1952, the Korean Church launched the Ten Million Evangelism Movement, which would harvest a great success in coming decades. Kim, History of Christianity, 535–537. Also see Douh K. Oh, “History of the Korean Diaspora Movement,” in Korean Diaspora, 181–196.
- 11.
Ibid., 152.
- 12.
Julie C. Ma, “A Critical Appraisal of Korean Missionary Work,” in Korean Diaspora, 135.
- 13.
Jae-yong Chu, “A Historical Critique of the Revival Movement in the Korean Church,” in Christian Thought [in Korean], XXIII-6 (September 1978): 70–71.
- 14.
Wonsuk Ma, “Korea,” in Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, ed. Stanley M. Burgess (New York: Routledge, 2006), 275–276.
- 15.
For example, two neighboring ethnic group churches (Chinese and Japanese Americans, respectively) have also played a significant role in world mission alongside the Korean church. The Chinese American church’s zeal for mission is aptly summarized in this typical mission statement from a local church located in San Diego: “Here at CEC [Chinese Evangelical Church], we believe that all churches should be missions minded. In the Great Commission, our Lord has commanded us to ‘go and make disciples of all nations.’ Following that command, CEC has always maintained focus on sending, equipping, and supporting missionaries throughout the world and in our own communities.” Japanese Evangelical Mission Society, an influential Japanese American mission organization among Asian American Christians, expresses its enthusiasm and commitment as well for the world mission in its self-description on the official web page: “[We exist in order] to Expand Ministries That Span the Globe. Since 1950, JEMS has been blessed by God to expand and it includes many different ministries that span the globe today. By the nature of its multi-faceted ministry and outreach into the world, which is becoming increasingly multi- and inter-racial, JEMS has expanded beyond just the Japanese and Japanese Americans. JEMS ministries now includes other Asian Americans.” http://www.cec-sd.org/ENG/ministriesMissions.aspx and http://www.jems.org/about/ (both accessed July 18, 2015).
- 16.
Mission to North America: Presbyterian Church in America, “Vision,” http://pcamna.org/korean/index.php (accessed April 24, 2014).
- 17.
Steve Sang-cheol Moon, “The Korean Diaspora Models of a Missional Church,” in Korean Diaspora, 84–100.
- 18.
Timothy K. Park, ed., Mission History of Korean Churches (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2011), 164; Peter Chang, “International Evangelical Student Mission Movement: UBF Case Study,” in Korean Diaspora, 223–241. See especially 230–231 for an example of the Korean American church’s mission work toward North Americans.
- 19.
In the case of Grace Korean Church located in Fullerton, California, it is known that the 6000-member church spends 50–60 % of its gross income on various types of foreign missions. Wonsuk Ma, “Grace Korean Church, Fullerton, California: mission from the margins,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 36, no. 2 (2012): 65–71.
- 20.
Ibid.; Baeq et al., “Mission from Migrant Church”; B. Kim, “New Missional Avenues”; Sharon Kim and Rebecca Y. Kim, “Revival and Renewal: Korean American Protestants beyond Immigrant Enclaves,” Studies in World Christianity 18, no. 3 (2012): 291–312.
- 21.
Tan, Asian American Theologies, 143–161. Especially for the influential Chinese counterpart, see Timothy Tseng, “Second-Generation Chinese Evangelical Use of the Bible in Identity Discourse in North America,” Semeia 90/91 (2002): 251–267; Fenggang Yang, Chinese Christians in America: Conversion, Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 9, 94; and Paul Hattaway et al., Back to Jerusalem: Three Chinese House Church Leaders Share Their Vision to Complete the Great Commission (Carlisle; Waynesboro, GA: Piquant; Gabriel Resources, 2003). Hattaway et al. discuss the indigenous and creative Chinese evangelicalism that has impacted the worldwide evangelical movement.
- 22.
See Rebecca Y. Kim, The Spirit Moves West: Korean Missionaries in America (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2015), esp., Chaps. 2 and 3.
- 23.
A good example of this case is shown in Chang, “Student Mission Movement,” in Korean Diaspora, 227–231.
- 24.
Kim and Kim, “Revival and Renewal,” 303.
- 25.
With the title, “One Person,” Rev. Lee preached this sermon on November 9, 2013, on the special occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the church’s founding. The sermon as a whole asks who the church is as the people called from God to America and what the chosen people of God are to do with all the blessings from God. http://www.saehan.org/sub02_02/15614 (accessed April 24, 2014, my translation).
- 26.
Hey Jin Kang, “한국 선교사 수, 지난해 1,003 증가해 총 25,745명,” http://www.christianitydaily.com/articles/76898/20140112/한국-선교사-수-지난해-1-003명-증가해-총-25-745명.htm; Christianity Daily, “Korean Missionaries.”
- 27.
S. Park, “The Intersection of Religion,” 196–197.
- 28.
Antony William Alumkal, Asian American Evangelical Churches Race, Ethnicity, and Assimilation in the Second Generation (New York: LFB Scholarly Pub. LLC, 2003), 100–103.
- 29.
Kim and Kim, “Revival and Renewal,” 291.
- 30.
Hertig, “The Korean Immigrant Church,” 140.
- 31.
Baeq et al., “Mission from Migrant Church.”
- 32.
For instance, about 75 % of the whole Korean American population attends church these days. Kwang Chung Kim and Shin Kim find the number to be even a little higher at 78 %. Kwang Chung Kim and Shin Kim, “The Ethnic Roles of Korean Immigrant Churches in the United States,” Korean Americans, 82.
- 33.
Rev. Lee, “One Person.”
- 34.
E. Kim, The Presence of God, 158.
- 35.
Enoch Wan, “Korean Diaspora: From Hermit Kingdom to Kingdom Ministry,” in Korean Diaspora, 101–116. His article is not necessarily limited to the Korean American context, yet includes all Korean diaspora Christians around the world.
- 36.
Ibid., 108.
- 37.
Ibid., 115.
- 38.
I preached this sermon for the morning service at Nashville Korean Presbyterian Church on May 27, 2013. Unpublished. Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz proposes the concept of “Kin-dom” of God in place of the “Kingdom” concept in order to emphasize the mutual relationships in the Kingdom of God, instead of patriarchal-hierarchical relationships often associated with the kingdom image. The Asian missional preacher’s egalitarian vision of communitas among all ethnic groups is indeed close to the concept of Kin-dom in many aspects. For a further discussion on the concept of Kin-dom, see Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, “Kin-dom of God: A Mujerista Proposal,” in Our Own Voices – Latino/a Renditions of Theology, ed. Benjamin Valentin (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010), 171–190.
- 39.
McClure, The Four Codes, 154–155. “The conversionist is positive [about culture] because where homiletical meaning encounters culture, culture can become a transformed expression of God’s goodness.” Ibid., 154.
- 40.
For Robinson, Christians on their faith journey are first “called out” from “the familiarity of home and culture” for a “new orientation” of identity, and then “sent out” as “an invitation to participate in the Missio Dei.” Martin Robinson, “Pilgrimage and Mission,” in Explorations, 177.
- 41.
Ibid.
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Yang, S. (2016). The Diasporic Mission Code. In: Evangelical Pilgrims from the East. Asian Christianity in the Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41564-2_3
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