Anglican Church of Korea


The Anglican Church of Korea is the province of the Anglican Communion in North Korea and South Korea. Founded in 1889, it has over 120 parish and mission churches with a total membership of roughly 65,000 people in South Korea. In 2017, Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion: 1980 to the Present, published by Routledge, collected research reporting there were 80,100 Anglicans in South Korea.

History

Birth of the Anglican Church of Korea

The Anglican Church of Korea can be traced back to November 1, 1889, when Bishop Charles John Corfe was ordained at Westminster Abbey and inaugurated as the first diocesan bishop of Joseon. With his colleagues who had been invited to join the mission, he arrived in Incheon Port on 29 September 1890. which is the first Anglican Church in Korea was established by him and Eli Barr Landis on September 30, 1891 at Nae-dong, Jung-gu, Incheon. He initiated his work in the Seoul area, including Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces. He first opened a number of educational institutions, medical facilities and social work centers across the country, such as the Sinmyeong schools and the hospitals in the vicinities of Incheon, Yeoju and Jincheon as well as orphanages in Suwon and Anjung. The Anglican missionaries also sought possible ways for the church to be integrated into Korean culture. As a result of that effort, there are several Anglican Church buildings which were constructed in the traditional Korean architecture and which survive today such as Ganghwa Anglican Church. In addition, the early missionaries made pioneering contributions to Korean studies.

Early missionary work

Beginning in 1923 mission work was carried out in the northern part of the peninsula such as Pyongan and Hwanghae Provinces. To train the local clergy St. Michael's Theological Institute, the forerunner of the present Sungkonghoe University, was established in 1923, followed by the Society of the Holy Cross in 1925. Also, the Cathedral Church of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Nicholas in downtown Seoul was constructed in 1924 and is known for its Romanesque architecture as it is the only one in this fashion in the orient, together with its mosaic murals.

Japanese colonial rule

Due to considerable difficulties with the language barrier, personal health problems, and other incidents, the mission work had little success throughout the later years, especially during the 36-year period of Japanese colonial rule. This colonial rule caused significant obstacles to Church development in Korea, primarily because those missionaries appeared to have an indifferent attitude to the Korean independence movement at that time.

First native bishop

Despite such an unfavorable situation as illustrated, the first native Korean bishop, Cheon-hwan Lee, was ordained in 1965 after 20 years had lapsed since liberation from Japanese rule. Thus the original Korean mission diocese was formed into the two dioceses of Seoul and Daejeon, followed by the separate additional forming of the Diocese of Busan in 1974. In 1974, he received an honorary CBE from Queen Elizabeth II. He died on 26 March 2010.

Recent expansion

Since the 1970s the Anglican Church has expanded through opening a number of new churches across country. St Peter's School was founded in 1975 to provide special needs children with effective special education as needed. St. Michael's Theological Seminary was also upgraded to be accredited by the government in 1982 and 10 years later it was again upgraded and expanded as a university to satisfies the peoples' great needs in the coming new era.
The three dioceses continued steady growth in numbers of churches and social evangelization under the auspices of the second and third generations of Korean bishops. The Church has thus been active in constructing new church buildings, along with its continued efforts in opening the new additional churches since the mid-1980s. In this context the Board of Mission and Education has played a role in offering education and training programs.
On occasion of its centennial anniversary on September 29, 1990, the Anglican Church of Korea reaffirmed its intent under the theme. "Jesus Christ, Life of the Nation", to continue proclaiming the message of life to the people and expediting the peaceful reunification of Korea as desired.
The Provincial Constitution of the Anglican Church of Korea was declared on September 29, 1992, and the first Korean primate was inaugurated on April 16, 1993. Thus, the Church has become an independent national church.

Theology

The Anglican Church of Korea has clergy and members reflecting diverse views. The church ordains women as priests and has been doing so since 2001. Regarding issues of human sexuality, some clergy, congregations, and members of the denomination have been affirming and supportive of LGBT rights including by participating in Pride events. The Anglican Church in Korea is considered to be more open toward homosexuality and is discussing the matter. One cleric, representing the Anglican Church in a Korean Christian dialogue, presented a "let's see" approach regarding homosexuality.

Structure and leadership

The church was previously under the authority of the archbishop of Canterbury. To mark independence in 1993, the archbishop of Canterbury handed his authority as metropolitan and primate to the first archbishop of Korea. The church now forms a single metropolitical Province of Korea, consisting of three dioceses: Seoul, Busan, and Daejeon. The primacy rotates between the three; thus the current bishop of Seoul is also the Archbishop of Korea and Primate of the Church.

Archbishops of Korea

The current Diocese of Seoul was founded as the Joseon diocese, covering all the Korean peninsula, in 1889. It was split in 1965, to create Taejon diocese, at which point it became Seoul diocese. The current bishop is Elijah Kim JangHwan, an evangelical in a traditionally Anglo-Catholic diocese.

Bishops in Korea

The Bishop in Korea was an Anglican missionary appointment from 1889 to 1965 when the diocese was divided.
TenureIncumbentNotes
1889 to 1905Charles Corfe
1905 to 1910Arthur Turner
1911 to 1930Mark Trollope
1931 to 1954Cecil Cooper
1955 to 1965John Daly Became first bishop of Daejeon

Bishops of Seoul

The Diocesan Synod of Seoul designated North Korea as a missionary diocese in 2010, but it is not registered in the Anglican Communion. The Bishop of Seoul is the ex officio Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of North Korea.

Diocese of Daejeon

The Diocese of Daejeon is the Anglican Church in that part of South Korea that includes Daejeon and Sejong Cities, North [Chungcheong Province|North] and South Chungcheong Provinces, North and South Jeolla Provinces and the southern part of Gangwon Province. It was erected from the Joseon diocese in 1965 and split in 1974 to erect Busan diocese.

Bishops of Daejeon

Busan diocese was erected from the Diocese of Daejeon in 1974.

Bishops of Busan

  • 1974–1987: William Choi Chul-hee
  • 1987–1997: Benedict Kim Jae-heon
  • 1994–2000: Joseph Lee Dae-yong
  • 2000–2011: Solomon Yun Jong-mo
  • 2012–: Onesimus Park Dong-shin

    Archives

Archive materials of the Anglican Church's Korean Mission are held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. These include records from 1889 to 1987.