Anglican Church of Korea

The Anglican Church of Korea
The Official Emblem of the Anglican Church of Korea
Primate	The Most Reverend Paul Geun Sang Kim, Bishop of Seoul, Archbishop of Korea
Headquarters	Seoul
Territory	Korea (North Korea and South Korea)
Members	65,000^[1]
Website	http://www.skh.or.kr/

Anglican Church of Korea
Hangul	대한성공회
Hanja	大韓聖公會
Revised Romanization	Daehan Seonggonghoe
McCune–Reischauer	Taehan Sŏnggonghoe

The Anglican Church of Korea is the province of the Anglican Communion in North and South Korea. Founded in 1889, it has over 120 parish and mission churches^[1] with a total membership of roughly 65,000 people.^[1]

History

Birth of the Anglican Church of Korea

The birth of 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 (Korea). With his colleagues who had been invited to join the mission, he arrived in Incheon Port on 29 September 1890. 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 (Faith and Enlightenment) schools and the hospitals in the vicinities of Incheon, Yeoju and Jincheon as well as the 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 those on Ganghwa Island. In addition, the early missionaries made pioneering contributions to Korean studies.

Early missionary work

Beginning in 1923 mission work was actively 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 former institution of the present Sungkonghoe (Anglican) University, was established in 1923, followed by the Society of the Holy Cross (convent) in 1925. Also, the cathedral Church of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Nicholas in downtown Seoul was initially constructed in 1924 and is now well known for its unique 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 the 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

Anglican Cathedral in Seoul

Despite such an unfavorable situation as illustrated, the first native Korean bishop, Lee Cheon Hwan, 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 Taejon, followed by the separate additional forming of the Diocese of Pusan 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 increasingly 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 formally 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 timely 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 finally has become an independent national church.

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, consisting of three dioceses: Seoul, Busan, and Daejeon. The Bishop of Seoul is also the Archbishop of Korea and Primate of the Church; the current holder of this office is the Most Rev'd Paul Kim.

The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Korea:

Archbishop of Korea and Bishop of Seoul
Bishop of Busan
Bishop of Daejeon

Social Issues

The Anglican Church of Korea appears to be among the more liberal provinces within the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Church of Korea ordains women as priests and has been doing so since 2001.^[2] Regarding issues of human sexuality, clergy, congregations, and members of the Anglican Church of Korea have been affirming and supportive of LGBT rights including by participating in Pride events.^[3]

References

1 2 3 "World Council of Churches - Anglican Church of Korea". Retrieved 2009-12-18.
↑ "Korean Catholic priests become Anglican and marry". ncronline.org. National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
↑ Hazzan, Dave. "Why Korea's Christian churches are leading the anti-gay charge: And how a handful of LGBT-affirming churches are fighting back". dailyxtra.com. Daily Xtra. Retrieved February 22, 2016.

External links

Churches in the Anglican Communion

African provinces	Burundi Central Africa Congo Indian Ocean Jerusalem and the Middle East Kenya Nigeria Rwanda Southern Africa South Sudan and Sudan Tanzania Uganda West Africa

American provinces	Brazil Canada Central America Mexico South America United States of America West Indies

Asian provinces	Bangladesh (United) Hong Kong and Macao Japan Jerusalem and the Middle East Korea Myanmar (Burma) North India (United) Pakistan (United) Philippines South East Asia South India (United)

European provinces	England Ireland Scotland Wales

Oceanian provinces	Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia Australia Melanesia Papua New Guinea

Extra-provincial churches	Bermuda Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Cuba Falkland Islands Portugal Spain

Churches in full communion	Mar Thoma Syrian Church Union of Utrecht Philippine Independent Church

Christianity in Korea

Protestantism	Korea Baptist Convention Anglican Church of Korea Conservative Presbyterian Church in Korea Conservative Reformed Presbyterian Church in Korea Korean Christian Fundamentalist Assembly Korean Methodist Church Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea National Council of Churches in Korea Pure Presbyterian Church in Korea United Presbyterian Church in Korea Union Presbyterian Church in Korea World Mission Society Church of God Women Pastors Presbyterian Church in Korea Korea Campus Crusade for Christ Independent Reformed Church in Korea Independent Reformed Presbyterian Church in Korea Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Korea Presbyterian Church of Korea branches: TongHap HoHun Fundamentalist GaeHyuk I. Jesus KoShin KoRyuPa HapDong JungAng Daeshin HapDongChongShin HapDongChunTong HapDongBokUm ChanYang BoSuHapDong BokUm YeJong JeongRip Logos HwanWon DokNoHoe JapDongJungAng YeJangHapBo DaeShin II BupTong NamBuk JeongTongChogHap HapDongBoSu SungHapChuk BoSuTongHap JeongTongChongHap HapDongChungYun HapDongJeongShin HanGukBoSu HapDongEunChong DongShin HapDongJinRi HapDongYunHap YunShin JangShin SunGyo HapDongYeChong ChanYang Ko-Ryu-Anti-Accusation HapDongChongShin I. HapDongChongShin II. HapDongSeungHoe JungRip PyungAhn HapDongChongHoe JeongTongGyeSeung HapDongTongHap HapDongBoSu I. HapDongBoSu II. DaeShin II. HapDongHwanWon HapDongBoSu IV. HapDongBoSu III. HapDongBoSu II. ChongHoe II. BoSuHapDong III. TongHapBoSu DaeHanShinChuk HapDongYeChong I HapDongSeongHoe GaeHyukHapDong I GaeHyukHapDong II HapDongGaeHyuk HapDongJangShin HoHun III ChongHoe II ChongHoe I HyukShin GaeHyukHapDong III DokNoHoe II BoSuJeongTong HapDongYeSun JaeGun Presbyterian Church in Korea (GaeHyuk) In North Korea Korean Christian Federation (state-controlled body) Bongsu Church (state-controlled body) Chilgol Church (state-controlled body)

Roman Catholic Church	Roman Catholicism in South Korea • Roman Catholicism in North Korea

Eastern Orthodox Church	Korean Orthodox Church • Church of the Life-Giving Trinity

Missionaries	Gregorious de Cespedes Horace Newton Allen Henry Appenzeller James Scarth Gale Jonathan Goforth Rosetta Sherwood Hall George Heber Jones Bill Majors Nagasaka John Livingstone Nevius William Noble Donald Owens William D. Reynolds Robert Jermain Thomas Horace Grant Underwood Tom Vasel

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