THE KUKMIN DAILY

Overseas missionaries came to Korea with the vocation to deliver the Gospel. Their passion for the Gospel was strong, but everything here was unfamiliar to them. They meticulously recorded what they saw and experienced. In this way, missionary periodicals such as “Korean Mission Field” were born.

American Missionary Gam Bu-yeol (Archibald Campbell), who served from 1916 to 1960, also left a record of his experiences: “Jesus Walks the Korean Path” (English title: The Christ of the Korean Heart, photo), published by Abba Book House. It is his mission report, and at the same time is like his diary. He worked in Ganggye, North Pyeongan-do, until he was expelled by the Japanese Empire for refusing to worship at the Shinto shrine. After National Liberation, however, he returned and served Keimyung Christian College (later, Keimyung University), becoming its first chancellor in 1954.

Throughout the book one scents the essence of seniors in the faith who lived here some 100 years ago. “As they walk the rough streets on tired feet, as they patiently work in the rice paddies in water up to their knees, as they beat their clothes with laundry sticks on the riverbank, as they gather in the cold, dark church each dawn to pray, as they gather at church with shining faces, wearing pure white clothes, every Sunday to praise God from whom all blessings flow, Jesus is alive in their hearts.” (page 11)

Campbell’s thoughts about Rev. Ju Gi-cheol, who was imprisoned for refusing to worship at the Shinto shrine, also catches our eyes. “For what would they have prayed? Would they have prayed so that Rev. Ju Gi-cheol would be released from prison? No. They knew that his release would mean his collaboration and surrender to the sun goddess. So they prayed that Rev. Ju would not come out of prison. And their prayers were answered.” (page 88)

Chapter 8 introduces the story of Rev. Earle Woodberry, who was expelled from China during his mission work and later communicated the Gospel in a prison camp in Goeje, Korea. There Missionary Woodberry preached and operated Bible study groups. As a result, 13,500 of the 14,000 Communist Chinese prisoners who decided to abandon Communism and who chose Taiwan as their new home, accepted the Christian faith. The book, showing Korea through the eyes of foreign missionary Campbell, is like the unfolding of a package of stories about those times.

Reporter Jang Chang-Il (jangci@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)

Original Article in Korean:
외국인 선교사 눈에 비친 한국의 모습: 한국의 길을 걷고 있는 예수/감부열 지음/민경진 옮김/아바서원