Korea was a nation along the Silk Route. Many Koreans went to live and work in China, where goods came from the West along the trade routes. (“Silla Korea and the Silk Road,” The Korea Society, p. 36) China influenced Korea in many ways, including with the spread of the Gospel.
Christianity first entered Asia through the Apostle Thomas, who visited China. The faith grew there and was sent forward.
Christian missionaries reached Asia through the Silk Route as linguistic and archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates, through the outreach of the Church of the East. Their monks spread the Gospel and built Christian communities across the continent. (Michael J.L. La Civita, “The Assyrian Church of the East,” Assyrian International News Agency, 2009)
In 2009, an engraved cross over the grave of believers was discovered in the Longmen Grottoes in Henan Province, China. It is a verified marker of the faithful from the Church of the East; it is proof that Christian community existed in China approximately 1,200 years ago. (UCA NEWS)
The Korean Christian Museum of Soongsil University has on permanent display a cross identified as one belonging to the Church of the East. It was located in Korea and now serves as a concrete reminder that the knowledge of Jesus came to the Korean peninsula through the Silk Road.
The location of the found artifact is also important. Christianity existed in the capital of Gyeongju, Korea, where the cross from the Church of the East was found within a temple.
God has left tangible archaeological evidence of the history of Christian communities throughout Asia, specifically along the Silk Road. (UNESCO)
In ancient times, Korea was divided into three kingdoms. Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC) of Korea. It was this port city where the Silk Road entered and trade commenced. Arabs, Chinese and Japanese all came to this center by land and sea routes.
God used trade cities where languages and peoples met to spread the Gospel further.
The Chinese and the Japanese both were influenced by the Church of the East—Korea was their trading partner.
The Church of the East was the first wave of influence in Korea for Jesus, most likely carried home by Koreans themselves.
Matteo Ricci was a Jesuit missionary to China. Around 1603, he gave copies of his own work in Chinese to visiting Korean emissaries. One writing was titled, “The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven.” Spiritual seeds were taken home and planted. (Kevin N. Cawley, "Matteo Ricci and Korea - Korea and Matteo Ricci" published in 'Glimpses of Korea',’ 2013.)
Korea outlawed Christianity in 1787.
Korea’s believers grew in number. 8,000 to 10,000 Christians were martyred in their native land between 1791 and 1866.
God took a small written work in a foreign language and used it to begin a movement for Himself. In a similar manner, God sent the Apostle Paul to Rome’s Mars Hill, where using apologetics, Paul explained that the altar “To an Unknown God” represented, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands…” (Acts 17:22-24)
The Catholic Church was the second wave of influence in Korea for Jesus, transported home by Koreans themselves.
During the late 1800s, Scottish missionaries in Manchuria had heard that a fellow missionary had been martyred in Korea. They began to translate the Scriptures into Korean, then sent them back with Korean traders to their homeland.
One such merchant was a man called Seo Sang-ryun. After bringing the Gospel to Korea, he opened the doors to Korea’s first Protestant house of worship—Sorae Church. (Kang-Hyun Kim and Jun-Ki Chung, Kwangshin University, South Korea, The Educational Ministry of early Korean Colporteurs,” Pharos Journal of Theology ISSN 2414-3324 Volume 105 Themed Issue 3 - 2024.)
God trains up a few to reach many. A few apostles. A few missionaries. A few merchants.
The Protestant Church was the third wave of influence in Korea for Jesus, brought in by Koreans themselves.
Nothing can stop the power of the Gospel’s movement.
Each branch of the church sent something to Korea which was was used by God. The message was the same: Jesus is the Lord.
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:7)
Jesus sits upon the throne. His kingdom is one that shall have no end. He increases His governing over His own people. He governs with peace.
In 1948, following World War II, Korea was officially divided between the former USSR and the United States. North Korea fell under the Soviet Union’s communist guidance, while South Korea became influenced by the West.
In 1973, Reverend Billy Graham spoke in South Korea where millions heard him. The North Koreans noticed and gave a disparaging comment.
In 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved. North Korea’s link to the large communist state was no longer its strength.
In the 1990s, a famine occurred in North Korea; citizens went to China looking for relief. There they met believers. The Koreans became Christians and carried the knowledge of Jesus back home. (Global Christian Relief)
God uses natural events to move the Gospel into difficult to reach places.
In 1992, Reverend Billy Graham was invited to North Korea by President Kim il-Sung. In fact, Graham went to North Korea a second time in 1994. He presented Christian literature that he himself wrote and a Bible to the president. Graham also preached at Pyongyang’s Bongsu Church. (CNN)
God opens the door for the Gospel with international events.
Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, was the daughter of missionaries to China. She was familiar with the North and had lived within its boundaries prior to 1948 at a boarding school in Pyongyang. (Ruth Bell Graham)
God uses individuals who have a relationship to the place. His ministers come with peace and in peace.
Though the Gospel had been basically outlawed in North Korea, God made a way for it to be brought in and received publicly by the nation’s top leader. This set a precedent. It planted spiritual seeds.
North Koreans themselves continue to bring in the Gospel to their own people.
“But the word of God is not imprisoned.” (2 Timothy 2:9)
Currently, the North Korean government is carrying out a campaign against the church to eradicate Christianity. (USCIRF) Children are indoctrinated. (Daily Express US) Believers are imprisoned, executed and tortured in North Korea. But eyewitness reports indicate that the church there is growing. (Global Christian Relief)
How can this be when their former President Kim il-Sung welcomed a man of peace and the Word of God?
Kings and presidents come and go, for they are but men. But Jesus is the Son of God. The Scriptures declare that Jesus is “the Ruler of the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 1:5)
Under the authority of Jesus, a nation will flourish.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
13 From heaven the Lord looks down
and sees all mankind;
14 from his dwelling place he watches
all who live on earth—
15 he who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do.” (Psalm 33:12-15)
In Korea, much respect is given to elders. This is biblical and to be honored. Because President Kim il-Sung welcomed the Gospel into North Korea through a man of peace, the president’s memory should be honored and respected in the same way by his son. In this way, the son may understand the full strength of his father.
The Gospel does not come out of the West, but originated in Bethlehem. After Jesus rose from the dead, His apostles carried the knowledge of Him east, even into China. The Gospel came to Korea through China, North Korea’s ally.
Today, roughly 31% of South Koreans are Christian—both Catholic and Protestant. An estimated 400,000 are possibly believers in North Korea.
Christians of both the South and North Korea are the spiritual and physical descendants of believers from the great moves of God in Korea.
Above, see the photo from the embroidery of “JESUS” in Korean예수라, declaring that Jesus is the Great I AM in many languages.
Listen to the Lord’s Prayer in the original Korean: