Connecting the country, looking to Korea
Recently, globalization has become a widely discussed issue. The world has shrunk due to technological advancement. In the company I work for, video conference meetings are held every day. You can have face-to-face meetings with people from different countries such as Hong Kong, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Mexico through the Internet at any time. It feels like the thousand miles away no longer exists. Although races and cultures vary widely from place to place, due to the convenience of the Internet and media, the differences are getting smaller and smaller.
To be honest, China has always had the tendency of imperial chauvinism and often calls the foreign races around it enemies and bandits. It is a pity that after many Christians believe in the Lord, they are unable to break away from the previous value system of "I am the only one who respects myself" and still fall into the prejudice of "God loves the Chinese the most." This kind of mentality hinders our knowledge and understanding of culture, and also hinders the missionary work of the Chinese church, let alone keeping up with the work of God the Father in this era of globalization. In view of this, Kingdom of God Magazine decided to conduct an in-depth study of one country every year. This issue chooses South Korea, which is geographically and culturally similar, for the following reasons.
Around 1983, my father was walking on the streets of Flushing, New York, and saw a flyer from a Korean church inviting prayers. He went up to the third floor to check it out and found that Korean believers were praying for Iron Curtain countries around the world. Especially the Soviet Union and China prayed urgently. Sure enough, within a few years, the Iron Curtain fell one by one. The most amazing thing is that the Korean church always rushes to Moscow and other cities as soon as possible to establish many churches; as if it is fully prepared for that moment.
I moved to Pennsylvania more than ten years ago. When my son, who was in the first grade of elementary school, came home on the first day, he announced that there were two Christians in the class. One of them was a girl named JoAnn Nam (南), who was of Korean descent. The Nan family opened a dry cleaning store in our community. Every time she went to the store, Mrs. Nan would be very concerned about how our church was doing, how our work was going, and how our ministry was going. Over time, our two families became good friends, often exchanging pickles (Kimchi) and rice dumplings. Not only did we share the delicious food, we also sang hymns together and shared our beautiful friendship with each other. I discovered that the Koreans are very similar to the Chinese in terms of traditional culture, language, and food. In addition, as we are the same body of Christ, we are actually one family!
In the early 1980s, I briefly stayed in Seoul for the first time. To me at that time, compared to Taipei and New York, Seoul could only be regarded as a small countryside. Once upon a time, South Korea rose quietly and attracted global attention. From the end of the Korean War in the 1950s to 1960, South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) per person per year was less than $100 and will exceed $20,000 this year. South Korea is the sixth largest automobile exporter in the world, and its electrical appliances industry is also catching up with Japan. In addition to economic development, South Korea has outstanding performance in various cultural fields such as music, art, and drama. Korean dramas have become popular in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, India, and Muslim areas such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, and even Egypt.
China, Japan, and South Korea are both regions deeply influenced by Confucianism, and they also face obstacles that make it difficult to spread the gospel. However, South Korea has become the country in Asia, or even in the world, where the gospel is most widely spread. Korean Christians are known for their fervent prayers, and the number of missionaries sent by Korean churches ranks second in the world, second only to the United States. Many well-known university campus ministries in the United States were pioneered and led by Korean pastors.
Therefore, in this issue, we try to explore South Korea’s history, culture, church, missions, economy, and Korean dramas extensively and deeply. We hope that the Chinese church will come to this neighboring country that is similar to us in all aspects with a humble heart connected with the kingdom. study.
Lily Yang