The Second Reformed Church-Planters International Conference

Calvinism & Local Church Ministry

: The Growth of the Korean Church

through Reformed Preaching

by

Rev. Sung-Kuh Chung Drs.Th., Ph.D., D.D., Litt.D.

(President of Teashin Christian University & Theological Seminary)

Place: Bucharist, Romania Calea Vitan Nr 128 A

Date: September 9-13, 2004

Sponsorship: Missionary Initiative for Reformed Theology and Service

Dear Mr. Chairman! And all the European scholars and missionaries in this place with Reformed theology and faith! It is my pleasure to give a lecture in this meaningful conference, "The Second reformed Church-Planters International Conference."

Our churches in this world as well as European countries are decaying, decreasing, and being secularized because of the influence of Post-Modernism and Humanism. Furthermore, in these days as the influential power of Reformation theology and faith became weakened and weakened, our churches got diseased and were confronted with a great crisis. Liberal theology from European and American theologians is driving our churches into its ruin. In such situation, I want to tell you today the fact that the Korean church could grow so fast through Calvinistic faith and theology and their application to the Korean local church ministry and preaching. During the past 100 years, Korea has been experienced the history of pain, poverty, and frustration. But at the same time, it has been also experienced the miracle that the living gospel of Jesus Christ changed the Korean people, culture, economic system, and even political system. I have to confess that it resulted solely from the grace of God and the power of His Word.

Before I became a Christian, I was born and raised in the Confucian-based family, and accordingly I possessed the Confucianism worldview. But after I received the gospel, this gospel changed my family and myself. As a result of it, I could be a Calvinistic scholar and preacher, and serve the Korean church as a seminary faculty member or administrator. And I believe that it was God-given privilege for me. Especially I really thank God because He allowed me to found The International Institute for the Calvinistic Studies in Korea and The Calvin Museum to invite many international theologians to such organizations, and to contribute to the Calvinism movement in the world as well as in Korea, while I was serving Him as a seminary professor or president.

When I was studying as a doctoral student at Vrije Universteit to Amsterdam in 1970s, I could meet many great Calvinistic theologians and philosophers of the contemporary, such as G.C. Berkouwer, J. Verkuyl, Ridderbos brothers, H. Dooyeweerd, D.H. Th. Vollenhoven, F. Schaeffer, and H. Rookmaaker. They influenced to build my theological foundation and guided me to deeply understand the theologies and philosophies of John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, and Greon Van Princetere. With the Reformed theology (Calvinism) that I have learned through such theologians, I would like to assert today that the Korean church growth resulted from the faithful application of the very Calvinism. I prepared this lecture with my whole heart and prayer, hoping that it could be the new challenge to the European theologians and churches.

Calvinism & Local Church Ministry:

The Growth of the Korean Church through Reformed Preaching

Now, I would like to address three aspects of the Calvinistic faith and theology. First aspect is the frame of Calvinistic theology. After Augustine, churches began to keep away from the Scripture and became ritualized. Christianity was transmuted into a false Christianity named Roman Catholic. When Roman Catholic Church appeared at the stage of Christian church history, the Dark Ages of 1200 years started. Pre-Reformation reformers, such as John Wyicliff, William Tyndale, and John Huss, attempted to reform the Roman Catholic Church with non-biblical theology and ritualized tradition. Unfortunately, their attempts were frustrated and even John Huss was burned at the stake.

But in 1517, Martin Luther resolutely carried out the Reformation and in 1536, through writing and publishing Institute, John Calvin restored the biblical aspects of Christianity, which were alienated from the Christian Church for twelve centuries. It was Institute that renewed the world and the church. In 1559, John Calvin established Geneva Academy, which played a role as the center of the Reformation and mission. Here, I am not trying to praise the greatness of John Calvin, but rather I want to glorify God who used John Calvin as an instrument for His own sake.

As a matter of fact, Calvin's theology was not his own creativity. Calvin revived and revised theologies of the Early Church fathers (especially Augustine). In the light of those theologies, Calvin underlined the thoughts of Soli Deo Gloria, Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and Sola Gratia through his books. In short, Calvin played a crucial role in establishing the Bible-centered Christianity, which is the Reformed theology and faith.

John Calvin was not only a theologian but also a preacher and minister. Practically, he preached as minister of St. Pierre church throughout his life. Calvin reformed and renewed the church through the reformation of doctrinal structure of Christianity and also he practiced what he reformed and renewed in the process of the Reformation while he was preaching the Bible. His contribution is that he enlightened us on the sense of the awe to the Bible. He developed his thought from the Bible, and firmly trusted the fullness and the authority of the Bible. "He goes where the Bible goes; he stops where the Bible stops."

Due to its nature of the full dependence on the Bible, Calvinism rapidly spread all over the world. The core of Calvin's theology is "God-centeredness." Through his theology, faith, and life, Calvin manifested that human beings should live in front of God (Coram Deo). Calvin contributed to form important Protestant doctrines such as "Sovereignty of God," "Justification by faith," "Gratuitous grace of God," "Sanctification" and "Predestination." He structured the political frame of Presbyterian Church on the base of the reverence on the Bible. He also set forth a political system for civil society named "Bibliocracy." According to the Bibliocracy, the authority of a nation was received from God and the first significance of a nation is to fulfill the Will of God. The Calvinism, in the 16th century, was influential not only in the field of theology but also in the areas of politics, economy, social system, culture, and education. G. Groen Van Prinsterer and Abraham Kuyper rediscovered the influential power of Calvinism on such areas

Secondly, I would like to explain the historical development of Calvinism. As I mentioned before, Calvin established Geneva Academy in 1559. At the first year, 160 students were enrolled, and 10 years later, 1600 students were enrolled in the school. Geneva Academy was one of the most complete, beautiful, and biblical schools in the human history. After they graduated from Geneva Academy, the students from various countries returned to their home, struggles against Roman Catholic Church, and instituted the Protestant Church. The Presbyterian Church was established in Scotland, the Puritan Church in England, the Hugnote Church in France, and the Reformed Church Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, and Switzerland. These reformed churches developed their own creeds and confessions such as the Heidelberg Catechism from Germany (1563), the Belgic Confession of Faith from Netherlands (1563), the Second Helvetic Confession from Switzerland (1566), the Synod of Dort in Netherlands (1619), and the Westminster Confession of Faith from England (1648). We can estimate how great the influence of the reformed theology of Calvin through the fact that all those creeds and confessions were based on Calvin's theology and faith.

Calvinism was in full bloom in the 17th century. Especially in 1619, J. Bogerman and some other theologians formulated "the Five Points of Calvinism," while contending against Arminians. At those days, the counterattack and persecution of the Catholic Church against the Protestant Church became severer and severer. Caunter-Reformation of Jesuit, the Roman Catholic persecutors called the Protestants Calvinists for disgracing and cursing them. The present name of the Reformed Christians, Calvinists, originated from this episode.

In order to flee from the persecution of the Catholic Church, in 1620, the Puritans in England headed to the new continent, America. In 1628, the Reformed Christians in Netherlands went to America, and in around 1700, the Reformed Christians in Germany and France followed them to America. Lastly, the Presbyterians in Scotland went to American and instituted the Presbyterian Church of USA. All the Protestant Churches took roots, sprouted and sent forth leaves in the ground of America. But because of the influence of the Enlightenment Movement and Liberal Theology from Europe in the 18th century, American churches in the 18th and the 19th century was debilitated. In the 19th century, the influence of a series of revival movement in Wales and Calvinistic Movement in Netherlands stimulated American Christians to renew their churches. In the mid-19th century, the influx of the immigrant Christians from the Scottish Presbyterian Church, the Dutch Reformed Church, and the Hungarian Reformed Church revived the American Presbyterian Church. As an aftermath of the revival of the American Church, a large number of missionaries were sent to various Asian countries. In the case of Korea, Northern Presbyterian Church of USA delivered the gospel in 1884. By this time, I summarized how Calvinist Churches have been developed after Calvin's Reformation in the 16th century.

Finally, I would like to explain how Calvinism was settled in the Korean church and society, and how it influenced on the practical ministry and preaching in the Korean local churches. A large number of people from other countries often ask us, "What makes the Korean Church prosper so remarkably?" Some of Korean scholars tend to answer this question with the religious phenomenological approach or socio-politico-economical approach. For example, they assert that the prosperity of Korean church, due to the deep-rooted Shamanism in Korean society, due to the influence of Korean war, or due to the experience of national decay by Japanese Imperialists. But Shamanism exists not only in Korea but also many other Asian countries such as Japan and Taiwan. The experiences of national wars and oppression from Imperialism are common to many other countries that became independent after WW II. In this respect, the remarkable growth of Korean church cannot be explained with such social phenomenological approaches alone.

I am sure that the outstanding growth of Korean churches is because the Korean churches were founded on the base of the spirits of the Reformation, that is, Calvinistic faith and theology. The Korean churches have several eminent leaders of faith and theology such as Sun Joo Kil, Ik Doo Kim, Ki Chul Joo, Yang Won Son, Hyung Nong Park, Yune Sun Park, and Sang Dong Han. They consistently embodied the Reformed theology or Calvinism in their sermons and writings as the early missionaries taught. Their sermons and writings put emphasis on Soli Deo Gloria, Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and Sola Gratia. In reflecting the 120 year history of Korean church, although there are some negative factors in Korean church such as Dualistic worldview, it is obviously true that Korean church took the initiatives not only in evangelizing for individual salvation, but also in reforming the social system and in enlightening people. As a matter of fact, the reformation of the Korean society during the past 100 years might cause from such Reformed faith and theology of Korean church.

In this respect, I would like to talk to you about "Korean church and Reformed Faith-Focusing on the Historical Study of Preaching in the Korean Church", which is, in fact, the theme of my Ph.D. thesis (This thesis was originally written and published in Korean, and was translated into and published in English, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Russian, Hungarian, Czechoslovakian, Romanian, and Portuguese, and also is in the process of translating into Spanish and Indonesians). I will briefly summarize the main points of this thesis for you, earnestly expecting that it would be helpful for the European churches.

Acts 6:1-7:

1 While the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews (non-Palestine Jews who normally spoke Greek) against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily serving (diakonos -"deacon") of food.

2 And the Twelve summoned the whole congregation of the disciples and said: It is not reasonable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve (diakonos) tables.

3 But select from among you, brothers and sisters, seven people of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.

4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry (diakonos) of the word.

5 And the statement pleased the whole congregation ("multitude"), and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte (a person who was converted to Judaism from another belief) from Antioch.

6 And these they brought before the apostles, and after praying they laid their hands on them. (The Greek form here indicates that the whole multitude laid hands on them, not just the Twelve.)

7 And the word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

In Acts 6:1-7, we can find the fact that the apostles gathered together and discussed the problem of their church in order to save it from its facing crisis. Here, they made an important decision. First of all, they said, “ it is not reasonable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables (Acts 6:2). This means that what makes a church the church is the proclamation of the Word of God. As John Calvin addressed, only when the Word and the Spirit work in the church can it be authentic. As a matter of fact, the essence of the Reformation itself is the rebuilding of a pulpit and the restoration of the preaching in the church. In Acts 6:4, the disciples decided that they would devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, and in Acts 6:7, as a result, and the word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem. We can learn through these verses that there should be the authentic preaching of the Word of God in the church whether it was the first century, the 16th century, or the 21century.

According to Charles Dargan, an American theologian in the area of 'history and preaching', "the history of the church is the history of the preaching." The rise and fall of the church depend on whether the preachers of the church correctly comprehend and proclaim the Word of God with the true experience of the Holy Spirit. Church history tells us that if the pulpit of the church falls by the Humanism and the Secularism, the church can neither serve for the salvation of souls not make itself grow for its own future.

With the brief biblical and historical interpretation above, I will address how the Korean church that is just 120 year old could make 25% of Koreans Christians, and be the church that can send into every nation the second largest number of missionaries. First, the background of the Korean Church planting process is very important for understanding the growth of the Korean church as it is. In fact, there is a good reason that the Korean church can grow most dynamically in spite that it received the gospel most lately among the Asian countries. First of all it is beneficial for us to note that the first missionary to Korea (1884), Allen, was from the missionary department of the North Presbyterian Church of America. In 1885, consequently, it sent a missionary, H. Underwood, who was from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary (Reformed Church of America) built upon the Netherlands' Reformed theological background. Thereafter Samuel A Moffet, the founder of the Pyoung Yang Theological Seminary, and many other missionaries vividly worked for the Korean Church planting and development.

The theology and faith of such missionaries were basically formed by the great scholars of the Princeton Theological Seminary that was the center of the Calvinistic theology and faith before the split, such as B.B Warfield, Charles Hodge, A.A. Hodge, and Alexander. The theology and faith of the missionaries for the Korean Church were also intensively influenced by the systematic theology of L. Berkhof who was a professor of Calvin Theological Seminary at his present age. In fact, Berkhof's book Systematic Theology is the synthesis of the theologies of John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, B.B Warfield, and C. Hodge. Such Reformed theology was the very foundation of the Korean Protestant Church. The Reformed leadership of the Korean Church was strengthened by many scholars from Free University in Netherlands and Westminster Theological Seminary in USA.

Then now, let me explain how such a tradition of the Reformed theology and faith was applied to the practical preaching ministry in the Korean Church and how this application brought the remarkable growth of the Korean Church. In one word, God gave to the Korean Church the greatly faithful preachers with the Reformed theology and faith, who were prepared for death due to the gospel. They emphasized the need of the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the eschatological urgency in their sermons against the only doctrinal and academic reception of Christianity. Their preaching was dynamic and powerful so that it made it possible to plant churches wherever they went and preached. As a result, the Korean Church played a role of reformer of the Korean society and culture. The early preachers of the Korean Church were the instruments of God for proclaiming the gospel, awakening the people in the dark ages, and suggesting the alternative view of the God-centered Christian ethics instead of the Confucianist or Buddhist ethics.

As a matter of fact, it is quietly meaningful that the Korean Church was substantially developed and nurtured by the Korean-speaking Korean preachers, the first graduates of Pyoung Yang Theological Seminary in 1907, not by the English-speaking American missionaries. According to the report of Fenwick, one of the Southern Baptist missionaries from America, Koreans laughed at when the American missionaries were preaching in poor Korean, but they were greatly moved when the Korean preachers were preaching in Korean. Apart from their fluency in Korean, it was because the Korean preachers including Sun Joo Kil had the same cultural, social and historical experience as their hearers who lost their own country and thus were filled with the great sorrow, and proclaimed the gospel of life, restoration, consolation, and hope to their hopeless hearers. The preaching of the Korean preachers played a role of reforming the Zeitgeist of the Korean people and suggested new biblical ethics overcoming the limits of the Confucianist and Buddhist ethics.

Among such great preachers, I would like to introduce five outstanding preachers in the Korean Church history. First is Rev. Sun Joo Kil(1894-1946). Rev. Kil was one of the main figures of the Korean Great Revival Movement in 1907. For his own spirituality, he prayed for an hour everyday, fasting 3days a week throughout his life. He also read the Bible for one hour everyday, made a great effort to memorize the Bible verses in a daily manner, wrote articles and sermons for three hours everyday, and read various academic and spiritual books for two days everyday. Rev. Kil was stimulated by the Great Awakening Movement from England in 1905 and influenced by the communal experience of the Holy Spirit experience in Jang Dea Hyun Church at Pyoung Yang in 1906.

Rev. Sun Joo Kil proclaimed the core nature of the salvation by emphasizing the total depravity of all human beings, the need of thorough repentance, and God's freely given grace in every sermon of him especially in his sermons for the revival meetings. In doing so, he himself had the firm, God-centered faith and powerfully preached that, in order for people to be born again, the Word and the Spirit of God should work together. His Great Revival Movement can be called the Korean Pentecost. Such preaching pattern of Rev. Kil was the very foundation of the Korean Protestant Church and thus was often found in the preaching patterns of his followers such as Ik Doo Kim. In fact, such preaching perfectly fits into the theology and faith of the Reformers in that it contained total depravity, infallibility of the Scripture, Soli Deo Gloria, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptua, and Sola Fide. On top of that, he powerfully proclaimed the importance of the power of the Holy Spirit, the actual repentance, and rebirth. Then, how cannot it cause the marvelous ramifications?

The second preacher that I want introduce to you is Rev. Ki Chul Joo(1897-1945), who died a martyr. Rev Joo rejected Shinto Shrine Worship of Japanese Imperialism and preached God-centered, Bible-centered gospel of life. As a result of it, he was arrested by Japanese police, imprisoned for seven years, and finally died a martyr. To those who ask how the Korean Church can grow so fast, I want to answer that it is because the Korean Church had the great preachers who kept their Reformed faith and theology to the degree that they could give away their lives like Rev. Ki Chul Joo. Rev. Joo was the minister who was in the same age of D. Bonhoeffer. As D. Bonhoeffer resisted the German Nazism and died a martyr for his belief in the prison, Rev. Joo also resisted the Japanese Imperialism and died a martyr for his faith in the prison.

Now I will introduce three characteristics in the preaching of Rev. Joo as follows. (1) God-centeredness: The reason that Rev. Joo rejected the Shinto Worship to the degree that he was willing to give away his life was the God-centeredness within his heart. His preaching always made his audience and himself stand before God (Coram Deo) and emphasized that we all should live only for the glory of God, preparing for death. Such is well shown in his masterpiece sermon, preparing for death. In the age when polytheism and pantheism were dominant in the Korean society, Rev. Joo evidently asserted that God alone is the creator, savior, and judge. Thus, he flatly refused to worship the god of the sun from Japanese Shintoism in order to firmly keep his God-centered faith as it written in Roman 11:36, or from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. That is because Rev. Joo' s faith and life became a memorable example for the entire Korean Protestant Church.

(2) Coram Deo: As mentioned above, Rev. Joo always emphasized the faith of "Coram Deo (in front of God)"not only in his preaching but also in his own everyday life. He strongly recommended his audience to live a whole life of piety and honesty. It is not a legalistic but a wholistic understanding on how to live as Christians through the salvation work of Jesus Christ. Rather, Rev. Joo rejected dualism and requested his hearers to entirely offer their lives for God. In every sermon, he addressed that to love and serve God does not mean to offer a part but the whole of our lives. Thus, he proclaimed that all of our parts in every area of our everyday lives should be holy "in the presence of God." Anyone who is willing to live a holy life in front of God should have awe of God in every moment of one's life. As a matter of fact, such preaching of Rev. Joo exactly followed Calvin's doctrine of "piety in the presence of God,"and his preaching method corresponded to Dr. Hoekstra's Reformed Homiletics (Gereformeered Homlietiek).

(3) Victory of God' s Grace: In the sermon of Rev. Joo is well shown Sola Gratia that is the core of the Reformed theology and faith. The focal point of his sermons is that human beings cannot be saved by their own efforts but only by the grace of God due to their total depravity and corruption. His preaching was full of the confession that everything in his life is by the grace of God. There was no hint of Humanism or Autonomism. Such confession came from the conviction that God alone is truly truthful and the Scripture alone is the canon of the truth. Martyr Ki Chul Joo was not mere a minister and preacher but also a leader of the reformation movement of the Korean Church. He made a form stand for the faith and theology of the Korean Reformed Church, that is, the Korean Presbyterian Church.

The third preacher is Yang Won Sohn(1908-1951). Rev. Sohn was a great minister, preacher, and martyr whom the Korean Church produced. He was the incarnation of the true love. Most of all, he was a faithful and compassionate pastor to the degree that he devoted himself to the ministry for the lepers throughout his entire life. His family experienced a unique experience that the father and two sons all died martyrs, which has never occurred before for the past 2000 years in the Christian Church history. In the years of Japanese Imperialism, Rev. Sohn rejected Shinto Worship and desperately strained himself to keep the Reformed theology and faith while persecuted in the prison. After liberation from Japanese Imperialism, the Korean Church had a difficult time again because of the Communists from North area of Korea. Around this time, in October 21, 1948, two sons of Rev. Sohn were cruelly killed by a young Communist, but in their funeral, he gave nine kinds of thanks to God in spite of the painful death of his two sons. For example, he prayed, dear God, I thank you because you made my sons martyrs and I thank you more because you made as many as two sons martyrs. This Christ-like prayer still remains in the hearts of all the Korean Christians. More amazingly, Rev. Sohn, right after the funeral of his two sons, adopted the Communist killer of his tow sons as his new sons and completely forgave what he had done against to him before. How great this love is! Rev. Sohn was a real incarnation of the true love. He has been an authentic pastor and true friend of lepers for 25 years. He was also a pious person, a passionate evangelist, and a great preacher.

In June 25, 1950, the Korean War occurred by the invasion of the Communist from the North to the South, and September 13, 1950, Rev. Sohn was arrested, and executed by shooting by the Communists. I have never heard that the father and his two sons all died martyrs throughout the Christian Church History of 2000 years. The sentence that the blood of martyrs is the fertilizer for the church growth was really realized in Korea. The martyr, Rev. Sohn is the very pride of the Korean Church. No one can deny that the revival and growth of the Korean Protestant Church were accomplished by God through His instruments, the great preachers like Rev. Sohn.

Now, let us take a look at the characteristics of Rev. Sohn' s preaching. He preached the gospel in risking his life and in saving his people's lives. His preaching was not a mere word but a life itself. That is why his preaching had the huge influential power to many of the Korean Christians and all the lepers who he had served.

(1) Sola Gratia: The doctrine of Sola Gratia is not only from the theology of the apostle Paul but in fact the very core content of the entire Bible and the very foundation of the Reformers. The fact that this doctrine was also the very core sermon of Rev. Sohn shows how the Reformed theology and faith was embodied in the practical local church pulpits.

(2) God-centeredness: This is identified with the preaching doctrine of Rev. Ki Chul Joo. In his preaching we can find the faith of Soli Deo Gloria and Coram Deo.

(3) Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide: As a matter of fact, these two doctrines in Rev. Sohn's preaching are the natural outcome of Sola Gratia, Soli Deo Gloria, and Coram Deo. I believe that the reason of the fastest growth of the Korean Church in the world is because the Korean Church has a great martyr for God, an authentic friend of the lepers, an earnest preacher of Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, and Sola Gratia, and an exemplary believer of Jesus Christ.

Finally, I would like to introduce to you two great preachers together, Rev. Hyung Nong Park and Rev. Yune Sun Park (Both of them hold the doctoral degree). They were two central pillars of the Korean Presbyterian (reformed) Church and both of the two were greatly influential and inspiring preachers. Rev. Hyung Nong Park was a systematic theologian and Rev. Yune Sun Park was a biblical theologian. These two ministers made the Reformed theology and faith take root in the ground of the Korean Church, and their descendent ministers who learned from the two practically applied the Reformed theology and faith as they learned to the real local church pulpits.

(1) Hyung Nong Park(1897-1978): He studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, was infatuated with the theology of C.Hodge, B.B Warfield, and was especially influenced by G.Machen and C.Van Til. After his study at Princeton, he served the Chongshin University and Theological Seminary as a systematic theology professor and at times as a dean or as a president. While serving the school, as a representative scholar for the Reformed theology and Apologetics, Dr. Park completed a series of books, systematic Theology, based on the theology of L. Berkhof and many other useful ideas from various Reformed theologians. Through this series of books, the almost all local pastors of the Korean Presbyterian Church were deeply influenced by the theology, philosophy, faith, and life itself of Rev. Hyung Nong Park.

(2) Yune Sun Park(1905-1988): He studied at Westminster Theological Seminary in the area of the biblical language and hermeneutics under the guidance of Dr. G.Machen and Van Til. After the study at Westminster, he studied at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam being influenced by Schiper and H, Ridderbos. Dr. Yun Sun Park was especially infatuated with the theology of J. Calvin, A Kuyper, H. Bavink, and H. Dooyewweerd. It is he who took a root of the Calvinistic theology and worldview in the ground of the Korean Church. His greatest contribution for the Korean Church and its local pastors was to produce the biblical commentary for all 66 books of the Bible for 40 years. Rev. Park dedicated himself to keep the doctrine of God-centeredness and infallibility of the Bible throughout his entire life. He was not a cold-blooded theorist but a warm-hearted practitioner. I dare to say that our Korea Church was the "model student" who has made a great effort to follow the footsteps of the Reformers in the 16th century.

Dear theologians, ministers, and missionaries from various European countries!! Up to present, I summarized how the Korean Church established itself as "the Reformed- theology- and- faith- based church."I pray that this lecture and Korean Church history within it would be helpful for all of you and your churches. There is no perfect church in this world. Furthermore, there are too many challenges from Secularism, Humanism, Pluralism, New Age Movement, and Liberal Theology in these days. At this time, we have to turn back to the Bible and to stand firm upon the word of God. I believe that our mission is to build and maintain the God-centered, the Bible centered church as the Reformers proclaimed so enthusiastically. The Reformation was not done yet but is still ongoing. The Reformed Church should be reformed and reformed again and again. It is the truth. In this critical situation, we should come closer to God and stand firm on the word of God. May God alone be glorified! Amen.