As soon as he mustered the Korean language, Underwood took on the habit of sitting under a tree next to the busy streets of the city where he read books to attract attention. When someone approached him, he would explain what he was reading and, eventually, the gospel. He did the same in other parts of the country.

As we watch news of North Korea and pray for that gospel-deprived country, it might be encouraging to remember the rapidity and intensity with which Christianity spread within the still undivided Korea in just a few decades.

One of the most influential missionaries in Korea was Horace Grant Underwood. Born in London on July 19, 1859, fourth of six children, he was orphaned of his mother Elizabeth when he was six. His father John continued to raise his children in the Christian faith. When Horace was 12, John moved the family to the United States for financial reasons.

Horace graduated from New York University with a bachelor of arts and entered the Dutch Reformed (now New Brunswick) Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he began to study medicine with a vision of becoming a missionary to India.

He heard about the need in Korea, where about 13 million people had not heard the gospel. There had been a few missionaries there. The first ones, in the 18^th century, were Koreans who had learned about Christ from Jesuit missionaries in China. They were however tortured and killed by the Korean government (particularly during the Sinyu Persecution of 1801).

Few foreign missionaries were able to enter Korea, because the government was leery of foreigners in general (Korea was known as the “Hermit Country”), and those who arrived intentionally and without an exceptional reason were killed. In 1884, an American missionary, Robert Samuel Maclay, visited Korea from Japan (where he had been serving), and obtained the king’s permission to start a school and a hospital. He was then able to invite other missionaries: William Scranton with his mother Mary (the first foreign woman missionary to Korea), and Henry Appenzeller with his wife Ella. They stayed, while Maclay returned to the States.

Underwood in Korea

At first, Underwood tried to encourage other people to go to Korea. He was impressed by the need, but his vision was still India. Finally, when no one answered the call, he persuaded his church’s Board of Missions (of the Northern Presbyterian Church in the USA) to send him. He arrived in Incheon, Korea, in 1885. He was 26 years old.

Initially, he worked as a pharmacist at the Royal Hospital, Che Jung Won (Universal Helpfulness). In March 1886, when a school of medicine was started, he began teaching English, physics, and chemistry. He also taught English at home as a way of getting to know the people and evangelizing on a friendly basis. It was through this avenue that he met his first convert, Mr. No, who read both gospels of Mark and Luke overnight and came back the next day excited about the gospel.

As soon as he mustered the Korean language, Underwood took on the habit of sitting under a tree next to the busy streets of the city where he read books to attract attention. When someone approached him, he would explain what he was reading and, eventually, the gospel. He did the same in other parts of the country. In the spring of 1889, he took a similar trip with his newly-wed wife Lilias, a medical doctor. That trip was their honeymoon.

While focusing on the preaching the gospel, Underwood also built a home and school for orphan boys with a vision of establishing future leaders in society (in 1905, the school became the John D. Wells Academy for Christian Workers). He also established a seminary, a Bible college, the Christian Union College (still one of the top research universities in Korea), and the Korean Tract Society.

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