A second wave of persecution came in 1919, when the end of World War I gave Korea an opportunity to declare its independence. A declaration was drafted. This time, many Christian leaders agreed to sign it on condition that the acquisition of independence would not require violence. The Japanese government reacted ruthlessly. Peaceful demonstrations were put down with extreme brutality.  The fact that 15 out of 33 signers of the declaration were Christians caused the Japanese government to turn its fury against the churches. One church was burned to the ground with the people still gathered inside. Many Christians were imprisoned, and others fled to Siberia or Manchuria.

The Japanese victory in the 1904-1904 Russo-Japanese War and the consequent annexation of Korea to Japan caused a flurry of patriotic sentiments among Koreans.

By that time, Christianity had made great strides into the country, and its leaders were known and respected. It was only natural for Koreans to look to them for guidance and relief. If they had organized, in less than a century, a strong network of churches, couldn’t they organize or at least support a resistance?

A Path of Non-Resistance

William Blair, first-time missionary for PCUSA, could easily foresee the results. ”Had [the church] departed even a little from the strict principle of non-interference in politics,” he wrote, “thousands would have welcomed her leadership and flocked to her banner. We might have again witnessed the cross of Constantine leading a great army. I believe Korea, like the Roman empire, would have adopted Christianity in a day, and I believe, too, we would have had another Roman church.”[1]

In that potential scenario, the church would have succumbed to the age-old temptation to reduce Jesus to a savior against an earthly oppressor, and forget that he had come to save his people from the much worse condition of enmity against God. It took courage for the Korean church to preach love, patience, and forgiveness instead of anger and rebellion.

This unwillingness to fight back made Christianity unpopular. It didn’t help that the US decided to back Japan. Even within the churches, many Koreans started to have divided loyalties. “When men get terribly confused in their minds, when they get deadly hatred in their hearts towards those whom they regard as oppressors, when they grow cold toward their leaders and find the message of love and forgiveness unwelcome, then a condition of things is brought about that the devil knows well hot to use,”[2] Blair wrote.

All this happened just when the PCUSA missionaries in Pyenyang, Korea, were about to turn the leadership of the church into the hands of Koreans in order to establish the self-supported, self-governing, and self-propagating church they had come to form. Could they continue with their plans in light of the current animosity and disunity?

Revival

After a week of meetings, prayer, and Bible study, they decided to keep the word they had given to their Korean brethren. “Before the meetings closed, the Spirit showed us plainly that the way of victory for us would be a way of confession, of broken hearts, and bitter tears,” Blair wrote. “We felt that the Korean church needed not only to repent of hating the Japanese, but of a clearer vision of all sin against God.”[3]

The Korean church had already established a tradition of taking a week out of the year where everyone would put aside their work and devote their time to prayer and the study of God’s word. “Let the American church follow Korea’s example in this one thing and the revival problem would take care of itself,”[4] Blair continued.

The meetings were characterized by a sense of humility and an eagerness to pray. At one point, so many people began to pray at once that the elder in charge allowed it to happen. Everyone prayed softly and earnestly at the same time. Many began to weep.

Persecution

These meetings prepared the church both for the shift of leadership and for renewed waves of persecution. As it often happened, the Japanese feared that the foreign missionaries in Korea had ulterior, political motives. Acting on those fears, the government arrested and imprisoned over 100 Christians (some of them high-school students) just in 1912. In prison, these people suffered horrible tortures. They were finally acquitted at the trial, thanks to the defense of a Japanese Christian lawyer. Only six were kept in prison for a few years.

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