Expressions of Christianity in S. Korea

The BBC has an interesting article about the explosive growth of western-style megachurches (AKA “christianity”) in South Korea. Membership at the most mega-church of all: 750,000. To put that in perspective in America the largest 15 churches combined do not make up even half that number. Yoido Full Gospel Church in S. Korea’s membership is more than 15x greater than that of Joel Osteen’s empire. Serious numbers. Not only that, but S. Korea sends some 20,000 christian missionaries to other countries (Iraq, France, the United States, etc.). Much has been said in recent years of the rise of global christianity (a bit of a misnomer: christianity has always been global) and most projections estimate by 2050 (PDF) the numbers of christians in Africa, Asia and S. America will absolutely dwarf western christians.

According to the BBC article, a big (controversial) chunk of American Christianity – namely prosperity theology – has spread into S. Korea. I wondered what else we exported and how the S. Koreans were making it their own. My friend Nathan, who is Catholic, has been living in S. Korea for a number of years and agreed to answer a few of my questions.

Fightme: Do S. Koreans with traditional beliefs feel threatened by the rise in christianity?

Nathan: I wouldn’t say people feel threatened. Christians follow most of the social aspects of the [traditional] holidays, as most of them call for respecting your family’s dead. Most protestant churches there are very, very evangelical. They set up speakers outside subway stations, and will have high schoolers walk up and down the subway trains. Many of the protestant churches are quite competitive both with each other, and especially with Catholics and Buddhists. The overall effect of this is that often they badmouth other denominations excessively. There will be entire portions of a sermon dealing only with how another denomination is wrong and thus bad.

Fm: Is Catholicism a growing force as well?

N: There is a big divide between Protestants and Catholics. Most Catholics will agree that we are all Christian, but the Protestants of Korea will argue strongly that Catholics are not Christian. I am not sure how this came about, and it may in some way be because of the words used for denoting them in Korean. They mean “Christian” and “Catholic” — most people are not raised realizing that Catholics are one of the many types of Christians.

Fm: Does S. Korean christianity have a distinct Korean-ness to it? what does Korean christianity look like as it is lived out in the community?

N: Protestants who really follow their faith can be quite strict. They do not drink, smoke, gamble, or use the sex industry at all. There are very few people who are that strict. Especially among men in management, drinking/whoring are a strong part of the Korean culture, but that is another discussion. Catholics are fine with gambling, drinking and smoking, as long as they are done responsibly. Doing any of them to an amount that causes health, social, or monetary issues is still seen as a sin. Priests will take groups out drinking after a hard day preparing for some event, but this is not big time drinking. Usually just a beer or two along with dinner. There seem to be more people on average [than in America] who are well-educated about their particular church’s beliefs, however there are also many people that give lip service. Many people go to church for business reasons, and among 20-somethings, it is often seen as a singles club activity where your main goal is to just pick up women. As to the church mentioned in the article, many people I knew attended. Out of the 5 I can think of offhand, 3 were going there just to find a marriage match.

Fm: Any other thoughts?

N: Overall, I think Asia in general is on a Christian (inclusive) upswing. Korea itself is poised to be the next hub for what could and probably needs to be a strong round of missionary and evangelical work. There is a good base there that could refresh other churches worldwide, and hopefully fuel many conversions in the rest of Asia, China in particular.

Other resources: “Does Global Christianity Equal American Christianity?”, Christianity Today