In the afternoon of Reformation Sunday, Oct. 27, some 2.1 million Christians gathered for a joint worship service from 2pm to 5pm in Seoul, Korea to “unite for repentance, revival, and restoration of holiness in our society.” According to organizers, an estimated 1.1 million joined onsite despite the bad weather with another 1 million joining online (although police estimated a lower figure for the in-person gathering). The unprecedented joint worship service brought together Korean churches across denominations as they affirmed traditional marriage and family and prayed for their nation.
Initial trigger for the event was an anti-discrimination law that Korean Christian leaders fear will pave the way to gay marriage and ultimately opening the country up to transgender ideology that would harm families and restrict the freedoms of churches to live out their faith. They point to Western countries, such as the U.K. and Canada, as warning signs of what may be to come unless believers stand up at this time.
“Through this worship service that we offer today in spirit and truth, I hope that families and churches will live and that the Korean church and the world church will experience a new revival,” Rev. Jung-Hyun Oh, Senior Pastor of Sarang Church, told attendants according to reporting by Christian Daily Korea.
Three sermons preached during the afternoon highlighted the importance of the Church not remaining silent, so they could safeguard families and children, with one pastor praying to God, “Please accept our repentance and protect our families.”
The event also featured speakers from the U.K. and Germany who urged Koreans Christians not to follow the same path as what they have seen in their own countries and instead be a beacon for churches around the world and shine the light of God’s truth.
“Who would have thought that Britain would forget God? But it has,” said Andrea Williams, a lawyer from Wilberforce Academy in the UK. “They have removed Jesus Christ from public life. People don’t know who Jesus is. They have legislated the right to kill the unborn, gay marriage. Street preachers are jailed, and those who give out Bibles or pray at work are punished. While all this has happened, the churches of Britain have been asleep.”
(Christian Daily International has previously reported on instances, such as a UK Christian found guilty for praying near abortion clinic earlier this month, or the unlawful arrest and jailing of a street preacher.)
As an expression of their unity and commitment, churches that participated in the event issued a joint declaration “to renew the Republic of Korea”.
The statement highlights the current crisis of values and expresses repentance over the churches’ failure to fulfill their their role up to now. Among others, the declaration then affirms the protection of the family, everyone’s right to “freedom of religion, speech, thought, and expression”, and the church’s role as salt and light in society. It concludes by calling on the government, the Constitutional Court, the National Assembly and the Ministry of Education to refrain from enacting laws allowing gay marriage or promoting homosexuality and gender ideology through textbooks in schools.
(The declaration’s full text in Korean is available here.)
As the event came to a conclusion, the organizing committee said, “Those gathered pledged to fulfill the church’s social role and reaffirmed their solidarity as a faith community. This service will remain as an important moment for the Korean church to reflect on its social responsibility and the essence of faith, and as a milestone that suggests the direction and role the Church should take.”
A day to raise awareness in society, unite the Korean Church
In an exclusive interview with Christian Daily International in the lead up to the event, chair of the organizing committee Rev. Hyun-bo So, Senior Pastor of Segero Church in Busan, explained what motivated them to mobilize the churches for the event.
“We do not hate homosexuals. We are not trying to tell them what to do and what not to do,” he emphasized at the time. “But if these laws regarding gay marriage get passed in Korea, then the Christian Church cannot stand up for what they believe in, and they cannot say the things that they want to say.”
He pointed to Canada and other countries where stories had been coming out of minors being led to believe they are transgender and undergoing medical procedures with parents not allowed to be involved in the conversation. “Sometimes it's the case that a 13-year-old will want to change their sex, but the parents cannot say anything about it. The students will get the hormone shots through the school and the parents will not be involved in the process,” he said, adding that Korean churches are opposed to excluding the parents from their children’s lives and education.
He also laments how minors are young and naïve and can easily be misled about the risks and lifelong consequences of such treatments. He specifically points to a case “where a 13-year-old went through a sex change with the transition, and she thought that her breast would grow back.”
It is the prospect of facing such a future that led him to mobilize the Korean churches to oppose a recent change in the laws related to gay couples in order to prevent the country from going down this path.
Asked to elaborate on the current legal developments, Rev. Son explained that “July 18th was a big day in Korea's courts because they accepted that a gay couple can have health insurance benefits. From an international standpoint, after such a law is passed or after such an acceptance is seen in the courts, it usually took about two years or so until gay marriage was legalized.”
He said he saw the event as a chance for the Christian Church to raise awareness among the wider society about the harm that the passing of these laws will bring to Korea. He said he is convinced that more than 90% of the people would be against young children at age nine or ten getting hormones for a gender transition. But a major issue is that “regular people do not know the depths of what the law is calling for.”
He hoped the event would provide “a good chance for churches to come together, pray together and have discussions together about how to help homosexuals”, including those in the churches who struggle with same-sex attraction.
Pointing to the challenges within the Korean Church, Rev. Son also said, “I believe that this event will be a very good time for everyone to come together and unite.”
