Evangelical Pneumatology V: Great Revival Korea and Spirit Baptism

Bonchul Bae

Missionaries gave much attention to the explosive power of Holy Spirit which took place at JangDaiHyen Church, Pyongyang in January, 1907. With great excitement, they tried to be the first to report the phenomena which was shown in the meeting. The remarkable phenomena that missionaries witnessed may be summed up in definite characteristics as below:

(1) There were definite phenomena, that is, very surprising scenes that every participant could see and hear: "Our entire community and the Korean church especially last night and today has received such a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit as has not been felt or witnessed by most of us in all our lives" (G. S. McCune, "The Holy Spirit in Pyeng Yang", KMF, 3-1 (1907.1), 2). "I am sure that most of the men in the room were praying aloud. It was wonderful!"(McCune, 3-1 (1907.1), 1). "The prayer sounded to me like the falling of man waters, an ocean of prayer beating against God's throne" (William Newton Blair & Bruce F. Hunt, The Korean Pentecost and the Sufferings: Which Followed, 71). Most of the participants were thus led by the spirit of prayer with the awareness that the Holy Spirit was present powerfully.

(2) There was an uncontrollable contrition and a repentance of sins: "The Spirit was present in wonderful power, compelling men to reveal what lay hidden in their past lives. Deceit, pride, worldly-mindedness, lust, greed, hatred, jealousy, and in fact almost everything in the category of evil"(W. L. Swallen, "God's Work of Grace in Pyeng Yang Classes", KMF, 3-5 (1907.5), 79). People had to reveal their inner sins by the presence of Holy Spirit. Some of the missionaries became alarmed and tried to bring the congregation back under control. "But there was no suppression of the burden of sin and anguish which each felt he must confess to find relief" (George Thompson Brown, Mission to Korea, 60).

(3) Sometimes very severe physical manifestation occurred: "The effect was like the falling of many waters, as man after man would rise, confess his sins, break down and weep, and then throw himself down to beat the floor with his fists in an agony of conviction"(Brown, 59). "Sometimes they beat their foreheads and hands against the floor, sometimes they literally writhed in anguish, roaring as if the very devils were tearing them, and then at last, when there seemed no more power of resistance left, they would spring to their feet and with terrible sobs and crying, pour out their confessions of sin. And such confessions!" (William Martyne Baird, "The Spirit among Pyeng Yang Students", KMF, 3-5 (1907.5), 65).

(4) They continued to pray to be forgiven of their sins and be filled with the Holy Spirit: "Some were crying and pleading God's forgiveness for certain sins which they named to Him in prayer. All were pleading for the infilling of the Holy Ghost" (McCune, 1). It was certain that they determined to keep asking God until they received the fullness of Holy Spirit, they believed that, in order to be filled, true repentance and the prayer of faith were necessary.

"The meeting went on until 2 a.m. With alternate confessing, weeping and praying. The next evening the same phenomenon was repeated, only in intensified form" (Brown, 59-60).

"Daily we have been meeting there and praying for the Holy Spirit. We have no leader for the meeting: each one enters the room quietly, kneels down, and as he is led, prays. God is answering our prayers" (McCune, 1).

As mentioned above, most of missionary writings about the early Korean Church revival witnessed that the revival was characterized by the power of prayer, the radical repentance of sins and the outpouring presence of the Spiritual power. Such characteristics were seen not only in the Pyongyang Great Revival but also in the ongoing nation-wide revival.

There are many other references on this subject. For instance, there are some reports of L. E. Frey who was a dean of EiHwa School in 1912, KMF in which it can be seen that the girls students experienced the outpouring of Holy Spirit (Lulu E. Frey, "Revival Meetings in the Girl's School of the M. E. Church", KMF, 8-1 (1912.1), 9-10). And in 1915, KMF recorded the Methodist missionary Swearer's cases that the power of Holy Spirit appeared at Chung Chung province, showing many cases (Lillian May Swearer, "The Working of the Spirit in Choong Chung Province", KMF, 11-5 (1915.5), 130).

Bonchul Bae

Rev. Dr. Bonjour Bay (BonChul Bae) has been a professor of Historical Theology at SungKyul University, Korea since 1989. He also serves as Researcher on Spiritual Movement and as English Ministry Director. He studied at Canadian Thelogical Seminary (M. Div.) and Seoul Theological University (Th. M., Ph. D.). He wrote more than 20 books on Church History and on Pneumatology including History of Pneumatological Perspective.