A CHRISTMAS TREAT FOR WAIFS
SEOUL CITY MISSION
Sajikkol, Seoul, Korea,
August 18, 1932.
Dear Brother and the Flock of God in your care :
You are interested, as we all are, in what is closest to you. But your affections do
not measure closeness by spacial proximity. Your mother or your son may be on the other
side of the world and still be closer than your next door neighbor. Korea is on the opposite
side of the globe, but I am sure the cause of Christ in Korea is already close to your heart.
Still, at the request of the Board of Missions, I am only too delighted to try to bring even
more vividly into your presence \his Land of Morning Calm, where, for me, the sun both
rises and sets.
To the Korean, the evening sun always loses itself among "the western mountains",
in rugged Korea there alwrays being a mountain somewhere in the west for the sun to hide
behind. And as we watch the fading glow, we know that, though it is the end of the day
for us, at that very moment America is awakening to the early morning shafts of that
same sunlight.
In the same wray, Korea has come to the sunset of her ancient civilization, and it no
longer lightens her path. And that path in recent decades has grown rapidly and alarmingly intricate, so that Korea has come to look to the lands behind her western mountains
where the light has broken afresh, longing for help and guidance. And among those
western lands, America is undoubtedly first in her affections. Sometimes I tremble when
thinking of the many evils that have come along with the good to further confuse her way,
but in her generosity she seems not to hold us responsible. It is high noon of America's
opportunity for leadership and friendship, while the evil days come not nor the years draw
nigh when Korea will say, I have no pleasure in them.
Korea is in the midst of turmoils great and momentous. Socially, the new and old
are in mortal conflict. Economically, the wolf stands just outside the door. Religiously,
while Japanese Buddhism is being imposed from above, Russian atheism is covertly seeping in underground. Here indeed " cross the crowded ways of life ". "Above the noise
of selfish strife," may " we hear thy voice, 0 Son of man."
The times are big with opportunity. As I go along the country roads between
preaching points, young men have come out and asked, '' When are you coming to our
village ? " We do not have to announce a sensational subject or put on a movie to get an
audience. The people come to meetings by hundreds and thousands ; and they linger
afterwards until we say, " Come again tomorrow and we will give you more ". Just now
union evangelistic services are being held in front of the Manchurian Exposition in Seoul,
and night after night the tabernacle is filled, and thousands of interested persons have already registered. In ten thousand villages throughout the country we could gather groups
for the asking if only a building and a leader could be supplied.
You have seen much in the church press about the self-governing churches organized
nearly two years ago in Korea, Mexico, and Brazil; and I need not tell you how that really
doubles the home church's responsibility rather than removing it. Until then Korean
Methodism was just a small conference in a big American church ; now it is an individual
entity in the world family of Methodisms. And as such, its importance and our interest are
immeasurally increased. The reorganization has already resulted in a great incentive to
sacrifice among the Korean constituency ; but unfortunately just at this critical infancy
period financial difficulties round the world have brought serious complications in addition
to those enemies perennially skirmishing along the lines, drink, gambling, the system of
concubinage, Bolshevism, and poverty.
But Korean Methodism is planted by the rivers of water; her leaf also shall not
wither. She is bearing fruit of some unique varieties. In one district every circuit has
pledged itself to go into a new village during the year and preach, walking if
necessary and paying their own expenses. The Bible institutes and classes held every
winter from ten days to six weeks are a feature of the Korean church. Women
with provisions on their heads and babies on their backs walk in, sometimes one
hundred fifty miles, to study God's Word, thousands of them in all parts of the country. The men's classes are attended mostly by young men, and all come at their own
expense. Another feature is the daybreak prayer meeting (at four or five o'clock according to the season). It is considered an indispensable part of every revival, and some
churches continue it throughout the year. Strict discipline is also characteristic of the
Korean church. Working on Sunday, tobacco, a glass of liquor, a divorce, and marrying a
divorced person or a non-Christian are sins that call for drastic action by the church. The
church rolls of Korea are among the cleanest in the world. The Methodist church boasts
the only college for women in Korea, a school for the blind, a primary school for
married women who have been deprived of early advantages, a tubercular sanatorium, and
a woman's hospital. It carries on missionary work in Manchuria, Japan, and India. The
Korean people pay sixty-nine per cent of their pastors' salaries, and over a third of the
churches are entirely self-supporting.
Still the needs are legion. More trained leaders, more literature, and many new
church buildings are desperately needed ; but perhaps greater than these is the need of an
evangelistic advance. Every district and institution needs an evangelistic missionary or
two. The pinch of poverty is keeping the church busy mainly in holding her own just now.
How can a pastor lead his people into new fields when ten or twelve churches have already
been loaded on his shoulders, some of them thirty miles away ? Our Department of
Education is the best in the Orient, but the Department of Evangelism has not a cent to
work with.
And this in the midst of tantalizing unevangelized areas. We have a territory somewhat larger than the State of West Virginia with six million population. From one
Methodist church window thirty-seven untouched villages can be seen in the valleys
beyond. A missionary from that section, the most densely populated in our territory, once
humorously remarked, "We are accused of boasting the most non-Christians of any district". Another district estimates one out of ten villages has been reached. Even in Seoul we
must be alert to keep up with the new communities ever springing up. Last October with
two Bibi0 students I walked up ten minutes from my house to a valley, only two or three
years ago a pine wood, and soon hud an audience of fifty on the hillside to preach to. In a
few weeks this work grew into a Sunday School of three hundred. Another undeveloped area
in Seoul are the fifteen thousand high school and college students, most of them from out
of town. Besides all this, we have two million Koreans to overtake who have migrated
into Manchuria and farther north.
One effort to harvest these ripe fields is being made at the City Mission, to which I
am appointed. Here since 1925 more than one hundred thousand people from every part of
the country have heard the gospel, and eight churches have been established by the
workers of the mission.
Let me close with a thrilling story that carries the atmosphere of our Korean Christianity better than anything I can say. Up and up we follow a dashing mountain stream
to the very top of the world where we see nothing but the blue sky about. And here we
find four or five log cabins ; but before we come near them we are sure to hear shouts of
joy, "The pastor has come !", and to be met by the warm clasp of the men and greeted
with bows from the women and children. All are Christians in this settlement. It is another world. Up there they hear no rumors of wars and dark doings in the world. They
are like angels without an earthly care. They read only one Book ; can talk of nothing
else, and often teach the pastor things eternal. When they go out to work in the morning,
the menrpack their knapsacks with Bible and hymn book first, and then their tools and
lunch. At the field, they pray first and then work. Whenever they snatch a minute's rest
through the day, out comes the Book and each reads a verse in turn. At lunch again they
read1 and discuss its precious words and pray. They live on potatoes and corn, but the
pastor may be treated to millet and wild honey. In the evening they have no place to
gather but the church, and there in the winter the long evenings find them reading and
singing and making straw shoes by the light of the open fire. Since the days of the
apostles has ever a church before met daily for worship ? They tithe and pay the pastor's
salary with potatoes and corn and shoes. The several families live as one house, distributing to one another as each has need. None ever comes to want. There is nothing but
love.
You see then, brethren, how that through your vision of the world parish, Korea has
come to glorify God and join in the song of the redeemed. "As touching the ministering
to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you, for I know your readiness. Thanks
be to God for His unspeakable gift."   Grace and peace be with you.
V. W. Peters
P. S.   This is Korean hand-made mulberry bark paper for which Korea is famous.