How Christianity in Korea has Affected The Korean Diaspora

I originally wrote this in Nov. 2009 and it can be found in my blog titled: "My Observations." I decided to post it here also. Some stories of people in this post are about the same people I wrote about in my most recent post, just below this one.

First of all, let me explain that Korea has more Christians per capita than any country in East Asia except the Phillipines. Among Korean Christians there are some who could be called Sunday Christians, but there are so many who are card-carrying, seven days a week Christians.

What I want to explain first is how this has affected the Korean diaspora around the world. Try this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_diaspora I want to share a few stories about Koreans I have met while living in Korea:

1. Once I met a young Korean who spoke English seemingly perfectly and I asked him how he learned. He replied his parents went to South American to be missionaries, and he went to an international school. Of course he was fluent in Spanish also. Later he became a pastor, married a Korean-American woman and moved back to South America to pastor a church.
2. On another occasion same thing happened. I met another young Korean guy who spoke English very well. His parents had lived in the Phillipines as missionaries. His father was a pastor. He too went to international school. Not only that but he got a full scholarship to a Christian college in the US. He told me that college was generous with children of pastors. Later he was back in Korea looking for work and soon after working. Speaking English perfectly well is a huge advantage when job seeking in Korea.
3. One Korean teacher I met had a brother studying at a seminary in California. While there his wife gave birth to three children which would make them US citizens, and start learning English from an early age, something every Korean wants for their kids.
4. One Korean woman I met in the US immigrated with her family to the US when she was in elementary school. Her father was a pastor. It's very likely he was able to get the visa because of that.
5. A young Korean couple I knew moved to the US a few years ago. The man was planning to attend seminary. I have lost touch with them, but I can guess it's likely after he graduates from seminary he will become a pastor and stay there.
6. At the time of the news of the group of Korean missionaries being caught in Afghanistan, it was said that Korea sends more missionaries to other countries than any other country except the US. If one considers the US population is over six times the population of Korea, obviously Korea sends the most per capita.
7. A few years ago I met a newlywed couple who were attending either seminary or Bible college. The young man told me he was planning to move to Africa later to work as a missionary.
8. One Korean pastor told me that there are more Koreans in US seminaries than any other ethnic group. How many of them upon graduation will live or settle in countries outside of Korea?
9. One Korean pastor I met told me he attended seminary in The Phillipines and Scotland. Though he and his wife returned to Korea, his kids remained in the UK attending school or college. One can guess there's a good chance they'll settle there or another country outside Korea.
10. I've heard there are Korean missionaries working with North Koreans in China.
11. Every place on earth where there are Koreans there are Korean churches, even in Iran as one Korean woman told me. How many pastors, families, assistants, etc. are living in these places?

I may add more to this later. For now let me ask this: How has Christianity in Korea affected the Korean diaspora? How many Koreans would be living around the world if Korea had the same percentage of Christians as Japan, Taiwan, Thailand or China? The numbers in that link would be totally different, wouldn't they?

What Christianity has Done for Korea

For starters, everything I say here is my opinion which is based on my experience. Anyone can agree, disagree or partially agree with anything I say. No problem. Here are some ways in which Christianity has helped Korea/Korean people:


1 - Health - Koreans who are Christians dislike drinking and smoking. Actually a high number of them refuse to drink or smoke. Even one Christian young man told me he'd never tasted alcohol. This is rare for Korean young men. Sometimes I have heard Koreans say, "I can't drink because I am Christian." I never hear this from Christians from any other countries.

I believe I know where this comes from. A Korean pastor told me that American missionaries who converted Koreans in the past asked them to promise to not drink or smoke. In fact, when people were baptized, they made a promise to be Christian without drinking or smoking. So it's like they were making two or three promises in one.

Whatever one might think of drinking or smoking, most think moderation is okay, going without both of these leads to better health, fewer accidents and the like. Actually, as I write this, I realize that its hard to be moderate in Korea. Korean students or salarymen go out to eat and drink so much. Maybe the only way that these people can avoid drink or smoking is to avoid them completely.

2 - Jobs - This sounds funny but...I think Christianity actually created jobs for Koreans. The number of pastors in Korea is high, I think at least 10 percent of Korean adult men are pastors. Okay maybe not quite that many but its not much lower than that. Something I've heard: There are more pastors than churches in Korea. Something I know: There are Korean churches round the world, obviously all or almost all of them have pastors which come from Korea.

Another option is becoming a missionary. There are Koreans who are missionaries round the world. Korean churches support missions; they support want-to-be missionaries as they go through seminaries or Bible colleges.

3 - Travel / Opportunities/ Exposure to New Cultures - Of course Korean pastors and missionaries working around the world have the chance to be in new countries, new environments AND their families are often with them. This means Korean children of pastors/missionaries are growing up learning different languages and being exposed to things they would not be in Korea.

Two quick stories about this: I know two Korean young men who grew up in different countries because their parents were pastors and/or missionaries. First, they learned the languages of the countries where they stayed; one of them learned two languages, Spanish and Portuguese because his parents stayed in more than one country in South America. The other most likely learned the language of the country where he stayed which was the Phillipines, however because English is also a major language in that country, it's possible he didn't learn Tagalog, but I assume that he did.

On top of knowing Korean and other languages, they both spoke/read/wrote English perfectly as far as I could see because....they grew up attending international schools where the primary language was English.

Another benefit one of them received was that he received a full scholarship to a Christian college in the US which he said favored children of pastors, and then atttended grad school at one of the best engineering universities. The other attended university and then seminary in Korea, which were likely free for him. Korean universities often give scholarships to foreign students and seminaries are often free for students who receive church support.

One more quick story: A Korean pastor I spoke with who spent some time living in the UK and the Phillipines to attend seminaries was joined there by his family. I'm not sure if he pastored in the UK but he may have. His parishioners asked him to return to Korea so he did with his wife, but his kids continued to attend school in the UK. They had gotten scholarships I believe to middle school and to college. I thought it was interesting that they could stay there even though he and his wife were in Korea. There's a very good chance that his children will decide to remain in the UK after finishing school, in my opinion. This is a benefit which they wouldn't have had had their father not been a seminarian and then pastor. I only talked with him a few times and I don't know his family's entire story, but he did tell me these things which I wrote about.

Something else I heard: USA seminaries have more students which are Korean than any other nationality. If this is true in the US, I would bet it's also true in other Western countries, The Phillipines and other countries. Fuller Theological Seminary, which I heard is the USA's largest, offers courses in Korean as well as English. There may some courses in Spanish. I've met Koreans who had attended seminary or Bible college in the US, or who were considering it.

I'm not criticizing any of this, I just find it interesting the number of opportunities which open up to Korean Christians. Koreans who are not Christian, almost all Japanese, Chinese, Thais and the rest of Asia do not have these opportunities. If they want to do something like move abroad they need another method.

Church in Korea

There is a higher percentage tof Christians in Korea than any country in Asia besides The Phillipines. I've heard there are more Korean pastors than churches in Korea and missionaries from Korea in every country around the world.

Like it or not Christianity has had an effect on Korean culture. There are some who don't like the Christians in Korea or their thinking, but like it or not it's here to stay and I'll say again, has had a profound effect on Korean life, culture, Koreans abroad.

One can see neon orange crosses on tops of buildings. Foreigners in Korea the first time don't understand. In a well-populated area in Setoul yotu can see them all otver. One foreign friend told me he thought each one was the household of sometone who was Christian. I don't know the history of this or why these are used.

Of the Koreans I've met in Korea or the US, many told me their fathers were pastors. A few said their parents were missionaries.

The largest seminary in the USA, Fuller Theological Seminary in CA, has classes offered in Korean. I guess other seminaries do as well.

There's a lot I want to write on this topic.