Oral Roberts' Impact on the Korean Healing Movement
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology Volume 3 Article 15 Number 2 Oral Roberts Centennial 2018 Oral Roberts’ Impact on the Korean Healing Movement Yeolsoo Eim Youngsan Theological Seminary, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/spiritus Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of Christianity Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, New Religious Movements Commons, Practical Theology Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Custom Citation Yeolsoo, Eim. “Oral Roberts” Impact on the Korean Healing Movement.” Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology. 3, no.. 2 (2018) 351-370. https://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/spiritus/vol3/iss2/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Theology & Ministry at Digital Showcase. It has been accepted for inclusion in Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology by an authorized editor of Digital Showcase. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Oral Roberts’ Impact on the Korean Healing Movement Spiritus 3.2 (2018) 351-370 http://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/spiritus/ Yeolsoo Eim © The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and Permissions: [email protected] Key Words: Oral Roberts, Korean healing movement, Doctor of Ministry, Holy Spirit, Korean Methodist Church, healing crusade, denominational walls Abstract Oral Roberts casts a large shadow of influence upon the healing movements and theology of Korea. Oral Roberts University’s outreach to Korea through the Doctor of Ministry program impacted the local Korean church with the message of healing. Today, there are over 200 ORU alumni in Korea, many of whom graduated from the Doctor of Ministry program during 1992–2012. This article will reflect on the impact of the ORU Doctor of Ministry program in Korea through the stories of several of the most significant graduates. Introduction ince the founding of Oral Roberts University (ORU), the mission articulatedS to Oral Roberts has been to “raise up your students to hear My voice, to go where My light is dim, where My voice is heard small, and My healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth.” Similarly, the mission of the university has been to “impact the world with God’s healing.” Paul G. Chappell, who served the ORU College of Theology and Ministry for seventeen years as a faculty Korean Healing Movement| Eim 351 member and dean, has called Oral Roberts one of the three greatest Christian leaders in the twentieth century, along with Pope John Paul II and Billy Graham.1 This is certainly true in Korea, where Oral Roberts casts a large shadow of influence upon the healing movements and theology of Korea. The influence of Oral Roberts’ ministry began with his relationship with David Yonggi Cho, the founder of the world’s largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church.2 But it was ORU’s outreach to Korea through the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program that truly impacted the local Korean church with the message of healing. Today, there are over 200 ORU alumni in Korea, many of whom graduated from the D.Min. program from 1992–2012. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth, this article will reflect on the impact of the D.Min. program in Korea through the stories of several of the most significant graduates. Healing Movement in Korea The first wave of the Pentecostal revival began in Korea among Methodist missionaries in August 1903.3 For the next four years, the Holy Spirit began to pour out on Korean believers, and leaders such as Sunju Kil, Ikdoo Kim, Yongdo Lee, and Seongbong Lee were raised up to proclaim the message of healing. Later, Pentecostal denominations arrived in Korea when a Pentecostal missionary named Mary C. Rumsey arrived in Korea in March 1928.4 Rumsey began to preach a gospel that included two primary emphases: baptism in the Holy Spirit and divine healing. From her ministry the first Pentecostal church was established in March 1933 in Seoul. Local churches began to invite healing evangelists to hold crusades in various assemblies around the country. Eventually famous healing evangelists began to emerge, such as Sunju Kil in the 1920s, Ikdoo Kim in the 1940s, and Seongbong Lee in the 1950s.5 The number of full gospel churches began to multiply, many people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, and many were healed.6 Perhaps the most prominent of these healing evangelists was David Yonggi Cho, who planted the Full Gospel Church on May 18, 1958. Over the next few decades, Cho’s church grew to become the largest church in the world.7 Younghoon Lee, a senior pastor at Yoido 352 Spiritus Vol 3, No 2 Full Gospel Church, said that the most important factor for the rapid growth was the healing ministry of Cho.8 Cho was influenced by many healing evangelists from America, but it was Oral Roberts who influenced his ministry most significantly.9 Even though healing was always important in most full gospel communities, it was not taught at the established theological institutions. Therefore, most of the Pentecostal theologies and practices were disseminated and most of the healing evangelists were trained through the “Prayer Mountain movement.”10 The Yongmoon Prayer Mountain, founded by Woonmong Ra in 1942, trained the women at Gideon Bible School for two years.11 They would pledge that they would not marry and would spend their whole lives for the Lord in the Prayer Mountains. After graduating, they pioneered the Prayer Mountains by themselves. Around eighty percent of the directors of Prayer Mountains in Korea were from Gideon Bible School at Yougmoon Prayer Mountain by the year 1998.12 Believers would visit the Prayer Mountains for spiritual refreshing, while others visited for healing from diseases. ORU Reaches Korea The Korean language D.Min. program at ORU was launched in 1992 and terminated in 2012. During that period, 138 pastors graduated with the degree of D.Min., even though more than 250 pastors applied. The breakdown of graduates was as follows: Methodist Church—47 pastors (34%), Presbyterian Church—33 pastors (24%), Full Gospel Church—30 pastors (22%), Evangelical Holiness Church—13 pastors (9%), Foursquare Gospel Church—8 pastors (6%), Baptist Church—4 pastors (3%), Nazarene Church—3 pastors (2%). Of the program’s graduates, five served as denominational presidents, two serve as bishops in the Methodist Church, four serve as the Korean Healing Movement| Eim 353 chairmen of the board of trustees, fourteen serve as faculty members, and ten serve as missionaries. Many others are working as healing evangelists visiting many churches interdenominationally. The program dates back to the fall of 1986, when the author returned to Korea upon completion of his theological education in the U.S. The initial plan was to open a Korean Foursquare Bible School, but there was little support. Instead, I reached out to Jack W. Hayford, Senior Pastor of the Church on the Way, who was my sponsor for seven years while studying in America. At that time, Hayford was a member of the ORU Board of Trustees and Deputy Dean of the College of Theology and Ministry at the Church on the Way. He advised me to reach out to the seminary leadership at ORU, Paul G. Chapell and Charles Snow, to build a program to develop Spirit-filled leaders in Korea. In 1989, ORU commenced its Master of Divinity (M.Div.) Korean extension program with the help of Korea Foursquare Bible School. As more students joined the M.Div. Korean extension program, ORU also launched the D.Min. program in 1992. Chappell and Snow worked tirelessly to receive permission from the Association of Theological Schools in North America (ATS) for the Korean Language D.Min. Program. The author was named the Director of the Korean Language D.Min. Program and served as an adjunct faculty member for twenty years during 1992–2012. Korean pastors visited ORU for two summers, five weeks at a time, and were allowed to write their projects starting from the third year. Before they visited, they completed their pre-course assignments. After they returned home, they continued with their post-course assignments. In addition, ORU professors visited Korea during the fall semester and taught one class in Korea. The students studied for twelve weeks in total, which is three weeks longer than English-speaking students due to the interpretation of classes from English to Korean. The impact of ORU’s whole person education had a profound impact on the ministries of these graduates. In particular, the graduates’ attitude toward the ministry of the Holy Spirit was transformed. Many of the pastors began the program without any significant seminary studies of the Holy Spirit when they studied for their master’s degree, except in terms of the basic systematic theological subject of the Trinity. 354 Spiritus Vol 3, No 2 ORU’s teachings from the Pentecostal and charismatic perspectives challenged the pastors because many of them were unfamiliar with many of the terms and practices, including baptism in the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and prayer for divine healing. In fact, for many of them, the Divine Healing class was the first they had ever been exposed to. Not only were they exposed to new teaching on healing, but they also witnessed these teachings first-hand in the program. One particular example occurred in a 1995 Divine Healing class, when one of the students was coughing regularly due to asthma. The professor, Paul Chappell, who was teaching the Divine Healing class, stopped the teaching and asked all the pastors to stand around the student and lay hands upon and pray for him.