Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong)

The Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong) is an

Presbyterian Church in
Evangelical Presbyterian denomination, which is the biggest
Christian church in South Korea. The headquarters of the church is Korea (HapDong)
in Seoul, South Korea.[2] Classification Protestant
Orientation Calvinist
History Theology Reformed
Evangelical
In 1959 at the 44th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
Polity Presbyterian
of Korea the denomination divided for the third time (1951, 1953,
and 1959) into two equal parts due to the church's view of the Region South Korea
issue of ecumenism and the World Council of Churches. The Origin 1959
church was divided for and against Park Hyun-nyon, president of South Korea
the Presbyterian Seminary Society of the General Assembly. The
anti-Park party is called 'Tonghap' (the united body) and the pro- Separated from Presbyterian

Park party is called 'Hapdong' (the union body).[3] Church in Korea

(TongHap)
The divisions from all three splits during the 50s still exist. The Branched from Presbyterian
divisions from the third split between Tonghap and Hapdong
Church of Korea
respectively are still the largest Presbyterian dominations in South
Korea.[3] Separations Presbyterian
Church in Korea
The HapDong section represented more theologically conservative (Koshin)
wing than the TongHap. The Tonghap group maintained its
Congregations 11,758
affiliation to the World Council of Churches and the National
Council of Churches and allowed relatively wide range of Members 2,556,182[1]
theological positions.[4][5] Ministers 24,855

The Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong) was the more Official website gapck.org (http://
conservative group in the schism. Its conservative doctrinal basis gapck.org/)
made it possible to unite later with the Presbyterian Church in
Korea (Koshin) in 1960. But this union did not last and a group of Presbyterian Church in
Koshin churches separated a few years later, although about 150 Korea
Koshin congregations stayed with HapDong. In 1961, another Hangul 대한예수교장로
group separated to form the Bible Presbyterian Church, later to be
called the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Daeshin).[2]
회(합동)
Hanja 大韓예수敎長老
At the 64th General assembly in 1979 the church suffered another 會(合同)
division. Kim Hee Bo the President of the ChongShin Seminary
Revised Daehan yesugyo
advocated for the historical-critical approach to the Pentateuch.
The church divided into a mainline and non-mainline groups. The Romanization jangnohoe
debate centered about two issues: the authorship of the Pentateuch Hapdong
and the relationship with the ChongShin Seminary. The non- McCune– Taehan yesugyo
mainline section fragmented in the following years. Reischauer changnohoe
Haptong
In the 1990s the current HapDong experienced phenomenal growth. By the early 2000s, HapDong
developed into the largest denomination in South Korea with more than 2.2 million communicant members,
5,123 congregations, and 6,300 ordained pastors.[2][6] These figures differ from the statistics offered by
Chongshin Seminary, which claims the church has 11,000 congregations and about 3 million members.[7]

In South Korea there are about 15 million Protestants, about 9 million are Presbyterians in more than 100
denominations.[8]

Doctrine
The Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong) is a theologically conservative denomination. The Hapdong
group subscribe the historic Presbyterian Confessions like:

Creeds
Apostles' Creed

Confessions
Westminster Confession of Faith
Westminster Larger Catechism
Westminster Shorter Catechism[6]

According to the Apostle Paul's instructions, there are no women ordinations.

Theological Education
The Chongshin University and Chongshin Seminary (http://eng.chongshin.ac.kr/) are the only official
educational institutions of the HapDong Church to train pastors.[7][9]

Missions
The Presbyterian Church in Korea HapDong created the Global Missions Society (GMS) in South Korea
for supporting evangelism and missions. The Global Mission Society, the missionary body of the Hapdong
General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches of Korea, is the single largest Presbyterian missionary
organization in South Korea and the world with over 2,500 missionaries working in Europe, Asia, Russia,
Latin America, Africa.[10][11][12]

References
1. "대한예수교장로회총회 " (http://gapck.org/sub_01/sub02_02.asp?menu=menu2).
2. Melton, J.G.; Baumann, M. (2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia
of Beliefs and Practices (https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA2297).
ABC-CLIO. p. 2297. ISBN 9781598842043. Retrieved 2015-06-25.
3. Kim, In Soo (2008). "Towards Peace and Reconciliation between South and North Korean
Churches: Contextual Analysis of the Two Churches (Ch9)". Peace and Reconciliation : In
Search of Shared Identity. Farnham: Ashgate Pub. p. 137. ISBN 9780754664611.
 4. "The Presbyterian Church of Korea" (http://pck.or.kr/Eng/History/MajorH.asp). pck.or.kr.
Retrieved 2015-06-25.
5. Jeong, P. Y. (2007). Mission from a Position of Weakness (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=DMGTrLARv9QC&pg=PA125). New York: Peter Lang. p. 125. ISBN 978-1433100963.
6. "Presbyterian Church of Korea (HapDong)" (http://www.reformiert-online.net/adressen/detail.
php?id=13111&lg=de). Reformed Online. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
7. "History" (http://wiz.chongshin.ac.kr/user/indexSub.action?codyMenuSeq=1471&siteId=csu
eng). Chongshin University. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
8. Meehan, Chris (4 October 2010). "Touched by Devotion in South Korea" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20170709093000/https://www.crcna.org/news-and-views/touched-devotion-south-
korea). Christian Reformed Church. Archived from the original (http://www.crcna.org/news-a
nd-views/touched-devotion-south-korea) on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
9. Chung, Ilung (3 May 2013). "Chongshin University: What We Believe" (http://www.reformedn
ews.co.kr/sub_read.html?uid=2650&section=sc9). The Reformed News. Retrieved 25 June
2015.
10. "History" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120327191059/http://e-gms.gms.kr/about/history.ph
p). Global Mission Society. Archived from the original (http://e-gms.gms.kr/about/history.php)
on 2012-03-27. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
11. "Global Mission Society" (http://kcm.kr/dic_view.php?nid=39503). Korea Computer Mission.
국내 최대 선교기구
12. " GMS ' 드라이브스루 선거 ' " (http://news.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=
0924207781&code=23111111&cp=nv). 6 September 2021.

External links
Official website (http://www.gapck.org/) (in Korean)

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