The Anglican Church of Korea is a province of the Anglican Communion in Korea. It has over 100 parish and mission churches with a total membership of roughly 50,000 people.

The Church works hard for missionary education and social evangelization.

The origin of the Anglican Church of Korea can be traced back to Nov. 1, 1889, when Bishop Charles John Corfe was ordained at Westminster Abbey and inaugurated as the first diocesan bishop of Korea.

With his colleagues who had been invited to join the mission, he arrived at Incheon on Sept. 29, 1890.

They began their work in Seoul, and Gyeonggi and Chuncheong provinces, and opened a number of schools, hospitals and orphanages across the country.

To integrate the churches into Korean culture, several Anglican Church buildings were constructed in traditional Korean style in Ganghwa, Jincheon, Cheongju and other places. In 1923 the mission work became active in northern Korea.

St. Michael’s Theological Institute, the precursor to Sungkonghoe University, was established to train local clergy in 1914.

It was followed by the Society of the Holy Cross, a convent, in 1925.

The cathedral Church of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Nicholas was built in downtown Seoul in 1924. It is well known for its unique Romanesque architecture.

The first native Korean bishop, Lee Cheon-hwan, was ordained in 1965 after 20 years had lapsed since Korean independence. The Joseon diocese was positively segmented into Seoul and Daejeon dioceses, and gained independence as a province. The Daejeon diocese was segmented again into Daejeon and Busan dioceses in 1974, completing the current three-diocese system.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)