The Namdaemoon Presbyterian Church is holding a special sermon, history forum and concert in commemoration of 130 years since the First State Sunday service was held in Korea on June 21, 1885.

The service is recorded to have been held at the house of Horace Newton Allen, a Protestant medical missionary and diplomat from the United States to Korea at the end of the Joseon Dynasty. It was also attended by missionaries John William Heron and the mother of missionary Mary F. Scranton, records say.

The special sermon will be held at 3 p.m. on June 21. It will be led by the Rev. Jeong Young-taek, president of the Presbyterian Church of Korea and resident minister at the Gyeongju First Presbyterian Church, and speak of “the church belonging to Christ.” 

The Rev. Seo Cheol of Sangdong Methodist Church, which was founded by Scranton, will be speaking in order to celebrate the spirit of cooperation between early missionaries.

Also speaking a message of unity and congratulations will be the Rev. Debora Patterson from the First Presbyterian Church of Delaware, Ohio, which is the church Allen had belonged to and is the sister church of Namdaemoon Presbyterian. She and a group of seven worshippers from the church are visiting Korea from June 16-22 to join the ceremony.

At 1 p.m. on June 20, a forum on the church’s history will be held, retracing Allen’s life and the early stages of mission work. Four experts ― Professors Byeon Chang-wook and Lim Hee-kook of the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminars, Professor Jung Jong-hoon of Yonsei University and James Steve Shaw of the First Presbyterian Church of Delaware ― will be giving presentations and holding a discussion on the topics.

A concert will take place at 8 p.m. on June 19, featuring on the organs Dr. Joseph Musser from Ohio Wesleyan University, choirs and other instrumentalists.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Sohn Yoon-tahk of Namdaemoon Presbyterian spoke of the important role that the Jejoongwon, now Severance Hospital, played in the foundation of the Korean church.

“At that time, the Joseon court allowed hospitals and schools but not churches,” he said. “Jejoongwon acted not only as a medical facility but also as a community of faith, spreading the gospel and carrying out missionary work.”

“I am here to celebrate those who did not fear death and spread the gospel. I have witnessed the seeds of their faith become a large tree and then a forest at Namdaemoon Presbyterian,” said the Rev. Patterson.

“I will be performing a mixture of the Korean folk song ‘Arirang’ and American hymn ‘What Wondrous Love Is This’ on the pipe organ, to celebrate 130 years since the first sermon and the union of the First Presbyterian Church of Delaware and Namdaemoon Presbyterian,” said Dr. Musser. “I hope the relationship between our two churches continues to be as rich as the deep sounds of the organ.”

By Rumy Doo (bigbird@heraldcorp.com)