My Pilgrimage in Mission |
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David Dong-Jin Cho |
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| I was born December 19, 1924 near the Yalu River at the border of Korea with China. I was the eldest son of a prominent Korean resistance leader against the Japanese military regime, which had occupied Korea since its invasion in 1905. My father received Christ as his savior when he was 10 years old, and I received baptism as an infant after 100days of I was born from Rev. Donald A. Swicord, a missionary came from the Southern Presbyterian Church of USA, so I was raised as a Christian during childhood. |
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| Devine Calling |
| My calling came to me in December of 1945, at a revival meeting at the small rural church where I was serving as a deacon. The revival meeting was lead by an evangelist who spent 7 years in prison because he refused to obey and bow head to the Shinto shrine of the Japanese. On the third day of this revival meeting, I was broken down by the spirit and confessed and repent all my iniquities, falseness, and sins I have committed and concealed since my childhood. I wept and cried and prayed for three days and three nights without sleep, eating, and drinking. I took an oath to obey my calling of being a servant and witness of the Lord. The pastor of the church and the speaker of the revival meeting laid their hands on my head. And I took an exam to be a candidate of pastorship at the Synod. |
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| Excellence in Theology But Fail in Evangelism |
| I fled to South Korea from the Communist rule of North Korea to receive my theological education at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, from which I graduated in June 1949 with an honor in Theology. |
| I began evangelization to plant the church but failed to reach heathens. I soon realized that my seminary training did not teach me how to evangelize unreached, and so I failed to reach unreached people because I did not know how to begin evangelism to heathens. So I decided to study evangelism. |
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| Beginning of Mission and Evangelism Studies |
| In 1956, I went to the United States to pursue my studies in mission and evangelism. |
| Since 1956 my missionary training pilgrimage began, it started from Barrington College Providence, Rhode Island to WEC Missionary Training Center, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and to Bethany Missionary College, Minneapolis, Minnesota. I continued advanced study of mission under Dr. J. T. Seamand and evangelism from Dr. Robert Coleman at the Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky and received Th.M in Mission in 1960,. I was conferred two honorary degrees, Doctor of Divinity, from Belhaven College, Mississippi and from my alma mater, the Asbury Theological Seminary, Kentucky. And finally I earned a Ph.D. at the William Carey International University in Pasadena, California. |
| From 1960 to 1978 I served as the Senior Minister of the Hoo-Am Presbyterian Church in Seoul, Korea. From 1961, I advocated the opening of courses for mission studies at seminaries in Korea. I began to teach the Mission and Evangelism at the Presbyterian Seminary, the Methodist Seminary, and the Holiness Seminary in Seoul. And after that I established the International School of Mission (ISM) in Seoul, Korea in 1963 which later expanded to the East-West Center for Missions Research and Development in 1973. It was the first missionary training and research institute in the non-Western world. |
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| Efforts for Partnership with Western Missions |
| I dreamed of building a partnership with Western missions for the leadership development of the newly emerging Asian missions. My contact began at the Asia Pacific Congress on Evangelism which was held in Singapore from November 5th to 13th in 1968. I visited the Overseas Missionary Fellowship headquarter which is located in Singapore. I proposed to the Chief Executives to cooperate to train missionaries of Korean mission agencies, but after a short discussion, they coldly refused my proposal. I, however, did not give up contacting the Western missions which was operating in Asia to supplicate for the cooperation with newly emerging Asian missions. I went to the States and contacted C&MA mission in New York and met Dr. Luis King, General Secretary of C&MA Board to work together with Korean missionaries in Vietnam. Vietnam was a major mission field of C&MA in Asia, and was also where a number of Korean missionaries had newly begun their mission work. After a long discussion, they gently refused to accept my proposal of partnership with Korean missions. Again, I went to Wilmington, Delaware to meet the CEO of the World Presbyterian Mission and proposed a partnership, but this was also refused by them. I, again, went to Wheaton, Illinois to meet the head of TEAM Mission, as I had been deeply involved in their attempts to open their World of Life Press and Radio Mission Station in Korea, and was responsible for much of their progress in literature and radio ministries in Korea. They, however, did not accept my proposal of a partnership contract. My one year effort to build up the partnership with Western missions had failed. |
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| Achievement of Inter-Asia Network and East-West Cooperation |
| So I decided to build up an Asia-wide network first and then later pursue my contact of Western missions. I made a special trip to twelve Asian countries. I met Dr. Akira Hatori in Japan, Dr. Philip Teng and Dr. Timothy Dzao in Hong Kong, Dr. David Liao in Taiwan, Rev. Witchean Wataki Charowen in Thailand, Dr. Chandu Ray in Singapore, Dr. G. D. James in Malaysia, Rev. Greg Tingson in Philippines. And I contacted Rev. Doan Vau Mieng in Vietnam, and met Dr. Samuel Kamaleson and Rev. Theodore Williams in India, Bishop Bashir Jiwan in Pakistan, and Rev. Sabuhas Sangma in Bagladesh. All of them were the major leaders of the Asian missionary movement in 1960s. They were unanimous in their involvement in launching a network of Asian missions and to cooperate to build up the partners' relations mutually. We finally reached the consensus to call the All-Asia Mission Consultation in Seoul, Korea on August 1973. |
| I have attended the Green Lake Conference of IFMA-EFMA of USA on September 1971. And I announced the consensus of the All-Asia Mission Consultation in Seoul, Korea on August 1973 and gave an open invitation to the leaders of Western missions as distinguished guests. The responses came from the following mission professors and IFMA-EFMA and WEF Executives: |
| Dr. Arthur F. Glasser, Dean of Fuller Seminary School of World Mission; Dr. Ralph D. Winter and Dr. Peter Wagner, Professors of Fuller School of World Mission; Dr. George Peters, Professor of Dallas Theological Seminary; Dr. Edwin L. (Jack) Frizen, Executive Secretary of IFMA; Dr. Clyde W. Taylor, Executive Secretary of EFMA; Dr. Waldron Scott, General Secretary of WEF; Rev. Horace S. Williamson, Asia Director of WEC, USA. |
| I have invited all respondents to the All-Asia Mission Consultation as distinguished guests from Western missions. |
| Through this invitation to high level Western mission leaders, I greatly achieved my efforts of cooperation between the East and West for Asian missionary leadership development. |
| I initiated the call for the All-Asia Mission Consultation was held from August 27th to September 1st, 1973 in Seoul, Korea. Twenty-six leading figures from thirteen Asian countries, four specially invited Western missiologists, three Executives of IFMA, EFMA, WEF, two representatives from WEC and Wycliffe Bible Translators, and twelve observers from Western missionaries who were working in Korea participated. |
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| The Consultation resolved to form a Continuation Committee to carry out the following functions: |
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To send at least two hundred new Asian missionaries by the end of 1974. |
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To encourage the formation of National Missions Association in every country of Asia. |
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To work for the establishment of the East-West Center for cooperation of Missionary Research and Development in Seoul, Korea. |
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| The Continuation Committee has done all of these functions including placing two hundred new missionaries before the end of 1974 to two target areas, Kalimantan Island of Indonesia and North-Eastern side of Thailand which were not evangelized areas at that year. |
| Five national associations of missions were formed in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, India and Indonesia before the end of 1974. |
| The East-West Center for Missions Research and Development was established immediately after the consultation in 1973 and opened the first Summer Institute of World Mission on the following date of the consultation. 67 students were enrolled from five countries of Asia and four professors who attended the consultation were invited as instructors of the first Summer Institute of the East West Center for Missions Research and Development. |
| As the Executive Director of the Continuation Committee of that consultation, I initiated formation of the Asia Missions Association which became the first regional association in the world. The Asia Missions Association was inaugurated on August 28 to September 1, 1975 at the Academy House in Seoul, Korea with delegates from thirteen Asian countries: Bangladesh, Republic of China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Western fraternal delegates from four countries: Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States. The inaugural convention of AMA declared the Seoul Declaration on Christian Mission. I drafted the Seoul Declaration on Christian Mission which became a counterpart of the Wheaton Declaration, 1966 and the Frankfurt Declaration, 1970. |
| The AMA, as an inter-Asian network since 1975, grew quickly and influenced very widely even beyond the Asia to Africa and Latin America. The Nigerian Evangelical Missions Association was formed by Rev. Panya Baba who attended the second triennial convention of AMA in Singapore on 1978. The Brazil Association of Foreign Missions was formed by Rev. Jonathan Santos who attended the third triennial convention of AMA in Seoul on 1982. And the Third World Missions Association was launched on May 1989 as the inter-continental network of missions of Asia, Africa and Latin America. |
| As a result of this venture, many Western mission leaders took notice. I was invited by Billy Graham to join the Preparatory Consultation of International Congress on World Evangelization, Switzerland which was held in Atlanta, Georgia. I was honored to serve as a Chairperson at the third date of the Preparatory Conference of Lausanne Congress. In 1974, I was appointed as a speaker of the Plenary Session of Mission Strategy at the first International Congress on Evangelization, Lausanne, Switzerland. |
| I have delivered a paper on the theme on “Innovation of Mission Structure for the New World”. I stressed shifting to a two-way approach to missions from the one-way mission of the Western world alone. I also emphasized that the East and West have the need and resources in either side of the globe. Therefore input and output must come together from both the East and West. The East and West should join hands to analyze and research the availability of resources and the areas of need. This is the way in which to create training to produce new forces of mission from both worlds. |
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| Teaching Ministries of Missiology |
| In 1974, I was appointed as a member of the Ad-hoc Committee of Missions Commission of World Evangelical Fellowship. As a member of the Ad-hoc Committee of Missions Commission of WEF, I initiated the inaugural meeting of the Missions Commission of WEF at Seoul, Korea in August 1975. Since 1979, I have also served as a professor and Director of Korean Studies of the William Carey International University in Pasadena, California; the Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon; and as a visiting professor of the Fuller School of World Mission. |
| In 1988, I called the third world mission leaders to a consultation in Portland, Oregon. The outcome of that consultation was the formation of the Third World Missions Association (TWMA) in 1989 at the Western Seminary, Portland, Oregon. I was elected as the Chairman of the Association and served until 1995. |
| Since 1988, I have served as a major speaker of the Korean World Mission Conference, which has been held every 4 years at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. |
| I have lectured at various missiological schools in the U.S. including the Wheaton Graduate School, Moody Bible School, Trinity School of Divinity, Westminster Seminary, Dallas Seminary, Reformed Seminary. |
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| Mission to North Korea |
| Since 1989 until 2000, I have visited North Korea over 20 times for peace mission and reconciliation mission to open the door for Christian ministries in North Korea and met personally with Kim Il Sung, the leader of North Korea three times. I have donated, by the name of William Carey International University, two thousand seven hundred volumes of Christian books such as Theology, Biblical Studies, Church Histories, etc. to the library of Kim Il Sung University officially and publicly. On the each volume of the books signed by Kim Il Sung, the Chairman of the North Korean government. The Kim Il Sung University opened the Religious Department to teach Christianity and other religions. I was appointed as a visiting professor of Kim Il Sung University and Pyong Yang Seminary in North Korea. I have also preached regularly whenever I visit North Korea at newly opened two churches in Pyong Yang, the capital of North Korea. |
| In June 1991, I accompanied the North Korean ambassador Han Shi Hae to President Jimmy Carter's Georgia home to extend Kim Il Sung's invitation to come to Pyong Yang, North Korea. I arranged the visit of Dr. Billy Graham and the former president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, to Pyong Yang, North Korea. |
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| After the Year 2000 |
| From 2000 to 2003, I have served as a missionary to Russia. I established the Russian Institute of Christian Leadership Development in Moscow, and formed the Moscow Synod of the Church of Christ, Russia in 2002. I called the 8th Triennial Convention of Asia Missions Association to Moscow which was held in Moscow in September, 2003 and formed the Asian Society of Missiology and Dr. Timothy K. Park was elected as the President. In November 2006, the 9th Triennial Convention of the Asia Missions Association was held in Ephesus, Asia Minor. The theme of the Ephesus Convention of AMA was the Mission, Apostolic Way. |
| In 2004, thirty six fellow alumnus younger mission scholars who are following my way of development of Asian missiology gathered together in Soul, Korea and decided to establish David Cho Missiological Institute and the World Mission History Museum and Library. They also resolved to continue and reshape the East-West Center for Missions Research and Development which I established in 1973. They elected Dr. Timothy K. Park, Professor of the Fuller School of World Mission, as the new General Director of the Center. These ventures will succeed my endeavor to make Asian mission back to the original Biblical way of mission and restore the Apostolic Way of Mission with Passover to beyond of early Christendom and traditional Western missions in Asian missionary movement. |
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