Repentance: Key to revival (The Pyongyang example)

While in Korea, we spent some days at the Osanri prayer mountain. Whilst there, I am always struck and deeply inspired by the fervency with which Koreans cry out to the Lord in prayer. It's hard not to hear these prayers - they are shouted from the mountaintops (literally!) and resound beyond the confines of individual prayer ghettos. It seems to me these prayers are not just uttered; they almost rise from deep within the believers' spirit. It's just incredible to behold.

Another reason I'm inspired by this is that I've been thinking a lot about revivals -and why the Lord has poured out His Spirit to sweep in great numbers into His Kingdom in some lands. As far as I know, these God-breathed revivals are few and far between in modern history ... the Azusa Street revival, the Welsh revival etc, are a few that come to mind. So one question I had in my mind was: How did Korea get Christianised? It's an Asian nation and the spread of Christianity in the East largely occurred in the last 50 years. We had the privilege of dining with a full-time Christian worker in Seoul, whilst there, and she shared that Korea was blessed by the presence of Western missionaries. What surprised me though was when she shared that the first major revival in Korea took place in Pyongyang.

This is what I learnt from my research: the Pyongyang revival of 1907 was triggered by a repentance movement. As people confessed their sins to each other and the Lord, the Holy Spirit fell.

Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit (Psalms 34:18)

Is genuine repentance, hearts broken by our sin, a key to revival in the land?

Article from OMF:

What is the extent of God’s grace and what are its limits? Sometimes we have the tendency to forget that God delights in working the impossible in the most difficult of times. And, indeed, one of the great reminders of His powerful grace and His perfect timing is the Pyongyang Revival, a dramatic revival in 1907 that was later called the “Pentecost of Pyongyang” and which was one of the reasons Pyongyang came to be called the “Jerusalem of the East.”

The northern region of Korea in the early 1900s faced many struggles and was a seemingly unfruitful place for the gospel, in much the same way that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is perceived today. In 1905, at the end of the Russo-Japanese war, Korea was placed under Japanese protectorate (and later fully annexed by Japan in 1910); this led to a general feeling of disillusionment and despair in the country. Pyongyang, the country’s third largest city at the time, had been known as “the most wicked city in Korea” and “a city of hopelessness” until 1892 when the gospel began to be preached there. By the end of 1906 there were 6,000 Christians out of a population of 40,000, but about two-thirds of all businesses were drinking establishments and the city’s reputation for ungodliness remained.

The beginnings of revival in Korea started in Wonsan (on the Eastern coast of what is today the DPRK) in 1903, with a small group of missionaries who felt led to confess their sins. Similar meetings were held in a few major cities in 1904 and the spirit of confession and repentance began to spread. In 1905 the revival movement spread over the whole Korean peninsula, continued to grow in 1906 and peaked in 1907 in Pyongyang.

The Pyongyang revival was precipitated by reports delivered in 1906 about the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in India and Wales. This caused some Korean Christians to greatly desire the same blessing, for which they began to pray. The revival began in spiritual improvement meetings the missionaries in Pyongyang had planned at the beginning of the year 1907, starting on January 6. People came from as far as 100 miles away to attend the meetings; there were so many attendees from the countryside that locals were barred to make room for visitors. People began these meetings from the start with a great expectation to be blessed by the Spirit, but met for a week with no extraordinary blessings. Saturday, January 12 after the sermon, many testified to a new understanding of what sin was. Then on Sunday, January 13 there was a strange “night of gloom” when everyone had particularly heavy hearts. The following day the missionaries met and prayed for God’s blessing; and that night those who entered the church felt that the place was full of God’s blessing.

As the people prayed, a spirit of heaviness and sorrow came upon those present, and all began to confess their sins and repent. “Man after man would rise, confess his sin, break down and weep…Every sin a human being can commit was publicly confessed, that night. Pale and trembling with emotion, in agony of mind and body, guilty souls standing in the white light of judgment saw themselves as God saw them.” The same experience of prayer, confession and repentance stirred by the Spirit was also experienced at the local missionary-run high schools and elementary schools. In some schools as many as 90 percent of students became Christians. The movement continued until 1910 and spread as far as Manchuria and Japan.

“The impact of the revival movement at Pyongyang was enormous. It changed not only the Christians of Pyongyang but also its entire society. The vast number of bars was gradually closed because business had become unprofitable. The city of Pyongyang cleansed her past and restored her reputation. The result of the meetings was that about 2,000 persons decided to accept Christ as Savior.”

From 1906-1910 in all of Korea there were 79, 221 new converts. There was also a new zeal for sharing Christ with others. Many who couldn’t contribute funds to the work contributed “days,” going outside their local areas to preach the gospel at their own expense, with the result that almost every house in Korea was visited. Clearly believers in Pyongyang in 1907 experienced one of the most remarkable Christian revivals in history.

Now, more than one hundred years later, God is at work in North Korea and is looking for believers worldwide to answer his call. The Lord is establishing ways for Christians to establish relationships that will build a foundation for future work. From the human perspective, revival in North Korea may seem slim. But our God is a God of great wonders and divine timing. Join with us praying for His grace to fall once again on North Korea.