An example, not an exception
Once war-ravaged, Korea has been transformed into a nation that blesses others. Find out how through eyewitness accounts from World Vision founder Bob Pierce and his daughter, Marilee.
ON JUNE 25, Koreans around the world will
commemorate the 65th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. It was a
battle for freedom that would leave their beautiful country divided, families
separated, and thousands of children orphaned and homeless.
My father, Bob Pierce, was speaking to a packed
audience at The Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles on that particular
Sunday. They had come to hear him speak about the incredible way God had
blessed the evangelistic meetings he held in April and May throughout the
Korean peninsula. Over 25,000 people had come to Christ.
He
was finishing his message when he was handed a note stating that the Korean War
had begun. For most Americans, the “Korean Conflict” was only important because
U.S. troops had been sent there to fight. But for Bob Pierce, the war was personal.
He had just returned from holding two months of evangelistic meetings in the republic
when communist troops advanced over the 38th Parallel on June 25,
1950. The result was three years of bloody war.
Through
friends, Dad heard that families, who had hosted him in their homes, had been
forced to join the endless stream of refugees fleeing southward; pastors he had
ministered with had been arrested and some executed, along with their entire
congregations; and missionaries he had come to love had been interned by the invading
North Korean army.
By
September, he was back in Korea as a war correspondent, flying with the
military to the front lines of battle and using his camera to capture the systematic
destruction of a country whose infrastructure and economy were already
considered among the poorest in the world. South Korea’s lush natural forests
were burned, rice fields and fruit trees were bombed, villages razed, and major
cities pounded into rubble. When the war ended, all that was left was a devastated
landscape and unspeakable human suffering.
It
was during this time that my father wrote his famous prayer in his Bible: “Let
my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.” But powerful
as that prayer was, Dad understood it wasn’t enough. What the Korean people
needed was an advocate who would help them rebuild from the ashes.
After destruction and war, friendship and church emerge
Quoted
in The Untold Korea Story by Ken
Anderson (Zondervan, 1951), my father said:
Pastor Han rose to the
occasion with all the wisdom of a patriarch. Soothing his people with the
ministry of the Word, he set about organizing them into cooperatives. A plot of
ground was proportioned to the men, who prepared the soil. From relief agencies,
[the Rev. Han] obtained enough seed for planting. He kept the women busy making
clothes out of scraps and rags. Administrators made sure everything was equally
divided. The most nourishing food went to the sick … the warmest clothing to
the frail and feeble. Heaviest chores were done by the strong … handwork by
those whose shoulders could not lift heavy burdens.
Women who could not work
in the fields looked after the children of mothers who could. Pastor Han secured a tent and organized a
school where those with academic training taught. He located a bombed-out
factory … and reclaimed enough scrap wreckage to get the plant going again. In
a year’s time, one hundred families were earning their bread and shelter from
this source.
“One
thing was lacking, however,” my father observed. “The people needed a place to
worship. So Pastor Han went to the government and pled for the use of an old
Buddhist temple. On a recent visit I preached to no less than fifteen hundred
people within [the converted temple’s] walls!”
Dad
finished his comments with these powerful words: “Among Christians like those we met in Korea, Han Kyung Chik is an
example—not an exception.”
The
church that began in that Buddhist temple was called Young Nak Presbyterian
Church, and it would grow to be one of the largest Presbyterian churches in the
world. But more importantly, Dr. Han would be my father’s dearest friend,
mentor, and co-worker throughout his ministry.
“Among Christians like those we met in Korea, Han Kyung Chik is an example—not an exception.”
—
Bob Pierce
Seeing
what Dr. Han’s church had accomplished with no outside support convinced my
father that the Korean people would help themselves if they had the means to do
so. He quickly converted the movie footage he had taken in Korea into a film
entitled The 38th Parallel. With
the movie in hand, he began speaking in churches across the
United States and Canada to raise funds. Soon World Vision, which had been
established as a nonprofit in September 1950, was channeling hundreds of
thousands of dollars to projects all over South Korea.
Partnering
with Young Nak Church, World Vision’s first project was the Tabatha Widows’
Home. Small group homes for children soon followed. Other churches began
approaching Dad for help, and the work grew exponentially.
'Giving the little guy a start'
When
the war ended in 1953, Dad realized that he needed a consistent source of income
if World Vision was going to continue to care for Korea’s orphaned children. So,
borrowing the model from Christian Children’s Fund, World Vision child
sponsorship was born. By 1965, more than 15,000 children were being cared for
in 156 orphanages throughout South Korea. World Vision provided the funds
through sponsorship, and the homes were run by Korean Christians from more than
a dozen different denominations, including the Salvation Army, Methodists,
Presbyterians, Baptists, and Oriental Mission Society.
Rebuilding
a country after it has been devastated by war demands many strong hands and
hearts. Since the most educated and
skilled men had been killed or wounded during the fighting, there was a huge
need to train young people to take their places. World Vision organized
vocational training centers that taught tailoring, barbering, nursing,
cosmetology, radio and television repair, carpentry, weaving, and brickmaking.
We also funded schools to train the blind, deaf, and physically challenged to
become self-sufficient. When students graduated, World Vision often helped them
start businesses with small loans that had to be repaid so others could be
helped. Today, we call this microenterprise. But my father called it “giving
the little guy a start.”
To
this day, the government of Korea recognizes World Vision as the major non-governmental investor in the
rebuilding of the country’s hospitals, churches, schools, and infrastructure
after the war. In recognition of his many contributions, Dr. Bob Pierce was
awarded the highest honors Korea gives a civilian, including the Grand Order of
Mugunghwa in 1963.
But
I am sure my dad would say his proudest moment was when he cut the ribbon to
open World Vision Children’s Hospital in Taegu. Under the leadership of Dr. Howard
Moffat, a Presbyterian medical missionary, the hospital was a state-of-the-art center
of healing for the children of South Korea. Between 1963 and 1980, more than
540,000 children received free treatment for tuberculosis, polio, and other
debilitating diseases.
Suffering
children were not the only ones World Vision cared for. Ever since his first
trip to China in 1947, my father had a special heart for those stricken by
leprosy, or Hansen’s disease. Korea’s lepers were especially vulnerable. Working
with Dr. Joon Lew, a groundbreaking researcher in the treatment of Hansen’s
disease, World Vision donated $100,000 in 1955 to establish an outpatient
clinic and equip a research institute at Yonsei University. In 1958, the World
Vision Special Skin Clinic and Leprosy Research Institute were built.
Hub of success, growth, a new Korea
In
1965, 12 years after the war ended, Dad took me to Korea for the first time. I
was 15 years old, and I still remember the way the air smelled—like Daddy’s
suitcase—and the excitement I felt as I finally set foot on the land that had
claimed my father’s heart.
We
were met at the airport by Marlin Nelson, World Vision’s second national
director in Korea. The road from the airport into Seoul had been newly paved with
World Vision’s help, but most of the other roads were dirt. The land still bore
the scars of war, but everywhere I looked there were signs of life. Bombed-out
buildings were being repaired, and new homes replaced those that had been
destroyed. The streets of Seoul were full of people selling their goods to women
with chubby babies on their backs. Men in traditional white and black robes
with long, wispy beards and high, black hats sat in front of their shops, watching
for potential customers. And everywhere we went, I saw groups of children
dressed in their dark blue school uniforms, laughing and chattering as they
walked.
At
times it felt like I had stepped through the screen and into one of my father’s
movies. However, the images I remembered from the films were of a war-ravaged country
in hopeless despair and great need. What I saw in 1965 was a country full of
vitality and hope. These were people who through faith in God, hard work, and
the generosity of others had taken back the power to decide their own destiny. And
they had chosen “life in all its fullness.”
Today,
Korea has the 12th strongest economy in the world, and it is one of World
Vision’s top 10 donor nations—blessing others with the same spiritual hope and
practical help they once received.
But
for many countries, the battle for survival goes on, and their cries for help
are World Vision’s call to battle. We work in 32 of the 50 most unstable and
chaotic countries in the world. When asked why we choose to work in such
difficult and dangerous places, World Vision U.S. President Rich Stearns
replied, “Because that’s Christ’s call to the church. Difficult, challenging,
and risky as it might be, when Jesus calls us, we must respond.”
Lord,
give us the vision and strength to respond to Your call to go where the
need is greatest. And by Your grace and provision, make Korea an
example, not an exception, in this hurting world.
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