The Presbyterian Church of Korea (TongHap) is a mainline Protestant denomination based in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

; it currently has the second largest membership of any

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

denomination in the world. It is affiliated with its daughter denomination, the Korean Presbyterian Church in America (KPCA) in the United States, which adopted the "Korean Presbyterian Church Abroad" as its new name in 2009. Presbyterianism in Korea was reconstructed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in 1947. The church adopted the name the Reformed Church in Korea. In the 1950s the church suffered tensions because the issues of theology, ecumenism and worship. In 1959

Presbyterian Church of Korea Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) was a Protestant denomination based in South Korea; it is currently separated into many branches. History The first Korean Presbyterian church was founded by Seo Sang-ryun in Hwanghae province in 1884. Short ...

broke into two equal sections. This church and The

Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong) The Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong) is an Evangelical Presbyterian denomination, which is the biggest Christian church in South Korea. The headquarters of the church is in Seoul, South Korea. History In 1959 at the 44th General Assembly ...

church separated. In 1984 the church celebrated the 100th anniversary of

Presbyterianism Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

in Korea. The church is an ecumenical denomination. Membership is about 2.1 million and has 6,000 congregations in 56 presbyteries in 2004. The denomination is a member of the

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

and

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

. The Apostles Creed and the

Westminster Confession The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard ...

are the official recognised confessions. According to the

there are 2.85 million members in 8,200 congregations.

Cause of formation

The Korean Presbyterian Church split for the third time (1951, 1953, and 1959) when the church divided for and against Park Hyung- Ryong (박형룡 朴亨龍, 1897 ~ 1978), president of the Presbyterian Seminary Society of the General Assembly. The anti-Park party is called 대한예수교장로회(통합)'Tonghap' (the united body) and the pro-Park party is called 대한예수교장로회(합동)'Hapdong' (the union body). The divisions from all three splits during the 50s still exist. The divisions from the third split between Tonghap and Hapdong respectively are still the largest Presbyterian dominations in South Korea .

References

External links

Official English-language websiteOfficial Korean-language website
{{Authority control Members of the World Council of Churches Christian organizations established in 1959 Presbyterian denominations in South Korea Presbyterian denominations established in the 20th century