It was completely unexpected. During our revival tour of South Wales, we visited a small church in the community of Hanover. The congregation totalled roughly 20 regular attendees and the majority of them were born and raised in Wales. However, amid this community of faith was one family from Korea. It was the pastor, his wife, and their two children. Reverend Daniel Yoo had been leading the church for just over five years. The question that immediately came to mind was, why? Why was this very traditional Welsh church being led by a Korean minister?
The year was 1864 and a young school teacher, who was raised in the Hanover church, felt the call of God to bring the Gospel to China. Robert Jermain Thomas went to China to be a missionary with his wife. After a five-month boat trip to China, Robert lost his pregnant wife shortly after their arrival. He stayed in China and resigned from his missionary post later that year in unbearable sadness. During this time, Robert met two Korean men that changed his destiny. They shared with him how the church in Korea was under heavy persecution and most believers were meeting in small house churches with no access to Bibles. The Korean authorities were very hostile to Christianity and massacred almost 10,000 believers at one point.
As Robert listened to the plight of the Korean believers, he was deeply moved to make a difference. He began making secret trips on trading ships and risking his life to distribute Bibles under heavy disguise. His last trip was in 1866 on an American merchant trading ship as a translator. Upon entering Pyongyang, the current capital of North Korea, the ship was attacked by Korean soldiers. During the battle, the ship got stuck on a sandbar and the soldiers set the ship afire while killing those who fled and swam to shore.
On the deck of the burning ship, Robert flung open his cases of Bibles and began throwing them to the villagers on the shore and to the soldiers. He cried out “Jesus, Jesus!” to his attackers as he offered them the Bible. In the end, Robert himself caught on fire and jumped into the river. He swam to shore and continued to hand out Bibles until he was captured by the Governor, who gave the order to execute Robert. He humbly knelt before the soldier that awaited him and begged him to accept his last Bible. The soldier obliged his orders and executed Robert after some hesitation. Robert Jermain Thomas died for the Gospel on Korean soil on September 3, 1866, at only 27 years of age.
The image of this passionate young man who sacrificed his life giving out Bibles touched those on the shores who witnessed it. Some felt bad about destroying the Bibles he had so passionately tried to give away and took them home, using them as wallpaper. Eventually, out of curiosity, they started reading the pages. About fifty years later, a huge revival broke out in Pyongyang in 1904 and 10,000 Koreans became Christians. In 1906, another 30,000 Koreans gave their lives to Jesus and in 1907, 50,000 more surrendered to Christ. Finally, a memorial church was built in 1931 to honour Robert Jermain Thomas, who had died zealously trying to give away Bibles with his last breath. Soldier Choon Kwan Park, who killed Robert, ended up taking the Bible. Choon Kwon Park later played an important role in the establishment of the Pyongany Church in Korea.
Pastor Daniel was sent by his church community in Korea to pastor the Welsh church that had sent out Robert Jermain Thomas several decades ago. Pastor Daniel is now praying for revival to come once again to Wales. Today, many Koreans still visit the home of Robert Jermain Thomas in Wales to pay their respects and to remember the young man who gave his life to bring them God’s Word.
A young man who was only a missionary for under two years and died without reaching a single person for Jesus was used by God to reach an entire nation. A seeming failure became the platform for the revival of a nation. And now that very nation is sending missionaries to Wales to reach the people who had reached them. The prophet Isaiah writes, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord (Isaiah 55:8). God is the master strategist and works in ways that we do not understand. He creates opportunities that seem strange and often defy logic. You may be drowning in what feels like failure and loss, feel the odds are against you, or that your efforts to advance God’s kingdom seem useless and ineffective. Please don’t give up. Don’t resign. Don’t move into the shadows. God is not mocked; He will build His church and nothing will stop Him. Failure can become the door to revival. Just ask Daniel Yoo!
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The headline features a flash-lit photo taken at a regular weekly prayer meeting in Pyongyang, where the average attendance was about 500 persons. Circa 1908.
Source: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll48/id/761