The Hidden Beginning of Revival

How many people are needed in a prayer meeting for God to hear it? When put that way, it seems ridiculous, but I was talking with a pastor friend recently about prayer meeting attendance and the tendency to stop meeting if attendance is low, and he shared an encouraging story about the history of Korean Christianity that reminded me how God uses the prayers of his people.

One of the most famous periods in Korean Christian history is the 1907 Pyongyang revivals, which were a time when repentance, prayer, and revival swept across Korea. Prior to the revivals, missionary Dr. R.A. Hardie was asked to lead a week of Bible study for fellow missionaries. As he prepared, God convicted him of his own pride, lack of faith, and spiritual weakness. Hardie’s public repentance sparked a renewal among missionaries and Korean believers. Hardie himself later recounted that two women, whose names have been forgotten to history, gathered daily to pray for God’s grace to pour out over Korea. This was the context in which he was convicted and confessed.

What started in hidden prayer and quiet confession eventually became what many call the “Korean Pentecost” as revival spread across Korea. But long before thousands were gathering, Missionary Lillias Underwood later reflected that the beginnings of the revival were “perhaps brought through the prayers of those two good women.”

I am a Korean Christian today because of the missionary movements and revivals that God brought to Korea through ordinary believers who prayed faithfully. My family’s Christian heritage exists because God answered prayers like those of the two unnamed women. Generations later, I am one of the fruits of a revival that may have begun with two believers quietly praying together.

We often celebrate visible results, but so much of what God does begins unseen with faithful people praying quietly for the Spirit to move. The Korean church became known for prayer because revival taught them that prayer was not preparation for the work; prayer was the work.

And that gives me hope for Island to Island as well. This story reminds me that God often works through things that seem small and insignificant, but thank God that the power of prayer isn’t dependent on the size of the prayer meeting but on the sovereign and almighty God who hears and answers our prayers.

Would you join us in praying for the islands? Pray for the true gospel to spread like fire throughout the nations.

David Choi

Administrator, Island to Island Gospel Fellowship

Mission to the World / Presbyterian Church in America