Global Religion and Local Faith: Korean Churches in Beijing and Tokyo

Abstract

Korea Christian churches and missionaries have a prominent presence around the world. In cities such as Yanji and Los Angeles, Korean churches are an essential part of century-old Korean ethnic communities that trace their origins to Japanese colonization that began in the late-1800s. More recently, the economic success of South Korean corporations has resulted in Korean churches and missionaries in global metropoles such as Beijing, London, and Singapore that serve thriving Korean communities anchored by corporate transnationals, entrepreneurs, and international students. This same economic growth has financed Korean missionaries from Africa to Central Asia to undertake projects ranging from health care to education. While all Korean churches and missionaries have comfortably imbued the global religion of Christianity with their national and ethnic identity, the differences in national and local contexts shape their individual beliefs and practices. Given the dramatic changes in both Korean and its diasporic histories, each Korean church selects from rich and complex vocabularies of religion, nation, ethnicity, and community to negotiate and articulate its mission and identity. Within this context, this article focuses on two Korean churches-one from Beijing and another from Tokyo-as emblematic case studies of global religion and local faith.