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Camp-Meeting in Chosen

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 12, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 41.

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Camp-Meeting in Chosen

By F. H. DE VINNEY

F. H. DE VINNEY
I had the privilege of attending the first camp-meeting ever held in Korea, or Chosen, the official name of the country now that it is Japanese territory.
The meeting was held at Chinnampo, on the west coast, about two hundred miles north of Seoul. Chinnampo is at the mouth of the Tatong River, about an hour's ride from Piengyang, where was fought one of the heaviest battles of the Japo-Chinese war.
The meetings were held in a tent, sixty by 28 x 56 feet, made by combining two meeting tents. The people lived in the church building owned by the mission, and in near-by houses, and many of the men slept in the tent. The foreign workers, fourteen in number, were accommodated in Japanese hotels. The tent was pitched in the edge of the city, on a hill overlooking the city and the bay; and although it was very warm during the entire ten days, yet there was always a fine breeze, which made it comfortable in the tent. The land upon which the tent was pitched is owned by our mission, having been purchased for a mission station. About 160 adults were present during the meeting, some of whom had walked over two hundred miles, supporting themselves while on the way and during the meeting by canvassing.
The usual camp-meeting program was followed, except that at the early morning service the foreigners were by themselves in the hotel, and the Koreans had the tent. These meetings for foreigners (we are the foreigners here) were times of great profit to us all as we sought the Lord together for help to do his work faithfully.
A regular business session was held each day, and all phases of the mission work received attention. As the result of the election of officers, C. L. Butterfield is superintendent; H. A. Oberg, secretary and treasurer; R. Russell, medical secretary; H. M. Lee, educational secretary; Mimi Scharffenberg, Sabbath-school secretary.
The report of the superintendent showed 107 baptisms during the present year. The regular monthly subscription list of their paper is 2,700, this number being reached during the nine months of the life of the paper, while 39,500 copies of regular and special issues have been sold during the past year.
The educational secretary reported sixty as the average attendance at the mission school, with prospects for a larger school the coming year, which opens August 23. Professor Lee will have charge of the boys' department, and Miss May Scott of the girls'.
FIRST SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CAMP-MEETING IN KOREA, OR CHOSEN. HELD AT CHINNAMPO, WHERE WORK IN THIS COUNTRY WAS FIRST BEGUN, AUGUST 3-13. 175 SABBATH-KEEPERS PRESENT
FIRST SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CAMP-MEETING IN KOREA, OR CHOSEN. HELD AT CHINNAMPO, WHERE WORK IN THIS COUNTRY WAS FIRST BEGUN, AUGUST 3-13. 175 SABBATH-KEEPERS PRESENT
The instruction given was of a practical nature, and different needs were given attention. In the evening the sermon was delivered in the native language. The tent was always well filled evenings, and many from the city stood outside and listened attentively.
The last Sabbath morning service will long be remembered by all present. After a rousing sermon by Elder W. R. Smith, in Korean, several men left the tent, one by one, while the meeting was still in progress, and on a hillside near by they together sought the Lord in a special manner, confessing their sins and asking forgiveness, until every man was free in Christ. At the same time a company of women were out on the other side of the tent doing likewise. The service in the tent continued until all could come together rejoicing in the Lord.
The meeting was a great success, and accomplished much good. Plans were laid to follow up the interest in Chinnampo, with a view to developing a church. It was felt that a new era had begun for the cause in Chosen, and the workers returned to their different fields of labor refreshed, and encouraged to press the battle to the gates, and to be true to their call to labor for souls for the Master.
It was a great pleasure to meet old acquaintances from the home land, and to engage in labor and share the blessings with the brethren and sisters in this great field.