Early Membership of Korean Methodist Churches in Hawai'i

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2002-06
Authors
Murabayashi, Duk Hee Lee
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Center for Korean Studies, School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
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Membership lists of the early Korean Methodist churches in Hawai‘i were found in January 2002 in the Hawai‘i superintendent’s files at the Hawai‘i District Office of the United Methodist Church. The ledger sheets, written in English, are categorized by plantation church and membership categories (member, probationer, and catechumen). They contain six columns: date (received), member name, state in life (marital status), how received or baptized, how and when dismissed, and remarks. The list appears to have been recorded by a Korean, probably at the end of 1904, which makes it the earliest known list of Korean Methodist church members in Hawai‘i. The list identifies 108 out of 400 members as confirmed (baptized) Christians before they arrived in Hawai‘i. The list includes the names of missionaries, such as, James S. Gale, George Heber Jones, Samuel A. Moffett, and W. A. Noble, who baptized early immigrant Christians in Korea. These missionaries include Methodists (Noble, Jones, W. B. Scranton) as well as Presbyterians (Moffett, Gale, Horace G. Underwood). Jones was the minister of the Nai-Ri Methodist Church (known also as Yong-dong or the Chemulpo Wesleyan Church) as well as the superintendent of the West Korea District, including the Chemulpo (present Inch’ŏn) and Kangwha area. Jones encouraged church members to immigrate to Hawai‘i when the East-West Development Company was having a hard time recruiting potential immigrants. As a result, many members of churches in his district, including Nai-Ri Church, were among the immigrants on the first ship landing in Honolulu.
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
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