Biography
Kil Seon-ju, also spelled Gil Sun-joo, was born in 1869, in Anju, in the north of Korea. His family was of modest standing. As a boy, he was educated in the Chinese classics and was a bright student. In his youth, he became interested in Taoism and in the mystical arts, and he studied them with great earnestness. He was also a keen practitioner of martial arts. He was a restless seeker who tried every path of religion and found no peace. He became a man of strong temper and he drank heavily.
In the 1890s, he came into contact with Christian missionaries in Pyongyang. A friend gave him a Christian tract, and he began to read the Bible. He was struck by the teaching of Jesus. He had a long struggle with his conscience, and in 1897, he gave his life to Christ. He was baptized, and he became a zealous member of the church. He told his neighbors about his new faith. He was soon appointed an elder in the Jangdaehyeon Presbyterian Church in Pyongyang, the largest church in the city. He also served as a lay preacher.
He was a man of prayer. He is said to have begun the practice of dawn prayer meetings, in which believers gathered before sunrise to pray. The custom spread throughout the Korean church and remains a mark of Korean Christianity today. He also was a diligent student of the Bible, and he was said to have read it through hundreds of times. In his later years, he became blind in one eye, and that did not stop him.
In January 1907, the Pyongyang Revival began at a Bible class held at the Jangdaehyeon Church. A large crowd of people had gathered. Kil Seon-ju preached in that meeting and confessed his own sin. He said that he had been guilty of a grave fault, which was that he had cheated a friend of money and had held on to it. He broke down in tears. The people were stirred, and many began to confess their sins aloud. The meeting lasted through the night, and it was followed by days of confession and prayer. The revival spread across Korea and had a deep influence on the church.
It was a time of extraordinary repentance, in which people stood in the congregation and confessed their sins before others. Hatreds were healed and broken relationships were mended. It marked the beginning of a rapid growth in the Korean church. Kil Seon-ju was one of the chief leaders of the revival and traveled widely to preach. He held large meetings in many cities and was a major influence in the life of the church. He was ordained as a minister in 1907, among the first seven Korean ministers.
In 1919, he took part in the March First Independence Movement, in which the Koreans protested against Japanese colonial rule. He was one of the Christian leaders who signed the Declaration of Independence. He was arrested and imprisoned for nearly three years. He suffered torture and was released in 1922. He returned to preaching, and he continued his work. He was an old man, and he was in poor health.
He died on November 26, 1935, at the age of sixty-six, while preaching at a revival meeting in the Jangdaehyeon Church. He collapsed in the pulpit. It is said that he died with a prayer on his lips. His life shows how an honest confession of sin may begin a national awakening, and how a man who has sought peace in many paths may find it in Christ.