The Presbyterian Churcth in Korea

Principles and Standards

At the 26th General Assembly in 1976 the church's principles were recorded as follows: “We believe in, preach, and live by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and the original Presbyterian standards (The Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger and the Shorter Catechisms, the Form of Government, the Manual of Discipline and the Directory of Worship) following Reformed Theology." Our church's doctrinal standards are the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism. With the addition of the 1903 American Presbyterian chapters on “The Holy Spirit" and “The Mission of the Church" to the 17th century Westminster Confession of Faith, our confession now numbers 35 chapters. Also, as administrative standards we have the Form of Government, the Manual of Discipline, and the Directory of Worship. These standards have been published (in Korean) in a book entitled “The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in Korea."

Constituency

Our denomination is now established in every area of the country, with 34 presbyteries, 1,577 churches, and a total of 230,000 baptized members. There are 2,300 ordained pastors, 430 candidates for pastor (licensed for preaching) awaiting ordination, and 4,000 elders throughout the denomination.

Denomination Headquarters

The Presbyterian Church in Korea (“Kosin") national denominational headquarters facility is located in Seoul, Korea. This building houses a variety of offices including: the General Secretary, the main publishing house for the denomination which produces books and Sunday school curriculum as well as other materials, the Department of Church Education, Students for Christ (SFC) national headquarters, The Herald of Christianity (the weekly newspaper), the Corporation of the National Assembly which facilitates the registration of all member churches and their properties with the Korean government, the Department of Historical Documents as well as other general administrative offices, the Research Center for Christian Cultic groups, and the office for the campaign against Tangun movements. The facility also has 15 guest rooms, which can accommodate more than 40 visitors. The Missionary Training Institute (MTI) is located on the 5th floor in the Bruce Hunt Memorial Hall. This Hall is named in memory of Missionary Bruce Hunt with gratefulness to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of America who donated the major funds for this facility through the sale of their former property here in Korea.