Spring 2007
Dear Friends and Colleagues in mission,
Have you ever wondered what kind of legacies missionaries leave
after they leave their field of service? One of the books on our
shelves is a 654-page volume entitled Mission Legacies, which
gives accounts of the lives of hundreds of leaders of the modem
missionary movement. One of the most unusual mission legacies—which
will not be found in any book—is that of a Catholic priest
from Belgium who took the Korean name of Ji Junghwan. He arrived
in the farming village of Imsil, a few miles south of Jeonju,
in the mid-1950s, when the economy was still shattered from war,
and started a farmers’ milk cooperative. This cooperative
eventually became the Imsil Cheese Factory, which exists today
and produces high quality cheese and yogurt for the Korean market.
When the good father retired from Korea and returned to Belgium,
he left behind a legacy of economic self-sufficiency for the farmers
of Imsil.
Label clipped from pizza delivery card for Ji Junghwan’s
Imsil Cheese Pizza.
But there was another legacy that he most certainly never imagined.
A group of enterprising cheese manufacturers decided to branch
out into making cheese pizza. In time, Ji Junghwan’s Imsil
Cheese Pizza became one of the most popular brands and today it
can be found throughout Korea. Pictured on every box is the Belgian
missionary priest, probably the only missionary in the world to
have left a pizza chain as part of his legacy. One never knows
what kind of a legacy a missionary will leave behind.
In 1895, a Presbyterian missionary doctor by the name of Mattie
B. Ingold arrived in Jeonju and opened a small clinic. In time
she was treating up to 400 patients per day as well as traveling
throughout southwest Korea treating cases on an emergency basis.
In 1905, Dr. Ingold married the Rev. Lewis B. Tate who was an
evangelistic missionary involved in church planting. Although
she continued her medical practice on a part-time basis, she gave
more of her time to assisting her husband, especially in ministering
to women. When the Tates finally retired from Korea in 1928, Dr.
Tate knew that her small clinic would be continued by other medical
missionaries in Jeonju. Eventually it became the Presbyterian
Medical Center, more commonly known as the Jesus Hospital, and
today it is one of the largest hospitals in North Jeolla Province.
Return address clipped from an envelope of Hanil University
and Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
But Dr. Tate left another legacy behind, a legacy that has developed
in ways she never would have imagined. Beginning in 1918, she
gathered a few local women together for Bible study. By 1923,
a small women’s Bible school was founded with Dr. Tate as
its first director. The school as yet had no building, and classes
met in the homes of missionaries. In time, however, this small
institution became the Ada Hamilton Clark Bible School, which
later merged with a similar school for women, the Neel Bible School,
in the city of Kwangju. A new campus was built in Jeonju. The
“Ha” from Hamilton was combined with the “Neel”
to form a good Korean word “Hanil,” and from these
humble beginnings came the present-day Hanil University and Presbyterian
Theological Seminary.
As we prepare lectures for our classes at Hanil University we
will sometimes phone out for delivery of one of Ji Junghwan’s
Imsil Cheese Pizzas. All we have to say to the delivery man is
“the former missionary compound” and he knows exactly
where to come, for our neighbors, all of whom are doctors at the
Presbyterian Medical Center, often have pizza delivered to their
homes as well. When this happens, the legacies of two missionaries—one
Presbyterian and one Catholic—come together in a way that
neither of them could have ever imagined. Truly one never knows
what kind of a legacy a missionary will leave behind.
Many students pass through our classrooms, our articles and books
are read throughout Asia, we preach to an international congregation
each Sunday afternoon, and we lecture in theological schools and
churches around the world. What kind of legacy will we leave behind?
Only God knows, but we do know that all of you who support us
in so many ways are helping to prepare that legacy, and for this
we are deeply grateful.
May all of you have a joyous Easter season in 2007!
Faithfully in mission,
Carol Chou Adams / Daniel J. Adams
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
247
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