This is a complete and accurate transcript of the tape of the oral history interview of Peter Deyneka, Jr. (CN 381, T2) in the Archives of the Billy Graham Center. No spoken words have been omitted, except for any non-English phrases which could not be understood by the transcribers. Foreign terms which are not commonly understood appear in italics. In very few cases words were too unclear to be distinguished. If the transcriber was not completely sure of having gotten what the speaker said, "[?]" was inserted after the word or phrase in question. If the speech was inaudible or indistinguishable, "[unclear]" was inserted. Grunts and verbal hesitations such as "ah" or "um" were usually omitted. Readers should remember that this is a transcript of spoken English, which follows a different rhythm and rule than written English.
... Three dots indicate an interruption or break in the train of thought within the sentence on the part of the speaker.
.... Four dots indicate what the transcriber believes to be the end of an incomplete sentence.
( ) Words in parentheses are asides made by the speaker.
[ ] Words in brackets are comments by the transcriber.
This transcript was made by Jeffrey Dennison and Christian Sawyer and was completed in February 2003.
Collection 381, T2. Interview of Peter Deyneka, Jr. by Doug Buchanan, December 13, 1987.
SHUSTER: This is a continuation of the interview with Billy Graham Center Archives recorded on December 14...excuse me, December 13, 1987 of Peter Deyneka. He was interviewed by Wheaton College Student, Doug Buchanan. [tape interference]
DEYNEKA: ...so many of them wanted to come to the United States, but, of course, that was not possible and wouldn't...wouldn't have been the best for them.
BUCHANAN: So really what were some of the more major concerns of, let's say, typical Korean Christian?
DEYNEKA: The Korean people?
BUCHANAN: Or Kor...especially Korean Christians?
DEYNEKA: Well, the major concerns of all the people, including the Christians, was making a living. That was the biggest concern. With no industry, people were scraping. Definitely. Starting small little businesses, but.... Raising pigs, hauling things. Kore...the Korean people were doing the kind of menial work that our...is us...is done today by vehicles. The streets were filled with men hauling with wheelbarrows, makeshift wagons, where human power was...was the power provided to pull this...this...these vehicles...wagons. So I would say that was the major concern.
BUCHANAN: Survival?
DEYNEKA: Survival. Yeah.
BUCHANAN: Now, as far.... Okay, once you left, do you have any idea what sort of...how things were going on at...with the...with your Korean...?
DEYNEKA: My friends?
BUCHANAN: Your friends, yeah, whatever.
DEYNEKA: No. No, I...I...I went on then to other aspects of work in other parts of the world and the distance separated us. And it's just too difficult and too expensive for Koreans to...to correspond at that point when they had so little themselves. So there was no way we could have kept in touch.
BUCHANAN: Was there.... Now there were a lot of...there were a lot of many...many different missions organizations...
DEYNEKA: Yeah.
BUCHANAN: ...involved there at the time.
DEYNEKA: Yeah. Many denominations, missions organizations. So the Korean young people I worked with became affiliated with local churches and that was the main thing.
BUCHANAN: Okay.
DEYNEKA: So they did continue in some kind of Christian activity and involvement.
BUCHANAN: Was there a lot of.... Would you say that while you were there the church was pretty unified or was it sort of...?
DEYNEKA: Yes, it was quite unified. Yeah. The church had gone through the war which was a unifying factor. And there were a lot of churches, a lot of small churches, thousands of churches across Korea.
BUCHANAN: Now, Okay. Just a sort of...last question. The church has really grown a lot since then, but would you say there are any negative aspects to its growth? I know the...the...the hugest church I've ever heard of is in Seoul. Doctor...
DEYNEKA: Yeah.
BUCHANAN: Doctor Paul Yonggi Cho [probably referring to Dr. David Yonggi Cho, pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, the world's largest church with 500,000 members in 1985].
DEYNEKA: That's right.
BUCHANAN: He is the pastor there. Do you think that things are going well there at...you know, at least doctrinally? Do you think there are any major negative aspects in the ways that the church has gone?
DEYNEKA: The biggest danger always in fast growth is that heretical tendencies will arise. This is true everywhere. If there isn't enough good printed material, and if the church isn't organized enough so that the teaching ministry to the members is...is continuous.... You cannot grow a church just on evangelism. There has to be the Bible teaching, which causes stability and growth and maturity; and, yes, there are some problems in this area with some heretical teachings and.... However, I can't comment just a great deal on that. You would...you'd really need to talk to some contemporary Korean missionary. I do know that also in the large growth you have people taking their faith for granted, and so you have many people who are professing Christians who want to be a part of a movement, but don't understand all the intricacies. So this is...this is a problem today. So maybe, just my summary would be, the two factors that come out of large growth would be some heresy and many people who claim to be Christians who don't really understand it, but want to be a part of the movement, a growing movement. The greatest need consequently would be for trained leadership, well-trained leadership, but fortunately in Korea there are many good seminaries preparing thousands of young men for ministry.
BUCHANAN: Wow, that's great. Okay, well, that's all I have. Did you have any other comments?
DEYNEKA: No. [laughs]
BUCHANAN: Thank you very much.
DEYNEKA: Okay.
END OF TAPE