정병준 교수의 호주선교사 열전(38)
Francis William Cunningham MA(Hons., 1887. 12.19-1981. 8.18)
한국명: 권임함(權任咸) 목사, Chinju 1913-41; Kuchang 1923-1941; Pusan 1947-1950
The son of a Presbyterian Minister, Cunningham entered Ormond College at the conclusion of his school course, and obtained his Master’s degree with Final Honours in 1908. He and Arthur Allen entered the Theological Hall together, and after a brilliant course passed the exit examination with equal first class honours. He was ordained at Malvern on November 7, 1912.
The Mission Council in the same month appointed Frank Cunningham to Chinju. He arrived in Korea together with Mr Allen on 26 February 1913. The next year was spent in language study and in familiarizing himself with the region around Chinju and the methods employed by the senior missionaries. On 16 November, 1917 he married Miss Catherine Trieschmann, an American missionary working in Japan.
From 1914 onwards he assumed oversight of increasing numbers of churches, and from then until 1923 he was responsible most of the time for the churches in the Euiryung, Samka, Sanchung and Chinju west regions. From 1923 onwards he had responsibility not only for these churches but also for the oversight of the churches in the Kuchang area, while still being resident in Chinju. In the latter part of this period he was assisted by itinerating Korean pastors in both areas.
Cunningham, always an excellent student, achieved an extraordinary proficiency in the Korean language. He was therefore involved in the revision of the Bible translation and other literary work from 1928 until 1937. As a scholar and teacher, he also served as Principal of the Men’’s Bible Institute, and after Dr Engel’s retirement taught for a term in the Pyeng Yang Theological College in 1938.
He was withdrawn with most of the other missionaries in 1941.
Frank Cunningham returned to Korea after the Japanese War arriving on 18 June 1947. He served as Chairman of the Mission for the next three frustrating years. His frustrations were many. He had to leave his wife and family in Australia for those years. He wanted to engage in the production of Christian literature to help combat some of the large quantities of Communist material in the shops. The Mission was very short-staffed and poorly financed. The Presbytery, of which the missionaries were not members, was torn by factionalism between the fundamentalist and judgmental supporters and staff of the Koryu Seminary and others who were accused of having collaborated with the Japanese, and the majority caught in between. The Theological Seminary in Seoul repeatedly invited Cunningham to join the staff, but the pressures of trying to re-establish the Mission in the South prevented him from accepting the invitation. All the while Cunningham was living in cramped, uncomfortable quarters on the second floor of an old mission house.
He was withdrawn from Korea in September 1950, following the outbreak of the Korean War.
정병준 교수(서울장신대학교 교회사 교수 / 멜번신학대학원 졸업)
