As Samuel Huntington has asserted, this world suffers from tension and conflicts between diverse cultures. According to Paul Tillich, the core of culture is religion. There is no clear understanding of culture without appropriate understanding of religions. There has been a long history of tension between Christianity and Islam, although the two have the same Abrahamic tradition. Afghanistan began its Islamic tradition in the 18th century in the Pashtun tribe in the area of Kandahar. A Korean short-term mission team sent by Saem Mul Church was kidnapped by the Taliban armed troops. Two members of the team were then killed by the Taliban in July 2007. The rest of them were released after negotiations between the Korean government and the Taliban were made. Koreans had different opinions about the short-term mission team sent from the Saem Mul Church in the city of Sung Nam, Korea. Some people rebuked them. Others kept silence. Some churches encouraged them. In this critical situation, the Korean Church was embarrassed. This study attempts to offer some suggestions to help the Church overcome this crisis by providing missiological insights based on evangelical mission theology. First, missions need to be carried out according to the promise and the commission revealed in the Scripture. Second, missions should be implemented with the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the prayers of the church. Third, missionaries need to understand the various cultural situations of the area where they are called to serve. Fourth, churches and missionaries should be one in Jesus Christ as the doctrine of the Trinity states. Fifth, mission groups need to put a holistic mission into practice as Jesus Christ exemplified in His time on earth. Sixth, mission groups need to be free of an imperialistic paradigm in the age of postcolonialism. The Korean Church has to repent of negligence and pride over underdeveloped countries since it has become materially affluent. The Church needs to be incarnational in terms of attitude and holistic in terms of ministry in order to help the people to become Christians in a non-Christian world like Afghanistan. The blood shed by the two Korean short-term missionaries in Afghanistan will produce an indigenous church in the Islamic country because the blood of martyrs are the seed of the church as maintained by Tertullian in his Apology.

The term “culturally refracted contexts” means the distorted, twisted, and fixed contexts which have lost the functional roles of the social integration in the specific cultural situations. The author tries to categorize three kinds of the distorted cultural patterns among the culturally refracted contexts of Korean society by using an anthropological method. The first one is related to “distorted nationalism” in a refracted context of the traditional pre-modern culture in Korea. It has been shown up to the society as a phenomenon of worshipping the national forefather Dangun. The second one is to be known as “extremely twisted totalism” in a culturally refracted context of militarism in Korea. It has impacted on the politic, the economy, the religion, and even the education of Korean society. The third one is to be tied with “distorted mammonism” in a culturally refracted context of materialism. It has been rooted and fixed to “extreme ethnocentrism” in Korea. The author, then, argues that Korean churches should have God’s mission to integrate the distorted and twisted society with the gospel of Jesus Christ which brings reconciliation and recovery to the culturally refracted contexts of Korean society. The distorted and twisted contexts of Korean society should be recovered to the grace community of God, the peace community of Jesus Christ, and the mission community of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the “distorted nationalism” in a refracted context of the traditional pre-modern culture in Korea has to be deleted in the society by God’s universal grace. The social oppressed and the weak can be protected and empowered by the grace of God. The “extremely twisted totalism” in a culturally refracted context of militarism in Korea can be nullified by Christ‘s sacrificial peace which brings the culture of resurrection and life. The “distorted mammonism” in a culturally refracted context of materialism in Korea should be transformed into the sharing community to the world by the witness of the Holy Spirit who gives the forgiveness and reconciliation. Korean churches as the community of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and God the Father should have a social and missional role of integration within the refracted Korean contexts of the distorted nationalism, totalism, and materialism with God’s grace, Christ’s peace, and the Holy Spirit’s sharing witness to the world and the society of Korea.

Since the introduction of Christianity in Korea, there has been a remarkable growth in the number of church members, despite its short history in the country. Subsequently, numerous churches have been and still are being founded in Korea, most of them being relatively new. Nevertheless, theological research conducted on the issue of ‘Church Planting’ has been not very fruitful. However, Peter Wagner began teaching about ‘Church Planting’ at the Fuller Theological Seminary in the USA from the end of the 1970s, which influenced Korean scholars in Korea. Due to his influence, many Korean scholars also started to study the topic of ‘Church Planting’ in Korea since the 1990s. Fortunately, since then, many Korean scholars have studied ‘Church Planting‘ in varieties of diverse ways in order to make the Korean Church stronger. When I look at context of the Korean Church nowadays, I get the impression that the foundation of new churches will carry on continuously. Moreover, ‘Church Planting’ has to occur throughout time, for the completion of the mission which was given to us by Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is my hope that theological research on ‘Church Planting‘ would continue to grow and become more successful in the future. In my study, I will research the relationship of the development of churches throughout time, from when they were first set up. My research will give good directions in order to create a strong church heading, thus be useful to show how to set up a strong, new church in Korea. First of all, in my study, I studied the meaning and necessity of ‘Church Planting’ in the Korean Church in Chapter II, followed by the introduction in Chapter I. I divided the form of ‘Church Planting’ in the Korean Church from the subject of church planting in Chapter III. In chapter IV, I subdivided the four forms of ‘Church Planting’ through each of the times, and I looked at the diverse characteristics of ‘Church Planting’ in the history of the Korean Church.

This study focused on the revival movements in Korea, Revival movements had previously taken place in Wales, America, and India, The revival movements in Korea started with the 1903 Wonsan revival which was led by R. A. Hardie, who was a Methodist medical missionary working in Wonsan, Korea. Then the 1907 Pyungyang revival tool place as a historical movement in Korea. This revival movement was begun with missionaries, but it was mainly led by Pastor Sun Ju Kil who was an elder of the Jang Dae Hyun church. This study discovered following the strengths and weaknesses of Korean revivalism through an evaluation based on historical and missiological insights. A. Strengths: 1. Korean revivalism was based on the believers’ repentance as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. 2. Korean revivalism was stimulated by missionaries, but it was led by Koreans. 3. Korean revivalism spiritually awakened believers, but it also enhanced evangelism and church growth. 4. Korean evangelism stressed prayer which led people to true repentance. 5. Korean revivalism always emphasized God’s word which led people to conversion. 6. Korean revivalism developed the Korean church into an indigenous church, therefore people felt it as their own. 7. Korean revivalism had a great impact upon other countries like China and Japan. 8. Korean revivalism formed a historical tradition in which some great evangelists were born and trained. B. Weaknesses 1. Korean revivalism tended to be otherworldly and eschatological after independence from Japanese colony. As a result, Korean church lost the balance between a spiritual awakening and political participation. 2. Korean revivalism demonstrated some “prosperity gospel” while reflecting Shamanistic faith. 3. Korean revivalism demonstrated some individual churchcenteredness which could cause conflict among churches. 4. Korean revivalism became so secularized that some evangelists fell to worldly temptations. 5. Korean revivalism allowed the Korean church to confuse the work of the Holy Spirit with the “Holy Spirit Movement.” Korean revivalism needs to be understood in terms of a great spiritual awakening movement, evangelism/missions, church growth, ecumenism, an indigenous church, and a holistic mission. To accomplish this, it needs to be approached through Korean church history and missiology. Some great Korean evangelists were discussed in this study. Sun Ju Kil, Ik Du Kim, Yong Do Lee, Nam Su Chung, Sung Bong Lee, Hwal Ran Mim, Hyun Gyun Shin, and Yong Gi Cho were included as great evangelists in the light of their call by God, their revival ministry, their message, and their contribution. The Korean church needs another great spiritual awakening movement to become a true church of Christ.

This thesis is about John Thomas; the first missionary sent to the KEHC, the first superintendent and the first dean of Kyungsung Bible Institute. The coverage of this thesis begins from his birth in the U.K. and his ministries, how he came to Korea and his ministry in Korea from 1910-1911. In total, John Thomas spent 10 years serving in Korea, therefore assessing his ministry is somewhat out of proportion, however this thesis will focus on the background of his calling to Korea and the beginning of God’s divine works. 1. John Thomas had evident experience in the Fourfold Gospel. 2. His devotion and faith made him a clear model as Christ’s servant. 3. He was a man of prayer. 4. Through the successful ministry in the U.K. he demonstrated the blessings of God’s presence. 5. He made a network of supporters for prayer and financial aid. 6. He was a prominent Evangelical leader of his time and was selected as the main speaker at the annual OMS conference in 1911. 7. He had a call to preach the holiness element. This calling began to spread in the other denominations and missionaries also. 8. He not only loved the lost souls of Korea but also cared for the people of the world. 9. His ministry had a harmony of teaching and ministering. Through his character which was greatly influenced by the holiness element gave him authority to impress many people. 10. Although he had difficulty in learning Korean, his input and effort was vital in setting the foundations of the KEHC and the Bible Institute. 11. The early records of his ministry which influenced many denominations and other missionaries in Korea and Japan shows how influential he must have been in the later years. 12. He contributed to the printing of 10,000 copies of the New Testament, helped set up administrative procedures for KEHC and the Bible Institute and his teaching, church founding and faithful mission works show the bright future ahead. This research focuses on the early days of John Thomas’s mission. There are still more research to be done about his character and the latter part of his ministry. However, the fact that a man of God, such as John Thomas was called to serve as the first missionary sent to the KEHC, the first superintendent and the first dean of Kyungsung Bible Institute proves God’s purpose toward the KEHC and STU. Furthermore, through this research we need to find the elements that need to be continued and carried out in this day and age. Therefore it is inevitable the existence of holiness is revealed not only in Korea but also worldwide. This is the core value of KEHC and STU’s existence.

The recent nuclear crisis triggered by North Korea on October 9, 2006 and the subsequent changes of political environment of the Korean Peninsula and surrounding superpower countries demand the Korean Christians to think seriously about the impending future of the South-North relationship and the possibility of the reunification of two Koreas no matter what kind of process may be taking place during the course of reunification. Even the possibility of sudden collapse of the North Korean regime has been cautiously proposed. At least many politicians and observers agree to the reality that the Koreas are in the first stage of reunification after the historical South-North Summit Talks in 1990. What does Korean Christianity do for the impending reunification of the Koreas? Do we have a master plan for the future other than the old paradigm of nationalistic approach by the radical proponents of “Unification Theology” during the 1970s and 1980s? Do we have a mission plan for North Korean Christianity after the reunification other than the imperialistic church planting based on South Korean Christians' denominational lines? What if there is a sudden collapse of North Korea? The present author aims to provide a comprehensive outlook for the leaders of South Korean Christianity to review the possible scenarios of reunification process by examining the expecting results of reunification and/or collapse. The author predicts that there will be (1) massive migration of North Koreans to South Korea (2) minor territorial conflict with China (3) the rapid dismantle of North Korean society (4) the rapid rise of unemployment rate (5) the rise of anti-North Koreans sentiment (6) the dissatisfaction of North Koreans increases. To verify these predictions, the author investigates the preceeding case of reunification in Germany, the role of East German Church in the process of reunification and the following results, and the lesson that could be gathered from the cases of North Korean refugees who have tried to settle in South Korean society. As conclusion, the present author suggests to South Korean Church to prepare the followings: (1) the theological enterprises for the soft-landing of North Koreans' Ju-che Philosophy (2) the theological articulation for preventing social anomie among North Koreans (3) Making South Korean churches as a strong mediating structure to make a political space (4) Interpreting the Christian Gospel with the theology of peaceful reconciliation and mutual endurance (5) Becoming a member of reunification governance (6) Paradigm shift from “nationalistic strategy” to “global-dimension reunification plan”.

The plan type of Korean protestant church architecture underwent changes as following five stages according to the changes of the distinction between the sexes. First stage - At the beginning of missionary work in Korea, Koreans generally worshiped in missionary houses which were traditional Korean styles. The plan type of these houses was a simple '-' figure. At that time, men and women worshiped separately because of the idea of the distinction between the sexes. They either worshiped in different places at the same time or in the same place at the different time. Second stage - At this stage, men and women started to worship together in the same place. At the beginning of this stage, men sat in the front of the chapel on a rostrum, and women sat behind the men. The plan type of the chapel was a simple '-' or a rectangular figure. Later, they sat separately on the right and left side. There are the visual interceptions which were set up between them. As the number of church members increased rapidly, a new type of church architecture appeared. It was a 'ㄱ' figure. At that time the entrances were separated by the sexes. Third stage - At this stage, the visual interceptions disappeared as the idea of the distinction between the sexes became weak. As new churches had been constructed by the plan type of rectangular figure, the visual interceptions weren't set up anymore. Fourth stage - At this stage, the separated entrances were unified as one. But the arrangement of their seats didn't change because of the old idea of the distinction between the sexes. Fifth stage - In the final stage, the plan type of the church architecture was not determined by the idea of the distinction between the sexes but social, economical, technological facts and the influence of the foreign architecture. At this stage, new and various kinds of the plan type appeared such as the fan, round, squared, or oval figure as well as the rectangular figure. Men and women were not classified anymore. They started to sit and worship together in the same place. Also, when men and women sat separately from side to side because of the Idea of the distinction between the sexes, men sat on the right and women sat on the left side of rostrum. It didn't applied Confucian ideas but the idea of protestant church; protestant churches have the idea that the right side is more important but it does not in Confucianism.

Korean women’s fertility rate is rapidly declining as it goes down from 4.5 in 1970 to 1.3 in 2002. The impacts of the low fertility rate are many, e.g., the decline of Korean population, the lack of industrial man powers, the numerical rise of foreign workers, the growth of older generation, and so on. Soon Korean church will be under direct impacts of the low fertility rate as well. The present paper aims to investigate (1) the growth rate of Korean Christian pop띠 ation based on the scientific national census; (2) the rapid decline of the Korean women’s fertility rate; (3) the influence of the 1997 IMF econornic crisis upon the decline of fertility rate; (4) practical suggestions for the future ministry from missiological analysis which include counseling, silver rninistry, rninistry to corning generation, rninistry to foreign workers, and encouragement for childbe뻐ng for the Christian farnilies. What Korean churches need now is to recognize the importance of the rnissionary proclaim in the Book of Genesis (9: 1): “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth." Otherwise, Korean church would have a significant difficulty to maintain the present energy and enthusiasm due to the sharp decline of the Christian pop비ation in Korea near soon.

From the long history of Christianianity we rnay identify some currents that have flowed strongly in the past and which may enable us to discern some of the directions for mission in a new century. Christianity seemed to most people to be a Western religion, indeed the religion of the West; but now Christianity is entering a new phase of its exstence， as a mainly non-western religion. Put differendy, the worldwide resurgence of Christianity coincides with the waning of the religion in what is now a post Christian West. Thus, we could see that Christian advance in the world is not progressive, but serial. Given the changing face of the α1fistian faith and the globalization of Christanity， the writer following Lesslie Newbigin (1989) and Philip Jenkins (2002) asserts that the churches that have grown most rapidly in the global South such as Mrica, Asia, and Latin America are far more traditional, morally conservative, evangelical, and apocalyptic than their northern counterparts. Western liberal scholars have recently dedared that Christianity is declining, or that it must modernize its beliefs or risk being abandoned altogether. However the writer contends that just the opposite is true. Regarding the issue of national evangelization and world mission as the most essential tasks of the Korean Church at the moment, after evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the Church， the writer has provided some suggestions. Finally, as a condusion, given the faα that at different periods, different areas of the world have taken leadership in the Christian mission, the writer emphasizes the necessity of self-reform of the Korean Church which has the largest church in the world Paul Yonggi Cho’s Full Gospel Church.

In this paper, I describe a major religious reason for the church growth of Korea on the basis of my field research and from the point of view of beliefs and practices in the field of phenomenology of religion. To do this project，I prefer to use the categories of phenonomenology of Christianity as described by Peter McKenzie who has adapted the methodology from Friedrich Heiler’ s categories of pheno menology of religion. Before doing this project, however, for better understanding of many forms of contemporary Korean Christianity, a brief historical background of Korean Christianity is needed. Although the methodology of phenomenology of religion I use is largely ahistorical, its application does not deny or reject relevant historical facts for inter pretation. Thus, I intend to develop a preliminary understanding of two contextual aspects that have led to the different kinds of forms within contemporary Christianity in Korea: the socio-political aspect and the religious aspect. The socio-political aspect influenced Koreans to follow Westem Christendom, but the religious aspect led Koreans to make their own indigenous or syncretistic folk Christianity.

In Korea werden heutzutage jedes Jahf etwa 400 Lokalgemeinde neu gegründet. Neugrüdung der Gemeinde war und ist noch eine der wichtigsten Faktoren des Kirchenwachstums der koreanischen Protestanten seit der Mission. So setzen heute viele wichtige proteatantischen Denom.i nationen ihr Missionsziel als ‘Eröffnung der vielen neuen Lokalgemeinden", womit sie seit langem deutlich gewordenes Wachstumssstop und rückgang gegensteuern möchten: z.B 10.000 Gemeinden mit vier Millionen Gemeindenmitgliedern (Die Presbytarianische Kirche in Korea), 7.000 Gemeinden mit zwei Millionenmitgliedern (Die Methodistische Kirche in Korea) usw ... Solche Vorstellung, dass stündige Neugründeung der Gemeinde der wichtigste Fak:tor für das Gemeindewachstums sei , werden von vielen Foschern für die Churchgrowth-Movement unterstüzt so z.B. c.P. Wager, Sunghun Myung. Myung behauptet in seimen Buch ‘ Prinzipien und St:rategie für die Begründung der neuen Gemeinde, Seoul, KukminilÐo-Verlag, 1997", dass Begründung der neuen Gemeinden Gottes Wille ist. Aber das Problem ist die Tatsache, dass z.B. in der Methodistischen Kirche in Korea in der Zeitraum von 1992 bis 1999 1.171 Gemeinden neugeründet sind, und davon die 67,8% Gemeinden (794 Gemeinden) nochbisjetzt unselbständig sind. In den acht Jahren bleiben nur 188 Gemeinden finaziell selbständig . Unselbständigen Gemeinden heissen , dass eine Gemeinde nur wenige Gemeindemitglieder (1-20) hat und im Jahl weniger a1s 20.000.000 Won (ca. 15.000 Euro) finaziell zur Verfügung hat. Das ist nicht nur ein Problem in der koreanischen Kirche, sondern ein Problem in der Gesellschaft geworden. Denn somit leben fast 70% der protestantischen Pastoren unter dem Existenzminimum und so produziert koreanische Kirche unerwünscht aber systematisch soziale (Pastoral) Artnutgruppe in Gesellschaft. In den letzten Jahren h?rt man so ?fter, dass einige in Not lebenden Pastoren Verbrechen beganegn sind, um zu überleben oder weil sie seelisch arn Ende waren. Diese Artilkel befasst sich deshalb mit diesem Problem und versucht eine Lösung dafür zu suchen. Folgende konkrete Themen werden deshalb hier behandelt: 1. Was ist Begründung der Neuen Lokalgemeinde; 2. Analyse der Begründungsmethode der neuen Lokalgemeinde; 3. Problemfaktoren der Begründungsmethode der neuen Lokalgemeinde; 4. Lösungsversuch.

The concept of globalization has emerged as a powerful paradigmatic concept in explaining many far-reaching economic, social, and cultural transformations in many parts of the world. Globalization can be defined as all the multi-dimensional process by which peoples of the world are incorporated into a global society. The drives of globalization are the tools of modern technology and the free market economy. The purpose of this paper is to understand globalization as a modern context for mission and how it has influenced the Korean church. This paper argues that globalization is not only opportunities for Christian mission but also obstacles against it. This paper discusses some benefits and obstacles to mission. For example, in an age of globalization more and more people can have an opportunity to hear the Gospel message, however, it makes more difficult for them to be disciples. Globalization encourages the context to foster the privatization of Christian faith. The paper suggests some future tasks for the Korean church in an age of globalization: the development of partnership, faith community, worldwide and communal sense of responsibility, and Christian civil society movements. It is hoped that the Korean church will contribute to the globalization of Christian gospel in the future, by embracing the global vision, one Kingdom of God under Jesus Christ.