Korean society has experienced a significant change during the last couple of decades. The importance of community life to the well-beings of the inhabitants has increased. A community is an area where inhabitants get together with other peoples. A community development is a process by which the inhabitants improve their leaderships to solve problems which are imminent to the people in the same area. The central government entrusts much of its job related to the social welfare to the local government. And the local government has to draw abundant resources from its community for the well-beings of the inhabitants. Korean churches are required to be involved in the process of community development. During last couple of decades, Korean churches have not been active in contributing to their communities. Nowadays people do not have positive opinions towards the Church. The younger generation especially has an anti-Christian attitude towards the Church. It tends to be very hard to evangelize the non-believers because of such bad reputation. To change this situation, Korean churches have to reconsider their responsibilities concerning their participation in their communities. Seoul Jangsin University is located in Kwang-ju, which is nearby Seoul. In comparison to neighboring cities around Seoul, Kwang-ju city is underdeveloped. That is because the government put many regulations to preserve drinking water for the people of Seoul area. When churches located in Kwang-ju city try to participate in the community development ministry, they have to understand the situations related to the welfare system. If they can cooperate with the local government, their services will be more effective and their influence more broad. CHE mission, a mission agency which has lots of experiences related to community development in an international scale, can help the local churches obtain much information and skill related to community development. The churches can cooperate with CHE Mission. In cooperation with CHE Mission, Seoul Jangsin University held a seminar for community development named “Salt and Light Training.” It is to prepare the leaders of the local churches with the necessary concepts and methods needed for community development. The purpose of the seminar is to facilitate the participation of the local churches in the process of community development in Kwang-ju. When the leaders of the local churches cooperate with the three sectors mentioned above, which are the local government, CHE Mission and Seoul Jangsin University, the resources of the churches can be utilized more effectively and strategically. In Kwang-ju city, local churches have to cooperate with each other. In that way, even small churches can discover what they can contribute to the development of the city. CHE Mission has developed a strategy called “the Seed Project.” It is an implementation project starting from small deeds like cleaning the streets or helping chirldren cross the sidewalks. The Seed Project begins with examining the conditions of the inhabitants in the community. When Christians planning a seed project find the need of the inhabitants, they try to satisfy the need. With God‘s help, they can expect great results from small efforts. In the process of community development, it is important to cooperate with the people of the community. Community development has to be operated in cooperation with the inhabitants. Without their participation, developing the community can not persist. To bring about the long-term effects, the leadership of the inhabitants have to be developed. Community development is one of God’s plan of recovering the world. When the people of God participate in obeyance to God’s command, “love thy neighbors,” they will greatly contribute to the well-beings of their communities. At the same time, their beliefs will be confirmed to be correlated to the realization of their beliefs.

• 장남혁(서울장신대 교수ㆍ선교학) | Jang Namhyuck