The early Korean church had experienced rapid growth and revival. What caused this phenomenon? What are its driving forces? Though so far there have been many papers on the quantitative growth of the Korean church, there are almost none which deals with it from the perspective of church planting. Therefore, in this paper, I tried to evaluate the Nevius Plan as a church planting theory that enabled the early Korean church to grow rapidly. As a result of this study, I found that the Nevius Plan as a church planting method has some strengths and weaknesses.The Nevius Plan is positive in that it enhances greatly the spontaneity of believers on the basis of Three-self Principle─self-support, self-governance, and self-propaganda. However, it is not an absolute principle that can unconditionally be applied in every condition. In addition, it is wrong to place the responsibility of evangelism and church planting on only native people. Such interpretation is a distortion of the Nevius Plan. This would be demonstrated by the supportive argument that when considering Adams Evangelistic Fund, the Nevius Plan did not collide with strategic fund supports. When the Nevius Plan based on Three-self Principle was introduced to missionaries in Korea, it was indigenized into a church planting method focused on self-support and self-propaganda. As a church planting theory, it regarded the church as an organic community full of vitality and pursued establishing indigenous churches in their own culture. Three-self Principle functioned as a concrete method for church planting. However, it should not be recognized as an end in itself or an absolute theory, rather it should be applied appropriately in a certain circumstance in which local churches existed. In his writing, John Nevius also agrees that supporting fund should be invested to several ministries such as school, and to hire paid workers in case of need. Therefore, to believe that the Nevius Plan insists on leaving the responsibility of evangelism and church planting to native people without any outer fund, is a distorted interpretation. As the Nevius Plan was applied all over the country, Adams Evangelistic Fund, which had a marked effect on church planting ministry in Taegu area, demonstrates how the Nevius Plan as a indigenous church planting theory could be harmonized with fund support. Three-self Principle is the important foundation for indigenous church planting. The Nevius Plan makes church planting not a humanistic enterprise but a dynamic work led by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, if funds in the strategic church planting support workers devoted to the Three-self spirit, it will heighten the intensity of effect more than the case of when everything is left to only native people will. It is of course that beneficiaries’ sense of independence is necessary in this case.

• 최동규(서울신학대학교, 교회성장학) | Dongkyu Choi