Willem Adolf Visser ’t Hooft was born on 1900 in Netherland and moved into Geneva in 1924 in order to work with YMCA as a general secretary. From 1928, he also was involved in World Student Christian Federation and became an editor of The Student World. Then he worked in World Council of Churches from 1938 to 1966 as a general secretary. He published The Ecumenical Review and was the editor of it from 1948. He hosted many ecumenical meetings, including Evanston (1954) and New Delhi (1961) WCC General Assembly and actively participated in lecturing and writing in the world. Although he was born in the West and had been educated in the West, he humbly accepted the sinful nature of Western churches. He acknowledged they had been affected by syncretism, pluralism, and Neo-paganism. Hooft understood the church in two different dimensions. One is that church is a spiritual community which gets salvation by Christ, becomes a new creature (I Cor. 5: 17), and lives in the Kingdom of God in the eschatological hope. The other is that church is a sinful human organization. Especially, Western churches have compromised the Gospel of Christ with many contemporary philosophy, theory, ideology, and other religions. In such a situation, church should be renewed. Hooft argued that the authentic church’s renewal is not an event or program that can be acquired, but it is an ongoing process in relationship with God. In other words, the renewal of churches does not rely on human’s endeavor or achievement, but the sovereignty of God. He is the subject of churches’ renewal and each church is in His hands. In terms of this perspective, He leads churches’ renewal and churches should pay attention to His will and ways towards other churches. In this sense, according to Hooft, the first step of renewal, is repentance before God. Then churches should listen carefully to the Word of God. The renewals cannot be done in a certain amount of time; rather it is a lifelong process in the living God. Hooft insisted on that the renewal of churches should be visible, tangible, and concrete in this world. In that sense, Hooft emphasized the unity of churches. People have been separated, but Christ never. If Christians believe that Christ creates churches, they are one body. They cannot be divided in Christ, although they have different backgrounds. If Hooft’s claim is true, the unity of churches should be manifested in this world. Again, unity of churches is not an event or political project; rather it is an ongoing process in relationship with God. He is an initiator of churches’ unity and He is the One who finalizes in His time. It does mean that the unity of churches should grow up “from” Christ “to” Christ. In conclusion, Hooft focused on the missional nature of church in terms of fulfilling the renewal and unity of churches. He said that the problems of church unity are supremely relevant to the evangelistic and missionary tasks in the world. In addition, Hooft claimed that the renewal of the Church implies, therefore also that the Church rediscovers its apostolic, missionary character. For Hooft, the Church is the missionary Church, because it is the instrument of God’s world-embracing plan of salvation.

In the 1930s, new theologians who studied abroad, due to Japan’s cultural policy of the 1920s, wanted to recognize the Bible and theology of their own subjective opinion, and get out of the fundamental conversation of theology of the early Western missionaries. It caused a debate between Conservative and Progressive theology in the early churches in Korea. Through the “Hypothesis of Moses Copyright negation” and “Problem of the Interpretation of Women’s Rights”, which were condemned issues by Presbyterians in 1934, and also the “Abingdon Bible Commentary Incident in 1935”; early Korean church leaders, pastors, and even missionaries, who were educated by Conservative western missionaries, judged the change of the new theologians’ view. Pastor Sun Joo Kil, a leader of the “Pyong Yang Revival Movement” which was initiated by Missionary Hady in 1907, held his Bible crusades, and his successful spiritual revival movement kept until 1910. After him, Pastor Ik Doo Kim started the Healing Crusade, as a new step of the spiritual revival movement in 1920. There was also another man who wanted to revive the Korean church, based on the contemporary churches. He tried to reform the churches, not to be conservative but to be focused on spiritual approaches. His name was pastor Yong Do Lee. Unfortunately, Pastor Yong Do Lee’s Shimuyan, works were only recorded for five years from 1928 to 1933. He died when he was only 33. In spite of his short life, the Korean Churches were influenced greatly and changed by him. He was also thought as an enthusiastic and mystic theologian, and also even a preacher who had the element of heresy. The main theme of this thesis focuses on the renewal missions of today's Korean Churches based on Pastor Yong Do Lee’s works for renovating them. This research guides and provides the material to find out a certain way to build up the revival of the Korean Churches’ growth and advance.