이 논문은 교회의 새로운 표현들의 모델 중에서 일터교회개척 (Entrepreneurial Church Planting)의 사회학적 함의들을 발견하기 위한 연구과정을 담았다. 비록 교회의 새로운 표현들은 영국교회에서 시작된 선교적 교회 운동이지만, 최근에 지구촌 북쪽인 미국, 영국, 호주, 뉴질랜드, 캐나다, 그리고 다른 유럽국가 뿐 아니라 한국에서도 성장하고 있다. 필자는 일터/공공장소에서 하나님의 선교(MissioDei)를 실천하는 두 일터교회개척 모델들 (오떡이어 그리고 커피와 교회)을 공공 신학적 그리고 선교적 접근으로 연구했다. 또한, 한국적 상황에서 일터교회개척이 어떻게 실천되는 가를 알아보기 위해서, 질적 연구 방법인 근거이론을 통해서 연구 자료와 분석 결과를 얻었고 그 분석결과를 바탕으로 일터교회 개척의 사회학적 함의들을 소개한다. 2장에서 교회의 새로운 표현들과 일터교회개척을 소개하고 성장하는 배경에 대해서 설명했다. 3장에서는 연구 방법론에 대해서 언급하고 사례들을 소개했으며, 4장에서는 연구 분석 결과를 설명했다. 5장에서 는 이 연구 분석을 토대로 일터교회개척의 사회학적 함의를 서술했다.

경제개발과 더불어 빠르게 성장했던 한국교회는 급격한 침체기를 맞고 있다. 과거 놀라운 교회성장이 전적으로 각 교단들이 실시한 전략들이 효과적으로 작용한 결과였다고 말하기는 어렵다. 오히려 후발주자로서 비교적 늦게 교회개척에 몰두하고 프로그램과 전략이 부족하였던 침례교단은 다른 주류교단의 쇠퇴에도 불구하고 꾸준히 성장하였다. 이 논문은 1997년부터 현재까지의 한국침례교단인 기독 교한국침례회 교회개척 현황과 전략, 그리고 선교적, 신학적, 역사적 고찰을 통해서 한국교회뿐만 아니라 기독교한국침례회가 더 부흥성장 의 가능성을 살펴보고자 한다. 이를 위해 우선 침례교의 교회개척 현황과 전략을 면밀히 살펴보고 그중에서 교회 개척자 훈련 및 교회개척 사역의 구조 연구를 통해서 현재 교단의 전략과 미래적 조망을 다시 살펴보고 새로운 대안과 가능성을 살펴보고자 한다. 또한 선교적, 신학적, 실천적 성찰을 통한 침례교단의 새로운 성장을 위해 정체성 확립을 연구하고, 그것을 통한 침례교단의 교회개척 사례 분석을 통해 서 한국교회를 위한 21세기 새로운 교회개척과 교회성장을 위한 신학적인 고찰과 실천적인 대안으로 찾아보려고 한다.

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.

The purpose of this study is to discern and describe the different church planting models in the development of the Korean Protestant church. The historical range of this study is from 1885, when the first Protestant missionaries entered Korea, to 1945, when the Japanese colonial rule ended. The Korean Protestant Christians were enthused in evangelizing and establishing churches during political turbulence. They showed seven different models of church planting, even if they did not recognize them back then as we do today through strategic dimensions. During this period, many churches were established by spontaneous evangelism. Since 1903, revivals became a strong catalyst for church planting, stimulating the evangelistic activities of believers. These models revealed the significance of the work of the Holy Spirit and the evangelistic passion of believers in church planting. Furthermore, the Korean Protestant Church used strategic methods to counteract the randomness of spontaneous evangelism. The Holiness Evangelical Church especially focused on dispatching professional evangelists to strategic locations. This method was much useful to some groups despite its difference from the Nevius Plan which emphasized not paying workers' salaries. Many Korean churches were planted by seminary students and largescale evangelism. Some models of church planting by the Korean Church, such as church planting by holistic ministries and hiving off through revivals, can be evaluated as exemplary models in the present. Through holistic methods, some medical missionaries established new churches in their infirmary where they looked after poor patients. This brings to our attention how important incarnational ministry is in local community missions. Many new churches were planted due to revivals resulting in the mother church exceeding maximum capacity. This model is missional in that it rejects egoistic growth of individual churches and values God’s mission.

The intention of this thesis is to explain the concept of missional church planting and explore its theological foundations. The concept is designed to draw out effective practices for church planting based on the proposition that the church is intrinsically missional. In my opinion, the biggest problem of the Korean church’s church planting ministries is the lack of theological reflection. The Korean church has focused only on techniques and methods of church planting, most of them being reckless. However, such reckless methods have stopped working since the 1990s when the Korean church began to stagnate and lose its social influence. In addition, there is a need for new paradigms that are better suited to the spread of postmodern culture in the Korean society. Church planting is a core ministry in evangelizing to the world according to God’s will. However, it could be an obstacle to God’s mission if it falls into ecclesiastical expansionism without the right missiological perspective. In order to construct the concept of missional church planting, I suggest five key thoughts: (1) creative ministries beyond mere church planting, (2) recognizing the missional essence of the church, (3) orienting towards the fulfillment of the Great Commission, (4) adjusting to the cultural environment, (5) growing dynamically and reproducing daughter churches. I also suggest the concepts of both the organic church and the missional church for constructing the ecclesiology of missional church planting. On one hand, an organic church based on the biblical concept of ‘the body of Christ’ secures healthy growth from its organic life and inner dynamics; as a natural result, it emphasizes planting new churches. The church as an organism has a duty of reproducing other churches; such a duty is divided into hiving off and supporting. On the other hand, a missional church is founded on the fact that mother churches as well as newly planted churches have an apostolic mandate toward the world. Furthermore, the concept of missional churches plays a role of a rudder, explaining what a church should be, what it should do, and how it should organize itself for the purpose of performing its apostolate.

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.