The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors of church growing and to identify the factors of decreasing church members at the same time. On the basis of the results few activating plans are recommended for the future church developing in Korea. Needless to say the existing reason of the church is to engage in mission work and to preach the gospel into the whole world. In order to fulfill this mission, church must be grown; if it is not so, there is no way for the church to be exist. Taking notice of this point the study presents the factors of church growing until 1990 and discusses the reason why the church stop from growing. Either growing or decreasing there were still two factors which affect the church development; one is social fact and the other is church itself. After Japanese era, the tragic division of the Korean peninsula causes social unrest so the great number of people sought the consolation and the churches were right there and after the Korean war the rapidly growing economic situation also facilitate the grassroots to become church members. Beside that facts, Korean churches has their own campaign to spread the gospel; mainly this was conducted by foreign missionaries and the leaderships of the Korean pastors. On the other hand, there were also few things which hinder the church growing. This can be divided into two parts; the social facts and the church itself as well. Since 1980, Korean society is getting more stable and economic situations of the households are becoming sufficient. Moreover the single society has been changed by what is called multi-cultural society. These were the causes of the decreasing number of the churches in Korea. Concerning the above mentioned factors, the Korean churches should find out the ways to revitalize its development by means of recovering the leaderships of the pastors, facilitating better church mission works, and building a close relationships with the local communities.

Korean missionaries and Korean diaspora churches are all around the world now. In fact, Korea is widely known as the second-largest missionary sending country in the world, and the country where the biggest church in the world is located. However, although Korean diaspora churches are located in strategic places for world mission, many are reaching out to only Koreans. Of course, they are engaging in various forms of mission. But mission is not their main pursuit. They tend to focus more on internal programs, and differentiate those programs from mission. Missional churches, on the other hand, have a different understanding. They think of the church as having one vocation: participation in the missio Dei—that is, the Triune God’s own mission. In other words, traditional churches have programs, some of which focus on mission; in contrast, missional churches focus mainly on mission and seek to bring all their programs to bear on that task. This study, in which the author commends the latter ecclesiological stance, explores how Korean diaspora churches in North America might be able to move from a traditional stance to a missional one. Utilizing three transformation theories as a framework for analysis, and working from data from interviews with leaders from ten Korean churches in North America and North American-based Korean missional leaders, plus library research and the records and histories of the churches studied, this study concluded that the authoritarian model of pastoral leadership in first generation Korean diaspora churches in North America militates against the employment of any change process that does not focus first and foremost on senior pastors. Given the support of the senior pastor, the study further recommends a strategy for change that is tailored to the culture of first generation North America Korean churches.

This paper is intended to explore the relationship of korean churches and the shamanism from the missional perspective. July 7, 2007 the very interesting article was reported in ‘The New York Times’. It bears the title, “Shamanism Enjoys Revival in Techno-Savvy South Korea”. According to this report, there are an estimated 300,000 shamans in south-korea. By contrast it is approximately 120,000 protestant pastors in south korea. Until now the shamanism and the mudangs are estimated so negative by reason of their ‘health and wealth gospel’. Specially the korean church took it as the mammonism. But the health and wealth gospel of shamanism aims the worldy centered worth, not the mammonism. By religious ritual named ‘gut’ they will find a solution to one's problem, but will not accumulate wealth. They think that the most problem of human beings arise from the distorted relationship between the divine beings and the livings. So by the gut they try to reconcile the livings with the divine beings. For this, the mudangs serve their gods with all their hearts; they pray every early morning with the lustral water, support their gods with fresh new fruits. This faithful devotion is called ‘chiseong’ in korean, and this could be comepare with the spiritual discipline. By this ‘chiseong’ the mudangs can be recognized as the spiritual psychics. And this will afford an excellent lesson to the korean churches, for the church as a missionary organ have to witness the presence of the living God in this world.

The unification mission of the Korean church is carried out with more Diakonia than Kerygma. It has the positive effects on the national product as well as on the food-and nutrition status in North Korea, besides on the personal relations between South and North Korea. It has also the positive mission effect in North Korea, although that is not confirmed exactly with number. But because of the exclusionism of the North Korean regime transparency and efficiency of the aid become hot issues and induced the ‘South-South conflict’. Not only that, the humanitarian aid is under the strong influence of the political situation. Moreover in the year 2010 because of the attacking Chunan-Ham and the bombardment Yunpyung-Do the diaconal activity of the Korean church must be closed. In order to exceed these limitations an another diaconal method can be proposed. That ist the commercial aid with return beside the contributive aid without return. The commercial aid with return has not few advantage: ⑴ It ist a international business, that is political neutral furthermore protected by government. ⑵ The commercial aid produces value-added, that can be the self-supporting ground for the partner. ⑶ Therefore the commercial aid does not induce the partner to fall in the ‘Samaritan’s dilemma’. ⑷ The commercial aid is self-sustaining and can be enlarged, if it makes a profit. ⑸ The material resource of aid is invested in business and in production system, not concentrated on a place. ⑹ The commercial aid does not make ‘agent problem’, nor the problem of low transparency and low efficiency on the level of the contributive aid. But what ist more important, is the harmony of Korean churches to make a unified organization, that takes care of the commercial aid. This organization can concentrate the unification power of the Korean churches, because it could treat the problem of the internal competition between Korean churches themselves, the overlapping of aids, the monitoring etc. In the end the harmony of Korean churches determines the time of the Unification in the korean peninsula.

Thirty years have passed since the first Korean missionary Youngja Kim had arrived in India in 1980. Korean missionaries have filled up the vacancy of Western missionaries after they had gone home. They have done excellent job particularly in the field of church planting where the Western missionaries found it hard. Unfortunately, however, Korean missionaries have worked tirelessly without having any chance to get feedback from Indian natives and churches. This article shows the present situation and some problems of Korean missions. Its aim is to evaluate Korean missions in India by the reflection on Indian culture and Indian critic of foreign missions carried out in India. Korean missionaries have worked mainly among so-called the scheduled caste people and the scheduled tribe, namely the lowest strata of Indian society. The religion of S. C. and the S. T. is Buddhism, Sikhism, Animism and Totemism unlike the mainline Hinduism. The Korean missionaries' work is mostly focused on church planting, along with teaching ministry in seminaries and schools, and social service. Indian Christians examined themselves and confessed that 90% of their evangelistic efforts are carried out among about 4% Christians of their country. They proposed that their focused missionary efforts should be made among the main line caste Hindus who have not heard the Gospel. Secondly, Indian Christian leaders like R. C. Das demanded that foreign financial assistance should be stopped right now unless western missionaries would ruin the native initiative and the spirit of self-reliance which is essential to the fulfillment of Indian evangelism. Thirdly, they suggested that church building is culturally irrelevant in India where spirituality is raised by parents and elders rather than by the appointed paid Christian workers. Based on these criticism, Korean missionaries have to shift the traditional paradigm of missions in India as following. First, Korean missionaries should strike a balance by focusing on missions among the higher caste Hindus or middle class people in cities. Second, Korean missionaries should stop the financial assistance to the Indian workers and churches, and rather plant the independent spirit and the gospel faith.

It could be said that the Korean Church has improved through continuous diverse debates and division in its history. The debate in Korean Church history has begun after missionaries who came in early Korean Church history, so that it became different denominations. It my theses, I will study the diverse debate forms in the history of the Korean Church. For this, I will divide the Korean Church history in several periods according to the most important events. The first period is the 1910's in this period the Korean Church was established. The second period is 1930's, where there was theological debate between conservative theologies and liberal theologies. The third period is 1950's, when the Korean Presbyterian Church began to divide. The fourth period is 1970's: in this period there was a lot of debate over indigenization and 'Minjung' theology and also the conservative theology which made the churches grow. The final period is 1990's, in this period, conservative theologians and church leaders made super-size churches expel two liberal theologians who tried to establish the Korean theology in a Korean context. In my thesis, I will study the debate forms of each period and transitional phases in Korean Church history. It would not be possible, of course, to study all the denominations of the Korean Church. Therefore, I will research the Korean Methodist Church and the Korean Presbyterian Church, as the Korean Methodist Church has been in existence since the arrival of early missionaries who first came to Korea and also the Korean Presbyterian Church which has been most divided of the different denominations in Korean Church history. It could be helpful to find the new way of mission for unity and forgiveness in Korean church history.

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.

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.

The North Korean mission is inseparable from the South-North unification policy. In addition, the opinions of neighboring counties are also important. Such are the perimeters of the North Korean mission. This study attempts to examine North Korean mission, particularly the reconstruction of North Korean Church within the process of South North unification process. The reconstruction of the North Korean Church, as North Korean mission and unification movement, is a policy issue amidst the unification process. It is a policy that can create a basis within the North Korea and effectively manage the personnel, financial and mission resources of the South Korean Church. At the same time, the reconstruction of the North Korean Church joins the reunification process of the Korean peninsular with the North Korean mission purposes. The current situation is created by the ideological conflict between the conservative versus liberal elements within the Korean Church in regard to the North Korean mission and unification movement. In addition, there is a great disparity in the approach towards the reconstruction of the North Korean Church. The problems are three-fold: 1) Who is the protagonist of the North Korean mission? Is it the South Korean Church? or is it the North Korean Church? In case it it’s the latter, the term North Korean mission does not apply. 2) The phrase “North Korean mission” implies an imbedded view of the South North division. 3) Should the North Korean “Chosun Christian Association” be accepted as a partner in the North Korean mission? Or should it be viewed as a mission object? The best means of North Korean mission is to have the “Chosun Christian Association” take the leading role in the reconstruction of the North Korean Church. Since, however, it is the South Korean Church that is taking action to prepare for such an event, mutual cooperation between the two is essential. The reconstruction of the North Korean Church cannot be achieve by the South Korean Church alone. In addition, the reconstruction of North Korean Church is linked to the Korean war, a factor behind the division of the Korean Church into the liberal and conservative camp. The anti-communist stance of the South Korean regime was another factor that unified the right wing Christians. Attempts by the “Korean Christian Association” to reconstruct the North Korean Church within this approach involved, not only efforts to reconstruct the North Korean Church, but various aid programs. However, such aid programs were commonly perceived to be the work of mission organizations and not the conservative South Korean Church. Furthermore, the “Korean Christian Association,” which advocated the reconstruction of the North Korean Church, were mistakenly criticized as an organization that were only interested in the reconstruction of the Northern Church. Therefore, the reconstruction effort of the Northern Church must be newly reinterpreted. The role of the Church, from a mission history perspective, is to be a bridgehead of mission, a center of training for workers, and center of mission field. As such, though the reconstruction of the Northern Church is premature, efforts to prepare for such an event, financial preparation, training center for mission workers and confidence building between the South and North through information and assistance projects can be viewed within the context of the unification process. The North Korean mission through the reconstruction of the Northern Church within the context of the unification process can promote the unification capability of South and North. It is futuristic unification policy of the Southern Church. Precedents for the reconstruction of the Northern Church must be found from similar cases following the liberation from Japan and post-Korean war and examined strategically. The North Korean mission must conclude with the reconstruction of the North Korean Church.

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.

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.

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.

This is a study on the ㄱ-shaped church in Korean Protestant churches. Since the Protestantism had been introduced into Korea, the style of ㄱ-shaped church was the popular style that have been fashioned in all the country of Korea. When the Protestantism was introduced into Korea, ideology which ruled over the Society of Chosun Dynasty was the Confucianism that emphasized the precepts, for example, the loyalty for the King, distinction between the sexes and so on. The Korean Protestants built the church which had ㄱ-shaped plan, so that they solved the second problem : 'distinction between the sexes'. The style of the ㄱ-shaped church is one of the characteristics which distinguish the Korean church from other nations'. Actually the ㄱ-shaped churches had been built by Korean Protestant denominations, from the early days of introducing the Protestantism till the end of 1920's. Even though most of the style of the ㄱ-shaped church is replaced with the modern style according to the extension of religious influence, luckily the ㄱ-shaped two churches : Kumsan Church(1908), Toodong Church(1929) are in existence in the Provice of ChonBuk. The purpose of this study is to make the architectural characteristics of the ㄱ-shaped church clear. This study is based on the actual survey of the ㄱ-shaped churches in existence: Kumsan Church, the Toodong Church and on the documents, photographs, interviews and so on for investigation not existing one now. The ㄱ-shaped church have the plan to separate men's side from women's with a right angle and have a pulpit which was placed at the meeting point of the front part of men's and women's sides. Generally, seen from the court, the churches have men's side in left and women's one in right. There was a screen blocking both sides in the church. But it disappeared in 1920's according to the change of the social conventionality. Most of its structural form is the Korean wooden style. The ㄱ-shaped church appeared in a transition period of the Korean church architecture.

이 논문은 대한장로교회 신경의 변천과정과 장로교회 각 교단의 헌법에 수록되어 있는 현황을 살펴보고, 이를 통해서 한국장로교회의 신앙고백에 대한 인식을 연구한 것이다. 1907년에 제정된 대한장로교회 신경은 1922년에 조선예수교장로회 신경, 1934년에 조선예수교장로회 신조로 이름이 변경되고, 1934년 수정과정에서 문구의 수정 및 단어의 추가나 삭제 등의 부분적인 변화가 있었다. 해방 후 장로교회 각 교단은 대부분 1934년의 조선 예수교장로회 신조를 저본으로 해서 현대철자법에 맞게 수정한 후 헌법에 수록하여 현재에 이르고 있다. 다만 예장 고신 교단은 2011년 개정, 공포된 헌법에서 대한장로교회 신경을 삭제했으며, 예장 통합 교단은 1971년 헌법 개정 과정에서 서언을 축소하고, 승인식을 삭제했으며, 제12조의 내용 중 불신자가 최후 심판 때에 형벌을 받는다는 문구를 삭제했다. 현재 대한장로교회 신경은 역사적인 기원과 개정에 대한 설명이 전혀 없이 헌법에 수록되어 있으므로 이에 대한 설명을 첨부하여 이해를 돕는 것이 필요하다. 그리고 신앙고백을 제정한 후에는 그것을 보편적으로 사용 하기 위한 구체적인 노력도 필요하다.