SEARCHING FOR A NEW PARADIGM OF CHURCH

AND MISSION IN A SECULARIZED AND POST-

MODERN CONTEXT IN KOREA
HONG EYOUL HWANG*

1. Introduction

William Blair, a Christian missionary to Korea in the early 20th century, once
remarked that gold in Korea was "not in its mountains and sandy soil, but in
the hearts of the Korean people", and their "humble hearts, ready and willing
to receive the Gospel."1
Through the miraculous economic growth that has taken place since the begin-
ning of the 1960s, which has also led to the rapid industrialization, and urban-
ization, of the country, Korean people have managed to overcome many of the
disadvantages of poverty that had troubled them in the past. However, as the
wealth of the nation has increased, new cultural and sociological phenomena,
common also to wealthier Western nations, have complicated the search for
faith among Korean people. These phenomena include individualism, ration-
alism, scientific positivism, and the technology of modernity.2 Modernization
meant to Korean people westernization so that Korean traditional cultures and
religions were regarded as pre-modern and inferior to Western ones.
Even though modernity with its positive side has yet to be fully adapted into
Korean culture, the forces of postmodernism and globalization seem to have
become increasingly attractive to Korean people since the early 1990s. On the
one hand, such a rapid cultural change, or rapid mixing of different kinds of
cultural values, can cause a culture to experience a crisis of identity. On the
other hand, this seeming contradiction of values could contribute to a deeper
and more complex understanding of human reality, and the natural world.3 If
we understand the "postmodern" as the relativization of standards, and values,
then centrifugality is one of the typical tendencies in a postmodern culture.4
According to a Chinese proverb, the new comes out of learning the old. To
illustrate this, I will consider the mission of the minjung5 church movement
(MCM) in Korea. This will show how the church and missionaries experi-
enced identity crises because of swift cultural change, and how they have
begun to recognize "spirituality" and "life" as key words for the new para-
digm of church and mission. From this case study we can also learn about the
missiology of the minjung church (MC). Then I will try to identify the key
questions related to.gospel and culture for the Korean church. Finally I will

* Rev. Dr Hong Eyoul Hwang took part in the minjung church movement (see endnote no.5) from
1987 to 1995, and wrote a thesis on it in 2000. He is now a researcher of the Center for the
Theological Study of Peace and the Reunification of Korea, and teaches mission theology at other
universities.

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highlight some emerging frontiers in the mission of the Korean church, and
the major challenges facing the church in the postmodern or neoliberal and
global capitalistic context.

2. Case study : the mission of the minjung church movement6

a) Historical background (early 1980s)

Christians, especially participants of the Urban Rural Mission, led the democ-
ratization movement in the 1970s. The assassination of the dictator Park
Chung-hee in 1979 offered an opportunity for the democratization of the
country. However, this opportunity was thwarted by general Chun Doo-
hwan's military coup of May 1980. The quashing of the Kwangju minjung
uprising on 27 May 1980 forced the leaders and intellectuals of the democra-
tization movement, to recognize the importance of the influence of the US
military in the Korean peninsula. Their solution to overcoming the powerful
influence of the US military and US political hegemony on the Korean penin-
sula, was Marxism. Marxism had been a significant influence on the leaders
of the liberation movement, under Japanese colonial oppression, during the
1930s. The revival of Marxism's influence on the thinking of leaders of the
democratization movement is one of the main criteria for distinguishing
between the nature of the movement in the 1970s and that of the 1980s.
During the early 1980s, several thousand university students gave up their
studies to become factory labourers, in order to change the social and political
system through the organizing of trades unions.

b) Formational period (1983-1987)

The minjung church (MC) was a grouping of Christian congregations found-

ed in the urban industrial/urban poor areas of Korean cities. In the beginning,
MCs were based on minjung theology through participating in the democrati-
zation movement, and through advocating for the reunification of the country,
the renewal of the church, and for the realization of the kingdom of God. In
practical terms, this was achieved during the 1980s and 1990s through living
in community with minjung people, working for their welfare, and making
them the subjects of history. The majority of MCs belonged to three, mainline
Protestant denominations, viz. the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of
Korea, the Presbyterian Church of Korea, and the Methodist Church of Korea.
The average number of members belonging to most MCs was between twenty to
forty. The typical style of Bible study, and even sometimes worship, in most MCs
at this time followed the model of Ernesto Cardenal's, The Gospel in Solentiname
I. Thus, after reading the Bible text, the congregation would openly engage in a
two-way dialogue with the pastor or among themselves over the contents of the
biblical passage, and the meaning of it for their lives. After worship, every MC
shared a communal meal as a celebration of God's grace.

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The MC was a missionary church in that it emphasized missionary activities

in the local community, and also on the national scale. The church developed
several kinds of mission programmes. There were evening classes for Korean
language and history ; health education and labour rights education ; day-care
centres, after school programmes, and Sunday health care clinics for the wel-
fare of the general community. The church also held prayer meetings and fasts,
and made statements on the current social and political issues, as well as
engaging in political activities.
What was the result of the MCM? A strange phenomenon took place. During
the weekdays many minjung people visited MCs and participated in their
activities. However, only a few minjung people attended worship services on
a Sunday. MC pastors expected that minjung people would voluntarily attend
Sunday worship after coming into contact with the church's activities, as the
MC was the "true" church. It did not take long for the pastors to discover their
optimism was unfounded. They began to recognize the gap between their
expectations and "self-understanding" of the MCM, and the reality that faced
the MC at that time.
In spite of the many problems it encountered, the MCM was a Christian
response to the social reality in Korea at the time, and especially the minjung
movement in general. The MCM developed a model for church renewal
founded on the everyday reality experienced by minjung people. The MC
played an important role as the bulwark of the Korean labour movement,
through supporting, and organizing trade unions, which was nearly impossible
to do outside of the protection of the MC during the military dictatorship era.

c) Developmental period (1988-1992)

The attempts by the Chun Doo-hwan regime (1980-1987) to perpetuate its

power met with vigorous protests from the people. From 10-26 June 1987,
approximately four to five million protesters, consisting of minjung, middle
class intellectuals and office workers, participated in daily democratization
protests nationwide. What became known as the June Democratization
Movement resulted not only in the institution of a process for the direct elec-
tion of the president, but also the recovery of civil society, which had almost
been destroyed by the policies of the US military administration (1945-1948),
and the military dictatorship (1961-1987).
The policies of the semi-military Roh Tae-woo regime (1988-1992) divided
the unity of the minjung and the middle class displayed during the June 1987
Democratization Movement. The regime ruled the country by supporting the
civic movement and suppressing the minjung movement. From the early
1990s onwards, the civic movement became more influential than the minjung
movement, and the Korean people, especially the younger generation, became
de-politicized and culture-oriented. By the end of the cold war the ideological
basis of the MCM had collapsed.

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The characteristics of the MCM in this period were "formal development" and
"actual stagnation". The former meant the birth of the Association of the min-
jung Church in Korea, in 1988, which organized fifteen regionally based asso-
ciations and three denominationally based associations. The stagnation that
followed shows that the formation of those within the movement in its first
phase were not able to sustain it later on.
Many MC pastors realized that they were not well prepared to perform all the
duties that were expected of them. Also, a majority of MC laity were new to
the Christian faith and young, being in their twenties and thirties. Although
MC pastors tried to focus on their ministry to minjung, they were also asked
to do many jobs in the local community, the nation, and the wider church.
Under these circumstances, the stagnation in the number of new MCs being
established was inevitable.
During this period MC pastors understood the MC to be a faith community
rather than a political movement. MC pastors suffered from "wrong inertia",
which meant that they were either consciously or unconsciously dominated by
their self-understanding of the MCM from the formational period. They also
wrestled with the identity crisis of the MCM. Some of them began to be more
interested in the spirituality, rather than the ideology, of their founding identi-
ty. From the 1980s onwards, the pastors questioned how they should relate the
Christian faith to Marxist ideology. Before they were able to solve this prob-
lem, the end of the cold war made this issue irrelevant.
By participating in the minjung Hymn Festival, the MC published 5,000
copies of a minjung hymnbook in 1990. MC mission programmes such as:
day-care centres and after school programmes, paved the way for the estab-
lishment of a national social welfare system in the early 1990s. Some mem-
bers of the MC were elected as representatives in local government authorities
so that the MCM became increasingly involved in the "little politics" of the
local community.

d) Transformational period (1993 -present)

As the Kim Young-sam "civilian government" (1993-1997) began its

"reforms" of the social system, the sociological basis of the MCM came under
threat. From 1993 onwards, the minjung movement in general gave up its
"revolutionary" character.
The "civilian government", however, was an amalgam of elements of the old
military dictatorship/chaebol7 power elite, and conservative moderates from
the democratization movement of the 1970s and 1980s. This seriously com-
promised the government's attempts at reform, and made the failure of its
"reform from the top" strategy inevitable. Though the reform policies con-
tributed to improving the military, financial and social systems, the govern-
ment refused to make any attempt to reform the chaebol system. The minjung
movement and the civic movement tried to challenge this policy but without

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success. The government's failure to reform the corrupt yet chaebol-friendly

economic system resulted in the onset of a disastrous economic crisis at the end
of 1997 and the eventual IMF bail-out of the Korean economy.
Under these circumstances, MC mission was regarded as unnecessary or out
of date. MC pastors were also challenged to solve the identity crisis of the
movement. Some of them were interested in "spirituality" and half of them
met together for spiritual exercises in 1998.
The Korean church declared 1995 to be a year of Jubilee to mark the passing
of fifty years since the division of the Korean peninsula, at the conclusion of
the second world war. As part of the events of the Jubilee year, the MC pub-
lished a Declaration of Jubilee. This included an expansion of the definition of
the word "minjung" to include labourers, the urban poor, farmers, the dis-
abled, women, prisoners of conscience, and migrant workers.
At the same time, the unitary characteristics of the MCM were dissipating due
to a strengthening of centrifugal forces and the diversification of the MC mis-
sion. As the organizational centripetal points, such as ideology, and the defi-
nition of the word "minjung", were weakened, MCs began to involve them-
selves in different issues, including the treatment of migrant workers, youth
ministry, the rights of the disabled, and the status of women in society. There
was an emerging tendency for the minjung to build a bridge between urban
and rural areas through the establishment of organic farming producers' and
consumers' cooperatives. Some MCs stuck to their original concerns of
democratization, reunification, and labour rights, while others were chal-
lenged by unexpected encounters with new social issues (homeless teenagers,
migrant workers and the disabled). This diversification of the MC mission
resulted partly from an inner development of the MCM, and partly from the
result of the MCs unexpected encounters with others.
After the economic crisis of 1997, the MCM led the way in providing social
services and care for the homeless and the unemployed. However, greater
focus on the traditional areas of MC mission is still required.
Historical events such as the end of the cold war and the "reforms" of the Kim
Young-sam "civilian government", helped minjung pastors to be liberated
from their "wrong inertia" and "optimism". Minjung pastors now understand
that the word "life" is more inclusive than the word "minjung", and have
turned to spirituality rather than ideology as the foundation of their identity.
However the meaning of "spirituality" and "life", in the Korean context is still
to be identified.

3. Minjung missiology : missiology as an encounter with others, and the

Other8

Mission can be defined as a Christian community's/missionary's participation

in achieving the will of God (the reign of God, salvation) in their context9. In
other words, mission presupposes God's sovereignty and the human context,

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and also that a tension exists between them. According to this definition, mis-
sion depends on a Christian community's understanding of God's will and the
community's own context.
Missiology occurs when Christian communities/missionaries reflect on their
encounters, as witnesses of Christ, with others and the Other (God). Thus, the
missiology of the MCM is the product of reflection by MC pastors and MCs
themselves, on their encounter with minjung people, others, and the Other
during the process of bringing a witness of Christ to the world. Mission begins
with the attempt to achieve the will of God in a human context. However,
Christian communities/missionaries should be open to encounters with others
and the Other, and to unexpected responses from them.
In other words, the former understanding of the will of God and the human
context should be changed through the encounters with others and the Other.
In this way, Christian communities/missionaries can change their identity and
receive a new identity. Because of this aspect, the precondition of mission is
vulnerability or weakness. The centre of spirituality is the crucified Christ
Jesus. In this respect, MC pastors' incarnation, i.e. their living alongside min-
jung people, was not sufficient for the success of MCM. Without the MC pas-
tors' crucifixion (self-denial), the mission of the MC could not be carried out.
One of the main points of MC missiology was that MC mission was impossi-
ble to perform without the pastor/community changing their will, and them-
selves.
We can point out some elements of MC missiology from a change/transfor-
mation perspective :
i. In the beginning, the subjects of change were missionaries (MC pastors),
and minjung people were the object of MC mission. The aim of mission
(change) was the liberation of minjung (MC pastors' understanding of the
will of God in minjung context).
ii. MC mission could evolve only when missionaries (MC pastors) changed
themselves through encounters with others (minjung), and the Other, as
well as through meeting unexpected challenges from minjung, and unex-
pected works from God. Through their encounter with others and the Other,
the missionaries' understanding of mission changed. Further, through this
process, the missionaries themselves were changed and received a new
identity. Only when missionaries meet others as partners of missio Dei
rather than as objects of mission, can mutual transformation take place. This
mutual transformation could be interpreted as the work of the Holy Spirit.
The "Holy Spirit is the invisible third party who stands between me and the
other, making us mutually aware."10 However we "shall probably never
understand exactly what the Spirit is doing in others."11
iii. This is a never-ending process because mission is the "life-long exercise in
trusting God, without trusting ones' own understanding of God".12 The
identity crisis experienced by missionaries is never ending, as long as they
are involved in mission.

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iv. As missionaries should be challenged to change themselves, missiology

should be challenged to change Christianity13, or theology, or religious
communities, as an action of self-criticism similar to the action of a
"boomerang"14.

4. Key questions on gospel and culture

Korea has a two thousand year old tradition of Shamanism, a one-thousand-
year-old tradition of Buddhism, a five-hundred-year-old tradition of
Confucianism, a two-hundred-year-old tradition of Roman Catholicism, and a
one-hundred-year-old tradition of Protestantism. A Western observer once
remarked that a Korean carried, "a Confucian head, a Buddhist heart, and a
Shamanistic belly"15. In 1907 a Christian missionary, Homer B. Hulbert,
observed, "The all-round Korean will be a Confucianist when in society, a
Buddhist when he philosophizes, and a spirit-worshipper when he is in trou-
ble"16. As can be surmised from this anecdote, Korean people enjoy religious
plurality within themselves. However, churches and even seminaries have not
allowed Korean Christians to develop a positive or even a neutral attitude
toward syncretism. The theology of indigenization of the 1960s was criticized,
for regarding Korean culture and religions as objects of theological study, and
because it focused on the similarity between rather than any exclusivity of
Christianity and traditional religions17. Kim Yong-bock suggested that syn-
cretism became a problem, not because religions were plural but because they
oppressed the lives of minjung18. Western Protestant mission of the late 19th
century was criticized from the perspective of cultural imperialism in that,
through establishing Western-style schools and hospitals, the traditional
framework of episteme was replaced by a Western one19. Lee Jung-Bae main-
tained that Korean theology should develop a multi-religious, ecologically
sound, and feminist, theological orientation for the sake of cosmic life20. Since
the early 1990s, there have been new tendencies toward the theology of life
and the theology of culture, with an increasingly positive attitude toward tra-
ditional cultures and religions. In other words, theologians have tried to dis-
cern God's work of salvation among traditional religions and cultures.
The influence of rapid economic growth has created a society almost unrec-
ognizable from the one that existed just fifteen years ago. However, two thirds
of people think that the gap between rich and poor is worse than it was five
years ago before the economic crisis of 1997.
Not only the political division of North and South divides the Korean people,
so too does the social division of East and West (i.e. regionalism). Many forms
of social discrimination exist based on factors such as place of birth, the
school at which people were educated, gender and age. These types of social
discrimination penetrate the whole of society including even the church.
Some mega-churches are led by so-called "hereditary pastors". Although
charisma is not a hereditary personality trait (M. Weber), some mega-churches
have made the decision to select the son of the retired pastor as his successor.

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Such decisions have raised heated arguments, both within the church and in
the general community, and have discredited the church for following the
same kinds of outdated management practices adhered to by the "chaebol"
conglomerate companies. Korean churches, whether they be MC or mega-
churches, are much more likely to be influenced by their surrounding culture,
be it Marxist ideology or capitalism, than to influence the surrounding culture.
How can we challenge this inverse relationship between the church/gospel and
society/culture? Now, more than ever, Korean Christians have to develop a
truly Christian way of life so that the division : between word and deed, wor-
ship and everyday life, faith and action, and between "to be church" and "to
do mission" can be overcome. "We find a bridge between ecclesiology and
ethics in our experience of worship and the deepening of spirituality".21
Neither spiritualism nor activism will heal our divided churches and our divid-
ed nation. On the one hand, Korean Christians need to understand the king-
dom of God and shalom not only from a personal perspective but also from a
socio-economic, political, and ecological/cosmic dimension. On the other
hand, minjung cannot continue their struggle against social injustice, oppres-
sion, alienation, and exploitation without being supported by their faith. The
battleground of the cultural war between the minjung/people and the powerful
"is the consciousness, mind, senses, heart and spirit" of the minjung/people,
so that human subjectivity "is the final territory being conquered through cul-
tural processes of communication and information"22 in order to control the
consciousness of the minjung/people for their domination by the Western free-
market system. The emphasis on "spirituality" by the MC means that the min-
jung need to negate themselves (Mark 8:34) in faith, in order to protect cre-
ation, instead of subjugating themselves to the ruling systems such as free
markets, transnational capital and corporations, nation states and the media.
One of the most important questions related to gospel and culture is how to
make the victims of neoliberal global capitalism23 good stewards of God's cre-
ation not through imposing ideologies from outside on the church but by
drawing on the traditions of their own religious and cultural heritage. At the
same time, also significant is the need to identify the negative aspects of tra-
ditional religions and cultures, for the sake of nurturing a spirituality of "keno-
sis" and encouraging a life-oriented way of thinking and living.
However, it needs to be remembered that "intercultural encounters nearly
always involve an unequal distribution of power"24. If we understand salva-
tion as "the relational healing process, and perspectival alteration between the
wronged and the wrongdoers", the initiative for salvation and forgiveness on
the part of humankind is not as the wrongdoer but as the wronged. For the
wrongdoers are like those who are "locked in a room where the door has no
knob". Only the wronged, or "han-ridden"25 people (minjung) can open the
door to salvation26. On the other hand, the wronged have to take action to mit-
igate or cut (riégate) his/her own han. This can be achieved through partici-
pating in the "cosmic eucharist", which debunks the bifurcation of dualism.
Only through the cosmic eucharist, "We can find our own belongingness
(identity) by including others"27 rather than excluding them. Though minjung

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have the initiative for the salvation of the oppressor, they have to keep in mind
that humankind and the whole creation are interdependent, and minjung are to
be suffering servants for the sake of the salvation of all.

5. Emerging frontiers in mission and major challenges to churches

One of the common problems that all Korean churches face is the rapid
decrease of teenagers and young adults who attend church. Since the mid-
1990s, the number of church members has begun to decrease. This could be
interpreted as the church's failure to wrestle with the new circumstances of
Korean society as described in section four.28
Ten years ago, Korean people did not pay attention to the plight of migrant
workers. Since the mid-1990s, however, the migrant workers issue has
became one of the hot topics facing the nation. Common forms of migrant
worker exploitation include non-payment or overdue payment of wages, and
being subject to sexual, physical and verbal violence. Most migrant workers
do not have enough time to learn Korean or about Korean culture. One result
is that there is a high incidence of industrial accidents in factories. Many
churches and mission centres have become involved in mission to migrant
workers. The main tasks of this mission are counselling, providing medical
care and resolving claims for overdue payment of wages.
Two thirds of the migrant workers in Korea are Korean Chinese. They often
complain that they are more discriminated against by Koreans than other
migrant workers. Although Korean Chinese think of themselves as being the
brethren of Koreans, most Koreans regard them as poor, uneducated and
unwanted. So, Christians have to challenge the meaning of nationalism
because nationalist ideology plays an important role in discriminating against
migrant workers of other ethnic backgrounds. Migrant workers, however, are
carrying and spreading "the seed of (cultural and religious) diversity, through
human misery and suffering", so that they "are the agents of change in both
their countries of origin, and of adoption", and are building a "bridge
between the two lands". Migrant workers are truly "people who have come
of age".29 "Resident alien"30 is an important biblical metaphor for migrant
worker mission.
During the mid-1990s, in North Korea over two million people died of hunger.
So, many North Koreans try to defect to South Korea via China. Fewer than
ten North Koreans a year defected to South Korea before 1994. That number
increased from 148 in 1999 to 312 in 2000, and to 583 in 2001. About 50,000
North Koreans have fled to China, where they suffer from severe human rights
abuses. South Korean and international missionaries and mission organiza-
tions try to help North Koreans in China get to South Korea, but the Chinese
authorities forbid this. There are over 1,500 North Korean defectors living in
South Korea. Many Christians try to help them settle into life in the south. In
this process the defectors are regarded as helpless. North Korean defectors liv-
ing in South Korea, however, can become "a third identifiable cultural subject"

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on the peninsula, for they have been brought up in North Korean "Juche" (self-
reliance) thought and culture, and have now adapted to a capitalist culture.31
In May 2002, full-time workers accounted for just 47.6% of the 13.9 million
paid employees in Korea. Temporary and casual daily workers accounted for
52.4 % of the workforce. Such figures indicate that obtaining job security is
still a huge problem. These statistics are not unique to Korea. Neo-liberal and
global capitalism has forced many people to become part-time workers in the
name of achieving labour market flexibility. A report by the International
Labour Organization estimates that, "about 30% of the world's labour force
was unemployed in January 1994, and was unable to earn enough money to
maintain a minimum standard of living. This 'long-term' persistent unem-
ployment is a crisis on the scale of the Great Depression".32 How to challenge
this situation in Korea and how to make international solidarity with these
workers is also an urgent and important mission frontier for the church in
Korea, as well as in the rest of the world.
The church is given a healing and reconciling task from Jesus Christ on the
peninsula.33 In 1997, Korea experienced a peaceful handover of political
power for the first time since 1948. Because of the effects of the economic cri-
sis, the new government was not able to develop society within the principles
of justice and peace. Finally, the government established the Presidential Truth
Commission on Suspicious Deaths in 2000, based on the model of the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. Its aim is to find out the truth
about the deaths of people who were involved in the democratization move-
ment against past authoritarian military regimes. Unfortunately, the work of
the Commission is not well known by society as a whole, or within the church.
Also, in the postmodern and secularized context, most people are not interest-
ed in the "past". However, can people survive in this situation of rapid social
change without having a memory of the "past" ? Such is important for estab-
lishing our present and future identities. Is it possible for the nation to accom-
plish the reunification of Korea without healing South Korea's inner wounds,
as well as other ones produced by the Korean war?
According to a recent survey, there are sixteen million Internet users in Korea.
This is the fifth largest usage in the world, and Koreans are the largest users in
Asia of Internet shopping websites. Furthermore, one out of three Korean
Internet users is addicted to the Internet. There are tens of thousands of Internet
cafes and computer gaming rooms. Communication by Internet can be a useful
way for achieving inter-subjectivity between partners. Nobody can exactly pre-
dict how this new trend will affect the current political system. Presently, there
are about 83,000 Christian cyber communities, and around 9,400 churches
maintain their own Internet home page. The younger generation uses cyber
space as a tool of mission. This really is a new frontier for mission.
There are three types of world mission in which the Korean churches are cur-
rently engaged. First, there is the mission to take care of the six million
Korean Diaspora spread all over the world. Secondly, there is cross-cultural
mission, and, finally, there is ecumenical mission based on the partnership

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between the Korean church and her partner churches. Until the mid-1980s,
mission programmes focused on the Korean Diaspora were the predominant
mission activity of the Korean church. Since the late 1980s, cross-cultural
mission has become the Korean church's prevailing mission activity.
Ecumenical mission has emerged since the mid-1990s as the newest trend in
the Korean church's mission activities.
All three of these types of mission activities can be complementary to each
other, so that in the future they may be integrated into a new style of mission.
As the second and third generations of Korean Diaspora adjust to the language
and culture in their country of migration, they will become potential resources
for mission.34 For example, the Korean church trains some Korean Americans
to work as missionaries among the African American, Hispanic and other
minority groups in Los Angeles, with the collaboration of the American
churches.
Another new trend emerging in minjung mission is the active sharing of its
experiences with the world church. For instance, a minjung pastor was sent to
Cambodia to work as a missionary in 1996, and another went to Rwanda in
2001. Also, the Yong Dong Po Urban Industrial Mission established the
"Asian URM-Diakonia Training Center" in 2001 to spread democracy and
build-up the grassroots of the URM movement throughout Asia. Nineteen
URM activists and church leaders from Asia participated in the centre's pro-
grammes last year. This year it is scheduled to train another 74 persons.
As the mission of the MCM developed during the 1980s and 1990s, some MC
pastors decided to leave behind their city parishes in order to move to the
countryside and become farmers. One of the motivations behind this exodus
was to learn an alternative view of the world and civilization from farmers or
agriculture. This trend coincided with the global trend towards endeavouring
to learn more about aboriginal and indigenous cultures.,For too long, these
cultures had either been neglected, or regarded as objects of exploitation. Now
there is a growing awareness that the poor are, "the proud bearers of cultural
and religious traditions"35 with a truly holistic life-oriented worldview.

6. Concluding remarks
The church growth movement focused on the church by using world mission
as a tool for church growth. The MCM was an ideologically oriented move-
ment; therefore its Christian identity was sometimes questioned. Both of these
groups, however, suffered from the dichotomy between their words and deeds.
Though the church growth movement suggested its aim was to build the king-
dom of God, it actually emphasized the church. Though the MC was a church,
it stressed mission activities outside the visible church. Eventually, however,
both groups began to accept "the broader aspect of God's mission, without
neglecting to emphasize the role of the church in God's overall mission."36 As
the significance of civil society^has increased since the late 1980s, both
groups' partial participation in the civic movement as NGOs/NPOs is another

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new way of relating church and mission, and "a new model for ecumenical
mission".37 This development began to emerge in the early 1990.38
The word for "economy" in Greek is oikonomia, which consists of: oikos
(house) and nomos (law) and means household management. According to the
creation story in Genesis, God created humankind to govern creation as a
steward/stewardess. Therefore, in God's economy, humans should carry out
their stewardship of God's household as suffering servants, or messianic peo-
ple. Therefore, Christians would do well to learn about the concepts of stew-
ardship, creation in God's image, and the suffering servant, from the perspec-
tive of indigenous cultures, religions, and history, and how these indigenous
concepts can best be applied to the postmodern, or neoliberal and global cap-
italist world. This task must aim at creating "fullness of life for all" (John
10:10). For this to be achieved, food as the basis of life, human dignity as the
gift of life, justice as the rule of life, and shalom as the goal of life39 should be
integrating factors, for various kinds of approaches to solve the problems and
issues mentioned in the previous sections of this presentation.

NOTES
1
Blair, William, Gold in Korea, Topeka, Kansas, H. M. Ives and Sons, Inc., 1947/1957, p. 2.
2
Van Engen, Charles, Mission on the Way : Issues in Mission Theology, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
Baker Books, 1996, pp. 210-229.
3
Günther, Wolfgang, "Postmodernism" in IRM, vol. LXXXVI, No. 343, October 1997, pp. 425-
426.
4
Marty, Martin E., "From the Centripetal to the Centrifugal in Culture and Religion" in Theology
Today, Vol. 51, No.l, April 1994.
5
"Minjung" is a Korean word for people, mass, or the masses of people, but it refers specifical-
ly to the oppressed vis-à-vis the oppressors or the poor over against the rich and powerful. Thus,
minjung theology may mean a theology by the people, for the people, and of the people."
Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, WCC Publications, Geneva and William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1991, p. 998.
6
Hwang, Hong Eyoul, The Mission of the Minjung Congregation Movement in South Korea
from 1983 to 1997. (Unpublished Ph D thesis at the University of Birmingham, 2000.)
7
"Chaebol" means the economic conglomerate, consisting of various kinds of companies led by
one president.
8
Missiology as encounter with others is based on Theo Sundermeier, "Missiology Yesterday and
Tomorrow" in Missonalia no. 18/1. See also Hong Eyoul Hwang's thesis, chapter X, section 5.4
(cf. note 5).
9
Bosch, David, Witness to the World : The Christian mission in theological perspective, London,
Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1980; Saayman, W., "Missiology in the Theological Faculty," in
Mission Studies, vol. XV-1, 29, 1998. pp. 66-78; Kritzinger, J. N. J. (Klippies), "Studying
Religious Communities as Agents of Change : An agenda for missiology," in Missionalia 23:3,
November 1995, pp. 366-96.
10
Taylor, John V., The Go-Between God: The Holy Spirit and the Christian Mission, London,
SCM Press Ltd., 1972, p. 19.
11
Comblin, José, The Holy Spirit and Liberation, Translated from the Portuguese by Paul Burns,
Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books, 1989, p. 161.
12
Hollenweger, Walter, Evangelism Today: Good News or Bone of Contention?, Belfast,
Christian Journals, 1976, p. 96.
13
Ustorf, Werner, Christianized Africa - Dechristianized Europe ? : Missionary Inquires into the
Poly centric Epoch of Christian History, Hamburg, Lotteb Jensen, 1992, p. 133.
14
Kritzinger, J.N.J. (Klippies), op. cit., pp. 391-2.

95
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION

15
Suh, David Kwang-sun, The Korean Minjung in Christ, Hong Kong, CCA, 1991, p. 107.
16
Ibid.
17
Choi, Joon-Sik, "Hanguküi jongkyojök ipjangesö bara bon kidokkyo tochakhwa shinhak"
(Incultural Theology from the Perspective of Korean Religions", in Shinhaksasang (The
Theological Thought), Vol. XXI, No.3, Autumn, 1993, pp. 96-128.
18
Kim, Yong-bock, "Tochakhwa shinhakkwa minjungshinhak" (Theology of indigenization and
minjung Theology), in Christian Thought Editorial Committee, ed., Hanguküi munhwawa shin-
hak (Korean Culture and Theology), Seoul, Korean Christian Literature Society, 1992, p. 123.
19
Kim, Yoon Sung, "Kaeshinkyo sönkyowa munhwa jekukjuüi" (Protestant Mission and Cultural
Imperialism) in Hyunsangkwa inshik (Phenomena and Episteme), Vol. 74, Winter, 1997.
20
Lee, Jung-Bae, "Tochakhwashinhakkwa saengmyöngshinhak" (Theology of Indigenization and
Theology of Life) in Korean Culture and Theology, pp. 125-143.
21
WCC, "Costly Unity" para. 9. in Best, Thomas F., & Robra, Martin, eds, Ecclesiology and
Ethics : Ecumenical Ethical Engagement, Moral Formation and the Nature of the Church,
Geneva, WCC Publications, 1997, p. 7.
22
Kim, Yong-Bock, Messiah and Minjung, Hong Kong, CCA, Urban Rural Mission, 1992, pp.
116, 118.
23
See Duchrow, Ulrich, Alternatives to Global Capitalism : Drawn from Biblical History, Designed
for Political Action, Utrecht/Heidelberg, International Books/Kairos Europa, 1995/1998;
Chomsky, Noam, World Orders, Old and New, London, Pluto Press, 1994; Waiden Bello, Brave
New Third World : Strategies for Survival in the Global Economy, London, Earthscan Publications
Ltd., 1990; Comblin, José, Called for Freedom: The Changing Context of Liberation Theology,
translated by Phillip Berryman, New York, Maryknoll, Orbis Books, 1998.
24
WCC, "On Intercultural Hermeneutics" in Scherer, James A. & Bevans, Stephen B., eds, New
Directions in Mission & Evangelization 3 : Faith and Culture, Maryknoll, New York, Orbis
Books, 1999, p. 192.
25
"Han is an underlying feeling of Korean People. On the one hand, it is a dominant feeling of
defeat, resignation and nothingness. On the other, it is a feeling with a tenacity of will for life
that comes to weaker beings. The first aspect can sometimes be sublimated to great artistic
expressions and the second aspect could erupt as the energy for a revolution or rebellion." Nam-
dong, Suh, "Toward A Theology of Han" in Yong Bock, Kim, ed., Minjung Theology: People
As the Subject of History, Hong Kong, Christian Conference of Asia, 1983, p. 58.
26
The contention that the wronged holds the initiative for reconciliation between the wronged and
the wrongdoer coincides with the position suggested by Schreiter's theology of reconciliation.
According to him, reconciliation is possible only when the victim is free from their traumatic
past, heals his/her damaged humanity, and decides to achieve a different kind of future.
Accordingly, the initiative for reconciliation is held by the victim. However, Schreiter empha-
sizes the initiative of God in the process of reconciliation, so that reconciliation is more a spir-
ituality than a strategy. To cut han can be interpreted as to negate oneself, so that self-negating
spirituality is essential for reconciliation. In this case, however, the will of the victim is stressed.
Schreiter, Robert J., The Ministry of Reconciliation : Spirituality & Strategies, Maryknoll, New
York, Orbis Books, 1^98, pp. 57-58; Reconciliation: Mission and Ministry in a Changing
Social Order, Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books, 1992, pp. 59-60.
27
Park, Andrew Sung, The Wounded Heart of God: The Asian Concept of Han and the Christian
Doctrine of Sin, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1993, p. 107, 151.
28
Young-Gi Hong pointed out that the stagnation of church growth in Korea was partly due to
new contexts such as religious pluralism, social mobility, the economic prosperity of Christians,
political and social stability, the success of Buddhism and an increased range of leisure activi-
ties. It was also partly due to the downgrading of social credibility and the phenomenon of nom-
inalism. See Hong, Young-Gi, "Revisiting Church Growth in Korean Protestantism: A
Theological Reflection" in IRM, Vol. LXXXIX No. 353, April 2000.
29
Oh, Jae Shik, "People are on the Move : The Asian Churches' Response in Historical Context"
• in CCA, WCC, Uprooted People in Asia, Hong Kong, CCA, 1995, p. 51.
30
Shenk, Wilbert R., Changing Frontiers of Mission, Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books, 1999,
p. 121; Wang, Tae-II, "The GER in the Old Testament: Socio-Literary and Theological
Interpretation" in The Theological Thought, Vol. 113, Summer 2001, pp. 101-121; Park,
Kyung-Mi, "A Study on the 'Foreigners' in the New Testament as Self-Designation of Early
Christians", ibid., pp. 122-148.
31
Hwang, Hong Eyoul, "Bukhan sunkyo/pyunghwatongilundong jupgun bangshike daehayo"
(Concerning the Approaches of the mission for North Korea/churches' peace and reunification

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movement), in Center for Theological Studies of Peace and Reunification of Korea,

Pyunghwawa tongilshinhak I (Peace and Reunification Theology I), Seoul, Handul
Publications, 2002, p. 45.
Chomsky, Noam, World Orders, Old and New, London, Pluto Press, 1994, p. 188.
See Schreiter, Robert J., Reconciliation : Mission and Ministry in a Changing Social Order, The
Ministry of Reconciliation : Spirituality & Strategies, op. cit. ; Baum, Gregory & Wells, Harold,
eds, The Reconciliation of Peoples: Challenge to the Churches, Geneva, WCC Publications,
1997 ; Müller-Fahrenholz, Geiko, The Art of Forgiveness : Theological Reflections on Healing
and Reconciliation, Geneva, WCC Publications, 1997, See also the special edition on "Health,
Faith and Healing" in IRM, Vol. XC Nos. 356/7, January/April 2001.
Suh, Jung-woon, "Hangukkyohoewa hangukin diasporaui uimi" (The Korean Church and the
Missionary Significance of the Korean Diaspora) in Publication Committee of Memorial for
Retired Honorary President Rev. Suh Jung-woon, Hananim narawa sunkyo (The Kingdom of
God and Mission), Seoul, Korean Christian Literature Society, 2001, pp. 98-100.
Matthey, Jacques, "Milestones in Ecumenical Missionary Thinking from the 1970s to the
1990s" in IRM, vol. LXXXVIII No. 350, July 1999, p. 302.
Matthey, Jacques, "Missiology in the World Council of Churches: Update, Presentation,
History, Theological Background and Emphases of the most Recent Mission Statement of the
World Council of Churches" in IRM, Vol. XC, No. 359, October 2001, p. 430.
Skreslet, Stanley H., "Networking, Civil Society, and the NGO : A New Model for Ecumenical
Mission" in Missiology, Vol. XXV No. 3, July 1997.
Some "conservative" Christian groups participate in the civic movement through organising
NGOs/NPOs. However, they belong to the minority of Christians. Some minjung mission
workers do not want to co-operate with the civic movement. Others have a positive attitude
toward the civic movement. However, the division of Korea limits all spheres of society, so that
the civic movement is called the civic-social movement because the political parties do not fully
represent the interests of the public.
Ariarajah, S. Wesley, "Time for Fullness of Life for All" in CTC Bulletin, Vol. XVII, No. 1,
January 2001. pp. 7-10.

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