한국 교회 개혁을 위한 대안: 이머징(Emerging)교회 운동

Abstract

Late in the 20th century, the term “the emerging church” appeared in American Christianity. Since then, for over 20 years, it has been a topic of wide debate. This debate has carried over to the Korean church, where the characterization of the, emerging church movement has been distorted in many ways. This distortion has been caused by the conflation of the Emergent Group (the far left camp of the emerging church movement) with the whole of the emerging church movement. In reality, emerging church movements came out of postmodernity in the late 20th century. It is analogous to the medieval church, which came out of the pre-modern era, and the traditional and seeker-centered churches that came out of the modern era. It came as a response to the struggle of “younger evangelicals” who found that the traditional and seeker-centered churches were no longer able to address the concerns of a postmodern world. Thus, the emerging church movement is a wide umbrella that covers all churches that are trying to find new ways to adapt and survive in the postmodern era. Korean society is not immune to this postmodern era and its influences – a reality that the Korean Church needs to face and acknowledge. History has shown that while culture can often be hostile to the gospel, it is also the soil in which the gospel can be preached. Thus, the Church must use culture to its advantage and for its survival. Korean churches in particular must not regard postmodernity as an enemy of Christianity but as a means of evangelization. In short, the Korean church must become an emerging church. This will address a primary cause of the loss of authority and trust that today’s Korean church has suffered: it’s inability to “read” and adapt to the contemporary postmodern culture. Of course, all Emergent Group positions are unacceptable. An alternative emerging church movement that Korean churches should embrace to overcome this crisis is the Missional Church Movement, a movement that occupies a middle space in the emerging church movement. The Korean church is in need of true reform: it is unable to adapt to the changes in culture, stuck in its own desires and self-satisfaction, and susceptible to secularization without an understanding of the next generation. It is time for the reformation of the Korean Church. The emerging church movement gives a model for this reform.