21세기 문화목회에 대한 비전 : ‘전통목회’에서‘문화목회’에로의 전환이 가져오는 의의와 문제 및 현대문화와 전통문화에 대한 문화목회적 대안에 대한 고찰

Abstract

This essay offers a theologico-practical alternative how to save Korean churches from the critical realities, in which they suffer from the identity crisis under the indiscriminate attack of the anti-Christian movement. A major premise for the argument should be that the existing pastoral paradigm, namely the traditional ministry cannot handle the spirit of the new times. The author analyses characteristics of the traditional ministry system. They are local, institutional, pastor-centered, focused on the s o u l-winning, motivated by pastoral expansionism, denominational,and doctrinal. These characteristic factors of the traditional ministry consequentially brought about the self-centered exclusive Christianity,so that it is endangered to lose the leadership and respect of the most non-Christians. They criticize that the present Christianity became materialistic and selfish, and that it concerns no more about the interaction with the society. It is argued that the main cause comes from the spiritual, ethical, and cultural limit of the traditional ministry paradigm in the face of the new times. The author discusses two kinds of new ministry paradigm: the ministry of cultures and the cultural ministry. The ministry of cultures carries on the traditional type of church ministry. It brings the public cultural trends into the traditional system. In this case church takes a role not only of the religious institution but also of a cultural center of her community. Cultures become concrete media for the interaction between the church and the world. This paradigm makes church more active in the age of the culture change than the traditional one, and the existing church members does not resist new attempt to bring public cultures into the church, for the new paradigm hold fast the traditional doctrine and institution. In spite of these merits, however, individual centeredness of the local churches can not be escaped by the ministry of cultures. On the other hand the cultural ministry has different theological aspect from the ministry of cultures. It does not deal with cultures as media but as message. Those cultures engaged in the cultural ministry such as religio-philosophical teachings, origin of the national holidays, ancestor worship, and so on mostly have historical values and influential power for the people. The cultural ministry finds good spirits accorded with the Biblical spirit from the traditional cultures on the one hand and it criticizes their distorted forms and makes alternative for the new cultural trends for the sake of the interaction between good spirits of the traditional cultures and the Biblical spirit. Finally, the author tries to show the possibility of the cultural ministry as he finds common spirits between Korean traditional ancestor worship and the Lord’s Supper. From this point he makes a new creative theology of the memorial service in which Christians experience spiritual fellowship between the dead and the living.