한국교회의 행태와 전망, 그리고 과제

Abstract

This study aims to analyze factors of the contemporary crisis of Korean churches, to portend their future, and to propose their tasks. Korean churches had rapidly grown until 1980’s. However, their growth rate has slowed since 1990’s. At present, Korean church membership is declining by almost 1.6 percent in the decade between 1995 and 2005. This article suggests that the reason why Korean churches are gradually declining is that the Korean Christianity lost its public confidence. Most churches in Korea advocate pro-americanism and anti-communism, exclusivism, authoritarianism, and materialism. These viewpoints and attitudes prevent many members of the Korean society from embracing Christianity. This study is of the opinion that the most churches in Korea will be continuously ebbing away if they don't refrain from taking these viewpoints and attitudes. However, large churches will be able to escape from the crisis, even though they hold fast to the viewpoints and attitudes, because they are already rich in human and material resources. In contrast, the crisis will inflict much damage on small churches which want to stick ceaselessly to them. In order to overcome the problem, Korean churches should not participate in the institutional politics, but in the civil society. At the same time, they have to democratize their current structure, be moderate in constructing their own building, dialogue with other religions, and start an alternative church movement.