기독교 사회 윤리적인 문제로써의 부교역자의 근무환경과 스트레스에 관한 연구

Abstract

Korean Churches have achieved explosive growth for this century. The dedication and sacrifice of associate pastors has been a great contribution to this remarkable revival. However, the working conditions and the treatment towards associate pastors has been poor up to this point and no signs of improvement are evident. The objective of this study is to provide the necessity of improvement to the working environment of assistant pastors by searching for poor working conditions and evidence of stress among associate pastors, which is recognized as an ethical issue in society. Another point is to suggest alternatives for better lives of associate pastors based on this study. Three associate pastors in Methodist Churches, three in Presbyterian Churches, and two in Pentecostal Churches participated as research subjects for this study. The study analyzed working conditions and the stress of associate pastors using qualitative methods. First, half-structured 19 questionnaires were created by prior face-to-face talk with two selected associate pastors, and eight associate pastors completed the questionnaires through face-to-face talk. Through the results from the face-to-face talk, this study divided working conditions into the environment in ministry for the Gospel, economic environment, and also materialized the stress of associate pastors in economic life, personal relations, ministry life, family life, and learning conditions etc. Next, this study suggests assignments to the current Christian ethical problems found in society in order to improve poor conditions and relieve stress received by associate pastors.