교회가 참여하는 바람직한 협동조합 설립 방안

Abstract

As the basic law for co-ops is established, interest for co-ops has rapidly increased in our society, and as such, the number of churches that are establishing co-ops is on the rise. The reason for the increased interest is ‘capitalism 4.0’, which is being discussed as an alternative plan for overcoming market crisis resulting from neoliberalism. This kind of alternative economic activity implies community capitalism, which is understood as an important method of not only overcoming the current problem of capitalism, but also solving the problem of global poverty organizationally. Among them, co-op is especially considered to be the core of community capitalism. This kind of community capitalism parallels the puritan ideology. Modern capitalism was birthed by Protestantism, and from the beginning, it possessed the spirit of community as one of the key elements. As such, it is very meaningful that church can participate in the co-op movement based on community capitalism. Only Christianity can recover the spirit of modern capitalism which originated from the Puritan ethics and provide community to the modern people impoverished by thedistorted capitalism. Especially, in the sense that modern missions is not just about evangelism in the narrow sense of the word, but in the sense of advocating for holistic missions that include the realm of restoring the original image of God for the suffering humanity, we can see the missional potential in the co-ops. In Korea, even from the 1920s, many discussions on co-ops were actively shared, and at its core were YMCA and other Christian organizations and leaders. These co-op movements waned before and after the liberation from the Japanese occupation, but recently, instances of attempting Christian movements through co-ops are on the rise. Because they have only been founded a few years ago, it is too early to assess its results, but that church-participated co-ops from both the progressive and conservative denominations are being started all over the country is very promising. Moreover, that there are many cases of social co-ops starting for the purpose of contributing to the society is very encouraging. However, for the sake of continuity of the co-ops, the task of maintaining the balance for crystallizing income-generating strategy without compromising the spirit of co-ops remains. Since co-op is a movement of the individuals, a continuing education of the members on the meaning and the spirit of co-op and encouraging them to participate are very important. For this, it is necessary for the church to develop various educational activities not only for the co-ops but also for the social responsibility of the church, church and public service, and local community movement.