An Analysis of Listeners’Cultural Characteristics and Communication Styles for the Korean Preaching

Abstract

Every individual has been under the influence of social, cultural and psychological background, when he or she listens to preaching. It is the reason why Korean preachers have to analyze their Korean congregations, who share many same cultural characteristics. Some psychologists and scholars, like Richard Nisbett, Peter Anderson and the Hofstedes, have done researches of comparison between cultures. The research results distinguish the Koreans are more like communal than individual and tend to form solidarity characteristics. These cultural and socio-psychological preferences have made Korean listeners feel safe and comfortable when they belong to a group and multiple relationships. The Korean congregation also used to identify the substances of something and recognize destinies as being not in control, whereas Westerners identify objects by their shape and the future as being more in control. The other specific perceptual tendencies indicate Koreans language highly contextual. The immediate homiletical implications for Korean preaching from these experimental observation are: Korean congregations rarely engage argument or debate, easily endow authority to preacher, perceive their church as network of people like another family, tend to relate events, use highly contextual language, and prefer using experience more than logical principles. In this regard, preaching that evokes listeners’ experience, connect individuals with others so that get tied as a solid group, and made of narrative type of delivery will be more efficient. To apply above approaches into Korean preaching in order to equip Korean preachers, verbal and nonberval communication methods needed to be explored. Nonverbal communications are related to emotions, and both influence listeners for positive feelings and enable them participate what preacher says. The Koreans’ communal characteristics take an important role in this process. As Geert Hofstede’s work shows, Korean listeners are a collective group of people, and have avoidance of showing themselves and uncertainty at the same time. This collectivistic “we-ness” is powerful among Korean people as symbols of intimacy, closeness, acceptance, etc. Korean preachers clearly benefit from collective characteristics of Korean congregation because Christian churches have been a community since the beginning of Christianity. To build up church as a community Korean preacher should consider verbal communication: narrative preaching and storytelling form human beings into close groups and can build trust between speaker and listeners. Preacher in this respect re-tell some biblical and traditional stories, along with develop their storytelling skill by learning styles and forms. Then emotional speaking can be next step to make listeners get involved. An eschatological vision also can be evoked by storytelling. In case of nonverbal ways of communication, identification should be counted as one of the main goals of preaching. Nonverbal communication such as gesture, tonality, or attitudes can create identification with the object they hear among congregation, and its achieving starts to build community. The preacher’s good character should be expressed by proper emotional express and nonverbal communication establishes trust between preacher and congregation.