Page 16 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

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most significant component for church growth in Korea. If it is true, then “the crisis of the
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church is the crisis of preaching” in the Korean church. Moreover, the Korean church has been

a worship-centered church; and the preaching of the Word is at the center of the worship. The

Korean church, therefore, has been and is a preaching-centered church. Reviving preaching in

the Korean church is the main key to unlocking the door of another revival in order to regain the

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growth of Christianity in Korea.

What, then, are the problems of contemporary Korean Preaching? In order to understand

the problems, two important analyses were performed. In 1984, Boo-Yoong Yoo, a Korean

homiletician analyzed 1,123 sermons published in Hanguk Sulgyo Daejunjib, a complete

collection of the Korean sermons, vol. I-XII. Those sermons were preached from 1884-1970 in

Korean churches. He classified the sermons by the contents and sermonic forms. As a result, he

presented ten categories of contents such as “Doctrinal, Christological, Situational, Nature,

Personal Needs, Individual Morality, Ecclesiastical, etc.” The sermons concerning “Individual

Morality” and “Personal Needs” occupied 27.2 percent (306 sermons) and 20.8 percent (234

sermons) each. Sermons on the personal dimension occupied 48 percent in all. In terms of the

7Oe-Shik Kim, Mokhoe Junmunwha-wa Hangukkyohoe Yebae (Professionalism of
ministry and worship in the Korean church) (Seoul: Methodist Theological Seminary Press Co.,
1994), 163, 172. He reports that 88.9 percent of his respondents, the Korean pastors and lay
persons agreed that the preaching is the most important task in the ministry and 72 percent
answered that the preaching has done a decisive influence on the church growth in Korea.

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In Kyo Chung, “The Changing Situation and Shaking Position of Preaching,”
Geumalseum (The Word) (October 1994), 97.

9 Edwin C. Dargan, A History of Preaching: From the Apostolic Fathers to the Great
Reformers AD 70-1572, vol. I (New York: Armstrong & Son, 1905; repr., Grand Rapid: Baker
Book House, 1968), 12-13. He asserts that “the great revivals Christianity history can most
usually be traced to the work of the pulpit.”

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