Page 24 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

CHAPTER ONE

AN APPRAISAL OF THE DOMINANT METHODOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY

KOREAN PREACHING

A Historical Appraisal of the Korean Preaching

Many scholars analyzed the factors of miraculous church growth in Korea of the first one

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hundred years of missions. Among the various reasons given for the growth, however, the role

of the Word of God, especially its preaching and teaching, was a core, significant driving force

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of the growth. One of the characteristics of Christian missions in Korea is the translation and
publication of the Bible done by missionaries and Koreans in China and Japan. The first

1 For the literature on the church growth in Korea, first see Charles Allen Clark, The
Korean Church and the Nevius Methods (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1930); Alfred
W. Wasson, “Factors in Growth of Church in Korea,” Ph.D. dissertation at Chicago University,
Illinois, in 1931, published as Church Growth in Korea (New York: International Missionary
Council, 1934). See also Roy E. Shearer, Wildfire: Church Growth in Korea (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966); Bong Rin Ro and Marlin L. Nelson eds.
Korean Church Growth Explosion (Seoul: Word of Life Press, 1983); G. Thomson Brown,
“Why Has Christianity Grown Faster in Korea Than in China?” Missiology 22, no.1 (January
1994): 77-88. For recent ones, refer to Won Gue Lee, “A sociological Study on the Factors of
Church Growth and Decline in Korea,” Korea Journal 39 no.4 (Winter 1999): 234-253 and
Young-Gi Hong, “Revisiting Church Growth in Korean Protestantism: A Theological
Reflection,” International Review of Mission 89 no. 353 (April 2000): 190-202. Lee explores the
growth factors of Korean churches prior 1990 in three categories: Cultural, Ecclesiastical, and
Contextual.

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Oe-Shik Kim, Kokhoe Junmunwha, 163, 172.

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