한국교회의 선교정책 비교: 파송 및 선교행정을 중심으로

Abstract

This study compares four Korean churches’ mission policies. I selected the Korean Methodist Church, Korea Evangelical Holiness Church, the Presbyterian Church of Korea and the Korea Baptist Convention, and distributed a questionnaire about mission policies to the professors of missions and a person in charge of missions. The questionnaire has seven questions including the process of selecting missionaries, the way of selecting mission fields, the procedure of missionary works, the missionary training, missionary expenses, the supervision of missionaries, and self–evaluation. In most cases, an individual volunteer is to be a missionary. In this case, it is difficult to evaluate whether the person has the ability as a missionary, is suitable for the mission field, and is capable of doing missionary work in the field, therefore, the people in charge must give careful consideration when choosing missionaries. A mission field is decided by the missionary or the sending church. It is desirable to decide a mission field with a local church in the field or as a result of the conference. Korean churches arrange missionary work and give the tasks to the missionaries, or missionaries decide the works they would like to do and perform their tasks. Others accept a local denomination’s request and choose to help that church. It is desirable to decide whether to go and what to do with consideration of the needs in the field and which also utilizes the missionary’s gift. Most Korean denominations supervise their own missionary training. Missionary training is not a rite of passage, but should be systematic and practical. The training should further inspire the missionary calling and should be an opportunity to discover the missionaries’ talents through this training. Money is always a problem in mission work. It is not always clear to trainees whether mission expenses are living expenses or working expenses, so training should make this point clear. In regards to mission expenses, clear principle, a will to keep these principles, and transparent supervision are all needed. Supervision of missionaries should be carried out for various things such as the protection of missionaries, continuation of ministries, relations with local churches and denominations, and so on. Missionaries’ reports should not be formal nor exaggerated. Maintaining spirituality is also an important aspect for missionaries. Korean churches should formulate a specialized and systematic mission policy for the mission division of each denomination. In order to do this, mission theology should be established by integral studies, the mission filed should be studied, and there should be will power within the church to keep the mission policy. Even if there is an excellent policy, it is meaningless if the policy isn’t carried out.