Early Korean Mission Strategy and Structure 1880-1940
Bridging the Gap Between Traditional Mission Methods and Church Movements
Global Missiology Journal, July 2022
The early Korean protestant church experienced growth and expansion to such a degree that one of it’s cities, Pyongyang, became known as “The Jerusalem of the East.” Many missiologists look to the Korean Revival of 1907 as the spark to the revival, when in fact, the church had already been growing exponentially before that point. This article explores the underlying strategies and methods used by the missionaries and indigenous believers which allowed the church to grow quickly. The amount of evangelism and Bible distribution performed by untrained believers, was exceptional and is undoubtedly connected to the rapid expansion.
http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2687/6634
The Discipline of Innovation: Approaching Planning Differently
Mission Frontiers, July 2021
Those who align themselves with the future are consistently better prepared. They stay ahead of the curve by having strategies in place by the time the future arrives. It’s driven by an insatiable curiosity that seeks to understand the changes happening around us; changes which others miss (Oster 2011). The more we understand these changes, the better we are at finding creative solutions we can begin implementing today.
Poised for Growth: First Century Methods Fueled the Early Church Movement
성장을 위한 준비: 초대교회 운동을 타오르게 한 1 세기 방식들
Evangelical Missions Quarterly, April 2021
The rate at which new churches were planted in the time of the Apostles, is astonishing. The number of believers grew from about 120 in Acts 1, to 3000 disciples in Acts 2, then 5000 in chapter 4. The successive chapters describe the believers as multiplying greatly (in Acts 6:7), the churches as multiplying (in Acts 9:31), and finally, the Word of God increasing and multiplying (in Acts 12). Finally, in chapter 19, we see all the residents of Asia (likely over 12 million people) having heard the Word of the Lord in just two years of starting work in Ephesus.
사도 시대에 새로운 교회가 개척된 속도는 믿기 힘들 정도다. 신자의 수는 사도행전 1장에 약 120명에서 2장에 3000명으로 늘었고, 다시 4장에서 5000명이 더 늘어났다. 이어지는 장들은 신자들이 크게 증식했고(행6:7), 교회가 증식했고(9:31), 하나님의 말씀이 널리 퍼져서 증식했다(12:24)고 기록한다. 마지막으로 19장에서, 우리는 에베소에서 사역을 시작한지 2년 만에 소아시아의 모든 주민(약 1200만 명 이상)이 주님의 말씀을 들었다는 것을 알게 된다.
Mission Frontiers, January 2021
In 1890 Korea was still an unreached peninsula, with only about 100 Christians. A small group of missionaries had heard about John Nevius' radical ideas, and invited him to come and teach them about his untraditional church planting and evangelism methods. The two-week trip changed history, and Nevius' methods became the guiding principles for Korean missions for the next 50 years. In fact, many church historians believe Nevius' two-week trip to Korea could have been the two most influential weeks in the history of modern missions.
Strategic Foresight and the Future of World Mission
Lausanne Global Analysis, May 2015
Consider John F Kennedy’s speech in 1961, calling to put a man on the moon within a decade. Now, let’s put his vision in context: in 1961 we had no personal computers, most commercial aircraft still used propellers, and TV was still predominately black and white. Considering the technology we had to work with, Kennedy’s horizon was audacious. People thought it just couldn’t be done; yet 8 years later, Neil Armstrong descended a ladder and took that famous last “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
https://lausanne.org/content/lga/2015-05/strategic-foresight
The Changing Environment of World Mission: Six Areas of Importance
Evangelical Missions Quarterly, (EMQ), July 2013
The environment in which missions exists has changed dramatically from a century ago. Missionaries once rode steams ships, waving goodbye to family, not knowing if they would ever see them again. Today, we live in an instant age. Email is out of style because it isn't fast enough. We use video chat to connect with co-workers on multiple continents, to let grandparents read bedtime stories to grandkids, and to teach groups in multiple countries at once. The people we minister to have changed as well. Worldwide use of technology has led to a worldwide phenomenon sociologists call "Deculturation", which simply means that from Shanghai to Sao Paulo, Phnom Penh to Peoria, and Mombasa to Manhattan, young people share startingly similar characteristics.... We must, therefore, ask ourselves, is the mission industry keeping up with these changes?
Church Planting Naturally: Written by the Hand of Paul
Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ), 2010
For eight years, I have rigorously worked overseas to forward the goal of church multiplication. For much of that time we worked on a team crossing denominational and organizational lines to train, envision, and encourage churches to multiply. After eight years, we saw at least sixty new churches, but we also witnessed several derailments and a few crashes. Although I wish those derailments never occurred, I believe we learn only through a combination of success and failure. We sat down with local leaders to discuss lessons learned and some of the shortcomings in multiplicative strategies. As for what we learned through the successes, we found that these principles were already written plainly by the hand of Paul...
