한국교회 성장둔화의 사회적 요인 분석 : 1990~2000년을 중심으로 focus on the periods of 1990s to the year 2000 = Analysis of Retardation of growth in the Korean Church

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the factors that have caused the retardation in church growth of Korea. The Korean church is famous for its rapid growth in numbers that occurred in the third quarter of the twentieth century. Since the late 1980s, however, Korean churches showed the low rate of increase of gaining members.
Especially, the churches are experiencing the decrease of numbers in the age of youth and college. The Korean society is entering into the aging society that shows the rapid increase of portion of aged people in the whole population. In addition, since the beginning of 1990s, churches without self-support have increased and many churches have been closed or abandoned due to financial embarrassment. Moreover, the Korean protestant church is ranked low in surveys asking favorable religions upon Korean society. More fhan seventy percents of the respondents of those surveys showed negative attitudes toward pastors and churches in Korea.
While one can raise the issue in terms of internal aspects of the church, the reasons of sluggish growth can be also examined in the social perspective related with the present situation of Korean society. First of all, the drastic changes in social structure in Korea may be one of the main factors that impacted upon the sluggishness of Korean church. Since 1990s, the middle class people have formed the majority of the society. As Individualism has grown, the community spirit has been being dissolved. These social changes caused lax in the modern people and disinterest in religious affairs. In addition, the growth of entertainment business attracted people from religious activities.
The Korean church shall require leaders that are equipped with creativity, insights, and spiritual quality to interpret and respond to the above-mentioned social changes.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 서론: 한국교회의 성장과 오늘의 상황
• Ⅱ. 본론
• Ⅲ. 결론
• 참고문헌
• Abstract