• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.194-202
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• 2018

This study was designed to analyze the impact of Christian counseling for the common faith and religious wellbeing within the Korean Luther Church, and to provide church growth factors based on the results. The study target was based on the survey results of a total of 83 members who were attending layman in the ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}$ church, which is affiliated with the Korean Lutheran Church. The research tool used NCD questionnaire for church health diagnosis by the Korea Church Growth Institute for the church growth model and the reliability of Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ in this study was 0.91. The collected questionnaire was tested for correlation to verify the relationship between church development and growth, and for multiple recursive analysis to confirm factors affecting church development and growth. The results showed that church's services, programs, and atmosphere were highly correlated with development of church, including counseling. The research showed that the relationship between church services, programs, and friends, including counseling, was highly correlated with spiritual growth and self-growth, while community activities and mutual communication were low. Therefore, for continuous church growth, the importance of community programs in the church is considered necessary.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.642-657
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• 2017

The Protestant Reformation that erupted 500 years ago has influenced all aspects of society and have become a crucial stepping stone to modern times from the Middle Ages. The purpose of this study was to show the reformational characteristics of the social welfare revealed in the process of the Reformation in the 16th century and how they apply to the Modern Christianity, especially from the view of the missional church. Therefore, in the main body, the two doctrines of Justification by Faith only and the Priesthood of All Believers were based on the Luther's Reformation were examined. A researcher confirmed that his Reformational characteristics concerned about second-class citizens and disadvantaged such as the weak faith, women, and the social situations were considered all the time in his Reformation. There were three characteristics of Luther's social welfare reforms: relief activities, education businesses, and economic policies. In addition, a researcher discussed some suggestions that the missional church can apply to its ministry for creating a healthier community.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.74
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• pp.227-253
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• 2023

Purpose of the Study: This paper focuses on a significant historical event, namely the Bremen teachers' movement of 1905, which aimed to abolish religious classes in public schools. By examining an incident in the German history of religious education that remains unfamiliar to the Korean Christian Association, I aim to explore the interconnected diachronic and synchronic influences involved in this particular event. Contents and Method: The religious controversy sparked by the Bremen Teacher's movement of 1905 marked the first official call for reform towards neutral religious education in schools. Several factors contributed to this debate, including the rise of civil society in the 19th century, advancements in science and scholarship, the emergence of social democracy, and the conflict between the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. This paper delves into the historical context of the controversy and analyzes its impact on the develop of religious education in Germany. As reflected in the Bremen Document, the official outcome of the Bremen Teacher's Movement, educators argued for the separation of religion and education, emphasizing that religion is a deeply personal matter. The document called for the adoption of value-neutral moral education in public schools, achieved through objective Bible-History classes. This paper explores the impact of the Bremen School Dispute of 1905 on the development of religious education in Germany. Specifically, the provisions of the Bremen State Constitution of 1948 and the German Basic Law of 1949 were influenced by the controversy, with Article 141 of the Basic Law - known as the 'Bremen Clause' - providing a legal basis for the exclusion of churches from religion-classes at Schools in Bremen. The Bible-History Classes advocated in the Bremen Documents served as the basis for the present-day Bremen religious education curriculum well known for neutral objective religion-classes. Conlusion: This study analyzes the background, content, and influence of the Bremen School Controversy, which remains relatively unknown in Korea. The findings of this study can contribute to the ongoing discussion of Christian school education in Korea, with an emphasis on maintaining a Christian identity while promoting religious publicity in the classroom.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.74
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• pp.189-208
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• 2023

Spiritual direction is not a product created and developed by an individual, but a historical product that includes the church, believers, society, and the contexts of the times. Among the social changes related to spiritual direction, this study pays attention to monasticism and the Reformation. Focusing on these two social changes, this study analyzes the social dimension of spiritual direction indicated by the occurrence and change of spiritual direction and discusses its meaning. Around the time Christianity was officially recognized by the Roman Empire, monasticism began its long history, and Athanasius spread his ideal of monastic life and at the same time pursued the unity of the church and the monastic movement. Through this process, spiritual disciplines and educational models interacted and changed. During the Reformation period, Protestantism began to form new spiritual education and training. The Catholic Church pursued renewal through new concepts and practices of spiritual direction. Spiritual direction is being formed and recognized as a means of helping the spiritual life of individual Christians. The origin and change of spiritual direction mean that spiritual direction can be understood and applied differently reflecting the contexts and situations due to social interaction. Also, it should not be overlooked that spiritual direction can act as a cause of integration or division of the Korean Protestant churches.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.70
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• pp.207-238
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• 2022

Faith education focuses on 'changing the direction of life' that pursues the life of Christ. This is possible only when the message of the Bible is embodied in life, not by accumulating biblical knowledge. Today, however, faith education does not allow biblical messages to be embodied in life. This is the result of focusing on knowing the Bible itself, instead of guiding the faith education to meet the Bible and the experience of human life. Church education emphasized the inner faith of individuals rather than changes in life and practice, preparing for the afterlife, and mostly for the training and quantitative growth of the church. As a result, in the COVID-19 era, Protestants showed an immature appearance that only cared about the safety of the church, and social trust in Protestants was lost. Therefore, faith education should educate what life of the Bible and the experiences of the learner will meet and respond to God in order for the Bible's message to be realized in life. I tried to find out how to prepare for this faith education in detail. So I would like to look at "The preparation process for religious classes related to experience" compiled by the German Protestant Lutheran Bavarian Presbyterian Church and present tasks for application to the Korean Church. Preparation for experience-related religious classes consists of five courses. It is a personal meeting, a theological orientation, a pedagogical orientation, a pedagogical decision, and a summary of the progress plan. The main purpose of this process is to learn how biblical believers interpreted their experiences in life from the perspective of faith and tried to overcome the problem. Faith education related to experience deals with the essence of faith education, not one of the Bible teaching methods. Although the field of education is in the social change of expanding from the real world to the virtual world, the essential nature of faith education cannot change. Therefore, research and application of faith education related to experience in Korean churches will help the biblical message to be embodied in Christian life.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.68
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• pp.375-415
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• 2021

Although the interest in Christian education of spirituality has increased recently, the practice of the education of spirituality in the Korean Church has been fragmented in the contents and methods without any clear educational purpose of the Protestant tradition. This requires a creative study to seek out the contents and method best suited to realizing the educational purpose of the Protestant tradition, through a rigorous academic methodology. This study proposes just such a creative model for the education of spirituality with an educational purpose based on the core ethos of the Protestant spirituality, integrating the long tradition of spiritual practices of Christianity. First, I survey the teachings on 'the life of faith' of the main leaders of the Protestant church, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley. Through this process, I reveal 'liberated-ness' to be the common purpose of the Protestant leaders, and the core of the practices for that purpose are 'the means of grace,' which has a different meaning from that of the Roman Catholic tradition. I construct the meaning of 'liberated-ness' in a dynamic manner, which begins with the 'liberating will' of God, and is followed by the 'self-giving will' of the believer as the response to the 'grace' of the 'liberating will.' The contact point of these two 'wills' is what I call 'the living membrane of faith.' As a creative synthesis of the above discussions, I propose a model of 'the practice of liberated-ness' for an education in spiritual practice. The purpose of this education is for the learner to become a person who continuously experiences ever-increasing 'liberated-ness' through continuous personal 'encounters' with God, and to become ever more faithful in carrying out practices for the 'liberated-ness' of her or his neighbors. The relationship between the teacher and the learner is that of personal 'encounter' as put forth by Sherrill, and also incorporates elements of 'co-authorship' as conceptualized by Kim. I transform and rename major practices of spiritual discipline according to a principle of 'liberated-ness' based on the Protestant tradition, and these comprise the main content of my spirituality education model. They include: 'lectio divina of encounter,' 'prayer facing the Lord,' 'service in liberation,' 'reflection of liberated-ness,' and 'mutual spiritual direction.' The teaching and learning process draws on Dykstra's methods of coaching and mentoring. The key environment is that of a 'sacramental community' as defined by Moore. Evaluation can be performed only by the learner her/himself. The significance of this model is that it creatively inherits and succeeds the tradition of Christian spiritual discipline from the early church onwards by transforming it through a Protestant spirituality of 'liberated-ness.'