2014, Vol., No.30

The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.58

pISSN : 1229-8387 / eISSN : 2713-749X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/csethics

The breakaway of the young adult from the Korean Church is a core aspect ofthe crisis of Korean Churches because the young adult is our future and hope. Korean Protestant Churches are already going off track due to the overbearing hierarchyof the older generation and the young generations are leaving the churchwithout saying a word. In the overall social crisis in Korea, the disappointment ofthe young adults due to distrust and lack of communication is deeper than whatpeople expect. If we do not give enough attention to the declining population ofthese young adults we will not be able to stop the rapid aging of Koreanchurches. Additionally, the problem is that the denominations and churches onlyrespond superficially, when they are supposed to give full attention to solve theongoing crisis for the breakaway of the young adult. This quiet and radical movement of the young adults in relation to Christianityapproach not only Korean churches but also North American and Europeanschurches as an inevitable challenge and task. We have to look back to ourselvesand figure out what has led the young adults to choose a desperate escape ratherthan a internal reform. In this study, we are going to concentrate on the reasonswhy young adults are leaving churches in Korean in a christian ethical perspective,focusing on incarnational humanism.

In this paper, I want to survey the problems of the conflict between liberalismand conservatism of the Church in Korean context. I will especially focus on theWorld Council of Churches (WCC) and Ecumenical movement and then I willpursue the solutions of reconciliation and restoration between Korean churches. Around 2013 WCC in Busan, the Korean church was drawn into conflict again. Even though pursuing reconciliation and restoration of churches, church councilcaused the conflict and disagreement of churches. As a result, the Korean churchis revealed shameful aspects of themselves to the other world's churches. In thisconflict, ecumenical controversies between liberalism and conservatism ofKorean churches involved theological and ideological arguments withhegemony. The issue is that WCC denies inerrancy and inspiration of the Bible, and WCCdisapproves that Jesus is the only intermediate. And also WCC holds religiouspluralism based on false soteriology and ecclesiology. But WCC is not liberalismbecause it pursues the holistic Gospel,Trinity, Ecclesiology, Soteriology,Eschatology based on the movements of faith and work, and seeks to the kingdomof God. Recently, one of the important causes that Korean church has lost confidenceis the conflict between churches. Therefore the primary task of us is the unionand restoration between churches. In order to achieve this goal, church must firstly have the consciousness of anorganism. Church is the body of Christ. Every church is part of an organism consisting of Christ's whole body. Each part must be connected, harmonized andbalance one another. Secondly, church must destroy the obstacles between us,and be reborn toward a community of fence movers. Thirdly, church must get togetherand be the community of worship praying with repentance. Through worship,church must progress toward true accordance and unity. Church is the community of reconciliation and peace. Therefore church mustfulfill the ministry of reconciliation as Jesus Christ who became the intercessorand destroyed the barrier, dividing the wall between God and man.

This writing began by looking into the whole Korean society, in particular,Korean churches, that lost sympathy with pain, suffering from the tragedy ofSewol Ferry Disaster on April 16, 2014. The Author would like to find God whois looking at the tragedy of humanity, feeling like the theologians who shouted,“Is Theology possible after a holocaust?”For this purpose, the Author introduced the theology of Kitamori Kajo whoshe delighted on God's suffering and attempted to reveal that, eventually, itwould be the narrative of pain from which Jesus Christ suffered if Christianity hadsomething truly worthy. In the process, the Author focused on the argument ofSusan Sontag, who was concerned about the limit of sympathy, and that ofMartha C. Nussbaum, who proposed the importance of narrative through Greektragedies and novels. Also, as one way to overcome the limit the Western tragedies and novels mayhave, narrative ethics of Stanley Hauerwas, who proposed narrative of pain in theHoly Bible, that is, the pain of Jesus Christ. This study is a small attempt to propose a way on which the Korean churchshould go now and here, where Christian narrative that originated from God'ssuffering which meets with sufferers’ narratives.