A Research Study on Faith Consciousness of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea 1

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1 A Research Study on Faith Consciousness of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea 1 Kukheon Lee ABSTRACT In Korean Adventist Church, the revival and reformation are urgent tasks nowadays. In order to have the solution of the tasks we have to take or do a survey of the faith consciousness of the Adventists in Korea. This research is to get some information of the faith Consciousness of the Adventists in Korea. In particular, Pastors and laymen are included in this survey. We have almost 1,000 responses, including 800 lay persons and 200 pastors. As a result, they have strong consciousness for the participation in society in order to develop a positive image of the denomination and to become the church respected by society. According to the conscious, most Adventists want their churches to be the religion of hope in the 21 st century. Keywords: Faith Consciousness, Theology of Hope, revival and reformation, Seventh-day Adventists. Survey I. Introduction It has been over 107 years already since the Seventh-day Adventist Church spread the gospel in Korea (Lee, 1968, 27). The church has Manuscript received Nov, ; revised Jan. 18, 2012; accepted Feb. 20, Kukheon Lee(khlee@syu.ac.kr) is with Theology Department, Sahmyook University, Seoul, Korea. 1 This research study was requested by Korean Union Conference and carried out by Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Sahmyook University as part of the on campus task public Subscription. AAMM, Vol. 5, 125

2 achieved quantitative and qualitative growth in the Korean society and has expanded its unique evangelical mission of preaching the Three Angels Messages to the whole world. As disciples of Christ, the Seventh-day Adventists seek to make God s kingdom come. This great objective will be completed by the second coming of Jesus Christ, which will be fulfilled by His disciples in this world as they dedicate their lives to the great mission of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea has made unsparing efforts to achieve this objective. As of 2011, 894 pastors with 221,868 church members are faithfully taking their parts in God s work of spreading the Three Angels Messages in 716 churches (including 914 meeting places) (The Seventh-day Adventist Church Yearbook, 2010). However, a crisis has heightened in the Seventh-day Adventist Church of the 21st century due to a slowdown in its church growth. Statistics show that the number of baptisms and the rate of church planting have been stagnant and church growth has slowed down. A marked decrease in local church growth is apparent, problems caused by aging church members are encountered, and issues such as the decline of faith identity, lower satisfaction rate for the church, and secularization are getting worse. The influence of Christianity on society has also been weakened owing to intensified secularization resulting from economic development and the challenge of pluralism caused by postmodernism. These changes in and out of church are considered to be the main factors of its crisis. But above all things, the faith consciousness of church members and pastors is an important criterion for evaluating the present condition of the church. It is therefore necessary to conduct a research study on the faith consciousness of those composing the church. As a matter of fact, this type of research study should be done on a regular basis. The church history of Korea shows that this has not been the case, however. There are historical research materials on the faith situation of the Early Christians as well as faith consciousness put a space here(lee, 1995, 7-12). An extensive study related to this was done by Christian churches in Korea when commemorating its 100th anniversary of mission.2 Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development was requested to conduct this study around the time of the 100th anniversary of Christianity in Korea, and it dealt with the 2 A Comprehensive Research Study on the 100 Years of Korean Church, Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development, 1982 (unpublished). 126 Kukheon Lee

3 faith consciousness of Christians in Korea from a comprehensive perspective such as doctrine, ritual, intellectual activity, and ethics. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea has also done several studies on the faith consciousness of its church members and pastors, though somewhat different from the studies stated above. To begin with, the East Central Korean Conference presented Vision 100 Project.3 Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Sahmyook University was requested to carry out an extensive research project to establish the vision of the conference before the start of the 21st century. It took 4 months for the institute to come up with some suggestions on various mission strategies including a research on the faith consciousness of church members and pastors. The second study was conducted in 2004 when a research project on the future strategy report of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea was on the way. This report was entitled Hope 21, The Completion of God s Kingdom and included a wide variety of surveys on consciousness such as the faith consciousness of church members, pastors, and denominational workers. These two above stated research projects had similarities in the survey contents due to the same goal of establishing future strategies. The third study was also carried out by Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Sahmyook University in It was for the administration organizational reform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea.4 Therefore, its research topic was mainly connected with administrative organizations. But a brief survey on the faith situation of church members was also conducted for effective administration organizational reform. So the third study contained research data about consciousness to identify the faith situation of the Seventh-day Adventists in Korea. This research study was carried out as part of discussions about the administration organizational reform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea. The church has made various efforts to get over its crisis for the last 10 years. Nevertheless, it was especially unfortunate to hold an unusually early general meeting in 2000 due to no confidence in denominational leadership. Discussions and studies 3 The Mission Project Evaluation and Vision 2000 Mission Strategies of the East Central Korean Conference Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Sahmyook University, 1997 (unpublished). 4 A Study on the Administration Organizational Reform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea, Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Sahmyook University, 2008 (unpublished). AAMM, Vol. 5, 127

4 about the administration organizational reform were carried forward in 2004 and 2008 through the research projects stated above. It is particularly notable that Korean Union Conference resolved to reorganize its churches into a Union of churches and enter into detailed procedures at its 33rd General meeting in 2010, which raised expectations on the change in its administrative organizations. However, actual discussions taken place after the beginning of the new term led to an inevitable conclusion that other reform measures were needed. Accordingly, the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea admitted the fact that spiritual revival should be the top priority for the most effective administration organizational reform and asked Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Sahmyook University to work on a project capable of diagnosing the spiritual situation of church members and creating the core agenda for revival and reformation. Hence, the purpose of this research study is to analyze key factors in seeking strategies for the revival and reformation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea by means of looking into the consciousness of its members. Subject groups were selected subject groups with the consideration of diverse distribution in the Seventh-day Adventists in Korea to analyze their objective consciousness. Survey questions were distributed and sent to 5 local conferences according to the ratio of the number of church members. Other than that, the ratio of gender, age, question, occupation, and academic background was adjusted for each individual, and the ratio of the size of thecity and the church currently attending was also adjusted for each church. The total number of survey questions returned was 1,000 (800 from lay members and 200 from pastors), which were processed using SPSS in this research study. The faith consciousness of church members and pastors was especially set apart for research and analysis. The survey consisted of 10 sections with 5 questions each and was conducted with 50 questions in total. A new questionnaire with mixed questions from each section was developed in order to draw objective consciousness from scale development. The 10 sections included: (1) confidence in the church, (2) spiritual life, (3) function of the church, (4) church growth, (5) pastoral evaluation (pastoral leadership), (6) satisfaction with the denomination, (7) church revival, (8) church merit, (9) lay evaluation, and (10) denominational potential. The faith consciousness of church members was studied through converting the comprehensive consciousness drawn from each section into mean value (M). 128 Kukheon Lee

5 II. Comprehensive Analysis on the Faith Consciousness of Lay Members The comprehensive summary on the faith consciousness of lay members based on this research study is as follows: Section Classification N % M 1 Confidence in the Church 2 Spiritual Life 3 Function of the Church 4 Church Growth 5 Pastoral Evaluation 6 Satisfaction with the Denomination 7 Church Revival 8 Church Merit Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly AAMM, Vol. 5, 129

6 9 Lay Evaluation Strongly Strongly Denominational Potential Strongly Strongly The Seventh-day Adventists had strong confidence in the identity of their church (1). The comprehensive process of 5 questions about this section showed a fairly high mean value of Fifty-one percent of the total respondents strongly agreed and 29.4% of them agreed, which led to the positive response rate of 80.4%. The neutral response rate was 13.5%, and negative responses barely reached 6.1% (3.1% and 3.0% respectively). Especially since the mean value of 3.49 was indicated for Are you faithful in keeping the Adventist doctrines?, the total mean value went up to 4.4 excluding this section. It showed that the Seventh-day Adventists had great confidence in the remnant church, the Three Angels Messages, and the completeness and positiveness of the Adventist doctrines. The respondents also showed their strong will for the revival and future of the church (7). An analysis of their consciousness through questions such as The church lives if there is personal spiritual revival and reformation, The church lives if it develops a clear vision, The key factor of church growth is the dedication and sacrifice of a pastor, The systematic change of the denomination can save the church of the 21st century, and The core of church growth is the extraordinary gospel that overcomes the spirit of the age turned out to have a highly positive response with the mean value of Seventy-six point eight percent of the respondents had a positive response, whereas only 7.6% of them responded in a negative way. As will be particularly mentioned in its detailed analysis, the level of importance in pastoral dedication or sacrifice and the extraordinary gospel was relatively low, while the need of personal spiritual revival and reformation as well as a clear vision for the church was strongly emphasized. This revealed the ways to set priorities in working on the revival and reformation of the Seventhday Adventist Church in Korea 130 Kukheon Lee

7 2. The satisfaction rate for the current image, system, projects, and leadership of the denomination (6) was the lowest.? Not very clear) were not satisfied with the present denomination, whereas 34.4% of them (26.7% disagreed and 7.7% strongly disagreed) were satisfied. Nevertheless, the mean value of 3.07 indicated that the satisfaction rate for this section was lower than that for the other sections since the neutral response rate reached 39.9%. In particular, the consciousness of church members towards the current situation and influence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea was more or less negative, considering the fact that the satisfaction rate for the denomination s public image, influence, and current situation was below the mean value of 3.0. It is important to note that this result was contrary to their confidence in the identity of the church. 3. The respondents particularly pointed out that they were not satisfied with the public influence or current situation of the denomination because there was a lack of specific strategies for church growth and lay members were not fully prepared. This inference can be made, as the satisfaction rate for church growth and lay members was second to the lowest. The mean value of the questions about specific strategies and activities for church growth (4) was 3.18, and only 38.2% of the respondents were satisfied when 61.8% of them gave a neutral or lower response. More details will be analyzed specifically, but far more than half of the church members generally responded that the church had no concrete strategies and system for church growth. Lay members themselves also recognized their lack of preparation for the mission and development of the church since 44.6% of them were positive in joining mission and social service activities and equipping themselves with spirituality and leadership, whereas 55.4% of them gave a neutral or lower response. 4. The mean value of the satisfaction rate for the function and spiritual situation of the church currently attending (3) was shown to be low because the positive response rate was not higher than the negative. The overall satisfaction rate for the features of their church such as the management of church members and seekers after truth, its role in the community, and the equipment of facilities and programs was Forty-six point one percent of the respondents were satisfied and 53.9% of them gave a neutral or lower response, AAMM, Vol. 5, 131

8 indicating that the neutral or lower response rate was higher than the rate which indicated satisfaction. 5. Concerning questions about church merit (8) and personal spiritual life (2), the average satisfaction rate was shown since the response rate which indicated satisfaction and the neutral or lower response rate turned out to be almost the same. The satisfaction rate for cell group organization and community service was low while the satisfaction rate for pastoral leadership and sermon was relatively high. Overall, the average mean value of 3.44 was revealed. And the comprehensive mean value of personal spiritual life was 3.45 since the satisfaction rate for personal spiritual life and mission activities was a little low, whereas the satisfaction rate for church attendance and church identity-related activities was rather high. These survey results alone showed that the Seventh-day Adventists didn t think there was any serious problems with their church or personal spiritual life but were greatly concerned about the absence of the high social status of the denomination as well as the specific strategies for church growth and a lack of active mission and social service. More details on this issue will be presented through an analysis of each section. 6. Lastly, questions about the future potential of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea (10) and the leadership of pastors (5) drew a positive response. A somewhat bright prospect for the future of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea was revealed since 58.6% of the respondents were satisfied with the future potential of the church. Even if 41.4% of the respondents gave a neutral or lower response and the mean value was only about 3.61, the satisfaction rate for this section was relatively higher than that for the other sections. More positive response rate was shown in pastoral leadership compared with that for the future of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea. The satisfaction rate for this section was comparatively high, because the mean value was 3.72 and 64.5% of the respondents were satisfied. This result indicated that most of the lay members were to a certain extent satisfied with the leadership, sermon, visit, and vision of their pastor. An overall analysis on the faith consciousness of lay members based on this survey gives an idea on the list of urgent tasks to be done for the revival and reformation of the church. Of the 8 sections 132 Kukheon Lee

9 excluding 2 sections on the confidence in church identity and the desire for church revival and reformation, improvements can be made first for the section with the lowest satisfaction rate, and so on. The order is as follows: satisfaction with the denomination church growth strategies lay leadership the spiritual preparation of the church the environment and role of the church personal spiritual life. The satisfaction rate for the future of the denomination and the leadership of pastors has to a certain degree turned out to be high. III. Comprehensive Analysis on the Faith Consciousness of Pastors The comprehensive summary on the faith consciousness of pastors based on this research study is as follows: Section Classification N % M 1 Confidence in the Church 2 Pastoral Evaluation 3 Function of the Church 4 Church Growth 5 Pastoral Leadership Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly AAMM, Vol. 5, 133

10 6 Satisfaction with the Denomination Strongly Strongly Church Revival Strongly Strongly Church Merit Strongly Strongly Lay Evaluation Strongly Strongly Denominational Potential Strongly Strongly It was indicated that pastors were strongly confident in the identity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (1). Its mean value was as high as 4.29, and even the positive response rate reached 82.5%. The satisfaction rate for confidence in the remnant church and the Three Angels Messages and the completeness of and respect for the doctrines was way over 90%, revealing their strong confidence in this section. However, a little concern was shown for the section of denominational potential whose satisfaction rate was lower than that of the other sections. This will be particularly dealt with in its detailed analysis. Pastors in general showed stronger confidence in this section compared with that of lay members. Furthermore, pastors truly felt the need of agendas in regards to church revival (7). They absolutely agreed to the necessity of personal spiritual revival and reformation, a vision for the church, and the dedication and sacrifice of pastors. However, they were hesitant to regard systematic change and the gospel as the absolute factors of church revival. This will be explained further in its detailed analysis. At any rate, pastors as well as lay members actively supported the 134 Kukheon Lee

11 need of confidence in the identity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the necessity of church revival. 2. A negative result with the mean value of below 3.0 was shown in 3 sections. First of all, the comprehensive satisfaction rate for the denomination (6) was very low with the mean value of The overall evaluation of pastors was quite negative since 46.1% of them were not satisfied and only 16.9% were satisfied concerning the questions about the public image, organization, system, current situation, mission policy, and mission work of the denomination. A wide gap between pastors and lay members on this section was revealed, because the mean value of the satisfaction rate on the part of lay members was Pastors also had somewhat negative responses to the overall factors related to church growth (4) since its mean value was only The comprehensive results of various activities and strategies connected with church growth showed that 30.7% of the respondents had a negative response and just 27.5% of them a positive response. Hence, pastors were more or less negative about church growth, considering the fact that 41.8% of them had a neutral response. The negative response of pastors continued on the section of lay leaders (9) because the mean value fell below 3.0, leading to Only 31.4% of them gave a positive response to the leadership and activities of lay members, while the rest of them gave a neutral or lower response. It thus led to the mean value below The mean value went beyond 3.0 for some of the other sections, but the positive response rate was below 50% for the sections such as the role and function of the church (3), the merit factors of the church (8), the future potential of the denomination (10), and the leadership of pastors (5). It indicated a response rate way below neutral. Pastors responded somewhat negatively to the role and function of the church because only 35.5% of them gave a positive response when the others gave a neutral or lower response, leading to the mean value of In other words, pastors recognized the absence of satisfactory features or roles of the church they are currently serving. It was also shown that there was no noticeable merit of the church. The mean value was 3.18, and the positive response rate was only 34.4%. Forty-four point four percent of the respondents gave a AAMM, Vol. 5, 135

12 neutral response, and 21.2% of them a negative response. So the overall response was not quite positive. Therefore, pastors didn t see positive merits from the churches they are currently serving. The mean value of the future potential of the denomination was only The positive response rate for this section was 47.4%, which was less than half of the overall rate. A strong negative response to the absence of the young generation stood out in particular so much so that the general satisfaction rate for the future potential of the denomination surpassed the mean value. The positive response rate for pastoral leadership was not an exception since it was just 46.8%, which was less than half of the overall rate. Therefore, the pastors in this survey gave an objective assessment of themselves, whereas the mean value of 3.72 on pastoral leadership was drawn from lay members. 4. There was somewhat positive response to the evaluation of fellow pastors (2) since 54.1% of the respondents gave a positive response. It is significant to note, because the positive response rate for most of the other sections didn t even reach 50%. But the satisfaction rate for both pastors and lay members could be estimated since there was no significant difference between the mean value of lay members (3.45) and that of pastors (3.47). It was indicated that pastors as well as lay members were not satisfied with their spiritual life. Based on the results stated above, pastors approached several sections from a more objective and negative perspective compared with that of lay members. Pastors, in comparison with lay members, generally didn t have a positive view of faith and thus were more serious about the crisis of the church. They felt the need of improvements on most of the sections except the sections on confidence in the identity of the denomination and the necessity of church revival. This is an important reference factor for church revival and reformation. IV. Conclusion The two groups of lay members and pastors produced relatively similar results in regards to the basics of faith consciousness. Both groups indicated high satisfaction with the section related to the 136 Kukheon Lee

13 identity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church but low satisfaction with their spiritual life. Thus, a call for more faithful spiritual life on the part of the Seventh-day Adventists in Korea was addressed.5 It is necessary to overcome the general situation of modern Christianity where a lack of practice is pointed out. In addition, both groups absolutely agreed to the elements of church revival such as the need of personal spiritual revival and reformation, a vision for the church, and the dedication and sacrifice of a pastor. Despite this strong will for church revival and reformation, pastors and lay members addressed their concerns about the core factors of church revival. All of them were not satisfied with the public image, organization, system, current situation, mission policy, and mission work of the denomination. Therefore, the challenge to improve for church revival and reformation still remains. Furthermore, pastors and lay members gave a neutral response to the future potential of the denomination and the leadership of pastors. This called for a need of pastoral work with clear visions on the part of the Seventh-Adventist Church leaders. Indicated also was the need for more changes and developments in the administrative leadership. A bright future for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea will be achieved only when its members actively support and put an effort to its revival and reformation. But the related results in this survey turned out to be negative. Therefore, the following suggestions can be made about church revival and reformation based on these results: First, active participation in society is to be encouraged further in order to develop a positive image of the denomination and to become the church respected by society (Stott, 2005, 56, 57). The satisfaction rate of church members will naturally increase if the church deals with the need of this world out of love for neighbors. Second, specific policy and work plan for mission are to be set up for church growth and development. Quite a few of church members don t feel that the church is equipped with specific mission strategies. Effective mission work suitable for today s culture is to be carried out through the establishment of mission policy and strategies appropriate for the times. It is necessary to establish mission policy from a cultural transformation perspective emphasized by Richard Niebuhr (Niebuhr, 1951, 208). 5 Refer to The Barna Group, Ltd., Annual Study Reveals America Is Spiritually Stagnant, Americans Not Concerned of Their Spiritual Condition, from AAMM, Vol. 5, 137

14 Third, pastoral leadership is to be set in a right place with the spiritual restoration of pastors. The spiritual leadership of pastors is the core value of church revival and growth. Their spiritual authority is being lost within and without in today s society, however. Hence, a more thorough spiritual training is required to restore it. As Willard has pointed out, spiritual authority must come to life through the restoration of discipleship which was lost (Willard, 2006, ). Lastly, the Seventh-day Adventist doctrines including the Three Angels Messages are to be developed as the message of hope for today s society. Especially the Adventist message of eschatology is the theology of hope, as Jurgen Moltmann put it (See Moltmann, 2002.). Church revival and reformation will be accomplished and the Seventh-day Adventist Church will become the church of hope if the Adventist theology of eschatology is developed as the theology of hope and is taken as the spiritual dynamic to save society. The above stated suggestions based on the consciousness of the Seventh-day Adventist Church members in Korea must come true so that the Seventh-day Adventist Church can become the religion of hope in the 21st century. In connection with the revival and reformation, we have to be reminded of the counsel of Ellen White. She has emphasized as follows; A revival and a reformation must take place, under the ministration of the Holy Spirit. Revival and reformation are two different things. Revival signifies a renewal of spiritual life, a quickening of the powers of mind and heart, a resurrection from spiritual death. Reformation signifies a reorganization, a change in ideas and theories, habits and practices. Reformation will not bring forth the good fruit of righteousness unless it is connected with the revival of the Spirit. Revival and reformation are to do their appointed work, and in doing this work they must blend. (White,1902). According to this counsel, we could notice that our church members and pastors should concentrate on the great change of faith consciousness for the revival and reformation. I hope this survey will help to give some ideas to accomplish that task. 138 Kukheon Lee

15 References Burrill, Russell C. (2004). Waking the Dead: Returning Plateaued and Declining Churches to Vibrancy. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association. Jang, Byung Ho, et al. (1997). The Mission Project Evaluation and Vision 2000 Mission Strategies of the East Central Korean Conference. Seoul: Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Sahmyook University.. (2008). A Study on the Administration Organizational Reform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea. Seoul: Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Sahmyook University. Jun, Jung Kwon, (ed.). Yearbook of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Seoul: Korean Adventist Publishing. Kim, Seongik. (Dec. 2009). A Research Study on Consciousness for the Changing of Administraing Structure. Mission and Society Research Institute of Korea Shamyook University. Kim, Young Bok, et. al. (1982). A Comprehensive Research Study on the 100 Years of Korean Church. Seoul: Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development. Lee, Deok Joo. (1995). A Study on the Faith Situation of the Early Christians in Korea. The Institute for Korean Church History Newsletter, 20, Lee, Youngrin. (1968). A Study on the History of Korean Seventh-day Adventists. Seoul: Sunmyung Culture Publishing. Lloyd-Jones, Martyn. (1987). Revival. Wheaton, IL.: Crossway. Moltmann, Jurgen. (2002). Theologie der Hoffnung. Trans. Shin Gun Lee. Seoul: Christian Literature Society of Korea.. (2009). Gott im Projeckt der modernen Welt. Trans. Misook Gwak. Seoul: Dong-Yun Publishing Co. Niebuhr, H. Richard. (1951). Christ and Culture. New York: Harper & Row. Stott, John. (2005). New Issues Facing Christians Today. Trans. Ok Bae Jung. Seoul: IVP. Vanhoozer, Kevin. (2009). Everyday Theology. Trans. Seokin Yooon. Seoul: Revival and Reformation Press. White, Ellen G. (1902). Revival and Refirmation. Review and Herald Feb. 25. Willard, Dallas. (2006). The Great Commission. New York: HaperCollins Publishers. AAMM, Vol. 5, 139