Why did the early church grow so rapidly and what impact did this success have on the church - Research Paper Example

?WHY DID THE EARLY CHURCH GROW SO RAPIDLY AND WHAT IMPACT DID THIS SUCCESS HAVE ON THE CHURCH? WHAT LESSONS COULD BE DRAWN FOR 20TH CENTURY KOREAN EXPERIENCE? Student’s name Course code: Institution’s name: Date of submission: Introduction Christianity is one of the widely spread religious belief in the world. Conversely, the development of contemporary Christianity was filed and characterized by consistent violence and bloodshed. Christian believers have over year’s endured horrifying punishment from several global social, economic, and political quarters. A good number of early religious believers and evangelists were stoned to death while others were imprisoned for failing to renounce their belief. However, despite of the endless critics and attempt to exterminate Christianity, the religion survived all attempts to get rid of it existence and is at present the leading religion in the world in terms of followers, wealth, and infrastructural development1. Just like in any other part of the world, Christianity in South Korea faced infinite resistance and denunciation from a section of the country’s population. However, the development of Christianity in South Korea was to a great extent facilitated by the support from the country’s elites and a good section of members of the general public. In the field of religious study, the research on growth and development of churches in South Korea is one of the most interesting and less studied topics. In addition, the South Korea churches are commonly known for their expansive growth and adverse number of mega churches. The number of protestant followers has in the last few years grown significantly and is current more than 30% of the total South Korean population. Most religious believers are however for the view that, the development and growth of churches in South Korea and in the entire world is greatly facilitated by the work and power of the Holy Spirit. Scholars and thinkers hold different opinion on the factors that contributed to the significant growth of Churches in the world and especially in South Korea. According to modern scholars, contemporary development of churches all over the world is a contribution of cataclysmic economic, social, and political crises in the world. Others facets recognized for the success of Christianity are the contributions of indigenous religious tradition. The paper therefore focuses on the causes of early rapid growth of churches in the world and its impacts on churches. The essay will also seek to evaluate the lesson learnt after the 20th century Korean experiences. The utmost rationale behind the rapid development of churches was its appeal to the masses. Most of the people who were transformed to Christianity were Gentile as opposed to reformed Jews. Initially, Christianity started as a small group in Jewish community. The expansion of Christianity believers was however accelerated by consistent transformation of Gentiles into Christianity. The Gentiles were unwilling to accept Judaism due to its Strict Kosher Dietary Laws and their circumcision practices. Christianity lacked strict laws therefore it was more applying to the population at that particular historical time. The increase in the number of Christian followers therefore led to construction of more churches in the world and most specifically in areas that were densely occupied by Gentile community2. Christianity accommodative teachings were as well associated with rapid growth of churches in the world. The perception that, all people are equal in the eyes of God played an incredibly decisive role in the spread of Christianity in the world. At this historical period, people were divided into several classes according to their wealth and power. Christianity promised and preached equality to everyone in the society. Additionally, there were significant similarities in beliefs and practices between pagan religion and Christianity. As a result, Christianity incorporated approximately the entire pagan beliefs. The identification of correspondences between Christianity and pagan was therefore presumed to be an intentional exercise with an aim of converting the non believers to Christian believers. The presence of resemblance in Christian teaching and traditional religious belief therefore lead to radical global expansion of Christianity which resulted to building of more churches3. Missionaries were as well presumed to have greatly contributed to the growth of churches in the world. Missionaries held the notion that, spreading of Christianity was not only a duty but an honor. Missionaries travelled all over the world with an aim of making people believe in Christianity teachings. The missionaries’ intention of converting people was as well facilitated by peaceful coexistences that existed in the world. Lack of major wars as a result enabled successful movement of missionaries to many parts of the world. The exceptional growth of Christianity in all parts of the world therefore led to spread of churches in almost all parts of world. The good-looking and definite structure of traditional churches as well contributed to extensive expansion of churches. Christian churches have a definite hierarchy that incorporates church elders, deacons, bishops, and archbishops. Churches issues were discusses by all players in the church including the church followers. Church elders directly represented the interest of the ordinary Christian followers. On the other hand, the structures of the churches were different from structures in other religions. There was no restriction in the attendance of church services compared to other religious beliefs. Bible is as well rated as one of the main contributors to the radical expansion of Churches in the world. Missionary translated their bibles into local languages. As a result, numerous people were in a position to read and comply with the requirements of the translated bible. Scholars have come up with a different view on the cause of vast development of churches in South Korea. Confucian culture and belief significantly facilitated the drastic growth of churches in South Korea. Early missionaries assert that, Christian messages in Peninsula were not introduced by foreign missionaries but by Koreans themselves. This was due to the increased interest of Confucian politician and scholars on Christian literature in the late 18th century. Christianity was presumed by Confucian scholars to be a sophisticated cultural system and philosophy that represented a flourishing western civilization. As a result, these scholars wrote numerous literatures on Christian beliefs and teachings. Scholars who were convinced by Christianity teachings also built churches in the country. After construction of several churches, catholic missionaries together with the elite class and the middle class in the community embarked on an undertaking of spreading Christian messages to low class segment of the population4. On the other hand, the converted Confucian scholars also took the responsibility of translating Chinese and English bibles into Korean language. Although there were some people who were against Christianity, evangelization did not stop at all. The endeavor to preach Christian messages was as well elevated by the inflow of protestant missionary into the country. Protestant missionaries were more experienced and skilled on missionary strategies as compared to their catholic counterparts. Similar to the spread of Christianity believes in other regions of the world, the success of evangelization in South Korea was to some extent facilitated by the fact that, Christian messages were almost comparable to the existing religious norms and philosophical beliefs. The Korean communities therefore believed that, Christianity would strengthen their kingdom without interfering with traditional beliefs and structural settings. The two religions also had a similar concept on morality and God. There was as well some notable relationship between perception of God in Christianity and Korean Confucian tradition. Similar to Korean beliefs, Christians believes that, God has power over everything and has the authority to punish and rewards people. Impacts of successful rapid growth of churches The successful rapid growth of early churches in the world had considerable impacts especially in contemporary churches. The rapid growth enabled Christianity to be one of the most flourishing religions in the world. At present, Christianity has the highest number of followers globally compared to other global religions. The flourishing growth of churches in early days as well facilitated the involvement of religious institutions in global social, political and economic development. Most schools in Christian dominated countries are sponsored by Christian institutions. Some of these learning institutions have as a result considerably contributed in the funding of development activities. Due to successful expansion of early churches, Christianity has dominated in a considerable number of countries in the world. Apart from religious and Arabic countries, Christianity has conquered in roughly all the other global countries. This has as a result played exceptionally significant roles in necessitating the funding of the church activities. The speedy growth of churches and especially in South Korea has as well lead to the development of essential administration infrastructures. The infrastructures that were set in 20th century in South Korea are at present very useful in the management of Christian activities in the country5. Moreover, modern evangelists rely on preaching methodologies that were used by early missionaries. In general therefore, modern churches and other Christianity institutions prosperity is significantly necessitated by the triumphant growth of early churches and the role played by early missionaries, elites, and evangelists in the spread of Christianity messages. What Lessons Could Be Drawn For 20th Century Korean Experience? Based on 20th century Korean experience, it is clear that, centrality of state responsibility is incredibly vital in the development of a country. The South Korean development improvement in 20th century was significantly facilitated by good governance and effective management of the country’s resources. South Korea experts also embarked on developing individuals’ capability to enhance the achievement of the country’s goals and long term objectives. On the other hand, by referring to 20th century experience in South Korea, the construction of appropriate social structures is particularly essential for the prosperity of any plan and especially in the country’s social sector. The growth and development of a country’s social sector entire depends on the competence of human capital and provision of techniques to support service sector. For instance, the introduction and prosperity of religious beliefs in South Korea was necessitated by the introduction of effective structures. Elites in the society were as well equipped with all the required necessities to facilitate the evangelist exercise. Therefore, to realize a speedy and sustainable development, the 21st century developmental stages ought to enhance the capability of the people6. On the other hand, based on Korean 20th century experiences, the expansion of people ability is not only a welfare objective but an inescapable requirement for sustainable development. The success of South Korea religious infrastructures was vastly facilitated by equipping the community and especially the community’s elites with the required skills and competence. Capability enhancement is therefore symbolized by strong strategic intervention and development of realistic and practical plans and policies. The development of a close relation between the authority and the community members is as well essential in the development of a country. The social, economic, and political success of South Korea was associated with close linkage between the states and community members. The successful spread of Christian ideologies in South Korea was as well facilitated by the development of a realistic association among the government, missionaries, community elites and scholars7. Conclusion Based on the current statistic, Christianity is one of the largest religions in the world. Christianity is available in almost all parts of the world. This was to great extent facilitated by missionary role and commitment in the spread of Christian ideologies. Outstanding cooperation between missionary, the government, resident, and community elites led to intensive growth of churches in South Korea. The Christian ability to accommodate practices and beliefs from traditional religious beliefs is as well responsible for the expansive development of churches. Vast expansion of Christianity has extensively contributed to the sustainability, growth, and development of modern churches. Early evangelists formed the bases for modern styles of managing religious entities. Contemporary religious, political, social, and economic leaders should as well run from South Korean 20th century experiences. Good cooperation amongst the entire community members is extremely essential for the success of a country. Additionally, empowering community members is as well incredibly decisive for the success of a country. Bibliography Allan Anderson & Walter J. Hollenweger (Ed.), “Pentecostals after a Century: Global Perspectives on a Movement in Transition (JPT Sup. 15”, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), 190 Gary McGee, “Pentecostal Missiology: Moving beyond triumphalism to face the issues Pneuma”, The Journal of the Society of Pentecostal Studies, 16:2 (1994), 208, 211. Matthews A.Ojo, “The Church in the African State: The Charismatic/Pentecostal Experience in Nigeria”, Journal of African Christian Thought, 1:2 (1998), 25. Melvin L Hodges, “The Indigenous Church”, (Springfield: Gospel Publishing House, 1953), 14. Walter J Hollenweger, “Pentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide”, (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1997), 23. Yu Chai-Sin,” Korea and Christianity”, (Seoul: Asian Humanities Press, 2002).p.47 Read More