By presenting the Cornerstone Church, which was planted as a church only with few children to become a self-reliant church in ten years, the purpose of this dissertation is two folds: first, to emphasize the necessity of continuous church planting and...
By presenting the Cornerstone Church, which was planted as a church only with few children to become a self-reliant church in ten years, the purpose of this dissertation is two folds: first, to emphasize the necessity of continuous church planting and second, to present the necessity of respecting children as the higly prioritized subject of ministry in the church based on perceiving children as complete human beings as adults are. It is not difficult to hear and see that children's ministries have collapsed in many churches, and some even say that children's departments have already been abolished. The lamentations and fears that children's ministries are collapsing, young people are rapidly disappearing from the church, and the church is becoming super-aging as a result, are darkening the Korean church more and more. Through this book, I suggest that the current reason for the decline or abolition of children's departments is that adults, including pastors, do not understand the uniqueness of children, and the underlying reason is that children are not regarded as complete personalities and objects of ministry in the church compared to adults. Therefore, I am convinced that in order to settle down the church that will be planted in the future and revitalize the existing church that is losing the next generation, it is necessary for pastors and church members to recognize children as complete human beings and to recognize them as equal objects of ministry like the elders of the church.
Chapter I, Pastoral Necessities, describes the background and content of the thesis topic. It diagnoses the problem of why children are decreasing in Korean churches over time, explains why researchers start planting churches with children, and explains why it is important for children to exist in churches.
Chapter II, Literature Research introduces literature that fits the theme of this paper, that is, books that write examples of churches that have passed on the faith to the next generation. In addition, in order to educate them and understand the process of becoming a church, we focused on books on discipleship education and youth education.
Chapter III, Biblical and Theological Foundations, contains explanations and contents of the etymological and theological meanings of the church, the definition and biblical basis of church planting. In addition, through church planting in the Bible, it specifically describes who is a member of the church, what church membership and confession of faith, baptism and the Lord's Supper are, and what the church should do biblically and theologically in planting and building up with the next generation.
Chapter IV, explains the proposal for publication, and Chapter V contains excerpts from the manuscript that I will actually publish. Focusing on the growth of the Cornerstone Church, which became self-reliant by planting with children, he presented the reality and examples of ministry that can be planted by the next generation, and suggested how the ministry should be carried out with children in the Korean church, where the number of children is decreasing.