The Church as a Major Agent of God's Kingdom Ministry

Seung-Oh An(안승오) 영남신학대학교 2003 신학과 목회 Vol.19 No.-

TOWARD WITNESS-ORIENTED WORSHIP

AN Seung Oh(안승오) 장로회신학대학교 세계선교연구원 2000 선교와 신학 Vol.5 No.-

에큐메니칼 종말 이해와 선교

안승오(Seung Oh An) 영남신학대학교 2010 신학과 목회 Vol.33 No.-

The major purpose of this paper is to suggest a desirable direction of eschatology by investigating the eschatology of ecumenical theology. In mission enterprises the understanding of the eschatology is so crucial, since the emphasis or direction of mission is affected by the understanding of eschatology For example, if the eschatology is understood as the time of opening the new kingdom in heaven and of accepting only the saved people by the name of Jesus as in the traditional view, the mission will largely focus on the ministry of saving souls. But when the eschatology is viewed mostly in terms of the current world, instead of the coming world, and the dimension that is achieved on this earth, the mission will be pursuing various ministries which can bring justice, peace, shalom, and integrity of creation on this earth. As an initial stage of investigating ecumenical view of eschatology, the paper firstly looked for the background of the understanding, and found out that the major theoretical backdrop of the idea were Missio Dei, Marxism and Liberation theology, widened concerns on life, and so on. This ecumenical eschatology which were given birth by the above ideas shows some traits compared to traditional view. They can be summarized as the tendency of God-centered eschatology, the trend of emphasizing actualized dimension of eschatology, and the inclination of inclusive understanding of eschatology. With these tendencies the ecumenical view of eschatology contains some strengths or positive potentials. First, while the traditional view can neglect the current earthly life focusing largely on the future dimension of eschatology, the ecumenical view has a potential of increasing the responsibility of Christians in social life, accepting the eschatology not much as a future matter but as the one actualized here on this earth. Second, while the traditional one has a narrow view focusing largely only on humans, the ecumenical one challenges the eschatology to become a more inclusive one considering the issues of ecology and globalization seriously as it widens the scope of salvation toward the whole humanity and the creation. However, it has some serious deficits as well. Firstly, it contains the possibility of weakening the enthusiasm of evangelism as it emphasizes the inclusive eschatology which expresses the possibility of saving the whole universe. Secondly, it can downgrade the supernatural dimension of eschatology to a kind of mere social welfare achieved on this earth. Lastly. it can cause the people's faith to become weaken or lost as it is inclined too much toward the earthly or humanly dimension of the God's kingdom. So I want to suggest that the desirable direction of ecumenical eschatology is to recover future, supernatual, and personal dimensions of eschatology to recover the enthusiasm of saving souls.

세계 선교를 위한 로잔 운동의 기여방향

안승오 ( An Seung Oh ) 아세아연합신학대학교 신학연구소 2018 ACTS 신학저널 Vol.35 No.-

기독교 선교의 양대 진영이라 할 수 있는 WCC(세계교회협의회)와 복음주의 진영인 로잔은 본래 세계 선교에 대하여 대조적인 관점을 지녀 왔는데, 2천 년대에 들어서는 상당히 공통된 경향을 나타내 보이고 있다. 본 연구는 선교의 양대 진영 중 특별히 로잔운동의 선교 경향을 분석하면서 로잔운동이 앞으로 어떤 방향으로 선교를 수행할 때 위기에 처한 기독교의 세계 선교를 위해 기여할 수 있을지를 제안하고자 한다. 이를 위해 먼저 로잔 운동 40여 년의 역사를 3 시기 즉 1) 태동기, 2) 고민기, 3) 총체적 접근기로 나누어서 살피면서 역사적 흐름에 나타난 특징을 분석하여 보았다. 그 특징을 간단히 말하자면 로잔은 태동기에 지녔던 복음전도의 우선성과 긴급성을 상실하고 선교의 목표에 모든 것을 동일한 중요도로 포함하는 통전적 선교신학을 추구하면서 에큐메니칼 진영의 신학과 별반 차이가 없는 성향을 보인다는 점이었다. 로잔이 이처럼 WCC를 계속 추종할 때 나타날 수 있는 모습은 이미 에큐메니칼 신학에서 나타난 바와 같이 복음전도의 약화를 가져오고 이것은 결국 교회의 약화로 이어질 가능성이 높다. 따라서 로잔은 복음전도에 역점을 두고, 명확한 선교 개념을 정립하고, 선교에 있어서 우선순위를 정립하고, 세계 선교 운동을 위한 전략 정보 센터의 기능을 수행할 때 세계 선교를 위해 기여할 수 있을 것으로 사료된다. The Lausanne movement was born out of a sense of crisis that the missionary movement that was centering on evangelism was seriously undermined. Born in this concern of world evangelization, the names of Lausanne are The International Congress on World Evangelization or Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. Both names appear for the purpose of world evangelization. In other words, the identity and core task that Lausanne movement can never yield is world evangelization. That is why the two major agents of mission, WCC and Lausanne, originally showed different concerns in their mission. However, since 2000, the two have revealed almost similar tendencies. From that time, the Lausanne movement has followed the World Council of Churches (WCC) by conceding the priority of evangelism and prioritizing a humanitarian or Shalom aspect of missions. The WCC will be able to contribute some of the world's shalom. As a result, this movement is almost ignoring the most important beginning of world transformation ― evangelism itself. The churches that accept the WCC theology are getting weaker and weaker. This will make it impossible for the church to work for the world, and the WCC, which operates with the support of the churches, will also weaken. This paper will investigate the traits of the Lausanne movement and provide some suggestions on how it can contribute to the development of world mission. For this purpose, I divided the 40-year history of the Lausanne movement into 3 periods: 1) its birth, 2) its time of wonder, 3) its integration period. This paper analyzes the traits that are appearing in the flow. The evolution as follow: Lausanne gradually has lost the primacy and urgency of evangelism and become similar to WCC pursuing the holistic mission theology. If the Lausanne movement keeps pursuing the direction of WCC, it will lose all of its original enthusiasm for evangelism, resulting in the loss of Christianity's core mission effectiveness. This paper suggests the Lausanne movement refocus on evangelism, rebuild a clear concept of mission, recapture the primacy of evangelism, and become a center of information for world evangelization. This might be the best contribution of Lausanne for world mission. Of course, the Lausanne movement is already embracing a holistic view of mission and is moving forward with the view that it is the best alternative. However, mission should contribute to building a strong church. After the death of the church, mission itself cannot be discussed. Established churches, even if they consider all things holistically, still need to prioritize evangelism. The movement originally started by claiming this and should rethink their commitments.

교회성장학의 관점에서 본 에큐메니칼 신학 이해

안승오(Seung Oh An) 장로회신학대학교 세계선교연구원 2011 선교와 신학 Vol.27 No.-

전통적으로 선교는 “복음을 알지 못하는 지역에 가서 복음을 전하고 스스로 서 갈 수 있는 교회를 세워 하나님 나라를 확장하는 활동”이라는 정의에 거의 이의가 없었다. 여기에서 교회야말로 하나님 나라 확장을 보여 주는 가장 명확한 표징 중의 하나였으므로 선교의 성적표를 측정하는 중요한 잣대 중의 하나가 바로 교회의 성장이었다. 그러나 20세기에 들어서면서부터 교회 성장을 중시하는 선교 개념은 커다란 도전에 직면하게 되었다. 이 도전은 주로 소위 말하는 에큐메니칼 신학에서 강하게 제기되었다고 할 수 있다. 특별히 하나님의 선교’(Missio Dei) 개념이 태동된 1952년을 기점으로 하여서 교회 성장을 중시하는 선교 개념은 강력한 비판 앞에 놓이게 되었다. 그렇다면 에큐메니칼 신학의 주된 관심은 무엇인가? 1948년에 세계교회협의회(WCC)가 생긴 이후로 WCC의 주된 관심은 크게 세 가지 패러다임으로 변천되어 왔다고 볼 수 있다. 첫째는 하나님의 선교 개념이 탄생된 1952년을 중심으로 하나님의 선교 패러다임’ (1952-1963),둘째는 인간화 개념을 선교의 목적으로 삼았던 읍살라 대회를 중심으로 ‘인간화 패러다임’(1968-1975) 그리고 셋째는 캐나다 밴쿠버 대회 이후로 점증하는 생명에 대한 관심과 더불어 나타나는 ‘생명 패러다임’(1983 - 현재) 이 그것이다. 그리고 이 패러다임의 핵심은 "하나님의 선교’, ‘인간화 그리고 ‘생명 살림’ 이라고 요약할 수 있다. 본 연구는 전통적인 교회 중심의 선교 개념에 대한 비판 의식에서 태동된 에큐메니칼 신학의 핵심 개념인 ‘하나님의 선교’, ‘인간화’ 그리고 ‘생명 살림’ 개념이 어떤 배경 하에서 태동되었고 개념의 주요 내용이 무엇이며 교회 성장의 관점에서 볼 때 이 개념이 지니는 기여점과 한계점 등은 무엇인지 등을 살펴보았다. 이런 주제는 19세기의 세계 상황과 달라진 20세기의 상황 속에서 그 상황에 맞는 바른 선교를 하고자 하는 고뇌 속에서 탄생된 것이다. 이런 주제는 과거의 선교를 갱신하고 오늘의 변화된 상황 속에서 바른 선교를 수행하고자 하는 의도 속에서 탄생된 주제이며, 그런 점에서 오늘의 세계 속 에서 선교를 수행하는 우리가 반드시 잘 이해해야 할 주제이다. 하지만 이 한 주제는 19세기의 선교를 갱신하고 발전시킨다는 점에서 좋은 기여점을 지니는 반면에 동시에 한계점도 있는 것이 사실이다. 즉 19세기 선교의 문제점을 갱신하고 보완하는 기여를 하는 반면에 19세기 선교의 강점을 약화시키는 부작용 또한 내포하고 있다는 것이다. 특별히 교회 성장의 관점에서 보면 이런 주제는 아주 심각한 부작용 즉 구령 열정의 약화와 교회의 약화 등을 공통적으로 지니고 있다. 즉 에큐메니칼 신학은 그 모든 장점 에도 불구하고 교회의 성장 잠재력을 약화시킬 수 있는 소지가 있다. 따라서 이슬람에 비하여 갈수록 성장 동력이 떨어지고 유럽 등 일부 지역을 중심으로 심각한 퇴조의 현상까지 보이는 기독교는 에큐메니칼 신학을 심도 있게 분석하여 장점은 살리되 약점은 보완할 필요가 있을 것이다.

다시 생각해보는 삼위일체 선교 신학

안승오(Seung-oh An) 영남신학대학교 2022 신학과 목회 Vol.57 No.-

출애굽 사건의 관점에서 본 하나님의 선교(Missio Dei) 개념 재고

안승오 ( An Seung Oh ) 한국복음주의선교신학회 2022 복음과 선교 Vol.59 No.-

The concept of Missio Dei, advocated by Karl Hartenstein and actively accepted and developed in the ecumenical camp by J.C.Hoeckendijk et al. has contributed to solving various problems of the traditional mission. But the problem is what exactly is the will of God that the church must follow and obey. Knowing and carrying out exact God’s will is so crucial in the mission. However, the problem is where to find the exact will of God. Perhaps the most important criterion should be how the Bible speaks, which is the most important basis and criterion for Christian theology. In this regard, this study examines where God's will or God’s main interest lies through in-depth analysis of the words of God given in the process of the Exodus, which is one of the most representative works of liberation and humanization in the Bible. As a result, God’s main interest in the Exodus was not in the simple political liberation and welfare of Israel. Rather the interest were in 1) leading Israel, Egypt, and the whole world come to know God, 2) leading Israel to serve God, 3) forming Israel the covenant people. Considering the above points, it seems necessary to wisely re-establish the direction of mission that the church should take.

다원주의 문화 상황 속에서의 바람직한 선교 방향

안승오 ( An Seung Oh ) 한국복음주의선교신학회 2023 복음과 선교 Vol.61 No.-

In these days, pluralistic culture is widespread, in which different cultures and ways of life are welcomed and believed to enrich human life, while absolutism is viewed as an unfair and arrogant prejudice. In this situation, it is considered a naive nonsense to claim any particular historical event as an absolute truth applicable to all, transcending all races, borders and cultures. In this atmosphere, the perspective of religious pluralism seems suitable for the real situation and can contribute to the welfare of human society. So the viewpoint of religious pluralism seems to have considerable charm. However, it was examined that religious pluralism seems realistic but unrealistic, seems widely opened but totalitarian, and seems to save Christianity but eventually euthanize Christianity. Then, in what direction should Christianity pursue missions in this culturally pluralistic situation? This study suggests that we should acknowledge the situation of pluralism in terms of culture, have enough courtesy and ethics for other religions and cultures, but not lose confidence in the salvation of Christ and the boldness that comes from it. In particular, it is emphasized that the way Christian missions should go is to show the power of the gospel that comes from faith and determination, not logic and argument.

로잔운동에 나타난 에큐메니칼 선교신학의 영향

안승오 ( An Seung Oh ) 한국복음주의선교신학회 2017 복음과 선교 Vol.39 No.-

This paper is a study about the influence of ecumenical mission theology upon lausanne movement. For this purpose it investigated the documents of the 1st through 3rd lausanne assemblies in detail. Based on this, it evaluated how the lausanne movement has been changed by the influence of the ecumenical mission theology. In particular, it searched the transformation of lausanne theology regarding the following issues: understanding of the world, understanding of the target and tasks of mission, understanding of social responsibility, understanding of the core of mission, understanding of the urgency of evangelism. As all other theologies do so, the ecumenical theology has dark and bright sides as well. Though the ecumenical theology contributed to the work of emphasizing social responsibility of the church, it is hard to deny that it weakened the importance of primacy of evangelism and dedication to world evangelization as it stressed the ministry of social responsibility too much. As a result of this study, it was found out that lausanne, by the impact of ecumenical mission theology, came to have a more positive view of the world, to emphasize social responsibility much more, to pursue integral mission gradually. while weakening the primacy and urgency of evangelism. This study would be helpful for people to see how lausanne has been changed in the long history. So it would be also helpful for them when they discuss what would be the desirable direction for which lausanne should pursue.

예수의 가르침에서 본 확대된 선교 개념 평가

안승오(An, Seung Oh) 주안대학원대학교 2024 주안신학논단 Vol.- No.-

The purpose of this article is to evaluate this expanded concept of mission from the perspective of Jesus’ teaching. The reason why Jesus’ teachings were selected as a criterion for evaluating the expanded concept of mission is that it is Jesus Christ who most accurately shows and teaches God’s will to us. In relation to this, Kim Kyun-jin said the following based on the Bart’s view, “Between God and man... there stands a personality called Jesus Christ. In him, God presents himself to man. In him, man recognizes God. In him, God stands before man, and man stands before God.” In other words, the way to know God’s will most accurately is on other than Jesus Christ and his words. In this regard, this article aims to evaluate the expanded concept of mission according to the criteria of Jesus’ teaching. For this work this paper will do the following works. 1) to examine the background in which the expanded concept of mission was born, 2) to investigate what the characteristics of the expanded concept of mission are, and 3) to know what the weak points of the expanded concept of missio are in terms of Jesus’ teachings. I hope that this study will help Christian mission keep a clearer concept of mission and carry out the duty in a more efficient way.