THE GROWTH OF THE RURAL CHURCH IN KOREA IN RELATION TO ITS SIGNIFICANCE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EVANGELICAL FAITH

There are three favorable conditions for the rural church in establishing the evangelical faith. First, it has the favorable surroundings of nature for the countrymen to believe in God as the Creator and Father. Secondly, countrymen have good hearts to experience the salvation of the Lord. Thirdly, the country is a place where the Holy Spirit works continually.; The foundation of the evangelical faith derives from that of Abraham and the disciples from Galilee. Abraham preserved his faith and experienced the presence of God in the countryside and the members of the first church were also from the countryside. Therefore, the growth of the rural church in Korea stems from the establishment of this same evangelical faith.; The first Korean church was planted in a rural area in the evangelical faith and served as a stepping-stone for the revival of Korean churches. But nowadays the rural church is growing slowly, because many of the countrymen have given up farming in favor of other occupations in the cities.; Therefore, in order to keep the evangelical faith of the countrymen the rural church must have the leadership of the pastor, the discipline of the laity, the help of the Holy Spirit who moves through nature of the country, and the zeal for evangelism.; Preserving the evangelical faith of the rural church itself is a great contribution to the Korean church, but the strengths of rural churches can be applied to the urban churches by the following methods. First, the pastoral ministry in the urban church should be critical of worldly urban environment and help the congregation develop a Christian world view. Secondly, the urban church must run a mental training school such as a prayer mountain in order to keep the evangelical faith. Thirdly, urban church members must visit rural churches to learn.; So the establishment of the evangelical faith in Korean church will prevent them from breaking down under the impact of secularization as in the West. Moreover churches in Korea will play an increasingly important role in the evangelization of Asia and the World.