Abstract

From the end of the 1980s, when foreign workers poured into Korea, until 1995, when there was a significant increase in international marriages, a multicultural situation has slowly been developing in Korea. However, because the traditional emphasis has been on a single-race nation, the Korean Church has not shown much concern for the multicultural situation. Apart from some megachurches and missionary groups, the Korean Church has not been concerned with inviting immigrants and receiving them as full church members. Recently, due to a rapidly aging Korean society and the influx of immigrants entering the workforce, Korea has abruptly changed into a multicultural society. Catching up with this change, the church has started to study building a multicultural church and shifting a congregation to a multicultural church; however, almost all of these studies focus on mission strategy, leadership, or working through conflicts in the church. Currently, there are a lack of studies on worship, specifically, how to facilitate worship among people from different cultural backgrounds and how worship can draw a multicultural congregation together as one body. This chapter will study how a multicultural church can plan its Sunday public worship from a liturgical and theological perspective. Additionally, I will research how a congregation made up of people whose cultural and theological backgrounds are different can become one body in worship. For this purpose, I will examine a multicultural church in Korea, mainly focusing on how the order and elements of worship can develop understanding and unity among the people. Based on this study, I will suggest some liturgical ideas and valuable strategies for multicultural worship in Korea with a sample liturgy of multicultural worship.

Highlights

  • In the Book of Revelation, there is a very emotional scene: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb

  • For Korean church members, the standard for proper worship tends to be limited to the worship they have experienced in the past and the form taught by the theologian or pastor whom they respect (Moon 2020b, p. 38)

  • Based on the practical and theological aspects of multicultural worship that have been discussed so far, I will design a sample liturgy that can be implemented in the context of the Korean Church

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Summary

Introduction

In the Book of Revelation, there is a very emotional scene: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. People from many ethnic groups and many countries have come to Korea, it is not easy to find a multicultural church. Even if we have different national and cultural backgrounds, we should seek unity where we can worship God together with one faith, believing in one. In this respect, multicultural worship is a monumental task for the 21st century. Through sample liturgy, I will present worship ideas that can be practiced in the multicultural context

Case Study
Theology of Multicultural Worship
Theological Reflections for Multicultural Worship
Practice of Multicultural Worship
Presenting Creative Liturgical Ideas
Strategies for Multicultural Worship
A Sample Liturgy with Annotations
Evaluation of the Liturgy with Its Benefits and Challenges
Conclusions
Full Text
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