A Biblical and contextual study of the viability of the cell church for the Seventh-day Adventist Mission in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

The other Christian denominations in Korea have contributed to the introduction of cell church and its formation as a new paradigm church. The SDA church in Korea, however, is still new to the cell church. Thus, this research aims at exploring the viability of the cell church as an alternative church for Korean SDA church urban mission, especially in Seoul. For this study, library research and interview were mainly made. The nature of God is communal. He reflected His nature when He made the first couple in community. The purpose of God’s community is as follows: relationship, equality, interdependence, and reproduction. For this purpose, God chose Abraham and made him a leader of covenant community. The covenant community was based on the family and later it was developed into the Israel nation. Jesus restored the Old Testament community by choosing the Twelve. The small group of the Twelve was the beginning of cell church as community. Jesus sent His community to houses in cities for urban ministry and it became the foundation of cell churches meeting in the homes during the first century. The early Church reflected Jesus’ community in its structure. Later, Paul followed Jesus’ method by planning the cell churches in cities. The cell church was formed in line with the Roman worldview and became prosperous. The Korean worldview in which cell groups have been successful is similar to the Roman worldview: familism, collectivism, and hierarchy. This similarity between the Roman worldview and the Korean worldview implicates that the cell church is available in modern Korea. The analysis of interview with pastors says that pastors back up the importance of church planting and cell group meetings while some pastors oppose them because of the fear of smaller church and the lack of leaders. If lay members are educated and trained properly by the church pastor, the cell church will be the effective strategy for the SDA church urban mission I Seoul. The cell church is a new paradigm church for the urban mission.