Woo S Jeong

Developing Intimacy with God Within the Korean Church: an Experiment with Wiki-leadership Within the Korean Church Woo S Jeong

Publisher Marketing: Two motivations made the researcher undertake this project. The first one is the different nature between the Biblical God and the supreme god, Hananim. Koreans believe in only one god called "Hananim or Ha-neu-nim" which means that he is one and the supreme one. Around 1900 most North American missionaries turned to Hananim when they arrived in Korea. Korean Christians used the same name of God. It has been leading how to be a Christian and how to believe in God. Before Christianity was introduced on the Korean soil, Korean people had lived for a long time under the influence of various religions such as Shamanism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and other indigenous religions. The researcher intends to differentiate the nature of God in the Scriptures from that of Korean belief system to clarify its implications for establishing a Korean Christian community, and to show that the relationship between Christianity and other traditional religions has emerged as one of the thorny issues in contemporary theological circles. The second motivation is the importance of knowing God. The book of John says, "(Jn 17:3) Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." The researcher is convinced that knowing God is important for Korean Christians to communicate with God. Based on it they may grow in relationship with Him. Hananim is the word for this supreme god used by Korean shamanists. Therefore, traditional religion and Korean belief system have influenced Christianity in many ways. Shamanism is the most prominent religious force dominating the religious life of the Korean people. The relations between the spirits and human beings were arranged by shamans who helped them to be in harmony and unity. The Korean people believed in propitious and ill-omened days, in favorable and unfavorable places. They also believed that every event was for them a sign of fortune or misfortune; however, with the influx of Western culture, the beliefs and practices of Shamanism seemed to have disappeared from the life of the Korean people. This project is an attempt to encourage the development of intimacy with God in wiki-leadership. The research believes that new leadership paradigm will motivate knowing the Biblical God, which leads Korean people to grow in the relationship with God on behalf of shamans. And now, more than ever, the church of Jesus Christ is in need of new leadership paradigm that motivates His people to get involved in His ministries.