An Evaluation of the Performance of Korean Missionaries

Howard Norrish, OM

1. Introduction

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak to you at this Forum. We are meeting at the beginning of the 21st century of missions. It is a key time in the history of missions. Korea is now the second largest missionary-sending nation after the USA. This is only the second time in mission history that Asians have been prominent in missions. The first was in the 4th  9th centuries when Nestorian missionaries from West Asiabegan the

evangelisation of the rest of Asia.

I had the privilege of attending the Lausanne II conference in Manila in 1989 and it was clear at that conference that the mantle of World Mission was to rest on the "whole church" and that there was a shift in the percentage of believers in the world "from the west to the rest"and in particular from Europe and North America to Asia, Africa and Latin America.

It is noticeable that, at least in the Muslim World, there is a growing number of workers. Some claim there are around 27,000 (about 10% of all workers) and the growth has largely been due to the increasing number of Asians, Latin Americans and Africans. The church in Korea has been a front-runner and forerunner in non-western missionary-sending nations.

We, in the Muslim World, are having a period of evaluation and reflection. The period of the AD2000 Movement caused us to push as many people as we possibly could into unreached Muslim peoples. The research was basically good and we tried to place a team inevery unreached Muslim people group.  We failed to do this. As we neared the year 2000 AD we lowered our goal to trying to get each people group adopted for prayer. We failed in that as well, but still great progress was made and we continue to see God answering our prayers:

● Sudan has the highest number of unreached Muslim peoples that were not adopted'.But recently peace in the south of Sudan, as well as the tragedy in Darfur, has opened up parts of Sudan that were previously inaccessible.

● The same is true of Afghanistan that has the second largest number of unreached Muslim peoples. Since the fall of the Taliban most of these peoples are now accessible.

However, it is clear that prayer and the presenceof workers is not enough! The training and care of workers is extremely important. Above all we need clear and effective strategies to plant indigenous reproducible churches. We are learning. As a forerunner and participator the Korean church has much to teach others in Asia, Africa and Latin America of what we have learned in the last twenty-five years. It is important that we don't repeat the same mistakes!

2. The quality of church life determines the quality of missionaries sent out.

God blessed Korea in the 20thcentury. Some very significant factors have happened to you in the last 100 years preparing you for your mission evolvement. These include: (not prioritised)

2.1 The Korean church was largely birthed out of revival as the revival movement burst into North Korea as an overflow of the Manchurian Revival in 1905 and 1906. We have not had a revival like that in England for 250 years  since the Great Evangelical Awakening.

2.2 The church in Korea learned to endure through a long period of suffering and persecution during the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. The ability to "endure"is highly prized Biblically. The Welsh Revival and the Korean Revival were almost at the same time. The influence of the Welsh Revival was relatively short-lived and today Wales is a spiritual desert. Why the difference? Perhaps the principles of the spiritual life were not deeply embedded into the church through suffering and persecution.

2.3 The church in Korea learned the power of prayer  perhaps because of suffering.

2.4 The church in Korea remained theologically sound  submitting to the Word of God. Waves of liberalism sweeping around the world weakened many churches but did not have much effect on the Korean church.

2.5 The church in Korea has a high commitment to training. Perhaps this is due to your Confucian heritage. It is very commendable, especially if it is directed to the acquiring of necessary skills and the development of character qualities.

2.6 Missions require a good financial basis. For the last 50 years Korea has seen a rising economic base. But so have other countries. Korean Christians have been taught to give generously. In addition to that there has been a culture in the churches that has encouraged Christians to get together in business and create 'Christian businesses'. A few years ago the Korean won took a dramatic loss in value. This had a devastating effect on Korean workers, but the recovery was remarkably quick compared to a similar recent drop in the value of the Brazilian and Argentinian currencies. This has caused large numbers of Brazilian and Argentinian workers to return home and most have not returned to the field.

2.7 From about 1980 onwards  but especially since the Seoul Olympics  Koreans have gone abroad in business. My wife and I were living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when the first Koreans arrived in about 1980. They were mainly working on large construction projects airports, roads etc. Today you find Korean businessmen everywhere! In hotels in all the major cities of the Muslim World you will find Korean businessmen. In many of the cities you will find Korean communities that are often very supportive of Christian workers. In general, Korean embassies have been very protective of Korean workers. So the infrastructure for Korean missions has been laid.

2.8  Korean churches have developed a variety of approaches to evangelism:

▷ Choirs in colourful clothes

▷ Tai Kwon Do evangelism

▷ The use of music

These and many other forms of collective evangelism have proved very effective. Inventiveness and flexibility in approaches to evangelism are vital in missions.

2.9 Most Korean workers are one or two generations removed from 'folk religion' an animistic worldview clothed with a form of Buddhism. This enables them to have an understanding of the 'Spirit World' that most western workers don't have. This helps them to understand the operation of the 'principalities and powers'and to be able to effectively counter these in the countries to which they go.

2.10 Finally, Korean workers come from a much more holistic culture than dualistic westerners. A major effort is being made by western workers to become more holistic since we work in holistic cultures and also as we gain a growing understanding that the Biblical worldview is holistic. Korean workers don't struggle with this nearly as much a westerners do.

These are some of the qualities that God has put into Korean believers. We thank Him for it! But, 'To whom much is given, from him much will be required'  (Luke 12:48). 

I believe that you can have a major impact on:

● The Back-to-Jerusalem Movement in China

● Missions from the Chinese Diaspora in S.E. Asia and the west coast of the USA  and Canada

● The Filipino missionary movement  especially to the Gulf

● Indian Missions

You can also impact African and Latin American missions teaching, training and helping them to overcome the obstacles to effective mission.

3. My experience and this evaluation

My wife and I went to the Arab World in 1966. Before we went we had an orientation conference in London together with three Korean men. They drove to Iran for the year and we went to Jordan. They were the first Koreans to join OM.

In the early 80s we met increasing numbers of Korean businessmen eager to learn how they could advance the Gospel in Riyadh where I was teaching in the university. 

From the mid 1980s I was responsible for OM's work in the Arab World and we saw a growing number of Koreans joining us in Sudan, Egypt and North Africa. Initially they came for two years, but slowly we got more longterm Koreans who spoke the local languages. Also in the late 80s Koreans joined us in Turkey and then many came to Central Asia as those countries opened up in the 90s. Korean workers have thrived in Central Asia. Sadly, we lost one Korean man in Turkmenistan and soon after that all our workers were expelled. But we have not forgotten and by God's grace we will return.

We have a growing number of Koreans in senior leadership in OM in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia and on our Ships.  They are doing an excellent job and we thank God for them.

I first visited Korea thirteen years ago. I mainly spoke about:

● The challenge of the Muslim World

● The necessity for tentmaking

● Church planting in very restricted access countries

● Holistic missions

● Business as Mission

Initially these concepts were very strange to most Korean mission leaders and churches. Today they are all well understood. Koreans learn fast!  All the non-Koreans in OM are very positive about our Korean workers.  The prayer of most of them, even those working in secular Eastern European towns, is, "Lord, please send us more Korean workers". Evaluation can really only be done against an agreed set of values and outcomes decided beforehand. Of course we did not agree to any values ahead of time and so I will make assumptions about what we might have agreed.

Assumptions:

▷ We constantly submit ourselves and our methodology to the Word of God.

▷ The prime reason we are involved in world mission is to fulfil the Great Commission given to the church by our Lord Jesus. In this way we fulfil the many Biblical promises about a worldwide church of people from every tribe, language and people so that every family on earth will be blessed.

There are four basic questions:

1) Has the witness of Korean workers been "incarnational"?  i.e. modelled on the   

Lord Jesus.  "As the Father has sent me so send I you"  (John 20:21).

2) Are Korean workers modelling a holistic lifestyle that is understood as God-fearing and God blessed within the local cultural setting?

3) Are Korean workers planting churches that are easily re-producible in the culture Where they are working? This requires a degree of contextualisation.

4) Are Korean workers creating a dependency on the part of the new believers on themselves rather than on God?

Below is a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) made by non-Korean team leaders who have Koreans on their teams. It also includes some comments from Arab co-members of teams with Koreans. It also contains comments by a pastoral care leader who has counselled Korean workers for about fifteen years.

In addition there are comments from some of our Korean workers in OM about the advantages and disadvantages of working with an international agency as compared to working with a Korean denominational agency. At the end I will give a general evaluation.

Strengths of Korean Missionaries

Prayer

They are very committed to prayer  trusting and believing that God will answer. They are not afraid to ask God for big things. They place as high priority on prayer. Their commitment is praiseworthy. (AP)

They have prayerful, strongly devotional lives and a passionate spirituality. (CA)

Numbers

We praise God for the increasing numbers of Korean workers joining us in the Muslim World. They are making a huge difference.

Vision

I appreciate their steadfastness, courage and perseverance. (AP)

Koreans are characterised by single mindedness and commitment to the task. (AP)

They are very focused on reaching the unreached and seem to know exactly what they have come to do. (AP)

They are well prepared and have a good orientation to OM life. They know what they have come to do. (EE)

They are committed, zealous and hard working (CA)

They are dedicated to the task (T)

They are spiritually mature, highly motivated and focussed. (ME)

They show initiative, drive and survival skills. (ME)

Church Support

They are well supported financially. 

Koreans support each other very well through networking.

They come from stable sending churches that really support them though there is sometimes strong control attached.

Spirituality

They show deep spirituality, a knowledge of the Lord and a vibrant relationship with Him.

Their understanding of the spiritual world (folk religion) is good and many have experience of fasting with prayer.

They are emotionally stable with strong characters.

They can be prophetic  i.e. they have good spiritual discernment.

They are productive (i.e. not allowing hindrances to stop them). They produced an Arabic songbook that is now used nationally. (NA)

Their Bible knowledge and devotional life are often exemplary. This contrasts dramatically with the lives of their western counterparts.

The strengths of our Korean workers are faithfulness, perseverance and discipline. (E)

Lack of Fear

They are not known to be afraid of anything and understand their authority in Christ. (AP)

They have a great ability to endure. (ME)

Culture

They are good at appreciating and understanding many aspects of Asian and Middle Eastern values  family, honour, respect, authority and indirect communication. (CA)

They are good at learning Turkic languages. (T)

They learn the language to a high level. (T)

Korean workers have done very well leaning Azerbaijani. (C)

Koreans have a good understanding of holistic ministry and of how to contextualise the Gospel. (C)

Politeness  the sweetness of the women and their general pleasantnesscan be a refreshing change from the abrupt individualism of post-modern westerners. But Korean society is changing fast and changes in attitude are noticeable from 10 years ago.

Colourfulness  national costumes can draw a crowd.

Humility

They have a cultural humility that is often misunderstood by western team members as a 'minority complex'. But once you get to know them, it is easy to learn from them and to learn how to adopt this gentle humility.

They have a good servant attitude/servant-hearted.

Standard of recruits

Intellectual and educational standards are high. Many have varied skills - music, Tai Kwon Do, sciences and business.

The strengths of Koreans are: zeal, commitment, vision, strong church backing, commitment to evangelism, a high level of training, prayer and discipline. (OM Ships)

Comments by Arab believers

They like Korean workers because:

● They are non-western, emotional and group conscious  i.e. not individualistic. 

● They understand hierarchical societies (mentioned many times).

● They are fervent in prayer.

● They are committed and determined and willing to be martyred.

● They are hard working and want to accomplish much.

● They persevere.

● They are hospitable and generous, respect their elders and have strong family values.

● They come from an honour-shame culture and so they understand Arabs  'They use indirect communication like us.'

● They are often highly educated (graduates) and can help in community-based projects such as computer training etc.

Weaknesses of Korean Workers

▷ Zeal, vision and commitment can turn into a narrow vision that needs to be broadened out to the realities of the context. Strong church backing can turn into a too strong direction from the home church that is not relevant to the local setting.

▷ A monocultural background andlanguage problems with English can make it hard to relate to others in multi-cultural partnerships and inter-mission prayer groups. The reality of English language dominance and a general weakness in English skills can make it hard for them to enjoy team life and benefit from devotions, training etc. (NA)

▷ Ethnocentrism and gossip within the Korean group often leads to a problem not being dealt with by the wider group. There is sometimes internalised offence and hurt. Koreans tend to be legalistic. (E)

▷ Difficulty with the English is the key obstacle to Korean integration into the teams. Individual Koreans on teams with just a few Koreans can experience a sense of isolation and loss. Koreans tend not to indicate their disagreement with authority figures or leaders' decisions. It seems that at times they adopt a passive-aggressive position to find a way around compliance. (E)

▷ Koreans are bound and inhibited by Korean Christian culture. We had a group of visiting Korean pastors for a conference. They were pastors and the Korean missionary with vast experience and two decades of experience in the Arab World  an outstanding tentmaker/church planter was just a worker. They did not treat him with respect because he wasn't ordained. They counted his experience and accomplishments as of no value. It is this kind of pressure that drives Korean workers to return home to get ordained and pastor a church. Tentmaking is not considered realmissionary work, yet it is a main entry path into the Muslim World. Koreans are trapped by this false image. (AP)

▷ Some of the weaknesses I have seen are monoculturalism (as a result of poor language learning skills), cliquishness, nationalism, expectations of home churches to get 'quick' results, inability to open up and share with othernationalities, not letting others know what they are doing, announcing decisions without warning and being unresponsive to leadership styles that are different. Arabs do not think that Koreans love and respect their culture. This is partly as a result of poor language skills.  There is often a stubborn trait and an unwillingness to listen. They sometimes say, 'Yes, yes', but then they do whatever they want. (ME)

▷ Poor Arabic language learners. (ME)

▷ It is not easy for them to adapt both to the team and to Arab culture. (ME)

▷ They tend to keep their Korean culture intact and expect other Koreans to keep it with them. (T)

▷ They tend to stick together and spend a lot of time with other Koreans. I notice that when I phone a Korean home they tend to answer the phonewith a Korean greeting rather than a greeting in the local language. This implies that most of their calls are in Korean. (CA)

▷ They find it hard to adapt to western styles of leadership. This is our weakness as much as theirs! (CA)

▷ Koreans often have a fixed concept of what 'church' should be like. They want to export Korean church culture rather than explore what other possibilities there could be. (CA)

▷ They cannot easily present the Gospel in English. They are not good at making friends and doing personal evangelism. Their church background prepares them mainly for group or church programme evangelism. (UK)

▷ They are too denominational especially the longterm workers. They are not always open to advice. They are not willing to let their weaknesses be seen. (EE)

▷ Externalised shame culture can mask individual weaknesses especially in older recruits or those with a position of status (pastors). This means that they resist admitting language or other weaknesses to avoid being shamed. (E)

▷ Koreans get very homesick for Korean food and for Korean calendar events and this intensifies their isolation. (E)

▷ The authority of the home church can supersede the chain of command on the Field. This causes major misunderstandings and direct clashes with the mission agency. (ME)

▷ Koreans have an uncanny ability to find other groups of Koreans in the place where 

▷ They live and they often become sidelined into ministering exclusively to these Koreans.

▷ There are some amazing examples of exceptions to these weaknesses among our Koreans, but they are few. In general they are no worse than the average westerner.   I could make a similar long list of weaknesses for those coming from the West. But as leaders from the West, Koreans are harder for us to train and counsel than westerners with problems. (ME)

▷ Although our Koreans arrive on the Field with a great sense of calling, it seems they struggle with realistic expectations about team life, ministry and longterm fruit. I guess the expectations of the sending church in Korea are very high expecting them to plant churches quickly. They struggle with their apparent lack of fruit and the fact that they cannot report back about all the new churches they have planted in Arabia! (AP)

▷ English seems to be a major barrier for most Koreans. Even though they have studied English at school or prior to joining us, it doesn't seem to work very well. I haven't met many Koreans with a good command of English. But English is the "team language" and the language of international missions in partnerships and multi-mission co-operative action groups. We understand this extra hurdle that they have to jump, but it is vital to communicating and contributing and being a supportive part of the team." (AP)

▷ Some Koreans find it very hard to serve under leaders that are younger than them. (AW)

Comments about Korean Missionaries by Arab believers  weaknesses

● They keep their own culture  food, furniture, staying with other Koreans.

● They keep to rules and are not flexible. Flexibility if very important in Arab culture.

● They find it difficult to learn Arabic well and are usually poor in Islamics.

● They appear to consider their own culture 'Christian'.

● They want to see quick, big results.

● They come with a Presbyterian model of church.

● They like one-man dictatorial leadership and hierarchy.

● They find teamwork difficult. They tend to do their own thing.

● They say they agree and then do something else.

● It is difficult to know what they are thinking  especially when they disagree.

● They want to preach but not to make friends.

● They give the impression they are more spiritual than us e.g. prayer and fasting.

Opportunities  for ministry that have come about because of 'Koreanness'  

i.e. how Koreanness has advanced the cause of the Gospel.

▷ They have presented a good picture of the international character of the church of Jesus Christ         i.e. it is not just western. (E)

▷ Those who have learned the local language well have pioneered many new ministries and they are bold in sharing their faith, spiritual life and discipline. (EE)

▷ People in the Middle East and Central Asia are more open to hearing the Gospel from Koreans than from westerners who are seen as imperialists imposing their religion. (T/CA)

▷ The influx of workers sent out by the Korean church has greatly added to our numbers throughout the Muslim World.

▷ Because Koreans are not seen as imperialistic westerners, they are often more trusted by both government and local church leaders. (CA)

▷ The non-Asians on the teams have had their cultural understanding greatly developed by the privilege of living with Korean team members. 

▷ The Koreans on our team have encouraged us to switch our team meetings from English to Turkish. This has been an improvement for all of us. (T)

▷ The Koreans have modelled to the Turkish believers dedicated discipleship.

▷ Some of our Koreans have been outstanding in the discipline of just getting on with sharing the Gospel with local folk. (ME)

▷ Some Koreans have a pioneer spirit and are open to try new things. (ME)

▷ One of our best MBBs (Muslim background believers) was led to the Lord by a Korean brother who could hardly speak any Arabic or English!  (E)

▷ At this time in history having an Asian face is a positive thing, not so much because it opens doors, but it keeps doors from being slammed in your face. Korean-Americans have an easier time even though they are Americans, because they look Asian. (AP)

▷ I do not underestimate the idea of presence and prayer. Koreans are very faithful in prayer. Perhaps we do not see the results now, but our battle is in the heavenlies. (AP)

▷ Korean missionaries have developed contacts with thousands of local Korean workers and, since many of these are mission-minded believers, have helped develop and promote prayer for the Arabian Peninsula. (AP)

▷ Koreans on our team have helped us to focus on the task of evangelism because they come up with clear goals. Their self-identity as missionaries means that they are very focussed on evangelism. Their charming smiles and foreignness get under the defence mechanisms of many people  particularly people with a Muslim background living in Europe.

▷ Their perseverance is an asset in tough situations. (EE)

▷ On the ships, our Korean shipmates have had an effective ministry to pockets of isolated Koreans in many ports around the world.

▷ Having Koreans onour teams helps us to demonstrate that our faith is not a western faith, but universal. Having Koreans on the ships has strengthened the global perspective of those on board and this has been particularly true when senior leaders are Koreans.

▷ School ministry-groups of Koreans have been very effective in getting us into schools. Their colourful costumes, their singing ability and their Tai Kwon Do displays have made them very popular in schools. (E)

▷ Koreans are very aware of the potential of sports evangelism. A group of Koreans can easily challenge the youth to real competition in football, volleyball, badminton, gymnastics and baseball. Some really effective ministry has been developed through sport. (E)

▷ In the Middle East, Koreans are well accepted by thelocal cultures. With effort and a knowledge of the local language they do well in making friends. They have a good understanding of the importance of the family in the cultures of the Middle East. Some of our Koreans excel in personal/friendship evangelism.

▷ Some of our Koreans have many years of experience in ministry and do very well in leadership, but this is only true when they have mastered English as well as the international mission culture. They need to understand the unwritten rules.

▷ Training youngpeople in Tai Kwon Do clubs has been very popular. It is a means of evangelism and can become a self-funding business.

▷ Korean choirs and flag-waving dancers holding public performances in the open air and in stadiums and churches have been a great crowd-puller. (E)

▷ Many Koreans are excellent businessmen and some have created well-organised and profitable businesses that have employed local believers. These are good examples of Business As Mission. (AW)

▷ Prayer is a real strength with Koreans  especially long all-night prayer meetings. Their style and repertoire to keep things going challenges the most charismatic of other nationalities and challenges our passionless petitioning.

▷ We would like more Koreans to come to Turkey.

Threats : How 'Koreanness' has hindered the Gospel

▷ A strong, rigid 'Christian' culture means that it takes time to enable Korean team members to contextualise the Gospel.

▷ In a European context the leadership style of Koreans clashes with that of Europeans. Conflicting expectations siphon off a lot of energy!

▷ More than 3 Koreans on a team usually results in a Korean sub-team developing with its hierarchical system in operation. This arrangement leads to complications in team dynamics and work. Much time is spent resolving personal, team and leadership issues. This is complicated by weak language ability and a huge cultural divide. (E)

▷ The usual misunderstandings in terms of our organisational language being English and living in the Arab World have caused difficulties. Phone messages have to be in guarded language for security reasons. Before secure e-mail communication was difficult. (AW)

▷ There is a tendency for authoritarian heavy-handed leadership from Koreans, but there are some wonderful exceptions of Korean servant leadership. (AW)

▷ Arabs find it hard to respect Asians from South Asia (Indians, Pakistanis etc.) and those from East Asia ((Koreans, Chinese and Japanese). They also find it hard to respect all Africans.

▷ Placing Korean ordained pastors in restricted-access countries is very hard. Many find it difficult to change to business or to development work. (ME)

▷ Koreans have an attitude that the Korean way is the best way. (ME)

▷ Most of the Korean single women go home to get married after two years just when they are beginning to get the language. Most never return.

▷ Some have difficulty with authority. On the outside they are submissive but in the end they do whatever they want. (AW)

▷ Some Koreans who are doing really well, have learned the language and are developing an effective ministry are called home because they are needed in their Korean home church.  This often happens without any consultation! 

▷ Open discussion on the team is not easy and as a result we don't know how committed the Koreans are to team decisions. (CA)

▷ Koreans findit hard to switch from church-based evangelism to friendship-based evangelism  at the moment there is no church here. (CA)

▷ Some Koreans have tended to form their own associations with other Koreans without reference to their team. This means they do not learn from the accumulated wisdom of existing workers and sometimes charge off without getting advice. They often end up in a mess that damages everyone. (CA)

▷ Korean culture is closer to our focus cultures than are western cultures, but that doesn't mean that it is the same. Many new Korean workers start thinking that it is the same and then they find out that it is not so! Disillusionment then sets in leading to a tendency to withdraw. (CA)

▷ Those who come as pastors often cause leadership confusion on the team. (E)

▷ I recognise that Koreans who serve in Europe have a difficult time, just as Europeans who serve in Asia find it difficult. But any difficulty can be overcome with a learning spirit and a desire to serve the local church, small as it is, and live boldly for Christ. We would love to have more Koreans serving alongside us. We urgently need pioneer Korean church planters involved in holistic ministry in Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia among Muslim peoples. (E)

Comments from a trained cross-cultural counsellor about Koreans who have sought his help

● Homesickness can be unbearable for some and can cause them to return home early.

● Misunderstandings with non-Koreans can breed a sense of isolation and discouragement. This fuels homesickness.

● High home church expectations can lead some workers to make false claims about the success of their ministry. This leads to a great sense of shame that cripples their ministry.

● Marriage expectations: Marriage prospects on the field are often a challenge and many women missionaries find that they are a disappointment to their families when they do not get married or get married to a non-Korean. The family wants the single women missionaries to return home soon to get married. Korean men tend to return after their initial commitment to marry non-mission partners who find the adjustment to cross-cultural mission insurmountable.

● Pastoral training: In the home country, lay missionaries are not respected as much as pastors. This means that attendance at a seminary is theonly way of obtaining home church recognition for many gifted men and women whose achievements outside Korea are often ignored. Many return to undertake seminary training and then never return to the field because to get a residence visa it would mean returning to 'lay ministry' (business, development etc.). This would mean a considerable loss of face for 'a pastor'.

● Denominational authority takes precedence over organisational leadership authority. This makes planning and priorities incompatible. This puts Korean missionaries working in international missions under unbearable tension divided loyalties.

● Aging parents: The expectation of the extended Korean family is that the missionary will take care of elderly parents. This comes from the assumption that they are the ones in the family doing the least useful thing!  Many good missionaries return from the field under family pressure.

● Alternative therapies: There are misunderstandings regarding the cultural use of herbal medicine, homeopathy, reflexology,massage, acupuncture etc. by Korean missionaries. It is a cause of theological arguments and divisions on international teams if not handled well.

● Shame: A shame culture can keep individuals from admitting weaknesses and seeking timely help. In some cases this has led to criminal acts of sexual assault, embezzlement of funds, sexual harassment and abuse of power. The subterfuge this creates through the inability of younger Koreans to confront or challenge the behaviour of older people (Koreans or others) has led to immense tension and pain for many. Where the police or other authorities are involved this can compromise the testimony of the local team.

● Sexuality: This is seldom discussed openly among Koreans. The result can be immense ignorance and naivety remaining as well as immorality. Some who come to Europe perceive 'the West' as a playground of immorality and a few have indulged themselves. Not reading social signs accurately has led to immense discomfort among western women  missionaries who have received unwanted attention from Korean men on the team. In some cases this has led to actual sexual assault. Same-sex attraction has also led to immorality on teams. Koreans are not more susceptible than non-Koreans, but the perception by Europeans is that allKoreans are pure and innocent. This, combined with communication difficulties, can lead to a shocking misplacement of trust and some rude awakenings when things eventually come to light. These things compromise the Gospel and weaken team unity.

● Traditional child bearing: Having children outside Korea is a difficult thing for Korean women. The cultural expectations of the grandmother's role cannot be met. Postnatal hygiene and diet differ from western standards. These differences have caused considerable tensions on teams and in Europe with state nursing officials responsible for post-natal care.

● Child rearing: Korean styles of child rearing can be very different from European standards. Physical punishment can be severe, but this will not be tolerated in many European countries if discovered by the authorities. Usually there is little or no discipline of Korean children under five. So Korean children in Europe are often seen as unruly and unsafe in public areas compared to European children.  At about the age of five there is a dramatic change for Korean children with strong discipline replacing the lenient pre-school regime. From this point the public behaviour of Korean children is much better than the average European. But this treatment of primary school children can cause intense resentment and concern among other team parents, school authorities and the local church.

● Housekeeping: The way one keeps one's house is very different in Korea from in Europe. In most European houses the bathroom and the kitchendo not have drainage holes in the floor. So water liberally spilled on the floor is going to cause damage. In some cases having Koreans living in rented European houses has cost thousands of euros in repairs! This does not help Koreans to be able to rent properties! Heating is another problem. Korean homes have under floor heating and are generally  warm in winter. Older European housing (the cheapest to rent) generally has poor insulation and inefficient heating especially in Eastern Europe. This makes heating bills very costly. If budgets are to be kept, some education (i.e. warmer clothing) is necessary to avoid huge fuel bills.

● Food: The reality is that Korean food smells different from European food and the smell lingers! Many host families and landlords of rented apartments say they have had to completely re-decorate and re-furnish their properties after a Korean family has left in order to get rid of the smell of kimchi!  Orientation needs to be given to Koreans about getting the balance between the danger  of causing offence and allowing them space to have a taste of home! In fact ] all these issues come down to two-way orientation and understanding with the  consequent read justments.

Everyone in our multi-cultural organization longs and prays for more Koreans to join us in Europe  we need them! We also realize we need to do more to accommodate and retain Koreans. For this, there needs to be greater understanding between us.

Koreans in International missions vs. Koreans in Korean-only missions

The following are comments by some of our Korean missionaries on the strengths and weaknesses of these two alternatives.

● Koreans in international missions have more advantages to learn the local language and adapt to the local culture since the mission usually has the infrastructure in place i.e. tutors, recommended textbooks, language schools etc. In international missions there is a greater emphasis placed on learning the language fluently and accountability structures are in place.

● Learning English well is the hardest part of being in an international mission. Usually missionaries come to the field without a sufficient level of English. This also hinders them in learning the local language. It is easy to find English/Arabic (Turkish, Farsi, Urdu, Bengali etc.) dictionaries and grammar books. Korean/Arabic (and other languages) are much harder to find.

● It is difficult since we have to adapt to the team culture as well as to the local culture and the team culture is predominantly 'western'. In our first few years here my wife used to say that it was much easier to adapt to the Moroccan culture than to the western team culture. Koreans in Korean missions don't have this problem.

● Korean culture is more holistic than dichotomistic western culture, so holistic ministry is more natural to us, but we do have strong distinctions between 'lay ministry' (which usually gains a residence visa) and 'ordained ministry' and this hinders us. International missions are usually more holistic in this area than Korean missions.

How do various missions develop the character qualities needed for effective ministry?

Pre-field training is often used to input skills  Biblical exegesis  English  church work etc. Skills are important but equally important are character qualities. These are probably more important in measuring effectiveness. Developing character can be equated to developing an incarnational life-style  becoming more and more like Jesus. 

I'm sure we get more chance to develop character in international missions. Developing character usually means pain and conflict with someone who has a different character. Most Korean denominational workers are very much isolated within their own team. Even if they do team up with others there is some sort of order so that there is not much chance to develop their character. I doubt that Koreans see developing character as a really key issue in effective ministry.

What about indigenous church planting?

Denominational Korean missions are more focused on church planting than international missions because they are under a lot of pressure to have their denomination planted, but they are rarely indigenous! International missions tend to focus on planting contextualised, indigenous, non-denominational networks of churches.

What about raising prayer and financial support from home churches?

Denominational missionaries have a very definite advantage over their international mission counterparts. All Christians in Korea belong to a denomination and loyalty to that denomination is high. Denominational churches emphasize recruitment, prayer and funds for their own particular denominational mission. There is not much of a Christian culture of support for inter-denominational international missions.

3.  A general evaluation of Korean workers

In general the traditional denominational missions are dying in England. They pioneered a great deal in Africa, Asia and Latin America in the 19th and early 20th centuries giving rise to many growing independent churches. But there has been a tendency to maintain the status quo and a failure to respond to missiological research such as the unreached peoples concept. This has resulted in an inability to change their methodology.

Interdenominational and international missions (originally English-speaking) grew up from the late 19th century and thrived during the 20thcentury. OMF/CIM, WEC, SIM, AIM etc. are great examples of this tradition. They found it easier to adapt to the culture and plant indigenous churches. These were the churches that survived and thrived under fierce persecution  in China, Ethiopia etc.

Cheap airfares in the 60s revolutionised missions again and brought into being 'short term' missions for better or worse. YWAM, OM and many other groups came into being at this time. Ralph Winter calls this 'The Third Wave of Missions'.  Essentially each of these three waves was 'western' in outlook and English language based.

Perhaps at the beginning of the 21st century we can begin to see truly international missions with the best of all worldviews essentially a Biblical worldview (neither modernity nor post modern).

In the Muslim World we have seen very few breakthroughs in the last fourteen centuries. In the last twenty years of the 20thcentury good progress was made and the rate of progress accelerated after9/11. Good things are happening in Algeria, among the Kurds in Iraq, in Iran, in parts of Central Asia and in Bangladesh. But it is curious that there is no correlation between the number of workers on the ground and the progress of the Kingdom of God. The key to our effectiveness is our ability to disciple well a few key believerswho then go on to disciple many. Discipleship/leadership development is crucial. We need to learn fast!

Five questions for general evaluation

3.1  Incarnational evangelism/ministry:  is this being practiced?

A Definition

It is evangelism by a messenger in whom the love and compassion of God has worked so deeply that the messenger's own personal, national, racial, cultural and even outward religious forms and expressions are brought into complete subjection so that the hearers can see objectively the beauty and wonderful nature of Jesus being demonstrated to them.

It is the witness of a messenger who seeks in every possible way (within the bounds of Biblical ethics) to become 'as the hearers'so that the life of Jesus shines forth in the thought forms, in the communication forms and in the religio-cultural forms that are relevant and meaningful to the hearers and that do not offend them.

How do Korean workers do in this regard? There are great exceptions, but in general they do not do very well! Why? Perhaps the teaching about 'dying to self, dying to your background, dying to your culture' is not widely taught. The fact is that Koreans find living a 'crucified life'as hard as the rest of us!  It is not a 'once and for all'experience, but a daily taking up the cross. As we know, this is very painful and it is just as hard for Koreans as for the rest of us.

■ Some Guidelines

● Start teaching about 'living the crucified life'.

● Biblical teaching, ethics and morals are not negotiable. If a particular religio-cultural form violates a Biblical principle or Biblical ethics or morals then it must be abandoned.

● Most of the religio-cultural forms in 'Korean Christian'culture are not commanded in Scripture. They are not wrong. They are necessary in Korea because the life of Jesus needs to have a religio-cultural form for its expression.

● Under no circumstances should we impose our (i.e. Korean) religio-cultural forms on the believers of another culture.

● God deliberately left a blank in the New Testament in regard to most religio-cultural forms so that the Lord Jesus could be expressed in and through all cultures.

● The Lord Jesus wants to express Himself in that unique culture and to redeem it from the effects of sin.

● We should become as much like the people we seek to reach as is possible in everything except their sin.

■ Generalities

    In general, Korean workers have a higher level of holiness and spirituality than non-Korean workers. Many observe humility in Korean workers in contrast to western 'arrogance'. The secret is easy. Live a broken and contrite life. Die to self. Take up the cross and live in resurrection power. Knowing this is easy. Putting it into practice is hard!

3.2  Living a holistic lifestyle: is this being practised?

For the most part Korean workers are better at this than their western counterparts. It has been a revelation to most western workers in the last ten years that perhaps as much as 90% of all Muslims are oral preference learners. This means that the best approach to sharing the Gospel with Muslims is story telling in a culturally appropriate style. This requires high levels of language ability (level 3 or higher) and a fairly long apprenticeship of learning this art form.

Korean workers understand this. When they achieve good language ability they are very good at story telling.  But few learn the language that well often due to pressure from the home church to produce quick results. It is vital to realise that the most effective form of evangelism is one that new believers can readily use.

The high level of clergy-laity split within the Korean church is detrimental to the Korean missionary effort. Luther said:"Monastic vows rest on the false assumption that there is a special calling to which superior Christians are invited....while ordinary Christians fulfil only the commands.    But there simply is no special religious vocation since the call of God comes to each of us in the common tasks." Western dualism caused the clergy-laity divide. The New Testament teaches the priesthood of all believers. As a result of this divide, a high percentage of Korean workers are 'pastors'. In restricted access countries the need is for businessmen, people involved in vocational training, computer specialists, community development workers etc. When 'pastors'go to such countries they struggle to get a residence visa. Usually they resort to pastoring the local Korean church and they have little contact with the indigenous people.

3.3  Rapidly reproducing contextualised churches: is this happening?

This is the goal of much of what we do. We plan, directly or indirectly, to plant and strengthen an indigenous, national, evangelical network of churches that can rapidly reproduce themselves. All the evidence wehave indicates that indigenous contextualised churches that form a loose network survive and thrive under persecution. China is a great example of this. Foreign imported denominational churches were the first to crumble under persecution. There are also many examples of this in Muslim countries. Henry Venn's principles, developed in the 19thcentury, are still valid: that we should form self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting churches.

Self-governing: Whoever controls the resources has the power and power is exercised by rewarding access or limiting access to resources. Self-governing implies access by local leaders to a wealth of information, training and influence. For this to happen there has to be strong intentionality by the ex-patriates to empower local leaders. This intentionality can only come from servant leaders who, in a planned way, give up authority to local leaders and then plan the phase out of the ex-patriates.

Self-propagating: This implies that the new local believers can easily adopt the evangelism style of the fore