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SYMPOSIUM ON MEDIA
KCRI (The Korea Church Renewal Institute), under its director Rev. Lee Sung Hee, has hosted a number of public discussions on issues such as The Church and its Worship Practices, Church and Society, Church and History, all with the aim of reaching unity among the Christian churches of South Korea, along with developing social and spiritual maturity of Christians,
The KCRI members have carried out research to help with understanding church development in our social context. Two topics they have studied are liturgical terminology, so that different denominations will agree on words they use, or at least understand each other’s language. Another topic has been government taxation of clergy, and the range of viewpoints on this issue. Through research like this, KCRI hopes to address practical challenges so that the witness of Christians will be balanced, and so that public trust of the Protestant Church by the Korean society will be restored.
On May 2, a Symposium dedicated to the theme ‘Media’ was held. This present age is the era of personal media in which everyone is able to access any information desired, anytime, anywhere. This brings many benefits, but also has harmful results. The Church needs to have a good understanding of the media, not merely to be able to use it, but to go beyond that and use the media to enable development of a prophetic function that makes the connection between God and humanity and brings religious symbolism into Christian media which will meet peoples’ needs. Discussion and research into ‘Christian media’ will be ongoing, and is viewed as playing a significant contribution to mission in our age.
KCRI will continue to explore a variety of topics and issues to assist the self-understanding of the Korean Church, and its participation in the ecclesiastical renewal movement. |
