The Rediscovery of Resident Aliens – the Virtuous Leadership of Shaping God’s Faithful People: Implications for the Korean Churches of the 21st Century

Abstract

This thesis presents the ecclesiology of Resident Aliens as an alternative to overcome the crisis of the Korean church and focuses on the ways to establish a Christian community through “virtuous leadership”. This thesis points out the crisis situations facing Korean churches in the 21st century as a culture of quantitative growthism, secularization, an increase in “dones (Ga-na-an saints or group)”, “nones”, and a fall in credibility. This thesis compares and analyzes solutions to those crises and various ecclesiology proposed during the last 20th century and demonstrates why the community-centered and countercultural church model shown in Resident Aliens is still how biblically viable, relevant, and balanced it is. Furthermore, this thesis recognizes that the essence of the crisis of the church is not the lack of out-reach to the world, but of Christians who are not sufficiently equipped with virtues. Therefore, this thesis suggests ways to shape God's faithful people through the virtuous leadership.