In Korea, many are in bi-vocational ministry not because of a double calling but to sustain their livelihood. After the major events in the 2000s that impacted the church’s social standing, missiologists started active discussions about the missional church. For pastors, the missional church idea became a breakthrough alternative in church ministry. The missional church discussion also provided a tool to interpret the model of missional churches in Korea that pre-existed these discussions. During these missional church discussions, the idea of café church was one of the first that arose. A café can be a point of contact for the church to meet residents and it can function as a space for various events and gatherings such as worship services and cultural events. In the same vein,
various other forms such as library church, concert hall church, and bookstore church emerged, and pastors took on the roles of baristas, librarians, and bookstore owners, naturally taking on dual roles. The decline of the Korean church is a situation requiring a paradigm shift. Therefore, I would like to propose the small missional church as an alternative. The idea that a larger church must have received greater blessings is not biblical but based on materialism. We need to remember the teaching that “each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.,”(Romans 12:4, NIV). As one body in Christ, the church has the same mission, but not all have the same function. In that sense, different sizes of churches can be interpreted as having different functions. There are many examples of large churches that have grown through a revival. But many churches also become unhealthy if their only goal is quantitative growth. In addition, as mentioned above, the Korean church is declining due to several factors. In that sense, the church needs to recognize the need for degrowth and focus on the essence of ministry. In addition, this paradigm shift is not a choice but a requirement of the times, the society, and the environment.
Now, the question is what is a small missional church? In the organizational aspect of the church, small can mean several things: First, a small missional church does not intend to be large. Ideally, the size of a church should grow naturally rather than intentionally through marketing or events. Often many evils arise when the intention to increase the number of members is the first and only goal of a church. When the church grows naturally, it can also choose to split and maintain its scale in smaller units. Second, a small missional church focuses on the essence of the gospel. A missional church recognizes and practices mission as the essence of the church. The ultimate of the
gospel is an indispensable basic standard. Third, a small missional church avoids complex structures and has a simple system. Complex structures slow movement, and a simple decision-making structure can enable quick response. Fourth, a small missional church cooperates with other missional churches. These churches are challenged by the shortage of human resource. In many cases the pastor is the sole leader or two or three people work in a team. There are several advantages of being a small missional church: A small missional church can respond directly to specific community issues such as caring for the Canaan Saints, and participating in social issues on the environment, peace, and human rights. Due to globalization, it is predicted that pandemics will continue to occur in the future. This increases the need for small communities with organizational flexibility A small missional church has a relatively simple crisis management structure. It is flexible about on-offline conversion, and relatively free of government restrictions on the number of people gatherings in a pandemic. It also has the advantage of providing individualized spiritual care online.
