Dispatched Korean Missionaries Number 20,085, in 171 Countries
2014-03-13 10:45
The Korea Research Institute for Mission (KRIM) reported on March 10 that as of last year, 20,085 Korean missionaries are at work in 171 countries around the world. This is 5,660 less than the total of 25,745 announced by the Korea World Missions Association (KWMA) this January. The difference is said to be caused by the different standards used by the two organizations to calculate the total. KRIM and KWMA are the two major agencies keeping track of these statistics.
According to KRIM, the number of dispatched Korean missionaries increases each year. But with the passage of the years, the amount of increase is becoming less. Though the new research shows an increase of 287 persons (1.43%) compared with 2012 (19,798), this is lower than the rate of annual increase during the past five years (2.30%).
The rate of increase in the Korean churches’ dispatch of missionaries averaged 10.5% up to the beginning of the 2000s, down from 17.2% in the 90s. But KRIM’s analysis is that continuing stagnation and economic crisis in the Korean churches has affected their support for mission.
The number of dispatched missionaries reported by KRIM this time revealed differences from KWMA in the definition of “missionary” and in the targets of the questionnaire. One who is recognized as a missionary by KRIM has been engaged in a culturally non-Korean ministry for at least two years as a member of a mission organization. In addition, a missionary is one who does not work with a fixed wage but depends on donations; and missionaries include those working in management positions at headquarters, and those engaged in business affairs at mission organizations. KRIM has excluded from its “missionaries” list those who are dispatched by individual churches, who are pastors of Korean churches abroad, and those with foreign citizenship. In their recent surveys, 166 organizations were targeted by KRIM, and 255 by KWMA.
Meanwhile, the KRIM survey revealed the present situation of mission schools established by Korean missionaries abroad. Missionaries have set up 810 schools of various levels and kinds, including elementary, middle and high schools; colleges and seminaries (Bible schools); job training centers, after-school programs, and schools for the children of missionaries.
Reporter Sangmok Shin (smshin@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Click here for the original article in Korean
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