When a year goes by, we can predict the next trend by analyzing the previous year. These analysis are conducted in all areas including large companies such as Google and Apple. In this article, there is an analysis about 2019 Issues about Korean Church through big data by “The Research Center for the Korean Churches.” The Republic of Korea may seem like a small country in the world, but it is densely populated compared to its territory and called an IT powerhouse. Also, given the large number of churches relative to the territory and the presence of several Korean pastors as the chairperson of the world Christian organizations, the Christian movement of the Republic of Korea is expected not to have a insignificant impact on the world as well.
Let's take a look at what the church issues were in Korea last year, and what the trend of the Korean churches will be in 2020.
*2019 Issues of the Korean Church
An analysis of online public opinion with big data revealed that the main issues of Korean churches last year were "Shincheonji Church," "Jeon Gwang Hoon," "Pastors’ Sex Crimes," "Myeongseong Church" and "homosexuality." Among them, “Shincheonji Church” was the most according to Buzz Score, “Pastors’ Sex Crimes” was the most according to Attention Score, and “Jeon Gwang Hoon” was the most according to Participation Score.
In this survey, Attention Score was the result of analysis of the number of view compared to that of text, and “Pastors’ Sex Crimes” was the highest rate, 49.1%. It was confirmed that "Pastors’ Sex Crimes" went beyond pastoral individual crimes and led to accusations against Christianity that condoned the crimes. It also showed that the second-highest level of Attention Score, "Myeongseong Church," mostly contained the criticism against the corruption of the Korean churches in the related comments.
The highest rate of Participation Score, “Jeon Gwang Hoon,” was shown because Pastor Jeon Gwang Hoon said the Korean president, Moon Jae-in, should be resigned and held large-scale rallies against the Korean government. The contents of the comments were largely in three directions: "The support to Chairperson Jeon Gwang Hoon & the certain party and the criticism against the current government," "The opinion that Chairperson Jeon does not represent Christianity," and "The opinion that condemns Christianity itself."
In case of the highest rate of Buzz Score, “Shincheonji Church,” the postitve articles about Shincheonji Church was 60 percent as the result of the spread of articles of “I am Shincheonji Reporter” through several internet cafes despite the previous negative perception had existed. Moreover, Shincheonji Church of Jesus had several open Bible seminars, 100,000 Graduation Ceremony, and various social contributions. As the result, Shincheonji Church changed the perception of many people. And Korean big newspapers have released affirmative publicity articles and several international press have released the articles about 100,000 Graduation Ceremony.
The Shincheonji open Bible seminar was held to the public that could listen the testimony of the fulfillment of Revelation, the pride of Shincheonji. More than 50,000 people attended the seminars and many of them wanted to study the word of Shincheonji. In 100,000 Graduation Ceremony, 103,764 people finished the Bible course of Shincheonji and wanted to enter Shincheonji Church only in a year. It has become a hot topic around the world that more than 100,000 people entered a church in a year.
This online poll analyzed the results of the search with three keywords, "Christian/Church/Pastor," between January and November last year, with a total of 232,176 data. Among them, positive issues were 51.3 percent, 22 percent neutral and 26.6 percent negative.
*2020 Prediction of the Korean Church
The year 2020 is also expected to continue with 2019. It is expected to be divided into the issue of accusing the corruption of Korean Church and the issue of rapid growth of Shincheonji.
The controversy over the hereditary succession of large churches and Pastor Jeon’s rough words will make the negative public opinion grow further that the Chrisitan Council of Korea, the representative of Korean Christian group, cannot perform its role because it only pursit of money and power.
On the other hand, given the growing number of churchgoers and events that draw the attention of the world, the progress of Shincheonji Church will be expected also in 2020.
I think the trend of Christianity in the world will be similar. It is likely to be divided into the issue related to churches having true faith and the issue related to the corruption of churches.
Shincheonji Bible Study Course Application : http://bit.ly/bible_020130
学习圣经申请书 : http://bit.ly/shengjing_020130
学习圣经申请书 : http://bit.ly/shengjing_020130
Very informative article. Thank you
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