Shifting Disunity to Unity: Missional Ecclesiology and Grassroots Ecumenism in Korean Protestantism

After the Korean War in 1950, the Korean Presbyterian Church experienced a religious schism and sought to rebuild and grow quantitatively amidst its denominational competition. This development was based on an evangelical ecclesiology rooted in the Lausanne Covenant (1974), which emphasized evangelization and spiritual salvation. However, this ecclesiology clashed with the WCC’s ecumenical ecclesiology, which stresses God’s mission (Missio Dei) and humanization, triggering the ecclesiological polarization of the Korean Church. In the 21st century and the changed context of post-Christendom, the Korean Church faced the reality of rapid church decline and sought an alternative to traditional growth-oriented evangelical ecclesiology. That alternative converged on missional ecclesiology. This new ecclesiology not only reformed Korean Protestantism but also transformed the long-standing divisions of the evangelical and ecumenical churches into unity and became the theoretical foundation for grassroots movements in local churches. This research aims to shed light on how missional ecclesiology can overcome disunity and divisions in the Korean Church, bring ecumenical and evangelical churches into mutual solidarity, and strengthen grassroots ecumenism and cooperation at the local level.