Church leaders from South Korea and the United States confronted ways of renewing faith and preaching at a Conference on June 26 on the eve of July 4 Independence Day celebrations and in the 60th Anniversary year of the Korean War. The conference on preaching was held at the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley, California and called for 'deep faith united with high tech' (Randolph) combining new media and ancient arts in worship, preaching and education.
Photo: left to right, Dr. Sam Park, Dr. Mee-Rha Hahn. Dr. David Randolph, Dr. Byung June Hwang
Keynote speaker Dr. David James Randolph said that in the 21st Century when conforming to popular cultures is leading to decay, transformation is possible no less than in the first Century when Christian faith came by preaching. The foundations of faith must be strengthened and new media and visual language are among contemporary resources which must be developed according to Dr. Randolph. The author of "The Renewal of Preaching in the 21st Century," Cascade Press, illustrated with the use of a brief movie form adaptable to You Tube.
Dr. Sam Park of the American Baptist Seminary of the West demonstrated how
preaching can be enriched by uniting the ancient tradition of story telling in Asia with his presentation using a longer movie form adaptable to chapel and classroom.
Dr. Byung -June Hwang, leader of the Korean delegation, stressed the importance of new ways of communicating faith to address church decline in Korea and America with planning for the future.
Dr. Mee-Rha Hahn of Hosea University spoke forcefully of the advantages to be gained from cross-cultural studies in theology and society. Dr. Hahn charmed the group with her graceful familiarity with a broad range of arts and sciences.
David Madgalene, poet, writer, artist and author of "Call Down the Angel" joined the discussion by bearing witness to the impact of poetry and the visual arts on church and society globally as represented in his anthology "World of Change."
Dr. Nancy Hall welcomed the conference on behalf of ABSW and afterward expressed the hope that this be one of a series of such events and cultural exchanges
Discussions are in fact underway to continue and expand this conference and related projects and publications.
