교회의 사회적 책임이란 교회 자체의 사적 이익을 벗어나 시민사회 참여와 공적 행동주의로 나아가는 것이다. 이 글은 미국 한인 개신교가 사회적 책임을 실천한 역사와 현실을 개관한 후 향후 과제를 제시한다. 곧 사회봉사를 위한 한인 개신교회의 인적 물적 자원을 살펴보고, 사회 참여의 역사와 현재 실태를 서술하면서 자원과 실제 봉사간의 괴리를 분석하고, 사회적 책임과 섬김의 준거가 되는 사회 선교 신학과 이민 신학을 정리한 후, 현실 적용의 장ㆍ단기 과제를 토론한다. 미국 한인 개신교회는 지난 100년간 나라의 독립과 민주화와 통일을 위해 헌신하고 한인 공동체의 생활 근거요, 중심지로서 한인을 섬기고 봉사한 영광스런 역사를 간직하고 있다. 현재 4,000개에 달하는 한인 교회는 직접적 도움을 주는 단기적인 사회봉사는 실천하고 있는데, 이런 긍휼 사역을 가난, 배고픔, 질병, 소외를 생산하는 사회 구조를 개혁하는 장기적인 사회 참여와 통합하는 노력이 필요하다. 앞으로 한인교회는 새 의제들인 사회 정의와 세계 평화 문제에 장기적이고 전략적인 노력을 기울여야 할 것이다. 의제별 전문 단체들을 더 많이 조직하고, 이슈별로 연합하는 태스크 포스 체제를 구성하되, 이를 교회가 지원함으로써 사회의 불의와 투쟁할 수 있다. 이런 풀뿌리 공동체 운동과 함께 한인교회는 공적 참여를 위한 정책을 계발하고 지원하는 비영리 기독교 재단을 설립하는 장기 투자에도 나서야 한다.
Korean-American Protestant Christianity has grown rapidly with incoming large numbers of Korean immigrants since the effect of the 1965 Hart Cellar Act, and now it has more than 4,000 churches. About 60-65% of almost two million Korean-Americans attend the Protestant churches. In the past the churches have worked as the community centers in the foreign land and faithfully served for spiritual, mental, and physical needs of the immigrants, and fought for the independence, democratization, and reunification of the homeland as well. However now they are facing various crisis and issues?such as church decline, deteriorating moral authority of ministers, the first generation’s escapism from the mainstream society, the second generation’s silent exodus from the church, shortage of English-speaking ministers, a great influx of short-term immigrants and students, and slipping away of the American dream. But one of the most urgent problems of the churches is their lack of public involvement in social justice and peace issues, which consist of the essential part of the Kingdom of God. If the Korean-American churches do not reach out now, they will die out sooner or later. Thus this issue is a matter of life and death of the Korean-American churches. The first section assesses the resources of the Korean-American Protestant Churches (hereafter KAPC) for social activism. It explains the reasons of the rapid growth of the churches in the past 40 years, the motives of joining the church, and material and personal sources for civic participation. They include almost one million members of the 4,000 churches, positive image of the churches, the church as a place for resolving status inconsistency, emergence of mega churches, upward economic mobility of the middle class Christians, oversupply of the first generation seminarians and ministers, rapid growth of English ministry and campus ministry for the 1.5 and second generations, increase of woman’s participation in the church and social works, and American evangelical groups’ reorientation and commitment to civic responsibility, which provides KAPC with a theologically friendly environment for social engagement. The second section describes a short history of social participation of KAPC in the past century and reviews its current situation. KAPC have served Korean immigrants as the community centers. They have also strenuously fought for the independence of the home country during the Japanese colonial period, the nation building after the liberation and the Korean War, and the democratization and reunification of the divided nation from 1960. The LA riot in April of 1992 reawakened the churches and led them to engage more in social justice issues and global problems. History and experiences are another part of KAPC’s resources for civic engagement. The third section reviews evangelical theology of civic engagement and immigration theology. Evangelical groups’ recent declarations and calls for Christian responsibility for social service and justice will shed light to the principles and methods of KAPC’s social mission. In 2004 the National Evangelical Association adopted “For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility” and “Principles of Christian Political Engagement to our entire community for action,” which could be a good guide to KAPC’s civic responsibility. At the same time, Asian American immigration theology reveals the creative liminality of KAPC for the building of alternative communities of social justice, peace, and preservation of the creatures. The method of civic participation starts with biblical normal visions and principles. It should have a deeper understanding of the complex societies with the help of sociological, political, economic, technological, and cultural analysis. And then it applies the biblical ideas to various social issues. Creating healthy and good societies needs a holistic approach, which combines personal salvation with social salvation, and the short-term direct service to the needy and voiceless people with the long-term effort for the change of the social system that causes poverty, injustice, and inequality. The concluding section applies the above discussion to the reality of KAPC and suggests some short-term and long-term tasks. It emphasizes strategic and ecumenical efforts, namely supporting more grass-root style non-profit NGOs that work for specific issues of the communities and networking and mobilizing these organizations as task forces for specific issues. KAPC’s prophetic public activism for social justice includes the following movements?anti-human traffic and demoralizing business, anti-racial and gender discrimination at the work places, helping the hungry people in North Korea, anti-wars, and anti-consumerism. One of the long term strategic projects is the establishment of Christian foundations and think tanks for policy making and grant supporting for the civic responsibility of the churches and Christian NGOs.