Robert Schreiter’s concept of local theology has been rendered as “indigenous(to’chak) theology” into Korean, even though he clarified the reason why he intentionally eschewed the term “indigenous theology” in his book, Constructing Local Theologies. This study attempts to reflect on the Korean Translation of “indigenous theology” as “to’chak theology” and its limited ability to theologize in the local context. After exploring this concept, with the help of the term, “tobal”(土發, literally: sprung out of the ground)-theology, we can consider Schreiter’s concept of “local theology”. Its meaning can broaden our previous horizon for constructing theologies based on local contexts. In his book Schreiter calls on Christians in the West to reflect on their interdependence in colonialism and the eurocentric mindset toward the churches in the third world. He suggests that “local theologies” could be constructed in the active organic interaction between the gospel, culture and churches, employing a semiotic approach to understanding the local culture. It gives us a chance to reconsider how Korean missionary work has been hitherto conducted in a cross-cultural context: instead of attaching a great importance to the quantitative growth of churches in mission fields and concentrating solely on propagating the gospel, it is more important to help the gospel be embodied in its local context.