Class Meeting Notes

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REVIVAL OF THE CLASS MEETING THROUGH

____________________________________________________________________________
'WELL CLASS MEETING' FOCUSING ON ACCOUNTABILITY
____________________________________________________________________________
TITLE OF WORK
Wesley Theological Seminary
Revival of the Class Meeting Through

‘Well Class Meeting’ Focusing on Accountability
A Project Paper Submitted to

the Faculty of Wesley Theological Seminary
In Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Ministry
By
Deok Ki Baek
Washington, DC
May 2017
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to develop a class meeting Through Well Class Meeting
focusing on accountability. The new type of class meeting based on Jacob’s well in
Sychar(John4:1-42) have five positive images. That includes ‘worship,’ ‘life,’ ‘purification,’
‘accountability,’ and ‘invitation.’
This writer worked out the new form of class meeting by taking advantage of current class
meetings in Incheon Grace Methodist Church, and carried out research to see whether the new
model would work well in the church. This project shows the possibility that Well Class Meeting
can bring about a revival of the class meeting.

Table of Contents
I.Introduction .................................................................................................. 1
1. Purpose and Motivaion of the Research ..................................................... 1
2. Background and Direction of the Research.................................................. 2
III. Theoretical Basis for Class Meeting............................................................... 4
1. Biblical Backgraound ................................................................................. 4
2. Historical Background .................................................................................. 6
III. Theoretical Basis for Accountability ............................................................ 11
1. Biblical Background ................................................................................... 11
2. Historical Background ................................................................................ 23
IV. Theoretical Basis for Well Class Meeting .................................................... 32
1. Biblical Background ................................................................................... 32
2. The Meaning of a Well in Korea ................................................................ 35
3. Model for Well Class Meeting- Jacob’s Well in Sychar(John4:1-42)........ 38
4. Characteristics of Well Class Meeting ....................................................... 47
iii
V. Project: 'WELL CLASS MEETING’ FOCUSING ON ACCOUNTABILITY
1. Project context ............................................................................................ 54
2. Project Participants ..................................................................................... 56
3. Project Content ........................................................................................... 57
4. Evaluation ................................................................................................... 62
VII. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 83
APPENDICES
A. Questionnaire
B. Church Service Procedure of Class Meeting(1)
C. Church Service Procedure of Class Meeting(2)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
iv
Acknowledgements
I would like to attribute all this glory to the Lord, who has shown incredible favors to me to finish
a three-year doctoral course in Wesley Theological Seminary.
I desire to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Kim, Jin-du, who has directed my graduate work
with kind advice. I also want to deliver my deep appreciation for presbyters and believers in
Incheon Grace Methodist Church, who have supported me with their kind prayer and participation
in the research.
I wish to share this happy moment with my devoted wife, and lovely son Da-hyun and daughter
Sun-ha, who have encouraged me with their heartfelt prayer.
I would like to express my earnest gratitude to my parents, who have helped me to be what I am
today with their endless love and prayer.
Last, I would like to visit my father, who has passed away, with this thesis: ‘Here is my promise
that I would be a respectable servant of the Lord.”
v
I. Introduction
1. Purpose and Motivation of the Research
Society is a small religious group which was set up after John Wesley made his field preaching.
Then an English clergyman and founder of Methodism went on to establish the United Society
based on Bristol, Britain in 1739 in an attempt to interconnect each and every society. That was a
time when a class meeting of the Methodist Church took root. It has passed approximately 270
years since the first class meeting was established. The Methodist Church has made continued
progress through its class meetings and many Methodists have boasted of their class meetings as
one of their remarkable traditions. Unfortunately, however, few Methodists today think their class
meetings are a source of pride. Indeed, a class meeting was an important organization in the early
Methodist Church but has fallen off the radar. Following the trend of times that modern churches
are growing bigger in size, many churches have a different point of view against a class meeting
because their main interest lies on church growth in size. Under the circumstances, believers do
not take advantage of class meetings in order to lead a wholesome religious life and to improve
their spirituality, and churches regard class meetings as a sub-organization which needs to make a
contribution to church growth as a whole. Contrary to its 270-year-old history, a class meeting
today is losing its momentum. Worse yet, not a few Methodist churches replace their ailing class
meetings with small groups run by other denominations, only making their home-grown meetings
weaker and weaker.
Then, what is responsible for a feeble class meeting today? David L.Watson gives a precise
1
and clear-cut diagnosis: a class meeting has lost its main function of accountability. 1 In other
words, a class meeting has lost its significance in the church as it lost its function of accountability.
Therefore, this thesis will begin with one question: what is accountability and why it is responsible
for ups and downs of a class meeting? This writer will examine the original meaning and value of
a class meeting and then study the significance of accountability in a class meeting. This thesis is
designed to suggest plans to promote a class meeting and to show a desirable model of a class
meeting based on accountability. In the thesis, he will take advantage of a well in order to suggest
an alternative class meeting. In this regard, the thesis will study various images of a well in the
Bible and in Korean society, and sort out its five images to explain a new type of class meeting. In
particular, the paper will focus on the parable of a Samaritan woman in John 4:1-30 in order to
find out a new model of a ‘well class meeting’ based on accountability and examine whether it will
take root successfully in Incheon Grace Methodist Church which this writer has served as minister.
2. Background and Direction of the Research
It goes without saying that a church service is the core of a class meeting. However, a class
meeting in its early stage had other missionary activities which were as important as a church
service. Among its various missionary activities, this writer will focus on one thing: accountability.
In history of an early class meeting, class members confessed their sins besides pain and suffering
to other members and found themselves going through healing and recovery process. In other
words, a class meeting served as a training place where individual believers had their moments of
quiet introspection and pursed a sanctified life. Arguably, accountability is like a root of a tree.
1
Davin L.Watson, The Early Methodist Class Meeting, trans. By Han, Kyung-soo, Bible Study Press, Incheon,
1986, p.230
2
Therefore, a class meeting will not gain momentum when it fails to recover its function of
accountability. Believers today have no chance to enjoy fruitful results that class meetings in the
past had produced. A class meeting, which was once in the vanguard of church revival in Korea,
is now in crisis. In other words, in order to promote a class meeting, all parties related to Korean
churches should think over an unfamiliar word of accountability once again. Time is rife.
It is also very important for a class meeting to recover the function of a well with the
restoration of accountability. A well is a common legacy in the world. Most countries owed their
progress to a well in their history. Korea was once heavily dependent on a well as a source of water.
In Korean society a well has many roles besides a source of water: a sacred place for worship and
an open place for housewives to share their pain and suffering with others. As in the case of a
collective counseling center, many housewives throw out their worries in the well and went
through healing and recovery process with comfort and encouragement from others. In other words,
the well side plays a similar role of a class meeting. In particular, a well, which is frequently
mentioned in the Bible, provides a good image for churches today to rebuild their ailing class
meetings. The Bible has a variety of images of a well: a rest place for tired people (John 4:6); a
shelter for people facing a dangerous situation (II Sam. 17:19 and Exo. 2:15); a gathering place on
the order of God (Num.21:16); a meeting place with Jesus Christ (John 4:11); and an area where
God’s teachings are completed (Gen. 24:43). A class meeting takes a role of a well in the Bible.
That is why a positive image of a well is helpful for churches today to create a new model of a
class meeting.
First of all, this thesis will redefine the role of a class meeting in John Wesley’s times as a
theoretical and theological investigation. In particular, it will also examine ‘Band’ in order to
3
suggest that a class meeting today should follow not only their predecessors but also another
tradition of Band. Then, it will focus on why a class meeting today should restore its function of
accountability through its investigation into the concept and value of accountability. In this regard,
the thesis will suggest a’ well class meeting’ as a new type of a class meeting based on
accountability. In particular, the paper will summarize fives images of a well in Korean society, an
image which a well class meeting will pursue. A well class meeting is directly modeled from
Jacob’s well in Sychar in John 4:7-30. The investigation will sort out five images of a well in the
Bible and introduce a well class meeting as a new paradigm of a class meeting which has five
images of a well including accountability. As a practical method of investigation, the concept of a
well class meeting will be applied to current 81 well class meetings in which Incheon Grace
Methodist Church and the thesis will introduce all procedures of the investigation. ‘A well class
meeting is an alternative to a conventional class meeting which has been in decline in Korean
churches?’ This thesis is indented to answer the question and to get a positive response from
readers.
II. Theoretical Basis for Class Meeting
1. Biblical Background
Some theorists maintain that a class meeting system is derived from an event involving Moses.
In the Hebrew Bible, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, proposed one good idea to divide responsibility
when Moses suffered from too heavy work in the Exodus and Moses followed the idea, which is
the beginning of the system, they assert. 2
2
Chae, Bu-ri, The Methodist Church and the Class Meeting, The Education Department of The Korean
Methodist Church, Seoul, 1983, p.44
4
‘Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come
to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.
Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the
people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and
instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable
men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and
appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for
the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can
decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do
this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home
satisfied.’ 3
According to the idea from his father-in-law, Moses appointed wise, reliable and pious men
as officials who take care of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Among the officials, those who
are in charge of tens may have a similar role as class leaders and their organization may be a good
model for a class meeting today. Under the well-organized system, Moses was able not only to
keep order among his people but also to increase efficiency in waging a war and spreading God’s
teachings. Therefore, ‘the organization by the officials’ was regarded as the origin of a class
meeting system.
3
Exodus 18:17-23
5
Missionary work by disciples is another model of a class meeting system in the New
Testament. God’s work begins with his selecting twelve disciples. Jesus Christ taught God’s
gospels to big groups, but the New Testament shows that he paid more attention to small groups
rather than big ones in his missionary work. That suggests that Jesus Christ is well aware of the
significance of small groups. No wonder his missionary work begins with his contact with small
groups: considering 12 tribes of Israel, he selects 12 disciples and trains them, finally giving them
a mission to spread gospels.
‘Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ 4
Jesus does not explain why he chooses the small group system. In addition, he does not order
churches to make a 12-member-group. Following the footsteps of Jesus Christ, however, the Early
Church took a unique form, which consisted of a number of small gatherings. In short, Jesus
Christ’s small groups were the unit of gathering in the New Testament and played a crucial role in
establishing an efficient relationship and pursuing a collective life.
2. Historical Basis
4
Matthew 28:18-20
6
In 1737, John Wesley established a society in Fetter Lane with James Hutton. Together with
Peter Bohler, he set up the Fetter Lane Society in May 1st of 1738. In July of 1740, however, John
Wesley reputed a parochial and narrow-minded attitude of Moravians and seceded from the Fatter
Lane Society with his 75 followers. At last, the first Methodist society was founded by John Wesley
and George Whitefield in Bristol, Britain in July 1739. Since then, John Wesley’s field preaching
movement was spreading like wildfire with its epicenter at Bristol, and so many people were
overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit and their feelings of pain and sorrow and repented of their sins
with cry. Many people changed their religion when they heard Wesley’s field preaching, and those
converts set up a society in their region. John Wesley paid a visit to each and every society and
gave a religion lesson to society members. 5He organized tends of societies in London and Bristol,
ad put all societies together to create the United Society in May 1743. 6 He ran the Society with
members but failed to check personal circumstances of each member. John Wesley got interested
in separating members into groups when he found out that some of society members gave up a
religious life and went back to their secular life or others became a recidivist.
John Wesley found himself too overstretched to satisfy all demand from converts when he
had to go on his preaching tour and the number of society was on the increase. Worse yet, many
converts asserted that they want him to talk with them, to show them a way to go, to give them
advice and to pray for them. 7
5
Kim, Jin-du, John Wesley’s Practicing Theology, Jinheung Press, Seoul, 2000, p.254
6
Davin L.Watson, The Early Methodist Class Meeting, trans. By Han, Kyung-soo, Bible Study Press,
Incheon, 1986, p.13
7
G.Murray, The Methodist Church and the Class Meeting, Juahn Church Press, Incheon, 1991, p34
7
In February 15th, 1742, society members gathered to discuss an increasing debt involving the
New Room in Bristol. Captain Foy suggested every society member to donate one penny a week.
The organization, which was set up to collect donations effectively, was the origin of a class
meeting. As time went by, class meeting leaders did a more important job than collecting offerings.
They visited all members and took care of them, and later informed Wesley of details of members
including their devotion to the belief. 8
Back them, John Wesley was troubled with how to put all societies under his control and turned
the new organization into a new missionary system, which he later called a class meeting. A class
meeting had 11 members and one leader. The leader was called Class Leader whose leadership
was important in the meeting.
A class meeting became a core body in Methodists’ religious life as more and more believers
had various and precious experience in their class meetings. In other words, a class meeting was a
well-organized training center where all Methodists devoted themselves to a pious life both in a
private and public level and built a close relationship with others. Professor Kim, Jin-du explained
good points of the early class meeting as follows. 9
a. Class members share their spiritual experience with others through their sincere and
earnest confession.
b. Class members increase their self-esteem by listening to what others say.
c. Class members have experience of conversion and rebirth through confession, prayer and
encouragement.
8
Ibid, p.260
9
Ibid, p.267
8
d. Class members lead a sanctified life together with others when they take responsibility to
look after one another.
e. Class members get much dedicated to a religious life and become a pious believer through
responsible spirituality guidance from their class leader.
f. Class members participate in all society members with their collection of one penny or
more per week.
g. Class members have a motivation and cultivate their ability to lead families, friends and
neighbors to Jesus Christ. 10
A series of aims show that class meeting members are trained to improve their spirituality and
to lead a sanctified life in the meeting. Weekday class meetings make Methodists accountable for
their discipleship in the world and their renewed life makes their group as a whole spiritually
matured.
In 1742, a society was divided into two: a class meeting and a band. A class meeting was a
religion training center based on confession, encouragement, hymns and prayer for education and
a relationship among members, while a band was a spirituality training union based on thorough
self-reflection, mutual confession of sins and rigorous supervision of each other’s soul. 11 In short,
a band is a means to unite members into making more frank confessions than a class meeting so
that all Christians pursue a decent life. A band had much stricter rules involving self-examination
and confession than a class meeting and its five important rules as follows.
10
Ibid, p.267
11
Ibid, p.268
9
a. Band members gather at least one a week (every Wednesday evening).
b. Band members keep an appointed time.
c. Band members start with hymns and prayer.
d. Band members feel free to talk their through and confess their sins or temptation they had
for the past week.
e. One of band members confesses their spirituality and then asks others whether they are
tempted to commit sins.12
Each band had 5 to 10 members and was classified according to age, sex, marital status so
that members make a cross confession.
In the union, John Wesley practiced priesthood of all believers, which means one layman
makes his or her confession to other laymen and then find solace or comfort in other’s advice. In
other words, he stood at the halfway point or ‘via media’ between Catholicism and Protestantism.13
Indeed, a class meeting today takes over not only the tradition of the early class meeting but also
that of a band. That is why a band is regarded as another form of a class meeting. Both a class
meeting and a band place an important emphasis on accountability or self-confession for improved
spirituality, but the latter seems to increase its function of accountability then the former. Therefore,
churches should waste no time to restore the tradition of a band more quickly than that of a class
meeting in order to revive a class meeting in Korean churches.
12
John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley: A Plain Account of the People called Methodists (Bicentennial
edition), Vol. 8 (Journal and Diaries), ed. by W.Reginald Ward and Richard P. Heitzenrater, Nashiville:
Abingdon, 1998, p.253 to be quoted The Works hereafter
13
Kim, Kin-du, p.184
10
III. Theoretical Basis for Accountability
Accountability is not John Wesley’s brainchild but a system or a function that he accepted
and developed through his thorough investigation into the Bible, theology and church history.
Therefore, the Bible includes many images involving accountability and many theories in theology
show various functions of accountability, with the accountability system or its function in church
history. This chapter will focus on theological and historical background of accountability, finally
suggesting a theoretical basis of class meeting research.
Professor Kim Hae-Sik has heard James 5:16 as a biblical ground for Wesley's torture and the
belief in the bands, "Therefore pray for one another for your sins to be heard and to heal one
another.’ 14 In his understanding, the verses mean that believers need to experience Christian’s
friendly relationship, to share each other’s burden and to take care of each other. 15 In a personal
level, accountability means individuals need to check whether they have a responsible life for
themselves and their community by the name of the Lord. From a viewpoint of community,
accountability is a driving force to obtain the goal of a class meeting: whether each member of a
society pursues salvation with all his heart. 16
David L. Watson mentioned accountability and discipleship as an important term in order to
14
Kim, Oe-sik, Modern Church and Spirituality Ministry, Methodist Theological University Press, Seoul,
1994, p.182
15
John Wesley, The Works, Vol. 8, p.257-258
16
John Wesley, The Works, Vol. 8, p.269
11
understand a class meeting in the early Methodist Church and made a definition of the relation
between the two: “Accountability is a training method for Methodists to get sanctified and
discipleship plays a significant role role….The basic goal of a class meeting is not establishing a
friendly relationship but training disciples of Christ.” 17 In short, the function of accountability in
a class meeting is to train ordinary people into disciples of Christ, eventually making them
sanctified.
Being expressed as various images both in the Old and New Testaments, accountability is a
strict system to require self-examination whether believers are willing to bear responsibility
according to the Law and the Gospel of the Lord, 18 and a method to train Lord’s people and
Christ’s disciples spiritually. Unfortunately, however, accountability in the Korean version of the
Bible has a meaning different from one in this research. The Bible explains accountability as
follows: ‘The accomplices of thieves are their own enemies; they are put under oath and dare not
testify.’ (Prov. 29:24); ‘And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are
circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before
he was circumcised.’(Rom.4:12); and ‘But they will have to give account to him who is ready to
judge the living and the dead.’ (I.Pet. 4:5)
Accountability in Prov. 29:24 is “nagad”, which means ‘to stand out, to clarify, to declare, to
proclaim, to confess, to admit, to command (Gen. 3:11), to tell (I.Sam 19:3, Esther 4:8), to expose
17
David L.Watson, p.80
18
Kim, Oe-sik, p.117, The image of accountability in the Bible as belows: Joshua 7:25-26, Levit. 19:17;
Ezekiel 33:1-9; Matth. 18:6-7, 15:17; I.Cor. 5:1-13; James 2:14-17; I.John 3:16-20
12
(Esther 6:2), 19 while the world in Rom. 14:12 and I Pet. 4:5 is originally “lovgo” derived from
“rhema” which means ‘to reply (Matt.7:28), speech (I.Cor. 1:5), to proclaim (Collossians 4:3), to
cover, to give account(Heb. 4:13), to give the reason for (I.Pet. 3:15, 4:5) and the prophetic
message(II Pet. 1:19). 20
The accountability system in a class meeting, however, takes advantage of five concepts such
as ‘confession’ of sins, ‘admonishment,’ and ‘encouragement,’ ‘looking back’ each other and
‘complete unity’ so that “people will put all things that they are ordered to do under
protection(Mark 28:20).” This writer will study a theoretical background of accountability by
looking into several terms involving the function of accountability.
Confession
In the New Testament, “oJmologevw” in Acts 24:14 and I.John 1:9, 21 which is derived from
a combined word of ‘oJmou’ or ‘together’ and ‘lovgo’ or ‘gospels’, means ‘to agree, to contract,
to admit, to confess, to thank, to promise, to confess’. 22 Romans 14:11 has a similar word of
confession like “ejxomologevw” 23: ‘It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every
knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”So then, each of us will give an
19
Logos, Hebrew Dictionary: NIV The Old Testament, Logos, Seoul, 1993, p.179
20
Lee, Byung-chul, Hellas-Korean Dictionary: The New Testament, The Korean Institute of the Bible, Seoul,
1990, p.3063
21
AmenChungcom.’ “Admonishment”, Jerusalem CD, AmenChungcom, 1998; Gerbard Kittle and Gerbard
Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of New Testament, trans. by Jordan Translation Committee, Jordan Press,
Seoul, 1986, p.771. The data were found in Jerusalem CD of AmenChungcom. This writer used the data from
CD, not from literatures because data from CD or Internet will be frequently used in the future.
22
AmenChungcom, “Confession”, Jerusalem CD, AmenChungcom, 1998, p.770; Lee, Byung-chul, p.2017
23
Lee, Byung-chul, p.1929
13
account of ourselves to God.’ One of the functions of accountability is to build up bilateral love
and trust through one’s confession of sings, admission of one’s misdeed and one’s promise to live
up to Lord’s Law before class meeting members.
Admonishment
In the Korean version of the Bible, several words are translated into ‘admonishment.’ Among
them, ‘wood’ in Neh. 9:27 means ‘to warn, to correct, to reprimand.’ 24 In Ezra 6:14, ‘nebuah’
indicates ‘prophecy, to prophecy and prophets.’ 25 In Prov. 13:10, ‘yaats’ suggests ‘to recommend,
to declare, to consider, to admonish, to discuss, to conspire, to determine, to design.’ ‘Paraklesis’
in I. Corinthians 14:3 and Phil. 2:1 means ‘encouragement, solicitation, advice, comfort,
persuasion, eagerness.’ 26: ‘But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening,
encouraging and comfort.’(I.Cor. 14:3); ‘Therefore if you have any encouragement from being
united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion (Phil. 2:1)’.
Encouragement is one of the functions of accountability. It is a mission of class leaders, who
are supposed to advise or admonish their members based on God’s teachings when any class
member is tempted or is to give up their belief, eventually leading members in the right direction.
In addition, encouragement is not just to give verbal advice but to beg, to solicit or even to warn
them to stay away from sins or temptation.
Encouragement
24
Logos, p.205
25
Logos .178
26
AmenChungcom, “Encouragement”, Jerusalem CD, AmenChungcom, 1998, p.872; Lee, Byung-chul,
p.2029
14
“Urr” in Joel 3:9 represents ‘to wake up, to rouse, to raise, to spur, to touch, to encourage, to
proclaim, to stimulate,’ 27 while, ‘paroxusmo’ in Hebrews 10:24 stands for ‘spurring, provocation,
argument.’ 28
Sometimes class leaders should make their members be aware of their ignorance, idleness or
feebleness and spur their spirituality, eventually making them focus on discipleship, the ultimate
aim of class meeting.
Looking back
“Katanoevw” in Hebrews 10:24 implies ‘to examine carefully, to consider deeply, to discuss,
to realize.’ 29 In other words, class leaders should pay careful attention to their members to
understand their spirituality and to have a deep talk with them to understand their problems.
Accountability asks members to take care of each other: ‘And let us consider how we may spur
one another on toward love and good deeds.’(Heb. 10:24)
Complete unity
“Teleiwqei” in John 17:23 indicates ‘to complete, to accomplish, to purify, to finish’: ‘I in
them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. 30 Then the world will know
that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.’ Discipleship requires class
members to pursue complete unity in order to follow the footsteps of the Lord. In this regard,
accountability is a spiritual experience for class members to put their sanctified life under complete
unity.
27
Logos, p.207
28
AmenChungcom, “Encouragement”, Jerusalem CD, AmenChungcom, 1998, p.885-886
29
AmenChungcom, “Looking back”, Jerusalem CD, AmenChungcom, 1998; Lee, Byung-chul, p.1972
30
AmenChungcom, “Complete Unity”, Jerusalem CD, AmenChungcom, 1998, p.1296; Lee, Byung-
chul, .2090
15
Protecting
“Tereo” in Matt. 28:20, deprived from ‘teres’, signifies ‘to protect, to defend, to keep, to
preserve, to stand firm, to establish, to make something clear.’ 31 Accountability makes members
have a stronger belief and follow the footstep of the Lord.
Based on terminology research, the next section will study how accountability takes a
concrete form in the Old and New Testaments.
In Chapter 22 of Exodus, Verse 21 to 27 describes social responsibility or social welfare for

people in need and their dignity as human beings. In other words, all members in the community
have a responsibility to take of the fatherless, the widow or strangers largely because the Lord
himself looks after them and Israelites were once strangers in the Exodus. 32 In particular, the
Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee in Levit. 25:1-28 indicate that the Lord orders people to let
the land unsowed, proclaim liberty through the land from all debt and economic difficulties,
eventually commanding people to not violate others’ dignity, rights to welfare and comfort.
In addition, the Lord makes it clear that the community as a whole is responsible for looking after
enemies or sinners: If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return
it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it
there; be sure you help them with it. (Exod. 23:4-5); and ‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your
heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. (Levit. 19:17)
In short, accountability in the Pentateuch requires all community members to build a responsible
relationship with one another to make God’s ultimate goal come true in the world.
31
AmenChungcom, “Protecting”, Jerusalem CD, AmenChungcom, 1998, p.1307; Lee, Byung-chul, p.2091
32
John D.Hanna, F.Duane Linsey, Explanation and Annotation of Exodus-Leviticus Vol.2, Durano Press,
Seoul, 1991, P.98-99
16
In Chapter 7 of Joshua, Verse 25-26 shows why Joshua held Achan responsible for his crime
in Joshua 7:16-21 and executed him. Under conventions of Israel and its neighboring countries,
winners broke down war loot or plunder either by dedication or annihilation. They were also
prohibited from pillage in any case. Saul was criticized for his allowing his men to loot in Chapter
15 of I Samuel 15. 33 The parable of Achan suggests that even one person’s mistake affects the
community as a whole: the error imposes a bad effect on his or her closest one and then the whole
community. The only solution is to find out a critical and put him or her under punishment.
Execution of Achan is a classic event in the Old Testament to show that individual responsibility
is closely related with holiness and purity of the community and the community is also responsible
for individual purity and holiness as Joshua judged individual moral standards based on the fact
that individuals are also community members. 34 As the parable of Achan shows, accountability
in historical books mainly focuses on private and public responsibility for purity and holiness.
In Chapter 33 of Ezek, Verse 1-9 demonstrates that not only prophets but also Lord’s people
have a responsibility to warn wicked to turn away from their ways. The verse is divided into two
cases when people are held accountable for warning: people hear the sound of trumpet but do not
heed the warning, eventually being put to death by the sudden attack of enemies; and a watchman
does not blow the trumpet to warn people, at last putting innocent people to death. In the first case,
the Lord says all responsibility falls on him, while he says he will hold the watchman accountable
for people’s death in the second case. 35
Prophets have a mission not to give any community ambiguous warning but to deliver specific
advice to anyone facing difficulties looming large on the horizon. Therefore, Lord’s people
33
A.Soggin, Joshua: Internatioal Annotation of the Bible, Vol.6, trans. by Korean Theology Institute, Korean
Theology Institute, Seoul, 1987, p.124
34
Lawrence O.Richards, A Practical Theology, Grand Rapids; Michigan, 1987, p.86
35
Walter Eichrodt, Ezekiel: International Annotation of the Bible, Vol.23, trans. by Kang, Won-don, Kim,
Sang-ki, Korean Theology Institute, Seoul, 1987, p.522
17
including prophets have a mission to warn other people to lead a responsible life by telling them
that they have to keep their identity before the Lord.
As said above, accountability in the Old Testament mainly deals with a responsibility: an
individual responsibility to help others in need and to encourage people to do good deeds; a social
responsibility for taking care of needy people; a duty to pursue holiness and purity both on an
individual and community level; and a task to warn for awakening. The Hebrew Bible shows that
people will become a responsible member of society when they devote themselves to the Lord.
In the New Testament as well as in the Old Testament, the content and meanings of directing
are manifested in various forms. In Matt. 18:6-7 and 18:15-17, God’s teachings instruct people
how to live in the Kingdom of God and how to lead a responsible life as an answer to God’s favors.
As Matt. 18:6-7 shows, people should make much of a life no matter how little it is. Nothing can
replace with a life in the world. As Matt. 18:15-17 implies, people have a duty to turn the depraved
from their ways with every means possible. Jesus Christ orders people to stand against the wicked.
That is the way people keep those vicious people from an evil world, ultimately protecting society
purity and holiness. If a community member commits a sin, anybody who knows first should
persuade him or her to repent of his or her sins, or two to three people should try, or a church itself
should get involved. The community as a whole should make consorted efforts to take care of
individual’s sins, a method different from the Torah, which focuses on physical punishment. The
Epistles also orders no violent measures or physical punishment: God orders people to restore
people mired in sins gently (Gal. 6:1, II Tim. 2:5) and to rebuke and encourage with great patience
and careful instruction (II Tim. 4:2). A parable involving one paralyzed man in Mark 2:1-5: ‘A
few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.
18
They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and
he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four
of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the
roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus
saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”’ The parable focuses
not on confession of the paralyzed man but on good deeds of his four friends. Jesus Christ makes
much account of love and responsibility of the four, who tried to protect the friend from his sins
and illness.
Accountability in a class meeting leads class members to care about one another and to guide
them at the right direction as the four men did for their sick friend.
In Acts 2:42-47, Nuke shows an impressive scene in a church filled with the Holy Spirit. The
church had three typical types of Christian union that John Wesley pursued in his class meeting
and band.
First, the church was a gathering for education. As evidence that the Holy Spirit presents in
the church, Luke mentioned that the church made much effort to get Apostles’ teaching. That is,
they taught gospels to converts. In early days, disciples did not think that the Holy Spirit is the one
and only teacher for them and they would fare well without human teachers even though they got
favors from the Holy Spirit. Instead, they were hungry for teaching and dedicated themselves to
Apostles’ teaching. 36
36
John Scott, The Message of Acts: To the Ends of the Earth, trans. by Jung, Ok-bae, Inter-Varsity Press,
Seoul, 1993, p.89
19
Second, the church was a group for taking care of one another. In communities in Jerusalem,
people looked after each other and studied God’s teachings in order to educate some who were
willing to follow the Apostles and to spread gospels. Accountability is a religious exercise to make
Methodists sanctified, and discipleship is important in the exercise. For John Wesley, grace of
caring about each other means class leaders pay attention to members’ spirituality through
accountability and educate them to become a disciple of Christ. A theological background
involving education of disciples is as follows.
‘A disciple,’ derived from ‘talmid’ 37 in Hebrew from Chron. 25:8 and ‘Mathetes’ or
‘mathetria’ in Hellas from Acts 6:1, means ‘a trainee, a student, a brother.’ 38 The word is rarely
mentioned in the Old Testament (Chron. 25:8, Isa. 8:16 and 50:4), but was very commonly used
among Helenians and discipleship was one of features in Judaism in its later days. In the New
Testament, it is used 268 times like 238 times in the Gospels and 30 times in Acts: disciples of
John the Baptist from Matt. 9:14 and John 1:35; and the Pharisees, John’s disciples from John 9:28,
Mark 2:18 and Nuke 5:33. David Watson summarizes about disciples:
“A disciple in the Old Hebrew indicates people who receive teaching from the Lord. In the
New Testament, ‘mathetes’ implies ‘an apprentice, a trainee, a follower,’ which is usually used in
Mark, and sometimes refers to all Christians (John 8:31, Acts 2:41, 6:7 and 11:26). Therefore, a
disciple means all Christians in a broad sense and a few mature ones in a narrow sense.” 39
37
Bang, Sun-ki, Discipleship and Exercise, Bible Encyclopedia of Durano Ministry vol.17, Durano Press,
Seoul, 1997, p.719
38
Bible Encyclopedia, ed. by Jung, In-chan, Christian Wisdom Press, Seoul, 1981, p.501
39
David Watson, Discipleship, trans. by Moon, Dong-hak, Durano Press, Seoul, 1990, p.17-18
20
Third, the church was an assembly of love: ‘They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching
and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer’ (Acts 2:42) .The word of fellowship
demonstrates a communal life of church in two aspects. First, it means that people receive one
thing in common, which is the Lord: ‘And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus
Christ’ (I. John 1:3); and ‘the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ (II Cor. 13:14) Therefore, fellowship
is an experience of trinity under which everyone shares the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Second, fellowship implies that people distribute what they have. ‘Koinoia’ refers to offerings
which St. Paul intends to collect from Helladian churches (II Cor. 8:4, 9:13) and means ‘generous’
in Hellas. That is a reason why Nuke pays attentions to the word particularly. He describes
repeatedly the way early Christians share what they have: ‘All the believers were together and had
everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need’ (Acts
2:44-45). This kind of good action was taken from time to time and was spontaneous 40 in the Early
Church, which was all based on traditions in the Old Testament era. In the Hebrew Bible, Israelites
followed a year-long tradition of taking care of the needy ad gave one tenth of what they had to
the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow (Deut. 26:12).
Epistles in I Cor. 5:1-13, I Tim. 5:20 and Heb.12:5 show that a church is a holy union and has
responsibility to protect the Lord’s love and his purity. Therefore, a church has a duty to settle any
issue even when union members commit sins and to train them when they go back their sinful life.
40
John Scott, p.90-92l
21
However, training or rebuke by the Early Church was not designed to punish sinners but to make
them be aware of and repent of their sings and go back to a holy life. That is the right answer to
God’s salvation and brothers of belief are not an individual being but just one of many parts within
Christ: ‘My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should
bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will
save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins’ (James 5:19-20).
John Wesley mentioned I Cor. 14:31 as a theological base why a class meeting should focus
on accountability: ‘For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and
encouraged.’ James 2:14-17 also indicate that the faithful has a responsibility to satisfy not only
spiritual needs of the needy but also their physical ones: ‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or
a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm
and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith
by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’
That means accountability deals not only with believers’ religious life but also with each and
every aspect of their life. As described in the Gospels, accountability in the New Testament gives
teachings of how to live a sincere life in order to be a responsible member in the Lord’s Land and
to give an answer to Lord’s favors. In addition, as in the case of Christians in the Early Church
filled with the Holy Spirit from Acts, the faithful are supposed to share fellowship of belief with
others, to look after and love one another and to dedicate themselves to the Lord. Furthermore, as
the Epistles show, a holy union of a church has responsibility to punish sinners in order to uphold
Lord’s love and holiness.
22
2. Historical Background
This chapter will study a historical background of accountability through spirituality guidance.
In a broad sense, spirituality guidance implies to take care of one’s spirit. Since Primitive
Christianity, Christian literatures have featured preaching, letters and moral encouragement for
spiritual training. Furthermore, spirituality guidance, which Desert Fathers started first, has
changed its form such as the Monastery Movement in the Middle Ages, the Mass Movement in
the 12th century, spirituality training to laymen by friary and a variety of community activities by
Protestantism (Even though Protestant churches have ignored the significance of spirituality,
education has been made through community movements by small denominations). Spirituality
guidance had its own characteristics: it needed a spiritual leader and followers led a communal life.
However, there was a difference in a training method between the Eastern and Western Church. In
the Eastern Church, Christian spirituality training was separated from indulgence, while it was a
sacred job of ministers in the Roman Catholic Church. That is because the guidance was closely
connected with sacramental confessions of sins. 41 This chapter will deal with history of
accountability as Christian spirituality guidance through various spiritual groups and leaders in
each period.
In Christian history, Christian spirituality guidance took a concrete form in the 4th to 5th
century when Desert Fathers lived in Egypt, Syria and Palestine. 42 Hermits living in the desert
41
Bernard McGinn, John Meyendorff, Jean Leclercg, Christian Spirituality, trans. By Yoo, Hae-ryoung,
Eunsung Press, Seoul, 1999, p.710-711
42
Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe, Harper & Row, New York, 1965, p.95
23
or in the wilderness invite misunderstanding that they suffered persecution only to run for there.
However, they voluntarily moved to the desert or in the wilderness to wage a spiritual fight
against Satan because the desert or the open field was said to be a hotbed of evils. 43As in the
case of Jesus Christ, monks were subject not only to guidance of the Holy Spirit but also to
temptation from an evil spirit. Under the circumstances, hermit monks were desperately
supposed to have “discernment pater” or ability to tell which Holy Spirit guidance or a demonic
test is. Those who had yet to have discernment certainly needed Christian spirituality guidance.
They named discerning people “Pneumatikos pater” or a Christian spiritual leader. Spiritual
leaders not only taught spiritual skills to tell the Holy Spirit from an evil spirit but also made all-
out efforts to take care of a private life of their disciples. They themselves showed an example
first and then gave them a lesson. 44 These Desert Fathers or Desert Mothers were called “abba”
or”Amma”, and their disciples chose their abba or amma at their convenience and lived together
with their teacher. Desert Fathers or Desert Mothers mainly helped their disciples to find out
what their destructive desire was and how to fight it. These teachers were well aware of
circumstances facing their students. Therefore they gave tailor-made advice or guidance, not
universal one. However, they had no special teaching method or formula for advice. In short,
they aimed to teach a rule or law for disciples to lead a virtuous, perfect life. All of their
45
teachings were made into a book, “The Saying of the Desert Fathers.” The book have been
called ‘A treasure of monastery’s spirit’
43
Bradley P. Holt, A Brief History of Christian Spirituality, trans. by Um, Sung-ok, Eunsung Press, Seoul,
1996, p.80
44
Kim, Oe-sik, p.228
45
Lee, Hu-jung, Lee, Ju-yeon, Spiritual Leaders in Christianity, The Christian Literature Society of Korea,
Seoul, 1997, p.43-44
24
For their teacher-student relationship, students were supposed to confess everything to their abba
or amm. Then their teacher taught them to reach a conclusion for themselves by taking advantage
of a metaphor, a parable or a symbol. However, students’ confession or abba or amma’s
teachings were not helpful to students only. Sometimes, students helped their teachers. Teachers
could become depraved and hold onto their monastic life with the help of their students. In short,
they had an interactive connection. 46 In other words, their accountavility relationship is not a
unilateral direct relationship from a teacher to a disciple but an organic, direct relationship that is
mutually influenced by both the teacher and the disciple.
Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers showed that believers learn Christian truth by a long hard
training and rigorous self-restraint. Armed with full experience involving discernment, prudence,
insight and modesty, they helped students to find out a way for the future for themselves. One of
their ascetic practices in the desert was “exagoreusis” or manifestation of thoughts, which was
described as “spirituality of opening one’s hearts”. Although the sacramental confession of sin was
literally confessing sin, But exagoreusis was confessing not only sin but the whole contents of
their lives without hesitation. Through this Exagoreusis, the disciples were able to have a true self-
reflection opportunity and to grow by experiencing spiritual healing by practically the elders who
had been given charismatic gifts..
Students were encouraged to tell their spiritual seniors everything going on in their mind,
which had more comprehensive significance than sacramental confession of sins. The purpose of
the practice was not to confess one’s sins but to increase one’s ability to discern various thoughts
46
Lee, Hu-jung, Lee, Ju-yeon, p.47-48
25
deep inside one’s mind. The practice brought about true awakening to young disciples, while it
gave charismatic seniors a chance to be a doctor who took care of people’s spirituality. It also
helped you ascetics to be aware of the essence of “logismoi” or thoughts and to keep focused for
obtaining “hysychia” or peace in their mind. In short, its aim is to focus on “monoloieistos” or one
thought, which means ascetics devote themselves to the Lord. In this sense, the practice has
something in common with oriental spiritual trainings such as yoga or zen. However, ascetics were
not supposed to tell their spiritual burden to anyone. Abba Poemen gave a warning: “You should
not open your hearts to anyone unless you can trust them with all your heart.” “Exagoreusis” is a
natural exercise by Desert Fathers and ascetics out of deep trust and confidence. 47 In this sense,
Exagoreusis, performed by the fathers and performers of the desert, was a method of spiritual guidance in
Christian spiritual history, and can be seen as a primitive form of accountability directing that emphasizes
self-confession and the sharing of life.
In the 4th century, the spirituality of Macarius of Egypt prospered through writings purported
by Macarius the Elder. By focusing on “kardia” instead of “nous” as the essence of spirituality, he
protected Christianity from “Origenism” so that the religion went to back to its early days.
According to his spirituality, “kardia” or mind, which consists of obedience and love, requires
purification and ascetic practices. Monks following Macardius’ spirituality received spiritual
guidance through “Geron” meaning spiritual fathers or elders of the monastery. 48 Their method
of spirituality exercise has something in common with accountability in that the method requires
47
Bernard McGinn, John Meyendorff, Jean Leclercg, p.715-716
48
Bernard McGinn, John Meyendorff, Jean Leclercg, p.84
26
and places an emphasis on command and responsibility to take care of others through obedience
to and love for the Lord.
In the 18th century, charismatic spiritual leaders were called “staretz” or “startsy” in Russia,
meaning sages from wisdom literature in the Old Testament. They were great spiritual teachers,
who provided one-to-one spiritual guidance, and it was staretz and Desert Fathers only who
practiced an individual spirituality exercise in Christian history. 49
Staretz had a long list of life experience, led a life free from secular issues and were a man of
modesty and discernment. 50 K.Leech analyzed the characteristics of the spiritual fathers in the
history of the Eastern Church into three: first, they have discernment or insight; second, they have
special talents to feel others’ pain and suffering; and third, they have capability to change the
universe with love. 51
The Western Church was developed through spirituality movements by the Eastern Church.
Some ascetics were wandering to look for spiritual leaders. It was St. Benedict of Nursis who put
those itinerant monks together into a communal ascetic life. He, who once had a strict, ascetic life
in the wilderness and the mountainside, made much of poverty, obedience and chastity in
spirituality guidance. In addition, he made an organization law on religious orders, giving much
authority to Father Superiors and claiming bilateral discussion and advice exchange as well. 52
49
Bernard McGinn, John Meyendorff, Jean Leclercg, p.710
50
Kim, Oe-sik, p.230, Nilus of Sora (1453-1508), Dmitri of Rostov (1651-1709), Amvrosy (1812-1891)
51
K.Leech, Soul Friend, Haiper & Row, San Francisco, 1997, p.48-49
52
Bradley P. Holt, p.85
27
The Rule of St. Benedict became one of the most influential religion rules in Western
Christendom and played a major role in establishing the western monastery system. He himself
led a life of accountability by making much of community life, suggesting bilateral discussion and
advice exchange, and practicing spirituality guidance through Fathers Superiors and an obedient
life.
The Celtic Church had many spiritual leaders such as St. Patrick (396-464) and St. Columba
(512-596). These spiritual leaders went on missionary work everywhere and built churches and
religious orders. Irish Christians, who were under the command of the Celtic Church, made much
of “ananchara” or a soul friend in their spirituality. They believed that Christians were not alone
in their religious life and close followers have to encourage others and correct any wrongdoing.
That means a relationship for taking care of, confessing to and supporting one another as described
in James 5:16. 53 In addition, the church set up a distinctive form of penance, a method for
spirituality guidance found in individual churches besides religious orders. Celtic traditions of
spirituality such as private confession and penitential practices to certain sins were transferred to
Germans when they were converted to Christianity by Irish monks, eventually spreading through
Roman Catholicism. 54 The confessions, recommendations, and teachings of personal sin, one of
the Celtic spiritual traits, were preached to the Germanic people, and later the confession sacrament
was spread throughout the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, influenced by the cults,
made the Confession to the priest officially by the fourth council of Lateran in 1215.
53
54
28
The 11th century had remarkable figures that had a good job in nourishing Christian
spirituality, one of whom was Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). He was the father of Mysticism
in the Middle Ages. He criticized for the Roman Catholic Church for its institutionalism and
formalism and opposed to speculative theology. Instead, he tried to find out a private and spiritual
way for obtaining religious truth and open up a new field in mysticism in mysticism in theological
history.
His mysticism imposed a great effect on Hugo and Richard of St. Victor Abbey of Marseille,
St. Francis of Assisi, Meister Eckhart, Thomas a Kempis and John Tauler, all of whom influenced
Martin Ruther, Graf von Zinzendorf and John Wesley in waging the Protestant Reformation or
innovation movement of churches. 55 In other words, Bernard's mysticism illuminated the life and
light of a new spiritual revival when the medieval church was losing its light and vitality becouse
of the speculative theological controversy. The mysticism of Bernard revived the spark of the
medieval church.
He frequently mentioned confession, one different from penance. His confession means to
praise the Lord, to have a spiritual conversation with spiritual leaders, or to express one’s
conscience rather just to profess one’s sins. 56 Bernard called those who gathered with him to make
confessions as spiritual brothers. These people often refer to people in leadership positions in
spiritual guidance, but they are primarily spiritual companions of the same concept of receiving
and giving mutual help.
55
Lee, Hu-jung, Lee, Ju-yeon, 8.138-139
56
Kim, Oe-sik, 0.232-233
29
In the late 14th century, Gerard Groot (1340-1384) from the Netherlands played a major role in
57
leading Devotio Moderno against corrupt clergymen and adherents of pantheistic mysticism, a
religious movement under which believers were supposed to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ
as their spirituality training. The movement had its root in the Congregation of Windersheim, a
subgroup of Augustin Abbey and was developed into “Brethren of the Common Life” mainly
consisting of laymen and “Sister Groups of the Common Life” largely composed of laywomen in
the Low Countries and Germany. Their daily life was very similar to that of monks of Benedictine
Order: both of the groups focused on following Jesus Christ’s footsteps in order to flourish
Christian spirituality, 58 The characteristics of these groups were spirituality that focused on
imitating Christ through a distinct life. In this respect, John Wesley insisting the purpose of class
meeting is 'Christian discipleship' and 'sanctification' and the communal brotherhood seem to share
exactly the same spirituality.
The members of the communal brotherhood are not the people who gathered in the concept
of the upper and lower. They are colleagues with equal qualifications and rights. As spiritual
comrades, they practice brotherly love for one another, share their true confession of one another,
and achieve spiritual growth based on their confession. In this respect, they had a good
accountavility environment which Wesley emphasized. a characteristic which has something to do
with “discipleship of Christianity” that John Wesley pursued in his class meeting.
Unlike Father Superiors’ one, the authority of Brethren’s head was not upheld by church’s law but
57
The movement is also called Modern Devotion
58
Kim, Oe-sik, p.233
30
consensus among brothers, who selected him to be a head. He also ran the organization based on
his charismatic authority and reverence rather than articles in the law, which has something in
common with class leaders in John Wesley’s class meeting in that their authority was guaranteed
by class members and class members showed voluntary obedience to leaders’ authority.
Thomas a Kempis was a key founder out of six leaders who led the movement. His
masterpiece writing Imitatio Christ is one of the most influential guidebooks for spirituality in the
Western Christendom. The book suggests that believers are encouraged to get religion guidance
from wise and scrupulous people and are supposed to take part in the Sacrament. 59
The 16th century saw a series of guidebooks regarding spirituality guidance. Since the Roman
Catholic Church held the Council of Trent in order to defend itself against Protestant’s theological
attack, spiritual guidance played a critical role in reforming seminaries, which was called the
Counter-Reformation Movement and spread in Spain, Italy, France and Britain. 60
In particular, Ignatius of Loyola, a founder of the Society of Jesus in 1540, explained roles of
spiritual leaders and introduced training procedures in detail in his book The Spiritual Exercises,
a textbook for spirituality guidance up to date. The classical book indeed is a manual to guide
meditators, a method to lead meditators to develop discernment through a lot of experience for
their 30-day meditation. During the period, the participants met their supervisor every day, pray
for 4 to 5 hours, went to mass and kept silent. The program was designed to give freedom to
individuals and to guide them make a firm decision to follow Jesus Christ. It was important for
59
Kim, Oe-sik, p.233
60
Kim, Oe-sik, p.234
31
participants to look into their conscience everyday as one of their exercises. 61 This program is not
forcing and instructing individual spirituality. Participants are self-determined their spiritual
condition and make a decision to live as a follower of Jesus. Practitioners make spiritual growth
by checking their minds, thoughts, words and actions daily and confessing their spiritual state with
each other.
As we have seen above, spiritual leaders and disciples in Christian spiritual history have
always formed small groups or communities, and they have been living in common life. The
spiritual authority of leaders has been recognized by the voluntary obedience of followers.
In addition, teachers and students, or leaders or followers have an equal and interactive
relationship. Spiritual leaders intended to deliver their teachings by giving a good example for
themselves through their enlightenment and experience. That is the case with class meeting leaders’
job and their relationship with class members. Class leaders are laymen or laywomen but receive
authority as a spiritual leader, which means that they have spiritual authority to guide other
laypeople and class members are required to be obedient to spiritual guidance by their leaders.
However, leaders’ guidance and members’ obedience are based on voluntary attitudes both from
leaders and members. In addition, class leaders and members have an interactive and equal
relationship.
IV. Theoretical Basis for Well Class Meeting
61
Bradley P. Holt, p.148-149
32
Water is a year-long, big headache to people in Palestine as the region has a torrential
downpour in winter. No wonder a well has a significant meaning in the Bible. 62 A well supplies
water not only for people but also for flocks of sheep (Gen. 29:2), so plays a very important role
in nomadic society. Water is a major requisite for life, so a well was usually located at the center
of the village. Furthermore, strong castles were built besides a well and people closed the well
when there castles were surrounded by enemies. In war with the Philistines, Israelite soldiers
camped by the spring in Jezreel because they had easy access to water (I.Sam. 29:1). According to
Gen. 21:29, Abraham brought seven lambs for a ritual when digging a new well. It does not take a
genius to guess how much a well is important as a source for drinking water for nomadic people
in Palestine and Arabia. Besides a source for drinking water, a well in the Bible has another
significant meaning: it has a symbolic meaning involving the omnipotence of God, who gives life
and recovery. As Gen. 16:7 and 24:42 show, the spring is not only a source for water but also a
meeting place with the God for the head of Hebrew clan. A more interesting point, however, is that
the Lord appears by the wall or the spring, and completes economy of salvation. The Hebrew Bible
has many parables in which Lord’s grace and economy of salvation are compared with a well.
Isaiah compared the Lord to the well of salvation in Isa. 12:2 and Jeremiah describes the Lord as
a source of spring water in Levit. 2:13. In Prov. 14:27, the Lord is said to be a fountain of life.
As a well is used to represent the Lord’s omnipotence, any event happening near a well has
something to do with God’s redemption of mankind. In the New Testament, one Samaritan woman
realized God’s teaching of redemption when she met Jesus around Jacob’s well near Sychar, a
62
Jung, In-chun, Bible Encyclopedia, vol.6, Christian Wisdom Press, Seoul, 1980, p.566
33
parable showing a much close correlation between a well and Lord’s work.
A well in the Bible has different kinds in etymology: a natural or man-made well, a poll, a fountain
or a spring. In addition, a well differs in terms of depth, shape and location. 63
A spring is ‘ayin’, while a well is ‘beer’ in Hebrew. The two words are mixed in usage but
needs to be studied to understand their correct meaning. In the Bible, ‘En’, a prefix meaning a well,
is used in the name of significant places, which shows that a well in the Bible has much to do with
God’s redemption: ‘En Gannim’ meaning a well in the foothill (Joshua 15:34), ‘En Gedi’ referring
to a well of goat (Joshua 15:62), ‘En Tappuah’ implying a well of apple (Joshua 17:7), ‘Endor’
indicating a well of living (Joshua 17:11, I Sam. 28:7), ‘En Rogel (Joshua 15:7, 18:16), ‘En Mishpa’
meaning a well of judgment (Joshua 15:7), ‘En Hakkore’ referring to the spring of him who call
for God, and ‘En Haddah’ implying the spring of joy (Joshua 19:21).
In the Old Testament, God often met with the Israelites. The place where God often visits is
the well. In my opinion, God liked the well to meet the Israelites as well as the sanctuary. In
particular, God had met Hagar twice, both of which were wells. If you look at the meaning of the
well name, you will know what spiritual meaning of the well has to the Israelites in the Old
Testament times. The first place God met with Hagar was Beer-Lahai-Roi. ‘That is why the well
was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered’; Gen.16:14. In Gen. 16:7,
Hagar was abused by Sarai for her pregnancy. At last Hagar ran away to the wilderness. The Lord
sent the angel in a spring besides the road to Shur. She named the spring ‘Beer Lahai Roi, meaning
the well of him that protects or sends me. Haga was very surprised to learn that she was still alive
63
Bible Encyclopedia, vol.5, Christian Literature Press, Seoul, 1980, p.245
34
because anyone who would meet the Lord would die. That is why the well is known as ‘a well of
survivor.’ 64Beer Lahai Roi in the wilderness serves as a place for pilgrims to take a rest and for
those tired to have a new life, hope and favors of healing.
And the second place God met with Hagar was Beer Sheba. Beer Sheba was located in the
valley of Es-Seba, a valley which was 12 hour away south from Hebron and had many historical
ruins such as two deep fountains called ‘Bir es Seba’ or seven wells. 65 Hagar was forced to go to
the wilderness with her son Ishmael and found no water in her leather bag. Water was very scarce
in the Palestine area, so the two were threatened to death. Worse yet, the son got sick. She was so
sad, tired and worn out (Gen. 21:16). Then, the Lord appeared to save them right near a well named
‘Beer –Sheba.’ Finally, Hagar found out the well besides the Lord and her son got better after
drinking water. In a word, ‘Beer-Sheba’ is a place for healing where the Lord makes people open
up spiritual eye and the fallen raise them up.
2. The Meaning of a Well in Korea

Looking at the meaning of the well in the Korean situation, it has various meanings depending
on the age and region. However, according to the purpose of this paper, I try to summarize the
meaning of the well by restricting and summarizing to apply to class meeting. There are five
meanings of the wells for application to well class meeting. The five meanings are the positions of
worship, life, purification, accountability, and invitation.
64
C.F.Keil, F.Delitzsch, Documentary on the Old Testament, vol.1, trans. by Ko, Young-min, Christian
Culture Press, Seoul, 1984, p.246
65
C.F.Keil, F.Delitzch, vol.1, p.277
35
The first is a place for Worship. Besides its various religious symbols, unique structure
connected to the underground would and people’s hope for its eternity, a well becomes sanctified
or divine. Human beings tend to make something, which satisfies their desperate needs, divine. In
this sense, a well serves as a place to worship or to be worshiped.
Individuals, families or villages hold a ritual near their well on the New Year, Festival of the
Weaver or in between seasons. For example, a well ritual in the mid summer is an agricultural
ceremony in order to give a chance for farmers to have a brief break and get invigorated. In addition,
people tend to hold rituals at a well when they are in trouble both in a personal and community
level.
The second is a place for Life. Ancient myths and parables show women’s reproduction power
involving water. Water’s primary power has much to do with women’s power to have and deliver
a new life. That is, water sometimes means women themselves and, in turn, women become divine
or even an ancestor in that they take advantage of water for their delivery of a new life. In Jumong
myth of Koguryo, You-wha, a mother of Jomong, used to play around a well as a daughter of water
God. In Park myth of Shilla Dynasty, the founder of the dynasty was born in the well side. Yeoshijo
of Koryo Dinasty was a woman of water who had easy access to the underwater palace via a well. 66
The list of myths goes on, which shows water is a source of life: in shamanistic myths of Jeju
Island, a thirsty woman drank water in the foot of a pig and got pregnant; in the Women’s Kingdom,
women got expectant by looking at a well; and one virgin ate a cucumber in the well only to deliver
66
Jang, Ju-keun, Myths in Korea, Jipmoondang, 1998, p.196-198
36
one famous Buddhist monk in Shilla Dynasty. One superstition has it that if a woman, who wants
to have a baby, fetch water reflecting the full moon in January 15th by lunar year, she will get
67
pregnant, a story which has something to do with “trinity of fertility” like a well, a moon and a
woman. Water has a lot of different kinds but, in particular, water in the well is closely related to
the birth of a new life.
In addition, water itself is essential to human beings’ life, so many myths involving birth have
a well in them. A well is a holy place where a new life is born and then leads its own life.
The third is a place for Purification. Water itself has a purifying image so it is used as a symbol
of purification. That is the reason why the symbolic image of water is much mentioned in a
christening or baptism in Christianity or Buddhism, and sometimes water itself becomes the object
to worship or even a religion. For example, people call water, which they fetch in the well early in
the morning, ‘fresh drawn water’ and pay for it, or shamans also use fresh water in their rituals to
throw away evil spirits. One bowl of fresh water is an offering for the Lord when individuals make
a fervent prayer, largely because water is one of the most divine and pure offering to the God.
The forth is a place for Accountability. Housewives in the village usually use a well as a
meeting point, an exclusive place for women with men’s exclusive place around the oldest tree in
the village. Burdened with mountains of housework, mid-aged housewives have no time to visit
another’s house and no place to meet and talk with other housewives. Under the circumstances, a
well serves as an important place where women build a friendly relationship with and exchange
67
Kim, Yeol-kyu, Korean Myths, Ilchokak, 1976, P.14
37
information with others. The well side is the one and only place where enjoy a free and break time
at their convenience as they are said to do laundry or do dishes there.
Housewives in the village gather around the well without any appointment. They talk not only
about news in and out of their families but also about their own worries, building a very amicable
atmosphere at the well. The well side is a place not only for work and rest but also for an intimate
relationship and education for women. In the well, they are free from mountains of housework and
take a rest. In addition, they get their broken heart healed through a collective counseling in the
well.
The fifth is a place for Invitation. A well is always open. No one claim his or her ownership
of a well and no is denied access to it. Therefore, a well is a place to invite people. Any well has a
bucket so that any thirsty people drink water anytime. Furthermore, people in the village meet a
newly-wed wife or a newborn baby at the well. The well side is also a playground for children and
a dating place for lovers. In a word, people meet and get along at the well. In this sense, a well is
open to anyone and welcomes new comers.
3. Model for Well Class Meeting- Jacob’s well in Sychar(John4:1-30)
On his way to Galilee, Jesus arrived at Jacob’s well. One Samaritan woman headed for the
same place. God Almighty and one obscure woman met at the well in Sychar. Indeed, it is arguable
to adopt Jacob’s well to explain a class meeting because the meeting at the well was just between
the two. However, the well in Sychar is an excellent place to verify the purpose of a well class
meeting in that the woman got a new, sanctified life through testimony and worship. In other words,
38
Jacob’s well in Sychar is a good example to explain core values of a class meeting in the process
of sanctification that John Wesley pursued.
John 4:1-42 are divided into the introductory part of verse 1- 6 and three body parts of verse
7-15, 16-30 and 31-42 respectively. Each part has a motif of misunderstanding or confusion. In
each scene, living water, place, food and harvest play a central role in confusion. Verse 27 to 30
may be included in the second body part because the woman brought all village people, not his
husband to Jesus (verse 50), which is her response to Jesus’ request in verse 16. In the structure,
three body parts have something in common. 68
(a) Jesus’ request and demand through aorist imperative
(b) Jesus makes a remark to reverse his request (verse 17-18, 32)
(c) The woman misunderstands for the first time what Jesus says (verse 9,11,19-20,33)
(d) Jesus gives prophecies (verse 13-14, 28-29, 39-42)
(e) The woman replies with her belief in the Lord (verse 15, 28-29, 39-42)
In line with its rhetorical structure of body parts, the story is still coherent in that all events
happened around the well: Jesus sat down by the well (verse 6); Jesus’ disciples had gone and
returned (verse 8, 27); the Samaritan woman came and went back to the town (verse 7, 28-30, 42);
and many Samaritans in the town made their way to the God and stayed for two days (verse 30,
39-40). The image of the well as living water still has its significance even in difference scenes.
In a structural analysis term, the story is a biblical type of “betrothal narratives” featuring an
68
D.A.Lee, The Symbolic Narratives of the Fourth Gospel, p.66
39
encounter at the well. The speaker of John, however, applied the style in a broader way with leaving
metaphor of the well unchanged. 69 Therefore, the well makes the story coherent through its image
of an abundant source of water.
The first stage of misunderstanding appears in verse 7-10 with the image of living water. The
second stage involving misunderstanding of words or symbols is described in verse 11 where the
woman misread what Jesus says. The third stage for understanding each other is presented in verse
12-15 and 16-2 showing a question and answer time between Jesus and the woman. The third part
is the longest among the five, so it needs to be divided into verse 12-14 and 16-24 each for a better
analysis. Verse 25-30 show the fourth stage of understanding or denial beyond confusion when the
woman went back to the town to testify and brought village people before the God. Before the fifth
stage, the story is diverged from its main theme as described verse 31-38. In the scene, Jesus’
disciples did not catch up with the story and misunderstood Jesus. In short, disciples’ confusion
remains only at the third stage. Verse 39-42 show the firth stage where confession of belief or
testimony is made when the woman made testify and village people confessed that Jesus is ‘the
Savior of the World.’ The body part is divided into four parts.
First, a stage setting in John 4:1-6 when Jesus arrived at a well in Samaritan’s land
Second, the first scene in John 4:7-15 where Jesus and a Samaritan woman had the first talk
Third, the second scene in John 4:16-30 where Jesus and the Samaritan woman had the second
talk at the well
Fourth, the third scene in John 4:31-42 where Jesus met other Samaritans at the well
69
Paul D.Duke, Irony in the Fourth Gospel, Knox Press, 1985, p.101-103 For example, the Samaritan
woman is not a young Jewish virgin and no engagement ceremony in the well. The well is used to represent
salvation, not fertility. Jesus is not a bridegroom but a woman of living water.
40
1) Stage Setting and the First Scene (Verse 1-15)
The First Conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
Jesus thought he needed to avoid doubt of the Pharisees (verse 1-2), so he had to go through
Samaria on his way to Galilee (verse 3-4). 70 Being tired and thirsty, Jesus sat down around Jacob’s
well in Sychar (verse 5-6a). It was about noon when it was the hottest in the day (6b). 71
One Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus asked her to give him a drink (verse 7).
Jesus sat alone while his disciples had gone into the town to buy food (verse 8).
She was surprised at Jesus’ request and explained that Jews and Samaritans are not supposed
to talk each other (verse 9). 72
Jesus turned the table between giver and receiver (verse 10). The woman misread his
suggestion of giving her water and tried to understand him by comparing his water with Jacob’s
(verse 12).
At last, she asked Jesus to give her living water (verse 15).
2) The Second Scene (Verse 16-30)
The Second talk between Jesus and the Samaritan woman
Jesus told her to go and bring her husband (verse 16). From a viewpoint in these days, the
70
Verse 4 implies divine inevitability.
71
Verse 4 implies divine inevitability.
72
Some analysts claim that 9b verse is omitted. The speaker gave an explanation of Jewish tradition or some
ancient languages.
41
story does not make a smooth turn to the second talk. However, Jesus’ request is an
effective setting for the talk to move forward. 73
To her astonishment, Jesus already knew her five marriages (verse 17-18). She realized
that she talked with the Prophet (verse 19) and posed a question of where to worship, a
conflicting issue between Jews and Samaritans.
Jesus did not give her an answer. Instead, he explained a new relationship with the Lord
and a new model of worship, which showed his true nature (verse 21-26). 74
The disciples returned, and leaving her water jar at the well, she went back to her town as
her response to God’s prophesy and tacit blame against his disciples (verse 27). 75
The woman testified her experience before other Samaritans and made her way toward
him with them (verse 27-30).
3) The Third Scene (Verse 31-42)
Samaritans’ Encounter with Jesus
Samaritans’ coming to Jesus (verse 30, 39-42) plays a literature setting which foster Jesus’
spirituality.
The disciples urged Jesus to eat food that they got in the town (verse 31, 8). To their surprise, Jesus
73
D.A.Lee, p.69
74
D.A.Lee, p.69: Samaritans were waiting not for the Messiah but for someone who would recover God’s
teachings.
75
As in the case of the woman who was very surprised with God’s action beyond racial and social
conventions, disciples now were astonished to learn that Jesus Christ broke conventional wisdoms involving
moral rules.
42
said he had food to eat (verse 32).
The disciples misunderstood what Jesus said and wondered if someone had brought him food
(verse 33). Jesus talked about his mission by comparing it with harvest. At the same time, many
Samaritans from the town came to him, while the disciples had no idea what was going on (verse
30, 35-38).
The story climaxed with many Samaritans’ encounter with Jesus (verse 39-42). 76
They realized that Jesus was really the Savior o the world (verse 42).
We can find the five images through well story that the Samaritan woman experienced. And
well class meeting need five images. The five images are worship, life, purification, accountability,
and invitation. These five images are the five distinctive goals that are pursued by the well class
meeting . The first image is a worship. On her way to draw water, a Samaritan woman met Jesus
Christ at Jacob’s well in Sychar. The value of church service lies in the fact that worshipers meet
the Lord during the ceremony. In that sense, Jacob’s well in Sychar is a place for worship for the
woman. She told truthfully that she was desperate to meet the Lord and she had a little sense of
worship through her testimony. Indeed, her try to be with the Lord beyond traditional, conventional
and social obstacles could not succeed even when she drank water that her ancestors gave or
worshiped in a certain place. She finally worshiped the Lord for living water only when she met
Jesus Christ at the well. The Samaritan woman asked Jesus where to worship in order to hold a
true church service, which showed that she was thirsty for worship. Finally she cleared up her
76
D.A.Lee, p.70: Some may wonder why the speaker describes illusion of Samaritans in the town in verse
39-42 as their reply to the belief. In particular, conversation in verse 31-38 is about disciples, not people from
the town. Indeed, Samaritans in the town are a source of conversation.
43
misunderstanding about worship with Jesus’ reply that true worshipers must worship ‘in the Spirit
and in truth.’ Then, she made a firm decision to be a true worshiper that the Father seeks. Jacob’s
well in Sychar serves as a place where one Samaritan woman, who was thirsty for worship,
becomes a true worshiper through her encounter with Jesus Christ.
The second image is Life. An encounter with Jesus Christ is the essence of church service and
serves as a place for repentance. Confession of sins is not only a way for internal healing process.
It is the core of church service and a starting point for healing, which the Lord is happy for. The
only way to renew and keep a relationship with the Lord is penitence. The Samaritan woman had
no way to reach the Lord. Death is the end of life when we can not solve our relationship with God.
For the wages of sin is death. Repentance is the only way can be saved. So repentance is the gospel
of the gospel. The woman became aware of the secret of life again through the confession of
shameful sin. Through repentance she are moving to a place of restoring relationship with God.
Eternal life is available through steadfast belief. The woman at the Jacob’s well become pious with
her encounter with Jesus. She got an eternal life which she could not get with water in the well.
That is the reason why she left her water jar at the well. Ironically, she received living water from
Jesus, water to give eternity to her mind right at the well where she came to get water for her
physical eternity. We have everlasting life that can not be changed. It is the reverse of the Word.
The Samaritan woman who tried to maintain the life of the flesh through the water acquired a river
of living water that guaranteed eternal life at well in Sychar. Through Jesus Christ, Samaritan
woman is getting a real life water for saving the soul. The water well is the seat of life.
The third image is Purification. Jacob’s well in Sychar is an important place for the Samaritan
44
woman to get water for her temporal life, but she was still not satisfied with her religious life. Jesus
separates water in the well from his living water and suggests that only he could give living water.
The woman, who was indifferent to Lord’s truth, misunderstood Jesus’ words. Jesus mentions
salvation but she wanted something very realistic. She was hurt so much that she went to the well
in the middle of the day when no one was there, and was a source for criticism for her five
marriages. She was not a believer and was so unfortunate with her meaningless and valueless life.
However, she got purified through her encounter with Jesus Christ at Jacob’s well in Sychar.
She experience emotional purification. Before meeting Jesus at the well in Sychar, the woman
had a low self-esteem and a sense of inferiority. She was alienated from her community because
of her immoral life. However, she acquired confidence in herself in the encounter with Jesus. She
got over her pain and suffering and experienced a true freedom. Realizing a gift of salvation from
Jesus, she developed a new identity. Finally, she gave up her passive and receptive position and
had an active and aggressive one.
And she experienced social purification. Crap understands that two factors take an important
role in change: to forgive and to get involved in a relationship. Both of them are a voluntary
decision to worship the Lord by giving up oneself and confessing one’s sins. The Samaritan woman
finally forgave her community men and other peoples. Furthermore, she tried to get along with
them. Gospels show their power to lead people to take action when the woman left a water jar
behind and run for the town after meeting Jesus. Of course, nothing had changed in her life after
her encounter with Jesus. Social order, institutions, cultural conflict and complicated remained
unchanged. Her encounter had not changed cultural and social values in her community. Instead,
she had a new power to stand up against existing external conditions. That is why she was not
45
hesitant to go back to the town. She went through social healing process when she forgave and
tolerated many people who hurt her so much.
The fourth image provided by the water well is accountability. For this woman, the well is a
place of accountability. Her mind, which was closed to everyone, opens as she meets Jesus Christ.
Her lips, which kept silence on all men, open as she meets Jesus Christ. She was a woman who
did not want to tell her story to anyone. But before the question of Jesus Christ, she confesses all
of her life to Jesus Christ with honesty. The story of her husband is a shameful story that she does
not want to do to anyone, but she reveals her shame in front of Jesus Christ. Speaking the stories
about living water and the worship, women became open her mind completely to Jesus Christ. The
center of the image of well is accountability. She was able to restore worship, gain life, and
experience true healing and restoration because of accountability. Furthermore, she throw her
water jar and rushed to the villagers, and invited them to Jesus Christ, because of accountability.
The water well well is where accountability is recovered and the value of accountability is revealed.
The last image is a place for Invitation. The Samaritan woman was no longer a sinner. Free
from her oppressive situation, she did not look pathetic any more. She had a clear understanding
of Jesus, the Messiah and living water when she left a water jar behind at the well and ran for the
town. She did not hide herself any longer and became an evangelist. She had a new mission to
spread the gospels to many Samaritans in the town who were also thirsty for worship. Jacob’s well
in Sychar was responsible for all this change. The well gave a new life to one woman with no
belief in God and turned her into an evangelist who was willing to give up her possessions in order
to make Lord’s intention come true in the world. Furthermore, the well invites those who need
worship, a new life, purification and accountability.

46
4. Characteristics of Well Class Meeting
The well class meeting has five directional characteristics on five images of Jacob's well in
Sychar. If the five images are aimed at the goal of class meeting, the five directional characteristics
can be said to be the way of making the well class meeting.
The first directional characteristic is the "upwardness". because well class meeting is one of
the worship. Indeed, each and every class meeting member takes part in class meetings in the hope
that his or her own request will be fulfilled. However, one of the primal functions of class meetings
is to hold a church service. John Wesley also understood a church service based on his belief that
it is all humans’ answer to God’s prevenient grace. 77 As John Wesley suggested, a church service
is humans’ response to God’s call to human beings among his prevenient grace. Therefore, one of
the most important things in a church service is to meet God. Forebears in Korea held a religious
ritual at the well because they thought that the well side was one of the best places where they
could meet gods. By the same token they usually had the rite either at dawn or in the midnight
because it was the best time for them to meet gods. In fact, however, the Samaritan woman did not
go to Jacob’s well in Sychar in the hope of meeting Jesus Christ. Furthermore, she went to the well
at noon, which means that she did not want to meet anyone there. However, she met Jesus Christ
right there. She then had her pain and suffering alleviated and got her life back to normal. That is
just because she met just Jesus Christ there. Hopefully, members in Jacob’s well class meeting of
77
Park, Eun-kyu, Rediscovery of Church Service, Christianity Press of Korea, Seoul, 1998, p.141
47
Incheon Grace Methodist Church could have such a wonderful experience: they will meet God in
a well class meeting. Therefore, a well class meeting is an ‘upward’ class meeting where its
members hold a solemn ritual and meet God before or after church.
- To Praise God
The fist procedure in a well class meeting is to praise God. It is a time for well class meeting
members to open their mind and focus their attention on God. To praise God altogether is a
preliminary procedure before its members will devote themselves to God. Simply put, all members
turn their mind and eyes ‘upward’ to God from their secular matters when they praise God together.
- To Light a Candle
To light a candle in a well class meeting is another procedure of praising God. During the
process, members confess that Jesus Christ comes to Earth in the form of light and give high praise
to God who is present with them in the form of light. Only Jesus Christ makes all church services
possible. That is just because Jesus Christ is the only divine offering that God would accept and
admit. When members light a candle in the meeting, they get Jesus to be accepted as an offering
of their service and rely on him. To light a candle is a sacred procedure when class meeting
members calm their highly exulted mind after praising God and move to the next step of a church
service.
- To Pray Together
To pray together is also a procedure designed to go upward. All well class meeting members
make it a rule to offer the one and only prayer and the prayer is supposed to include praise of God,
penitence and intercession. Prayer acts as one of the clearest guidelines toward God. In the
procedure, members perform the same prayer altogether and move forward God. During the course,
members perform the same prayer altogether and move toward God in the same mind about him.
48
- To Read and Listen to the Word
A well class meeting culminates in a procedure where its members read and listen to the Word.
Of course, the Word comes from God to his followers. However, in the different point of view that
a large audience listens to the gospel, the procedure is a ritual designed to go upward. Well class
meeting members have the Word once again when their leader reads loud the summary of
teachings delivered in the previous meeting. In short, the procedure gives members a time to think
about God who delivers the Word and to muse over their own life based on his teachings.
A class meeting fails to meet its purpose when it does not consider God in any of its activities
or church services. No great event can happen in a class meeting where God is not present. A class
meeting is another form of a church service not just where its participants get their needs satisfied
but where its participants comply with the request of God, the master of church services. Therefore,
a class meeting will be wholesome and holy when it is designed to go ‘upward’ just like a well
class meeting.
The second characteristic is ‘Inwardness’ for Accountability. A well class meeting gives its
first priority to the restoration of accountability. The essence of accountability lies in the process
that class meeting members exchange their open-hearted confession of life, and then take care of
and encourage one another in order to achieve spiritual maturity. As this research paper has studied
so far, accountability played quite an active role in a class meeting in its early stage. At the present,
however, accountability in a class meeting has lost most of its importance and even reduced to an
unfamiliar word to some class meeting members. As David Watson pointed out, a failure to give
account to God is responsible for an ailing class meeting nowadays. In other words, a class meeting
49
can fully restore its function and enjoy its revival only when accountability regains its meaning in
the meeting. It is accountability that takes priority over anything in a class meeting. Each and every
one of well class meeting members is supposed to have religious training and support by sharing
their weekly religious life with leaders and other members. Then, accountability will not only
sanctify individual members but also bring about a healthy revival of a class meeting and a church.
Public gatherings in churches are a one-sided church service performed by service organizers
because there is no time for service participants to give their personal account to God. A well class
meeting, however, is not unilateral. All class meeting members act as both a leader and a
participant. Accountability itself makes that possible. Well class meeting members become a true
follower of God when they make an open-minded confession and have responsibility for taking
care of one another. Therefore, a well class meeting is supposed to be not only ‘upward’ but also
‘inward’ through accountability.
- To Give a Personal Account to God through the Word
God’s Word delivered in public church services are not an interactive procedure between God
and his followers: a unilateral announcement by God and a passive acceptance by his followers.
His Word in a well class meeting, however, promotes a strong motivation for its members to be
accountable to God. It is translated once again through members’ personal account to God, and
resulting inspiration and divine favor are shared among members. They are supposed to share three
things in the process: the meaning of the Word to each members; their confession of life based on
the Word; and their new decision after the Word.
- To Give a Personal Account to God through Prayer
Well class meeting members are encouraged to discuss what they will pray for before their
communal prayer. The procedure is another form of accountability. Members give an account of
50
themselves to God in a natural way when they display their penitence and disclose their living
conditions and wishes.
- To Give a Personal Account to God through Love Feast
A love feast simply does not mean a time for meeting members to share food together. It
implies that they sit around the table together because foot is very critical in life. A love feast
service actually requires an extra time out of regular meeting procedures. In fact, however, it is an
important procedure in line with other courses during a well class meeting. Accountability
generally takes the form of questions and answers during a well class meeting service, while it
takes no form in the case of a love feast service. That is why a well class meeting leader is expected
to provide a careful consideration for members to ensure that his or her members will give more
sincere account of himself or herself to God.
The third characteristic is ‘Outwardness’ for Active Invitation. The Samaritan woman who
met Jesus Christ in Sychar left her water jar at the well and ran for her villagers. She invited them
to the well side where Jesus Christ sat down, eventually having them meet him even though they
had have no idea of him. Such an active invitation is expected to be made in a well class meeting.
A well class meeting should serve as a place not only for followers of God but also for others
ignorant of God.
A well class meeting is required to be open to invitation and encouragement; it should be an
open place for invitees and then a place full of divine favor and inspiration where they can meet
Jesus Christ. That is because a well class meeting is inclined to be outward.
John Wesley above all underscored that every individual member should repent of his or her sins,
experience new birth and then get holiness of heart and life fulfilled. At the same time, he thought
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that Christians’ practical activities to express their love for neighbors are a solution to that. 78
‘Love’ for God and neighbors serves as motivation, momentum and method for Methodists to
work on a social revolution. In line with John Wesley’s idea, an ‘outward’ well class meeting
should practice a holiness movement through gospel preaching and philanthropy through practical
activities to express love for others.
- 525 Fruit of Life Movement
In one form of holiness movements, the 525 Fruit of Life movement should be practiced. The
movement, in fact, is a public ceremony arranged by the church to attract more believers where
participants are required to put down 5,000 blessing names and then to invite 2,000 out of them
and make 500 out of those invited believe in Christianity. A well class meeting is required to take
advantage of pariahs in practicing the movement.
- Well class meeting members write down their own blessing names on the leaf-shaped card and
pray that those on the cards will be invited.
- Well class meeting members put down invitees’ names on the flower-shaped card and do prayer
in every meeting that those invited will become a believer.
- Those who take part in a church service and register church membership in a well class meeting
note down their name on the fruit-shaped card.
Each well class meeting is expected to put up an update and to encourage its members to pray for
blessing names in order to attract new comers in the church.
78
Kim, Jin-doo, John Wesley and His Innovation of Love, Methodist Theological University of Korea Press, Seoul,
2003, p.32
52
- Food Sharing Movement
A well class meeting should start a food sharing movement as one of its philanthropic
activities. For John Wesley, it is his routine of life to feed, clothe, cure and teach poor people.79
Under the movement, food is delivered to senior citizens living alone and teenage bread earners
particularly out of the underprivileged every Saturday. The movement is carried out by four teams:
a sponsoring team which provides supplies; a chef team which prepares food; a delivery team
which is in charge of distributing food; and a prayer team which provides cooperation with its
prayer and gets involved in other procedures. All well class meetings will take turn in taking part
in the movement and practice God’s love in a daily life. The food sharing activity is not just a
movement of love. Rather, it is a movement of invitation in a broad sense because it serves a good
opportunity for those who are against the gospel and church to become open-minded.
The forth characteristic is ‘Forwardness’ for Feast of Life and Purity. A well class meeting is
not being stagnant, but growing and moving forward. In this sense, it is a ‘forward’ class meeting.
A well class meeting provides a place for its members to hold an ‘upward’ ritual, to give an ‘inward’
account of himself or herself to God and to make an ‘outward’ invitation in order to pursue life
and purification. Only those who are with life can move forward. A well classing meeting provides
its members with a special place where they can get life through meeting Jesus Christ. Technically
speaking, a well is a place for wash. A purification procedure in a well class meeting means not
only that its members literally wash out their sins but also that they achieve full restoration of their
soul. That is the case with the Samaritan woman who met Jesus Christ in Sychar. The woman was
79
Ibid, p.63
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purified not only emotionally but also socially; a full restoration procedure of purification. Simply
put, a well class meeting has a religious purification course, which, in turn, makes its members get
sanctified. Furthermore, it is aimed at nurturing a new guide or leader and to creating an advanced
form of class meeting. Hence a ‘forward’ class meeting.
The last characteristic is ‘Open’ Class Meeting. A well class meeting is intended to become
an open gathering, which means that it is exempt from any restraint in terms of its form or activities.
It is not held to time and place, either. Furthermore, it will give full authority to its leader and
members to ensure that they can change the order of any activities involving a well class meeting
at their convenience. Followings are ten activities of open class meetings so that each well class
meeting can freely choose and practice any of them. Well class meeting provided a regular order
of worship and a weekly lesson. However, according to the decisions of the class meeting members
it is a good idea to be able to give various forms of class meeting. Well class meeting can allow
any change, such as friendship-centered or experiece-centered or service-centered. But too many
changes should be avoided.
V. Project: 'WELL CLASS MEETING’ FOCUSING ON ACCOUNTAVILITY
1. Project contest
Incheon Grace Methodist Church was founded by preacher Kim, Young-sook in 1956, who
set up an underground church named Samnongwon Church. For the past 56 years, Incheon Grace
Methodist Church has made extraordinary progress and boasted of 1,500 believers on the record,
about 600 of whom are going to church on Sundays. The mid-sized church is located in the Incheon
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Metropolitan area where most residents are in the low-income class. This writer, who was an
advocate minister for 9 years, has been minister in charge since 2011 when head minister Lee,
Jong-bok resigned from his 35-year old calling. Now the church stands at a new starting line. All
staff in the church are doing their best in practicing six values such as gospel preaching, church
service, small groups, education, family and the world with a new vision that Incheon Grace
Methodist Church is a life union to spread God’s teachings to non-believers, to provide a
meaningful church service, to encourage small group activities, to educate missionaries, eventually
to protect family and the world from evil spirits. The church is ready to pay any cost in order to
make God’s plan come true under the slogan of a church dedicated to Lord’s teachings, a church
pursuing a happy life of its believers and a church having its own voice against social issues.
1) Organization of Class Meeting
In general, the organization has 3 parishes, 9 districts and 81 classes. Three preachers take
care of 3 parishes and each class meeting has one leader and 6 guides to cover 4 to 5 unions. Eight
adult men unions and six youth unions are included as one part of the class meeting system.
2) Issues facing Class Meeting
It is caught in the trap of formalist formalism. Many believers regard a church service in the
class meeting as boring and cumbersome, so they are hesitant about or very passive in attending
the service in the class meeting. Both class meeting leaders and members just feel obliged to hold
a church service and do it of necessity, not of choice. Both of them just are mired in mannerism
involving a church service.
55
Another problem is a problem of class meeting leader. Leaders’ qualification is very important.
That is the reason why John Wesley put priority on one’s qualification when he appointed a class
meeting leader. He chose a person who has both talent and God’s favors, and trained them enough
to lead a class meeting, eventually raising the standard for a leader. Unfortunately, however, with
limited resources in the church, Incheon Grace Methodist Church is not in a position to adopt
Wesley’s high standard in selecting its class meeting leaders and has no choice but to appoint
substandard candidates as a leader. The issue is not to a keen ability of but an enthusiastic attitude
of candidates. Indeed, not a few class leaders have any strong will to put their members together
and to study how to improve their ability as a leader.
And we have a circumstances of members. Today, everyone has a hectic life. Following a new
social trend, most women work as well, so it is not easy for members to arrange a class meeting
time. In the case of class members of Incheon Grace Methodist Church, most of them work in
welfare facilities of the church, so it is very difficult for them to attend a church service of their
class meeting.
In addition, it is difficult to open the house to others. It was a problem in the past, but today
what is called home has become much more private place. Houses are not easily accessible even
to very close friends. This tendency is particularly strong for young people. And as new apartments
were built around the church, many members moved to new apartments. Due to the comparative
ritual and inferiority of the house, it becomes more and more difficult to open the house as a seat
of class meeting.
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2. Project participants
The whole of the Incheon Grace Church 's class meeting is the subject of this project. It
is not an experimentation. It will be a new direction for the Incheon Grace Church. Three
parishes were divided into two, nine districts were re-adjusted to eight districts in eight sub-
districts. All 81 classes participated in the project. (In 1 Parishes - Moderation districs 10, Faith
districs 10, Love districs 10, Peace districs 10. In 2 Parishes- Hope districs 10, Merch districs
meekness districs 10 Loyalty districs 11) As a rule, the 1-7 Men' s Church and 1-6 Young
Men`s Association, which have not been able to hold regular meetings, will start a new class
meeting. And the 1-2 Youth Association actively participated in the project.
3. Project content
1) Purpose
The purpose of this project is to conform if well class meeting can be a new alternative to
class meeting or not in Inchoen Grace Church. So I will research well class meeting' value and
the positive effects and the negative effects and other problems
2) Details of Well Class Meeting
a. Period
The first Friday of January in 2012 to the fourth week of February
(The period is set as said to get a feedback, so the project will be continued afterward)
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b. Current Programs of Jacob’s Well Class Meeting
Conventional Class Meeting of

Jacob’s Well Class Meeting
Methodist Church
A Time for Sharing A Time to Sing a Hymn
A Time for Opening Mind A Time to Light a Candle
A Time to Sing a Hymn A Time to Take a Class Meeting Vow
A Time to Pray A Time to Read Apostles’ Creed
A Time to Read Gospels A Time to Sing for God’s Favors
A Time to Muse Over Gospels A Time to Pray Together
A Time to Adopt Gospels to a Daily Life A Time to Read the Bible
A Time to Pray Together A Time to Muse over Preaching
A Time to Sing a Hymn A Time to Talk about a Daily Life
A Time for the Lord’s Prayer A Time to Listen to a Prayer Poem
A Time for an Intercessory Prayer
A Time to introduce Church Activities
A Time for Collections
A Time for the Lord’s Prayer
A Time to Have a Meal Together
- To Sing a Hymn to be Open-minded
Accountability begins with an open-minded attitude. It is a time to be ready to testify.
Members give high praise to the Lord with all their heart..
- To Light a Candle
It is a ritual with good hope that the Lord will be around. A class meeting is a church service.
A church service without God’s presence is meaningless, only to be a secular ceremony. Members
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once again hope the Lord will be around them when they light a candle.
- To Take a Class Meeting Vow
As in the case of all sports games, a class meeting also needs rules to keep. Members will
voluntarily talk about rules to keep every week so that class meeting activities go well.
- To Read Apostles’ Creed
All members remind themselves of rules of belief before God when they read Apostles’ Creed.
- To Sing a Hymn to Celebrate God’s Favors
All members will acknowledge the existence of the Lord and feel close to them when they
sing a hymn asking for his favors.
- To Pray Together with Others
All members with a different background will experience a united church service and realize
they have the same reason to stand before the Lord when they pray altogether.
- To Read the Bible
All members usually read aloud the Bible altogether because the Lord is said to give the Bible
to each and every believer. From time to time, it will be better for them to take turns in reading the
Bible. All members keep it mind that they read the Bible for others.
- To Muse over Preaching
All members will have a time to get a summary of preaching that their minister in charge
delivers on a church service. Well guards needs to think over preaching and deliver it to members
together with their own opinion. They may take advantage of a Q&A session considering that all
members already listen to the preaching. They need to make a thorough preparation in delivering
preaching.
- To Think Over How to Adopt Preaching to a Daily Life

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Members will summarize what their minister said and think over how the saying affects their
daily life. Indeed, it is a time for accountability. Every member will testify and other members will
give an encouraging message. All members should keep what other members said in the meeting
a secret.
-To Read a Prayer Poem
God’s teachings are briefly summarized in a prayer poem. Members will renew their decision
to follow God’s teachings and find solace in them after confessing their pain and suffering.
Members are supposed to read slowly to think over the meaning of a prayer poem. Well guards
may take advantage of various means to promote people’s attention such as playing background
music or dividing parts to read for believers.
-To have a Intercession
Members exchange the subject of their prayer and pray together. They pray not only for others
who exchange the subject of their prayer, but also for their church, minister in charge and other
absent members. It is not desirable for members to pray in dialect in that all members pray together.
They also keep not only the stories they hear but also the fact they exchange the subject of their
prayer a secret. They inform others when their prayer comes true and admit that they owe to the
Lord.
-To Introduce Church Activities
Well guards introduce important events in the church, which means a class meeting serves as
a sub church in the church. They also need to inform members of others’ news. The procedure is
dedicated to a new comer. One of the most important values for a well class meeting is its openness.
A well class meeting should be open to everyone and make things animated. Members may give a
present and a warm welcome to a new comer.

60
-To Collect Offerings
Members practice accountability when they make offerings. They make a confession of the
fact what is more precious than material things is God. Well guards may appoint a prayer and make
a sincere prayer not only for donors but also beneficiaries.
- To make the Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer is not supposed to memorize. Members show their respect to the Lord with
the Lord’s Prayer and put out the candle to finish the meeting. They also need to say good-bye to
others with applause.
-To Have a Meal Together
Well guards need to arrange a brief meal after the meeting. It is important for members to
have a meal together because they may have a natural experience of accountability during the meal,
but do not feel obliged to do. Members should make it a rule to have three side dishes only or a
meal worthy of less than 8,000 won if they have to order delivery food. That is because participants
do not feel a burden to have a meal with others. If anyone is unwilling to participate in a church
service out of their burden on a meal, a meal will serve as a stumbling block to a divine service.
D. Understanding of Terms used
Since well class meeting uses intentionally new terms to replace the existing to emphasize
the new class meeting, the class members involved in the project need to understand the new terms.
- Jacob’s Well Class Meeting
Incheon Grace Methodist Church names its class meeting ‘Jacob’s well class meeting,’ or a
‘well class meeting’ for short.
- Region Guard
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A leader in charge of the biggest unit of a well class meeting and is called a parish leader.
- Village Guard
A leader taking care of sub groups in the region and is called a district leader.
- Well Guard
A leader of a class meeting and is called a class leader.
- Deputy Well Guard
A sub leader of a class meeting and is to be trained to be a leader, and is called a deputy class
leader.
- Digging Wells
Regular meetings where all well guards attend.
- Digging One Well
Quarterly church services where all class members attend.
- Well Candle
A candle when members light in the beginning of the meeting
- Water Bucket or Well Bucket
A textbook containing God’s teachings
- Well Game
A work shop where members have their mind and body purified and their spirituality fulfilled.
4. Evaluation
The evaluation method will be based on the questionnaire given to the members who
participated in well class meeting and will describe the evaluation based on the report of class
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leader for the women 's shelter and the youth class meeting.
The questionnaire survey was conducted to compare the traditional and the new class meeting.
Therefore, the survey was conducted once in November 2011, before the project, and in February
2012 after the project. In the first survey, 185 persons were surveyed. In the second survey, 264
persons participated in the survey. However, since this survey is a comparative survey, the
questionnaire was adjusted randomly in the second survey and compared with the first 185 survey
participants. Questionnaires 15 through 16 are for only the class members except class leaders,
and 17 through 18 are the questionnaire for the class meeting leaders.
1. 1. How often do you participate in your class meeting?
① every week ② never ③ 5 to 6 times a year
① miss one time a month ⑤ miss more than two times a month
1 2 3 4 5 Total
2011 105 12 14 23 31 185
2012 174 1 2 3 5 185
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Evaluation: The question is intended to check whether believers are ready to take part in a
class meeting. The number of attendants is on a sharp increase, which shows a very desirable
charge.
2. How many hours do you spend in your class meeting?
① less than one hour ② one to two hours
③two to three hours ④ more than 3 hours
1 2 3 4 Total
2011 132 43 9 1 185
2012 134 47 4 0 185
3. What do you think about the time you spend in your class meeting?
① short ② good ③ long
64
1 2 3 Total
2011 15 165 5 185
2012 14 157 14 185
Evaluation: Members usually spend about one hour for a class meeting, which shows no big
change after a well class meeting.
4. Do you think your class meeting is going well?
① very much ② yes ③ no
1 2 3 Total
2011 132 46 7 185
2012 158 22 5 185
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5. If you choose ‘yes’ in the question No. 4, what is the reason?
① The guide arranges the meeting well.
② Members are aggressive in participating in the meeting.
③ The guide and members build a friendly and close relationship.
1 2 3 Total
2011 52 32 48 185
2012 78 40 40 185
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6. If you choose ‘no’ in the question 4, what is the reason?
① Members are passive in participating in the class meeting.
② The guide and members do not build a close relationship.
③ All members do not know one another.
④ Members are tired of the same form of the meeting.
1 2 3 4 Total
2011 3 2 5
2012 3 5
Evaluation: A growing number of believers said class meetings have worked in 2012 better
than the previous year. The interesting point is that an increasing number of believers mentioned
that class meeting leaders are responsible for better activities of class meetings. That shows a well
class meeting is easy for guides to manage, and indeed guides in the field replied the new type of
class meeting is better than the old one in attracting more believers.
7. Do members have ever had other activities besides the regular class meeting?
① Pay a visit to other believers including class meeting members

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② Community service
③ Gospel preaching activities
④ Others (Please explain in detail.)
1 2 3 Total
2011 9 11 10 30
2012 8 7 7 22
8. Are you satisfied with your class meeting held every week?
① very much ② yes ③ so-so ④ not much ⑤ never
1 2 3 4 5 Total
2011 16 67 54 43 5 185
2012 87 53 6 22 17 185
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9. Do you think you class meeting activities are actually helpful to your religious life?
1 2 3 4 5 Total
2011 16 67 54 43 5 185
2012 87 53 6 22 17 185
Evaluation: The question is designed to have one of the most significant meanings in the
survey. It is intended to check the correlation between index of happiness and significance when
believers take part in their class meeting. In fact, it is an intended question with a foregone
conclusion. Nonetheless, the happiness index in 2012 is five times as high as that in 2011. That
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clearly suggests class meeting members feel much happier after joining in a well class meeting
than a conventional meeting. In addition, some members replied a well class meeting is
advantageous to their spiritual life. No doubt believers think a class meeting is of use for their
religious life but many people participate in their class meeting just out of duty.
10. What activity do you think is most important in your class meeting?
① evangelize ② Bible study ③ community service
⑤ house call to members ⑤ confessions and prayers among members
1 2 3 4 5 Total
2011 23 155 3 1 5 185
2012 25 102 4 1 53 185
11. Why do you think you need a class meeting in the church?
① To grow your church and attract potential believers
② To build a friendly relationship among believers
③ To study the Bible or to take an education class in the church
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④ To do community service
⑤ To get help in increasing personal spirituality
A. To get a sense of belonging or an education place in your church life
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
2011 43 20 99 5 13 5 185
2012 33 32 56 1 43 20 185
Evaluation: The question is aimed to check points that the church and class meeting leaders
should put a stress on mos. The respondents mentioned Bible study as the main reason in 2011,
but those surveyed in 2012 gave various opinions after well class meetings even though they still
think Bible study is very important in various class meeting activities.
12. Do you think you can share your personal or spiritual worries with other members in your class
meeting?
① yes ② so-so ③ not much ④ never
1 2 3 4 Total
2011 34 56 66 29 185
71
2012 54 76 34 10 185
13. If you are hesitant about sharing your worries, what is the reason?
① feel ashamed to tell personal worries
② feel hesitant to tell personal worries
③ feel doubtful about the guide or other members
④ feel skeptical of advice from guide or other members
⑥ feel humiliated when others know my weak points
1 2 3 4 5 Total
2011 22 32 11 25 12 103
72
2012 34 52 7 12 6 101
Evaluation: The question is meant to ask believers whether accountability, one of the most
important functions of class meetings works well. The result shows that many people feel still a
burden to confide in other members in a class meeting and class meeting leaders, who can arrange
an atmosphere for accountability, are absolutely short in number even though a better stage for
accountability is set than before.
15. Do you think you fully trust your guide?
1 2 3 4 Total
2011 42 24 3 1 70
2012 51 11 5 3 70
16. Do you think your guide consoles you or gives you advice in your class meetings?

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1 2 3 4 Total
2011 43 22 3 2 70
2012 35 32 4 1 70
Evaluation: The confidence index on a class meeting leader shows a sign of rise but the figure
is below expectation. The result shows that well class meetings can only so much to increase the
confidence index of class leaders. In the meantime, most class meeting leaders are working hard
to arrange meetings.
17. Do you think you do your best in taking care of your members?
1 2 3 4 Total
2011 32 12 22 4 70
2012 65 2 3 0 70
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18. If you have ever felt you are unqualified as a leader of class meeting, what is the reason?
① do not give a big help in solving problems of members
② become short of spirituality
③ class meeting activities are not run smoothly
④ others (Please explain in detail.)
1 2 3 4 Total
2011 22 32 16 70
2012 21 37 12 70
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Evaluation: The question is planned to ask leaders for their passion or a sense of responsibility.
As the said table shows, leaders have much dedicated themselves to a well class meeting.
Unfortunately, however, many of them still have difficulty in arranging class meetings on the
ground.
1) Positive Result of Well Class Meeting
Revival of Church worship takes place in Well Class Meeting. A Church worship in class
meetings is gaining momentum after the well class system was adopted. Some people receive
divine favors and get impressed with them, and are determined to lead a better religious life. A
perfunctory church service has made a big difference so that believers are eager to have a new one.
As the survey shows, a growing number of members are participating in their class meeting and in
particular, their happiness index has dramatically increased. According to Question 1 of the
questionnaire survey, the number of people who are willing to participate in class meeting a weekly
increased from 105 (58%) to 174 (94%). According to Question 5 of the questionnaire survey, The
number of respondents who answered that they are doing well increased from 132 (73%) to 158
(87%). This result shows that there is a recovery of worship in the well. For example, one deacon,
who had not joined in a class meeting service for 5 years, has presented herself at a well class
meeting without fail for the last two months. A well class meeting restores self confidence of
leaders, who bear a burden in guiding members into a class meeting service, and encourages class
meeting members, who were once hesitant to take a church service in their class meeting, to do a
church service voluntarily.
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Life of Church worship takes place in Well Class Meeting. Question. # 9 is a question asking
if it helps with spiritual life. The number of respondents who answered that they were helpful
increased from 101 (57%) to 134 (74%), while only 33 (18%) responded that they answered so-so
decreased from 33(18%)to 5 (2%). It is a figure that shows that the recovery of life is taking place
in the well class meeting.
Life regains its significance when gospels do so. One of the main activities of a well class
meeting is that the meeting takes advantage of sermons from ministers for its education. This
activity has a couple of merits. First of all, class meeting members have a chance to listen to a
sermon one more time and muse over it because they are supposed to lead a life according to the
preaching. The church makes a new change when believers share the sermon with others once
again: believers write down what ministers say. Not only class meeting leaders but also their
members pay attention to preaching and write down, which is a positive result in that all believers
in the church show their respect for Lord’s teachings and have their spirit filled out of their
expectation for God’s teachings.
Purity of Church worship takes place in Well Class Meeting. Question. Outsiders in the
church take an active part in church programs like the Samaritan woman in the gospel of John.
More and more people are volunteering as a Sunday school teacher or school choir member. They
make a decision to move forward and do missionary work because they had already their soul
healed and evil spirits removed in their class meeting. Question 8 of the Questionnaire is asking
about the happiness of class members. Participants who replied that they were very happy
increased from 16(%) to 87(48%). respondents who answered so-so decreased 54 (30%) to 6
(3%). The restoration of purification can not be regarded as a happiness, but it is impossible to be
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happy without purification. The increase in the happiness index is evidence that the recovery of
the purification is happening in the well class meeting. Well class meeting members have their
pain and suffering removed, not only through a church service in their meeting but also through a
friendly and sincere relationship with other members. Therefore, a well class meeting is ‘a well’
where people get their soul cleaned the same as housewives who throw away their worries when
they do laundry around the well side. This process of purity is a comprehensive one, which includes
not only a personal purification allaying individual pain and suffering, but also a social purification
which removes social ills.
Revival of Accountability takes place in Well Class Meeting. The well side is noisy because
housewives have many stories to talk. It plays a role of a coffee house today, where people feel
comfortable in telling their secret. Therefore, some housewives go to the well side even though
they do not need to fetch water in the well. Question 12 asks about whether spiritual problems are
shared within the class meeting. This is to make sure that they are doing well accountability in the
well class meeting. The number of respondents who answered that they could do it increased from
34 (18%) to 54 (30%), while the number of participants who answered that they could not do it
decreased from 29 (16%) to 10 (5%). Question 10 asks what is the most important thing in the
class meeting, but this question is also an item that can be checked about accountability. The
number of participants who value testimony and prayer increased from 5 (2%) to 53 (29%). The
result of this question show us that accountability is recovering in the well class meeting. In other
words, a well class meeting is a place for talking. A class meeting regains its main purpose of
accountability. In this context, accountability does not mean that people just talk. That is a place
where people find solace in their talking. They find comfort in the gospels, others’ experience of
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life and specific expression of love. At last, participants encourage those who make a confession
to get over problems and to have a better spiritual life.
Revival of Invitation takes place in Well Class Meeting. One of the ultimate goals of a well
class meeting is to invite one soul to a church. As in the case of the Samaritan woman in the Bible,
who left a bucket in the well and run to invite her neighbors, a well class meeting is intended to
attract lost sheep in the world. According to question 7, the number of participants who engage in
activities of evangelize with members decreased from 10 (5%) to 7 (4%). However, the number of
respondents who answered that evangelism was the most important thing in the 10th question
increased from 23 (12%) to 25 (14%). Sadly, no one was evangelized for two months by the class
meeting. However, there are hopeful reports that the passion for evangelism iscreased. The well
class meeting should be happy. Because it will be a place to invite strangers. In this sense, the fact
that the happiness index of happiness is increased from 16 (8%) to 87 (48%) is evidence that the
invitation environment is being created. A well class meeting will be the outpost for missionary
work where prospective believers are invited, and have a brief understanding of a church service
and relationship with other believers, eventually leading a spiritual life in the church.
2) Limitations of Well Class Meeting
A well class meeting has a full potential to revive class meetings. Nonetheless, there are
several limitations that even a well class meeting cannot overcome.
There is a fear of change. Most Christians say that they are willing to change. Many of them,
however, are fearful of changes when they actually need to make changes. The same can be said
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of many issues involving a class meeting. A well class meeting also requires a lot of changes in its
practices, which, in turn, invites complaints from some members. Indeed, it is very difficult to
persuade them to accept new practices because they are eager to stick to existing ones which have
been in place for decades.
There is a problem of place to gather. In principle, a well class meeting is supposed to be held
in the house of each and every meeting member. However, younger members are reluctant to invite
other members to their own house. Some of them even go so far as to skip meetings for privacy
issues.
There is a danger to fall dawn Social Gathering. A well class meeting highly focuses on
personal account to God, which sometimes do harm to a solemn church service. Members are
expected to be accountable to God for their higher spiritual maturity. Unfortunately, however,
some of them are distracted to express their private complaints and find themselves involved in a
fruitless dispute.
There is a problem of Range of Accountability. Accountability means that one is willing and
ready to make public one’s mind and thought. However, some people take advantage of their
account to God in order to speak out very sensitive issues such as sexual identity and ethical issues.
Therefore, meeting leaders and members need to consider the range of accountability.
The best Serious problems is a qualified leader. There is no exaggeration to say that a leader
plays one of the most important roles in a well class meeting. Many issues involving a well class
80
meeting are closely related with substandard leaders. However, it is hard to find a well-trained
believer and appoint him or her as a class meeting leader. It is fully in the hands of a leader whether
a well class meeting runs well or not. A class meeting leader is fully responsible for a successful
class meeting. Therefore, to appoint a well-trained and qualified leader should come first.
3) Evaluation through Special Well Class Meeting
- Women’s Shelter Well Class Meeting
Incheon Grace Methodist Church has run a shelter for women where those suffering from
domestic violence can stay together with their family members. They can stay at the shelter up to
6 months. In a word, the shelter is designed to help a dysfunctional family.
A well class meeting has been in place at the shelter since the church dispatched the wife of the
minister in charge as a guide and leader in February, 2012. The well class meeting, however, did
not make a head start. First of all, non-Christian members did not participate the meeting and were
reluctant to do. Worse yet, the meeting seemed to go only so far in that it was not easy for members
with different pain and suffering to give an account of them to God in the meeting mainly based
on accountability.
At present, however, the well class meeting in the shelter has run better than any other well
class meeting in the church. Above all, most of its members are voluntary attendants at the meeting.
Many of them come to learn the gospel in the meeting and as many as 19 members had become
Christian for 6 months as of July in 2012. Moreover, experience of purification has come about in
the well class meeting. Many members go through an emotional healing process when they share
their past life story and become empathetic in every gathering, which eventually leads to an actual
change in their life. For example, one housewife was considering going divorce, but decided to
81
forgive her husband and to rebuild her dysfunctional family. Another single woman suffered from
severe sleep deprivation and depression so that she even went suicidal. Fortunately, however, she
has gotten better and is ready to go home anytime soon. Also, the well class meeting in the shelter
has organized ‘Family Choir’ with other family members with pain and suffering and the choir
gave a public performance. Many female choir members have experienced an emotional healing
process.
Of course, it is hard to assert that all these good changes are attributed to a well class meeting.
However, it is safe to say that new changes come about through a well class meeting. As with the
case of the Samaritan woman, female members in the shelter virtually meet Jesus Christ in the well
class meeting. After meeting Jesus Christ, the Samaritan woman received a new life and got
emotionally and socially purified, eventually becoming chaste and returning to her family.
Likewise, female victims living in the shelter have become purified both emotionally and
physically, and finally returned to their family. The miracle at the well of Sychar once again has
presented itself at the women’s shelter in Incheon Grace Methodist Church.
- Youth Well Class Meeting
A church service for the youth was usually held every Saturday evening. The gathering has
been transformed into a youth well class meeting since February of 2012, which has been followed
by several changes. First, youth participation has risen in a significant level. The youth meeting
usually has around 20 participants. In 6 months later, however, the number has increased by more
than 50 percent to 30 persons in one meeting. It is just a youth well class meeting that understands
the definition and aim of a well class meeting. It is also good at applying itself to the new form of
class meetings. In every class meeting, youth members give an account of themselves to God and
82
share their own personal account to God with other members through the gospel and prayer, which
eventually has brought about new tangible changes. For instance, one young female, who had once
decided to quit going to church, sang a new tune after her participation of the youth well class
meeting and is now keen to do church activities such as the church choir. Another youth well class
meeting has reached a critical juncture in its organization and prepared itself to be split into two
groups because the original gathering has been going smoothly and well.
Young people tend to participate in a non-regular or ad-hoc meeting than a regular one.
Therefore, well class meeting leaders are trying to invite young new comers to a non-regular
meeting where they have dinner or go to the movies together. As a result, many of meeting
participants have registered themselves with the church. Incheon Grace Methodist Church has been
active in posting all these encouraging news on its Facebook account. Youth well class meetings
have served as a stimulus for middle and high school students’ meetings which have been prepared
to run their after-school programs in the form of a well class meeting.
VII. Conclusion
The well class meeting begins with a skepticism traditional class meeting only 'upward'. The
well class meeting should be a dynamic going not only one-way but also various way. And well
class meeting is aiming at the five well-meaning; worship, life, and purification, accountability,
invitation. And well class meeting go to five direction; upward, inward, outward, forward, and
open.
A ship drifts when it has good reasons. A class meeting in Korea is “drifting” because it has
lost its original purpose. Then what is its authentic purpose? Its aim is that individuals raise their
83
spirituality in a class meeting. Today a class meeting in Korea, however, has pursued a different
aim: church growth. Historically speaking, no one denies that a class meeting played a significant
role in church growth. However, the growth was a godsend, not the aim that a class meeting
originally pursed. Individuals had their spirituality rised in a class meeting, which, in turn, led to
church growth. Now the situation has changed: church growth comes first. It is no exaggeration to
say that every group and each program in churches purse the only goal of church growth. A class
meeting is no exception. It is supposed to do its part in church growth. Most churches, however,
take advantage of a class meeting just for its growth like an old, greasy man in a famous tale, who
killed a goose to get an egg in the goose. In a class meeting, any program has been stopped or
canceled if it serves as an obstacle to church growth. One of the programs is accountability. It is
essential for individuals to raise their spirituality but of no use for churches to take advantage of it
for their growth. Worse yet, it serves as a stumbling block for church growth when believers get
to know ministers in person in a class meeting, so it has good reason to be removed in churches.
Churches today need to go back to the basic: Individual spirituality should come first, followed by
church growth. To do so, a class meeting should have its original function: to revive accountability.
As David Watson pointed out, accountability is the essence of a class meeting. Now is the time for
a class meeting to regain its original position in churches. Of course, a well class meeting is not
necessarily a sole alternative for a class meeting based on accountability. However, it will give a
good idea to many churches, which have tried to find out any alternative in order to promote class
meeting activities. A Jacob’s well class meeting of Incheon Grace Methodist Church has yet to
produce a fruitful result. Rather it has revealed several issues for churches to think about involving
a class meeting. If people in charge of the new system examine problems and fix them for a better-
organized well class meeting, it will regain its momentum that early class meetings had.
84
In conclusion, if a class meeting restores its function of accountability, a church will be able
to regain its reputation both from potential believers and its laymen, eventually wielding its
religious clout over people. Its function of accountability will bring its five new images into a life.
Therefore, a well class meeting should serve as a new place where believers voluntarily visit out
of joy, not out of duty, and have a worship service for the Lord and muse over his teachings. In
addition, it should provide a place for believers to think over whether they live up to preaching of
their minister in their daily life and to improve their spirituality. It should be a place for recovery
where believers relieve their pain and suffering by having a frank talk with others and getting
words of encouragement and reprimand from others. Furthermore, it should be a place for
missionary work where each and every class meeting member is willing to invite prospective
believers and to share God’s teachings with them.
A well class meeting will have a great potential for church growth if it adopts five positive
images of a well and renew itself. Then, it will serve as a cradle for individuals to improve their
spirituality, eventually a wholesome base for a church to restore its reputation as a place where
people share gospels.
85
APPENDICES
A. Questionnaire
A questionnaire for Management and Activities of Class Meeting
This questionnaire is designed to collect individual opinions involving class meetings as substitute
research for a doctoral thesis entitled Revival of the Class Meeting through Well Class Meeting
Focusing on Accountability. Please feel free to give your opinions. Thanks for your kind attention
and cooperation.
February 2012/ Baek Deok Ki
Please mark “V” on the number that you agree.
-What is your position in your class meeting?
① a guide (or a leader if no guide)

② a member
-How old are you?
① younger than 30 years
② 30 to 39
③ 40 to 49
④ 50 to 59
⑤ 60 years or older
86
- What school did you graduate from last?
① elementary school
② middle school
③ high school
④ university or graduate school
- How long have you behaved in Jesus Christ?
① less than 5 years
② 6 to 10 years
③ 11 to 20 years
④ 21 to 30 years
⑤ 31 to 40 years
⑥ more than 41 years
- What position do you have in your church?
① presbyter ② exhorter ③ deacon ④ lay believer
1. How often do you participate in your class meeting?
① every week ② never ③ 5 to 6 times a year
③ miss one time a month ⑤ miss more than two times a month
87
2. How many hours do you spend in your class meeting?
① less than one hour ② one to two hours
③ two to three hours ④ more than 3 hours
3. What do you think about the time you spend in your class meeting?
① short ② good ③ long
4. Do you think your class meeting is going well?
① very much ② yes ③ no
5. If you choose ‘yes’ in the question No. 4, what is the reason?
① The guide arranges the meeting well.
② Members are aggressive in participating in the meeting.
③ The guide and members build a friendly and close relationship.
6. If you choose ‘no’ in the question 4, what is the reason?
① Members are passive in participating in the class meeting.
② The guide and members do not build a close relationship.
③ All members do not know one another.
④ Members are tired of the same form of the meeting.
88
7. Do members have ever had other activities besides the regular class meeting?
① Pay a visit to other believers including class meeting members
② Community service
③ Gospel preaching activities
④ Others (Please explain in detail.)
8. Are you satisfied with your class meeting held every week?
9. Do you think you class meeting activities are actually helpful to your religious life?
10. What activity do you think is most important in your class meeting?
① gospel preaching ② Bible study ③ community service
④ house call to members ⑤ confessions and prayers among members
11. Why do you think you need a class meeting in the church?
① To grow your church and attract potential believers
② To build a friendly relationship among believers
③ To study the Bible or to take an education class in the church
89
④ To do community service
⑤ To get help in increasing personal spirituality
⑥ To get a sense of belonging or an education place in your church life
12. Do you think you can share your personal or spiritual worries with other members in your class
meeting?
13. If you are hesitant about sharing your worries, what is the reason?
① feel ashamed to tell personal worries
② feel hesitant to tell personal worries
③ feel doubtful about the guide or other members
④ feel skeptical of advice from guide or other members
⑤ feel humiliated when others know my weak points
14. Please do not hesitate to let your other opinions about class meetings.
⦁Please mark “V” on the question 15 and 16 if you are a class meeting member.
15. Do you think you fully trust your guide?
90
16. Do you think your guide consoles you or gives you advice in your class meetings?
⦁Please mark “V” on the question 17 and 18 if you are the guide or leader of class meeting.
17. Do you think you do your best in taking care of your members?
18. If you have ever felt you are unqualified as a leader of class meeting, what is the reason?
① do not give a big help in solving problems of members
② become short of spirituality
③ class meeting activities are not run smoothly
⑦ others (Please explain in detail.)
91
Church Service Procedure of Class Meeting
(The 1st Week of March, 2012/ the Family to Guide This Service :-----)
The class
leader and
guide are
required to
A Time to
arrive at the
Sing a Hymn # 407 / #268
place 10
to be Open- “Let’s try to hold a service at an appointed time if available”
minutes
minded
earlier and
give a warm
welcome to
members.
1. I will welcome any member with all my hearts and
keep every secret.
2. I will find out God’s will given to me through the
Word and live up to his teachings.
A Time to
3. I will try to have a happy experience that members When the
Take a Class
altogether follow God’s footsteps and take care of leader calls
Meeting Bow
each other under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. off numbers,
(We will take
4. I will be willing to be open-minded and to share my members read
five vows to
religion and life with others and do my best to make a vow
build a true
a pleasant and friendly class meeting. pertinent to
union with
5. I will never lead any member in the meeting into the number.
open minds.)
temptation (for example, to lend and borrow money,
to ask for personal reference, to tout, to press to do
work, to gamble and drink, to complain about the
church, to speak ill of other believers).
A Time to I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Make a maker of heaven and earth;
Religious And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
Confession who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
(We will read born of the Virgin Mary,
the Apostles’ suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Creed for a was crucified, dead, and buried;
religious the third day he rose from the dead;
confession and he ascended into heaven,
hold a class and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
meeting from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
church service I believe in the Holy Spirit,
for the first the holy catholic church,
week of the communion of saints,
92
March.) the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
A Time to
Sing a Hymn
#250
to Praise
God’s Grace
Almighty God,
We appreciate that you have protected us with your favors
and ordered us to hold a class meeting service.
A time to Pray
Let the guide in charge of this service and his family
Together
experience showers of God’s blessing.
(We will pray
Let all members feel blessed, let them live a spirit-filled life
together that
and their family blessed, be your blessed child.
this class
Let our heart touched with fulfillment of the Holy Spirit and
meeting
us experience your grace when we share your teachings and
service will
our life.
proceed under
Let us see greater glory through our family and class
God’s favors.)
meeting, and our church and minister experience your grace.
We ask that we may you rejoice our service today.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Members will
read a short
A time to Read verse
Judges 4:1-9; Let the honor not be deprived of.
the Bible altogether,
while a long
one in turn.
A Time to 1. Opening speech: Let’s applaud the Lord, who lets us to - 5 to 7
Muse over have this honorable meeting and the guide, who leads this minutes
Preaching and noble meeting. The Word we will share today is what the required for
Share One’s minister said in his last Sunday sermon. Let’s pray that the first three
Life with greater grace will be with us when we share the preaching. procedures
Others 2. The Word: It is frustrating and annoying to be deprived of
something. In today’s scripture, we learn that one person
was very frustrated and annoyed. It is Barak in the fourth (The guide
chapter of the Judges. What is it he was robbed of? needs to
According to the ninth verse, he was deprived of the honor. listen to a
The honor was certainly supposed to be for Barak, but it is Sunday
Jael who finally enjoyed it. sermon and
What is the reason? According to the eighth verse, Barak delivers
said to Deborah, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you together with
don’t go with me, I won’t go.” Barak did not rely on the his private
Lord. He depended on people. That is the reason why he was opinion.)
stripped of the honor.
In I.Samuel 15:35, the Lord regretted that he had made Saul
93
king over Israel. It was the Lord who made Saul king. The - one minute
Lord intended to make Israel kingdom through Saul. He did per question
The Lord, not change his plan. However, he changed his way for the for time of
I am your plan. He let go Saul from the throne and made David king sharing
need. You instead. What made Saul deprived of the honor? Saul did not
need me, call reply on the Lord. Then, what made David obtain the honor?
me and build David depends on the Lord only. That is the difference
me. between winner and loser.
The Lord calls us. He makes us his honor for our family and
The Lord, church. He wants to get honored through us. However, We
I am afraid. will be deprived of the honor like Barak if we depends on
I am afraid I secular things, a secular world and secular power.. Like Saul,
may let the we will have a life that the Lord regretted.
honor Isaiah 40:31; but those who hope in the LORD will renew
deprived of their strength.
like Barak. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not
I am afraid I grow weary;
may be the they will walk and not be faint. That is the way the Lords
one that you expects us to lead a life, a way the same as eagles which soar
regret like their wings. A life which goes well. A victorious life. A
Saul. glorious life. There is a way to lead such a life. We should
worship Jehovah.
Let me depend 3. Resolution: Let the honor not be deprived of (let’s repeat
on the Lord 3 times).
only. We will rely on the Lord only.
Let me carry We will take the honor that the Lord wished for.
out the 4. The Word and Sharing a Life:
mission as - What makes Barak deprived of the honor?
precious as - What does it mean that the Lord did not change his plan
life with but changed his method for the plan?
power and let - What honor do we need to fulfill through an upcoming
me display the revival meeting
honor as - Let’s learn Isaiah 40:31 by heart by next week.
bright as Let’s read the poem prayer in the left with today’s scripture
sunshine. in mind.
Amen.
Let’s share a subject of prayer (the subject is confidential).

Let’s pray together with good hope that the subject will be
A Time to Say
replied shortly; to pray in dialect or to call the Lord three One to two
an
times not desirable. minutes
Intercessory
The guide or the leader says the last prayer briefly(less than recommended
Prayer
one minute).
94
A Time to
Less than one
Sing a Hymn # 288 / Prayer for Collections; To appoint a prayer who feels
minutes
and Pray for comfortable with saying a prayer in public
preferable
Collections
A Time to
- To introduce a new member and give a warm welcome
Introduce a A gift for a
- To inform church’s major events(refer to a weekly paper of
New Member new comer
church)
or Church recommended
- To inform members of the next class meeting (date/place)
Events
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Members will
Your kingdom come,
finish a
your will be done,
service with
on earth as it is in heaven.
applause.
Give us this day our daily bread,
A Time for the Usually 45
and forgive us our debts,
Lord’s Prayer minutes
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
estimated for
And lead us not into temptation,
the first
but deliver us from evil.
session of the
For the kingdom, the power, and
service
the glory are yours
now and forever. Amen.
- Rule for a Meal : Refreshments or three side dishes per
A Time for a
meal in case of home-made meal; a meal worth less than
Meal or
8,000 won per person in case of delivery food
Association
- The time required: around 2 hours recommended
95
Church Service Procedure of Class Meeting
(The 1st Week of March, 2012/ the Family to Guide This Service :-----)
The class
leader and
guide are
required to
A Time to
arrive at the
Sing a Hymn # 407 / #268
place 10
to be Open- “Let’s try to hold a service at an appointed time if available”
minutes
minded
earlier and
give a warm
welcome to
members.
1. I will welcome any member with all my hearts and
keep every secret.
2. I will find out God’s will given to me through the
Word and live up to his teachings.
A Time to
3. I will try to have a happy experience that members When the
Take a Class
altogether follow God’s footsteps and take care of leader calls
Meeting Bow
each other under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. off numbers,
(We will take
4. I will be willing to be open-minded and to share my members read
five vows to
religion and life with others and do my best to make a vow
build a true
a pleasant and friendly class meeting. pertinent to
union with
5. I will never lead any member in the meeting into the number.
open minds.)
temptation (for example, to lend and borrow money,
to ask for personal reference, to tout, to press to do
work, to gamble and drink, to complain about the
church, to speak ill of other believers).
A Time to I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Make a maker of heaven and earth;
Religious And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
Confession who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
(We will read born of the Virgin Mary,
the Apostles’ suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Creed for a was crucified, dead, and buried;
religious the third day he rose from the dead;
confession and he ascended into heaven,
hold a class and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
meeting from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
church service I believe in the Holy Spirit,
for the first the holy catholic church,
week of the communion of saints,
96
March.) the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
A Time to
Sing a Hymn
#250
to Praise
God’s Grace
Almighty God,
We appreciate that you have protected us with your favors
and ordered us to hold a class meeting service.
A time to Pray
Let the guide in charge of this service and his family
Together
experience showers of God’s blessing.
(We will pray
Let all members feel blessed, let them live a spirit-filled life
together that
and their family blessed, be your blessed child.
this class
Let our heart touched with fulfillment of the Holy Spirit and
meeting
us experience your grace when we share your teachings and
service will
our life.
proceed under
Let us see greater glory through our family and class
God’s favors.)
meeting, and our church and minister experience your grace.
We ask that we may you rejoice our service today.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Members will
read a short
A time to Read verse
Judges 4:1-9; Let the honor not be deprived of.
the Bible altogether,
while a long
one in turn.
A Time to 1. Opening speech: Let’s applaud the Lord, who lets us to - 5 to 7
Muse over have this honorable meeting and the guide, who leads this minutes
Preaching and noble meeting. The Word we will share today is what the required for
Share One’s minister said in his last Sunday sermon. Let’s pray that the first three
Life with greater grace will be with us when we share the preaching. procedures
Others 2. The Word: It is frustrating and annoying to be deprived of
something. In today’s scripture, we learn that one person
was very frustrated and annoyed. It is Barak in the fourth (The guide
chapter of the Judges. What is it he was robbed of? needs to
According to the ninth verse, he was deprived of the honor. listen to a
The honor was certainly supposed to be for Barak, but it is Sunday
Jael who finally enjoyed it. sermon and
What is the reason? According to the eighth verse, Barak delivers
said to Deborah, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you together with
don’t go with me, I won’t go.” Barak did not rely on the his private
Lord. He depended on people. That is the reason why he was opinion.)
stripped of the honor.
In I.Samuel 15:35, the Lord regretted that he had made Saul
97
king over Israel. It was the Lord who made Saul king. The - one minute
Lord intended to make Israel kingdom through Saul. He did per question
The Lord, not change his plan. However, he changed his way for the for time of
I am your plan. He let go Saul from the throne and made David king sharing
need. You instead. What made Saul deprived of the honor? Saul did not
need me, call reply on the Lord. Then, what made David obtain the honor?
me and build David depends on the Lord only. That is the difference
me. between winner and loser.
The Lord calls us. He makes us his honor for our family and
The Lord, church. He wants to get honored through us. However, We
I am afraid. will be deprived of the honor like Barak if we depends on
I am afraid I secular things, a secular world and secular power.. Like Saul,
may let the we will have a life that the Lord regretted.
honor Isaiah 40:31; but those who hope in the LORD will renew
deprived of their strength.
like Barak. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not
I am afraid I grow weary;
may be the they will walk and not be faint. That is the way the Lords
one that you expects us to lead a life, a way the same as eagles which soar
regret like their wings. A life which goes well. A victorious life. A
Saul. glorious life. There is a way to lead such a life. We should
worship Jehovah.
Let me depend 3. Resolution: Let the honor not be deprived of (let’s repeat
on the Lord 3 times).
only. We will rely on the Lord only.
Let me carry We will take the honor that the Lord wished for.
out the 4. The Word and Sharing a Life:
mission as - What makes Barak deprived of the honor?
precious as - What does it mean that the Lord did not change his plan
life with but changed his method for the plan?
power and let - What honor do we need to fulfill through an upcoming
me display the revival meeting
honor as - Let’s learn Isaiah 40:31 by heart by next week.
bright as Let’s read the poem prayer in the left with today’s scripture
sunshine. in mind.
Amen.
Let’s share a subject of prayer (the subject is confidential).

Let’s pray together with good hope that the subject will be
A Time to Say
replied shortly; to pray in dialect or to call the Lord three One to two
an
times not desirable. minutes
Intercessory
The guide or the leader says the last prayer briefly(less than recommended
Prayer
one minute).
98
A Time to
Less than one
Sing a Hymn # 288 / Prayer for Collections; To appoint a prayer who feels
minutes
and Pray for comfortable with saying a prayer in public
preferable
Collections
A Time to
- To introduce a new member and give a warm welcome
Introduce a A gift for a
- To inform church’s major events(refer to a weekly paper of
New Member new comer
church)
or Church recommended
- To inform members of the next class meeting (date/place)
Events
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Members will
Your kingdom come,
finish a
your will be done,
service with
on earth as it is in heaven.
applause.
Give us this day our daily bread,
A Time for the Usually 45
and forgive us our debts,
Lord’s Prayer minutes
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
estimated for
And lead us not into temptation,
the first
but deliver us from evil.
session of the
For the kingdom, the power, and
service
the glory are yours
now and forever. Amen.
- Rule for a Meal : Refreshments or three side dishes per
A Time for a
meal in case of home-made meal; a meal worth less than
Meal or
8,000 won per person in case of delivery food
Association
- The time required: around 2 hours recommended
99
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chae, Bu-ri. The Methodist Church and the Class Meeting. Seoul: The Education Department of
The Korean Methodist Church, 1983.
Kim, Jin-du. John Wesley’s Practicing Theology. Seoul: Jinheung Press, 2000.
David L.Watson. The Early Methodist Class Meeting. trans. By Han, Kyung-soo. Incheon: Bible
Study Press, 1986.
G.Murray. The Methodist Church and the Class Meeting. Incheon: Juahn Church Press, 1991.
Wesley, John. The Works of John Wesley: A Plain Account of the People called Methodists
(Bicentennial edition), Vol. 8 (Journal and Diaries). ed. by W. Reginald Ward and Richard P.
Heitzenrater. Nashiville: Abingdon, 1998.
Kim, Oe-sik. Modern Church and Spirituality Ministry. Seoul: Methodist Theological University Press,
1994.
Lee, Byung-chul, Hellas-Korean Dictionary: The New Testament. Seoul: The Korean Institute of the
Bible, 1990.
AmenChungcom.’ “Admonishment”, Jerusalem CD, AmenChungcom, 1998; Gerbard Kittle and

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102

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REVIVAL OF THE CLASS MEETING THROUGH

Revival of the Class Meeting Through

A Project Paper Submitted to

‘accountability,’ and ‘invitation.’

can bring about a revival of the class meeting.

1. Purpose and Motivaion of the Research ..................................................... 1

2. Background and Direction of the Research.................................................. 2

III. Theoretical Basis for Class Meeting............................................................... 4

1. Biblical Backgraound ................................................................................. 4

2. Historical Background .................................................................................. 6

III. Theoretical Basis for Accountability ............................................................ 11

1. Biblical Background ................................................................................... 11

2. Historical Background ................................................................................ 23

IV. Theoretical Basis for Well Class Meeting .................................................... 32

1. Biblical Background ................................................................................... 32

2. The Meaning of a Well in Korea ................................................................ 35

3. Model for Well Class Meeting- Jacob’s Well in Sychar(John4:1-42)........ 38

4. Characteristics of Well Class Meeting ....................................................... 47

1. Project context ............................................................................................ 54

2. Project Participants ..................................................................................... 56

3. Project Content ........................................................................................... 57

VII. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 83

B. Church Service Procedure of Class Meeting(1)

C. Church Service Procedure of Class Meeting(2)

a three-year doctoral course in Wesley Theological Seminary.

Sun-ha, who have encouraged me with their heartfelt prayer.

today with their endless love and prayer.

that I would be a respectable servant of the Lord.”

1. Purpose and Motivation of the Research

weaker and weaker.

2. Background and Direction of the Research

images of a well including accountability. As a practical method of investigation, the concept of a

II. Theoretical Basis for Class Meeting

the beginning of the system, they assert. 2

a mission to spread gospels.

establishing an efficient relationship and pursuing a collective life.

advice and to pray for them. 7

including their devotion to the belief. 8

was important in the meeting.

good points of the early class meeting as follows. 9

b. Class members increase their self-esteem by listening to what others say.

look after one another.

responsible spirituality guidance from their class leader.

more per week.

neighbors to Jesus Christ. 10

b. Band members keep an appointed time.

c. Band members start with hymns and prayer.

for the past week.

tempted to commit sins.12

that members make a cross confession.

meeting in order to revive a class meeting in Korean churches.

suggesting a theoretical basis of class meeting research.

society pursues salvation with all his heart. 16

David L. Watson mentioned accountability and discipleship as an important term in order to