Developing Strategies to Implement the D.W.S. Program of Liberty University in South Korea

This study suggests practical strategies to implement the Doctor of Worship Studies program of Liberty University in South Korea. In the past several decades, Christian worship in South Korea has followed America’s footsteps of worship transition. As many Christian leaders in the U.S. have agreed on the urgency of worship renewal, so have Christian leaders in South Korea. True worship must be relational with the Triune God, which is the core of Christian worship. When worship lacks a rightful relationship with God, it becomes human-centered and ritualistic. Worship renewal must flow from the worship leaders to laypeople, and it is imperative to educate worship leaders and ministers in Korea with biblical principles and sound worship theology. The D.W.S. program of Liberty University, launched in 2013-2014, has steadily grown to substantially educate professional worship practitioners in the U.S. with biblical worship principles. Therefore, this doctoral-level worship program is expected to serve as a practical ground for worship renewal in South Korea if duly offered based on program analyses and insightful advice from Korean professional worship practitioners. A strategic study was undertaken with materials from the current D.W.S. program and the initiative Korean D.W.S. program of 2013 and through interviews of twenty-one Christian worship leaders in South Korea. The outcome of this study in Chapter 6 can further be applied to various other worship education programs for South Korea and mission fields in other countries as well