Yoido Full Gospel Church is a Pentecostal church on
YeouidoYeouido is a large island in the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. It is Seoul's main business and investment banking district. Its 8.4 square kilometers are home to some 30,988 people. The island is located in the Yeongdeungpo-gu district of Seoul, and largely corresponds to the precinct of...
(Yoi Island) in
SeoulSeoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
,
South KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. With about 1,000,000 members (2007), it is the largest Pentecostal Christian congregation in South Korea, and the world. Founded and led by
David Yonggi ChoDavid Yonggi Cho is a Korean Christian minister. He is Senior Pastor and founder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church , the world's largest congregation with a membership of 1,000,000...
since 1958.
Early years: 1958-1961
The Yoido Full Gospel Church was founded by Pastor
David Yonggi ChoDavid Yonggi Cho is a Korean Christian minister. He is Senior Pastor and founder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church , the world's largest congregation with a membership of 1,000,000...
and his mother-in-law, Choi Ja-shil (최자실), both
Assemblies of GodThe Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
pastors. On May 15, 1958, a worship service was held in the home of Choi Ja-shil. Apart from the two pastors, only Choi Ja-shil's three daughters (one of whom later married David Yonggi Cho) and one elderly woman, who had come in to escape from the rain, attended the first service. The two pastors began a vigorous campaign of knocking on doors, providing spiritual and humanitarian help to the poor, and praying for the sick. Within months, the church had grown to fifty members, too many to accommodate in Choi Ja-shil's living room. Worship services were accordingly moved to a tent pitched in her backyard. As the church continued to grow over the following months and years, the church outgrew one tent after another.
Pastor Cho began preaching on the Three-Fold
BlessingA blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...
(the blessing of the spirit, soul, and body), proclaiming that physical health and financial prosperity are as much a part of God's will for Christians as the salvation of the soul. Inspired by his message of hope and monetary wealth, many previously uncommitted people joined the church, and by the beginning of 1961, membership had grown to a thousand. Having grown too large for its tent, the church purchased its first plot of land, at Seodaemun (서대문).
The Seodaemun Church: 1961-1973
The church's plans for expansion suffered a setback when Pastor Cho was called up for mandatory military service. Fortunately for the church, he was assigned to an American Army base near Seoul, allowing him to continue with his Sunday preaching, with the help of John Hurston, an American missionary. Cho's spell in the army was short, as ill-health required a major operation and a subsequent discharge from the army. Although ill, Cho continued to pastor the church, and on 15 October 1961 an inaugural service was held in the new auditorium that had been built on the plot of land the church had purchased at Seodaemun. It was named the Full Gospel Revival Center.
Church membership continued to grow, reaching three thousand by 1964 and eight thousand by 1968. Cho continued to be plagued by ill health, and he suffered a physical collapse while leading a baptismal service one Sunday. At this time, Cho decided to restructure the church. Cho divided the city of Seoul into zones, with church members in each zone comprising a "cell" that would meet on a weekday for worship and bible study in the home of a "cell leader." Cell members were encouraged to invite their friends to attend cell meetings to learn about Christianity. Each cell leader was instructed to train an assistant. When cell membership reached a certain number, it would be divided, with about half of its members joining the new cell led by the person who had been the assistant. Cho later wrote a book in English about this concept of "cell multiplication", which has since been emulated by churches throughout the world.
Cho believed that women would make ideal cell leaders, having both the time and the desire to make home visits to other members, something that many men, for reasons pertaining to Korean culture as it was at that time, were unwilling to do. His decision to appoint women as cell leaders, went against the grain of Korean culture, which at that time was not open to the idea of women leading groups that had male members. He persisted, and the cell concept turned out to be an outstanding success. From 125 cells in 1967, the church has grown to several thousand cells today.
Aside from restructuring as a cell-based church, a Women's Fellowship was started in 1960, followed by a Men's Fellowship in 1963, to enable lay members to serve the church in a wide range of volunteer capacities. A church magazine, "Faith" was also started in 1967. Containing Bible studies, testimonies, and evangelistic messages, this monthly periodical soon spread far beyond Seoul.
The Yoido Church: 1973-present
Membership continued to grow rapidly, reaching ten thousand in the early 1970s. Having outgrown its Seodaemun premises, the church began looking for a new place to build.
YeouidoYeouido is a large island in the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. It is Seoul's main business and investment banking district. Its 8.4 square kilometers are home to some 30,988 people. The island is located in the Yeongdeungpo-gu district of Seoul, and largely corresponds to the precinct of...
(Yoi Island or 여의도), in the middle of the
Han RiverThe Han River is a major river in South Korea and the fourth longest river on the Korean peninsula after the Amnok, Duman, and Nakdong rivers. It is formed by the confluence of the Namhan River , which originates in Mount Daedeok, and the Bukhan River , which originates on the slopes of Mount...
which winds its way through the heart of Seoul, was at that time little more than sand dunes, without even a bridge to connect it to the city of Seoul. Believing that he had heard from God, Cho and the other leaders of the church decided to purchase a plot of land on Yoi Island. Economic problems, including the 1973 "oil shock" which led to spiraling inflation and the loss of jobs for many church members, delayed construction of the new auditorium. However, it was finally finished in 1973, and its inaugural worship service was held on 19 August of that year. A month later, Full Gospel Central Church, as it was now known, hosted the 10th
Pentecostal World ConferenceThe Pentecostal World Conference or Pentecostal World Fellowship is a fellowship of Pentecostal believers and denominations from across the world....
at the
Hyochang StadiumHyochang Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Hyochang-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is currently used mostly for football matches.The stadium has a capacity of 18,000 people. It was built in October 1960 for 1960 AFC Asian Cup.-See also:...
. Fifty-five thousand attended, including five thousand foreigners.
Membership of Full Gospel Central Church reached fifty thousand by 1977, a figure which doubled in only two years. On 30 November 1981, membership topped 200,000. By this time, it was the largest single congregation in the world and was recognized as such by the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. A special worship service was held to celebrate this milestone, with
Demos ShakarianDemos Shakarian was a Christian businessman of Armenian origin from Los Angeles who founded the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International...
, President of the
Full GospelThe term Full Gospel is often used as a synonym for Pentecostalism, a Protestant movement originating in the 19th century. Early Pentecostals saw their teachings on baptism with the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and divine healing as a return to the doctrines and power of the Apostolic Age...
Businessmen's Fellowship International as the guest speaker.
Beginning in the 1980s, Full Gospel Central Church decided to establish satellite churches throughout the city of Seoul and further afield, as it would not be able to keep on expanding indefinitely. Despite the expansion of the auditorium to seat 12,000 in 1983, seven Sunday services were insufficient to accommodate the entire membership. As exponential growth continued, reaching 700,000 by 1992, the need for satellite churches became more pressing. Despite the drain of members to the satellite churches, however, new recruits by the mother church - brought in through the vast cell network - have made up for the losses, and membership stood at 780,000 in 2003. The church was renamed Yoido Full Gospel Church in the 1990s. Its founder, Mr David Yonggi Cho, has retired as head pastor several times, but the church has run into immediate infighting among the remaining ministers, causing him to come out of retirement, most recently late in 2006. As of 2007, membership stands at 830,000, with seven Sunday services translated into 16 languages.
On 9 January 2009 a Sunday church service was featured in a BBC documentary
Around the World in 80 FaithsAround the World in 80 Faiths is a British television series which was first broadcast by the BBC on 2 January 2009. The series is presented by the Anglican vicar, Pete Owen-Jones, who is researching the various faiths from around the world....
.
Architecture and location
In the heart of Seoul, the Yoido Full Gospel Church sits directly across from Korea's National Assembly. The building is large enough to seat 26,000 people, with overflow sent to nearby buildings who watch events in the main church on telescreens.
Ministries of the church
Yoido Full Gospel Church has established many ministries as part of its outreach program, both locally and internationally. A representative sample of them follows:
- In March 1973, the Osanri Prayer Mountain
Prayer Mountain, or more specifically, the Osanri Choi-Jashil Prayer and Fasting Mountain Facility, is a Christian retreat in South Korea, operated by the Yoido Full Gospel Church, Korea's largest church. It is located in Jori-myeon, Paju, in northern Gyeonggi province near the Demilitarized Zone...
was founded. Comprising tiny cubicles in which people may lock themselves to fast and pray, Prayer Mountain now receives more than a million visitors a year, including some 50,000 foreigners.
- In November 1976, Church Growth
Church Growth is a movement within evangelical Christianity which emphasizes mainly missionary work combined with sociological awareness of the target population. The "seeker sensitive" label for this approach characterizes the would-be converts as "seekers".-History:Church Growth began with the...
International, an organization dedicated to teaching the principles of evangelism and church growth to pastors all over the world, was established.
- A ten-story World Evangelical
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Center, an educational institution attached to the church, was opened on 20 January 1977.
- A television studio, opened on 31 December 1981, was built to broadcast the worship services both nationally and internationally.
- The Full Gospel Educational Research Institute, now the International Theological Institute
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, to promote evangelism and theological training.
- In January 1986, Elim
Elim was one of the places where the Israelites camped following their Exodus from Egypt. It is referenced in Exodus 15.27 and Numbers 33.9 as a place where "there were twelve wells of water, and seventy date palms," and that the Israelites "camped there near the water".From the information that...
WelfareWelfare refers to a broad discourse which may hold certain implications regarding the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens without the stigma of charity. This is termed "social solidarity"...
Town, a facility for the elderly, the young, the homeless, and the unemployed, was set up under the auspices of the church. The latter would be given training and a choice of four occupations. In March of the same year, the church established Hansei UniversityHansei University is a mid-sized University located in Gunpo City near Seoul, South Korea. It was established in 1953 as The Full Gospel Theological Seminary by the Assemblies of God...
.
Recent activities
In March 1996, the Seoul
Logos' is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word," "speech," "account," "reason," it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus ' is an important term in...
Company published a 21-volume collection of Pastor Cho's sermons, delivered over his ministry of thirty-eight years. What the church regarded as a crowning honour came in September 1992, when Pastor Cho was elected Chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship. This was the first time that international leadership of the denomination of fifty million members in sixty countries had passed out of American hands. He served in this capacity until August 2000. Pastor Cho, now assisted by a total of 171 associate pastors and 356 lay pastors, continues to lead the Yoido Full Gospel Church, whose status as the world's largest congregation has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.
See also
- Christianity in Korea
The practice of Christianity in Korea revolves around two of its largest branches, Protestantism and Catholicism, accounting for 8.6 million and 5.1 million members respectively. Roman Catholicism was first introduced during the late Joseon Dynasty period...
– an overview of the history and social impact of Christianity in Korea.
- David Yonggi Cho
David Yonggi Cho is a Korean Christian minister. He is Senior Pastor and founder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church , the world's largest congregation with a membership of 1,000,000...
– a biography of the Senior Pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church.
- Yeouido
Yeouido is a large island in the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. It is Seoul's main business and investment banking district. Its 8.4 square kilometers are home to some 30,988 people. The island is located in the Yeongdeungpo-gu district of Seoul, and largely corresponds to the precinct of...
(Yeoui Island)
- List of Korea-related topics
- Megachurch
A megachurch is a church having 2,000 or more in average weekend attendance. The Hartford Institute's database lists more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States. According to that data, approximately 50 churches on the list have attendance ranging from 10,000 to 47,000...
External links
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