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| The facade of today's Yoido Full Gospel Church in southern Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District / Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church |
From tent church to Korea's largest Protestant church
By Sah Dong-seok
Yoido Full Gospel Church will mark its 65th anniversary on May 18. Founded by Rev. Cho Yong-gi in 1958 in a tent, it has grown remarkably over a short period of time, and nowadays draws the largest number of believers in Korea for worship.
The church has a unique position in that it let Pentecostalism, a Christian movement that emphasizes the direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit, take center stage in the Korean Protestant world, where the Presbyterian denomination prevails. Senior Pastor Lee Young-hoon, who is leading the megachurch after Rev. Cho died in September 2021, has also become a leader of the Korean church circle, concurrently serving as the president of the United Christian Churches of Korea.
The number of Yoido Full Gospel Church members reached 500,000 at the end of 1985. The figure exceeded 700,000 in 1992 although many major churches in Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan areas became independent as local churches since the turn of the 1990s. Even as 20 branch churches broke away after Rev. Lee was elected the second senior pastor in 2008, the congregation of Yoido Full Gospel Church was as many as 570,000. If branch churches are included, the number of believers would reach nearly 900,000.
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| In 1958, Yoido Full Gospel Church was first founded as a makeshift "tent church" by Pastor Cho Yong-gi in northwestern Seoul's Eunpyeong District. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church |
It is a remarkable growth comparable to the Miracle on the Han River. The church had a very humble beginning, though. Yoido Full Gospel Church began on May 18, 1958, with an inaugural service in the living room of missionary Choi Ja-sil's house in Daejo-dong, northwestern Seoul. At the time, only five people ― Rev. Cho who was then a preacher, missionary Choi who was Cho's mother-in-law, his three children and an elderly woman who came to avoid the rain while working in the field ― attended the service. But the anecdote of Rev. Cho, who raised his voice that day by saying, "I'm preaching, thinking that more than 1,000 people are sitting here," is on everyone's lips even today.
Rev. Cho's dream proved to be a vision, not a fantasy. The church grew rapidly. The tent church in Daejo-dong, which was built using American military tents, could accommodate no more people.
The church moved to Seodaemun in central Seoul, but as the congregation continued to grow, what caught the eyes of Rev. Cho was Yeouido (Yoido), an island on the Han River in Seoul. On Aug. 19, 1973, the first service was offered at the present chapel in Yoido. And on Sept. 23 of the same year, the dedication service of the newly built Yoido church took place with about 18,000 people attending. It was then that Yoido Full Gospel Church became what it is today.
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| The construction of Yoido Full Gospel Church at its present-day site in southern Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District was completed on Aug. 15, 1973. The church held its first service four days later. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church |
Yoido Full Gospel Church is dreaming of another takeoff under Rev. Lee who became its second senior pastor in May 2008. While many large churches have struggled with hereditary issues, the church democratically elected its senior pastor without the involvement of Rev. Cho.
Under his leadership, the Holy Spirit Movement expanded throughout the Korean Peninsula as the church achieved its goal of planting more than 500 local churches. Rev. Lee, who took the helm of Yoido Full Gospel Church fully after Rev. Cho died in 2021, hopes to see the day when the door to North Korea opens so that the Holy Spirit Movement can continue to spread across the world.
In his speech for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemorative service in 2018, he preached, "I have a dream that one day little boys and girls from North and South Korea will join together as brothers and sisters." In fact, Rev. Lee has encouraged church leaders to constantly pray for the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula, hoping to be a messenger of peace not only within the boundary of Yoido Full Gospel Church but also globally.
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