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South Korea's church boom
c. 1960–1995; about 28% Christian in 2015 census· Event· Bible story & events
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
South Korea's Protestant and Catholic churches grew explosively from the 1960s to the 1990s, making it one of Asia's most Christian nations.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Protestants grew from well under 1 million around 1950 to about 8.8 million by the 1995 census. Huge rallies, such as Billy Graham's 1973 crusade and Explo '74, filled Yeouido (여의도) Plaza, and Seoul came to host several of the world's largest congregations. The 2015 census counted about 28% Christian: 19.7% Protestant and 7.9% Catholic. Korea now sends over 20,000 missionaries abroad, among the most of any country. Growth stalled after the 1990s, and young adults are leaving.
Why it matters
Korea became a rare Asian country where Christianity is a major homegrown faith and a missionary-sending power; its churches shaped education, politics and the diaspora, including Korean-American churches.
Sources and history
Government censuses (1985, 1995, 2005, 2015), Gallup Korea religion surveys, denominational statistics and missionary-association counts. Individual churches' membership claims are often inflated.
Questions and debates
Scholars weigh the causes: war and refugees, anticommunism, migration to cities, hopes of prosperity, and the churches' patriotic credibility. Why growth stalled, and how fast decline will go, is debated.
Inside this (1)
Connections (6)
▸Pyongyang Great Revival set the pattern for South Korea's church boomMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
The revival set the template Korean churches later scaled up: early-morning prayer meetings, loud simultaneous prayer, revival meetings, intense Bible study and lay evangelism. South Korea's postwar boom used the same tools in tents, crusades and megachurches, and churches still invoke 1907 as their model.
When and where
Pyongyang, 1907; carried south by refugees after 1945 and used in South Korean revivals, especially in the 1960s–80s; centennial rallies in 2007.
How do we know?
The practices can be traced in church histories and missionary accounts; Korean churches marked the 2007 centennial with large rallies calling for a new revival.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether a 1907 'pattern' really drove postwar growth, or whether war, refugees and urbanization mattered far more.
▸Yoido Full Gospel Church became the best-known example of South Korea's church boomHistorical record
The connection
Yoido Full Gospel grew from a tiny 1958 tent meeting to hundreds of thousands of members, becoming the boom's showcase. Its cell groups, healing services and message of blessing spoke to rural migrants and the poor in fast-industrializing Seoul. Other Seoul churches, Presbyterian and Methodist, also grew to tens of thousands.
When and where
Seoul, mainly from the 1960s to the 1990s, as the city grew from about 2.4 million people in 1960 to over 10 million by 1990.
Historical evidence
Church membership records, census data on Protestant growth, and studies of Korean megachurches; membership figures are self-reported.
Questions and debates
Debated: whether megachurches drove the boom or mainly gathered people already converting, and how their scandals contributed to later decline.
▸South Korea's church boom is a leading example of Christianity's center shifts to the Global SouthHistorical record
The connection
Korea compresses the shift into little more than a century: a mission field in 1885, its churches were Korean-led within decades, and by about 2010 it sent over 20,000 missionaries abroad, second only to the United States by many counts, to Asia, Africa, Latin America and beyond.
When and where
South Korea, especially from the 1980s; the Korea World Missions Association has tracked missionary numbers since the 1990s.
Historical evidence
Missionary-association counts and studies of Korean missions, though counts of full-time missionaries vary by source.
Questions and debates
South Korea is now a rich, aging country, so whether it belongs in the 'Global South' is debatable; its church decline may preview what happens elsewhere.
▸Billy Graham drew a million in Seoul during South Korea's church boomHistorical record
The connection
Graham's 1973 Seoul crusade on Yeouido Plaza drew an estimated 1.1 million people to its final service, the largest crowd of his career; Baptist pastor Billy Kim (김장환) interpreted. Many thousands came forward, and the event built momentum for mass evangelism such as Explo '74 on the same plaza.
When and where
Yeouido Plaza, Seoul, May 30 to June 3, 1973, under Park Chung-hee's government, organized with Korean churches.
Historical evidence
News coverage, photographs, and Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Korean church records; the crowd figures are estimates.
Questions and debates
Debated: whether the crusade caused growth or reflected a boom already underway, and whether it lent legitimacy to Park's authoritarian Yushin regime.
▸March 1st Movement: Christians in Korea's independence gave churches the national standing behind South Korea's church boomMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Because Korea's colonizer was Japan, not a Western power, Korean Christianity became linked with national independence rather than foreign rule, unlike in China. Christians' sacrifices in 1919 earned the churches lasting national respect, which helped them attract Koreans when growth came after 1945.
When and where
Korea, from 1919 through liberation in 1945; South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee (1948), was a Methodist, and churches cited their independence legacy.
How do we know?
Historians of Korean Christianity, such as Kenneth Wells and Timothy Lee, make the argument; it is an interpretation, not a measurable cause.
Questions and debates
Many churches later bowed to Japanese Shinto shrine worship (the Presbyterian assembly did so in 1938), and some leaders collaborated, complicating the patriotic narrative.
▸Communism and the persecution of churches drove northern Christians south, fueling South Korea's church boomMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Before 1945, northern Korea, centered on Pyongyang, was Korea's Protestant heartland. Under Soviet occupation and Kim Il Sung, churches were suppressed, and many Christians fled south before and during the Korean War. Refugees founded churches such as Seoul's Youngnak Presbyterian (영락교회, 1945) under Han Kyung-chik and brought fierce anticommunism into South Korean church life.
When and where
North to South Korea, 1945–1953; Youngnak Church founded in Seoul by refugees from the north in December 1945.
How do we know?
Church founding records, refugee memoirs and studies of South Korean churches show a high share of northern-born leaders and members.
Questions and debates
How many Christians fled is estimated, not counted, and scholars debate how much refugees, versus later urbanization in the 1960s–80s, drove growth.