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Yoido Full Gospel Church
founded 1958 (David Yonggi Cho); Yoido 1973· Church or tradition· Church, doctrine & the world
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
A Pentecostal church in Seoul, begun in a tent in 1958, that grew into the world's largest single congregation.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
David Yonggi Cho (조용기), a convert from Buddhism who said he was healed of tuberculosis, and Choi Ja-shil (최자실), later his mother-in-law, started Yoido Full Gospel Church (여의도순복음교회) in a tent in Daejo-dong, Seoul, in 1958. Affiliated with the Assemblies of God, it moved to Yeouido island in 1973. Cho organized members into thousands of home 'cell groups,' many led by women, and preached a 'threefold blessing' of spiritual, physical and material well-being. Reported membership reached about 700,000–800,000.
Why it matters
It showed how Pentecostal worship, cell groups and a message of blessing could grow a church to enormous scale, a model copied by megachurches worldwide.
Sources and history
Church records and membership claims (self-reported, never independently audited), Cho's books, scholarly studies, and court records of Cho's 2014 conviction for breach of trust involving church funds.
Questions and debates
Critics see the 'threefold blessing' as prosperity theology shaped by Korea's economic boom; supporters see hope offered to the poor. True active membership is hard to verify.
Connections (2)
▸Pentecostalism and the Azusa Street Revival gave rise to Yoido Full Gospel ChurchHistorical record
The connection
Yoido Full Gospel grew directly out of Pentecostal missions: David Yonggi Cho trained at the Assemblies of God's Full Gospel Bible school in Seoul, and the church kept Pentecostal hallmarks such as speaking in tongues, healing prayer and all-night prayer meetings, adding Korean touches like a fasting 'prayer mountain.'
When and where
Seoul: a Bible school run by American Assemblies of God missionaries in the 1950s; tent church, 1958; Yeouido from 1973; the Osanri prayer mountain from 1973.
Historical evidence
The church's membership in the Korea Assemblies of God and Cho's own books and sermons document its Pentecostal roots.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate how much its focus on blessing and healing reflects Pentecostalism versus older Korean shamanistic traditions; church leaders reject the shamanism comparison.
▸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.