Friday, August 21, 2009

Yoido Full Gospel Church: The World's Largest Church





June 26, 1988

June 26, 1988 was a Sunday. We went into the city and attended a service at Yoido Full Gospel Church. This church boasts a membership that is not only the largest Christian congregation in Korea, but also in the world. With an impressive 830,000 or so members today, Yoido Full Gospel Church is remarkable in this regard due to the fact that there has not been a long history of Christianity (Protestant) in Korea.

The focus of the start of the church was centered on humanitarian and spiritual help to those in need. Its founders, David Yonggi Cho and his mother-in-law Choi Ja-Shil, held services in Choi's home. From there, the growth of the church became so big that the church purchased land on Yoido Island which is in the Han River in the middle of Seoul. Something of interest that could be a factor leading to this incredible growth is that Pastor Cho sends the message that God's will for Christians not only consists of salvation of the soul, but also physical health and financial pro$perity.

In 1988 and still today, Yoido has 7 services each Sunday with interpretations in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Russian and Spanish. There are also satellite churches throughout the city. If you go to Seoul and are there on a Sunday, you must go to Yoido Full Gospel Church for the experience.

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