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History
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3. The Church at Yoido (1973 - present)
« The Growing Church
The membership of the church at Seo-dae-mun continued to skyrocket day by day. With the
membership reaching 10,000, the Seo-dae-mun church was no longer adequate to accomodate all
the members. Accordingly, the church began looking for a new place to build. Although many
places were considered, it was not easy to find the right place to build a new church to accommodate
its continuing growth.
It was then that Yoido was submitted as a candidate. At the time, Yoido Island was undeveloped
and was being used as a runway for aircraft. Being a desolate island at the time, there was not
even a bridge to connect it to the city of Seoul. It was obvious that one of the problems for the congregation
would be the means of travel to the island. However, through much prayer by
Pastor Cho Yonggi, he was assured that Yoido was indeed the place which God had prepared.
With this answer from God, a piece of land was purchased in Yoido. Having purchased the
land, the problem of funds necessary to build a church became a hurdle. The great
amount of funds required seemed an unsurmountable obstacle. However, Pastor Cho Yonggi who
believed in the miracle of God forged ahead with his burning desire to build a church in Yoido.
From the laying of its foundation, the church faced many difficulties, including the immediate
problem of securing the funds. Coinciding with the Middle Eastern "oil shock", the exchange rate
of the Korean won to the dollar plummeted, sending the cost of building material to a new
high. Added to this external negative factor, the church also faced a drop in tithe income.
Many of the members of the church lost their jobs as a result of the "oil shock", and the
banks which had loaned the funds to the church lowered the credit rating of the church, causing the
debt repayment to be a heavier burden on the church. As the pressure increased, the construction
of the church came to a halt, a truly devastating situation. Pastor Cho Yonggi began going out to
the construction site, grabbed hold of the bare iron bars which stood like the skeletons of the
building, and began praying to God nightly. "Oh God my Lord! It would be better if these bars fell
on me and released me from this turmoil." Rain or shine, Pastor Cho Yonggi kneeled on the
empty rice sacks and cried out to the Lord.
One by one, those who shared faith in God's plan and providence began joining Pastor Cho for
the nightly prayers. With the passage of time, the prayers to save the church began to build
momentum. Then, one member brought to Pastor Cho Yonggi the proceeds from the sale of his
gold and jewelry possessions. This became an impetus for other members to also offer the church
the proceeds from the sales of what they had sold. Such faith, love and devotion to God and the
church made it possible to repay the debts and complete the YFGC.
The first worship service at the now YFGC was held on August 19th, 1973. On September
18-22, 1973, the 10th Pentecostal World Conference was held at YFGC and the Hyo-chang
Stadium with 50,000 Koreans and 5,000 foreign guests in attendance. On September 23,
the inaugural worship service of thanks was held at the church with 18,000 church members in
attendance. With this service, YFGC entered into a new era.
Following the relocation to Yoido, the church in 1977 grew to a membership of 50,000 persons, a
mere four years after the completion of the church. The growth continued and reached 100,000 by
1979. Along with the numerical growth in number, the church also began to transform in other ways,
including further expansion. On January 20, 1977, the 10-story world Evangelical Center (currently
the First Education Building) made its appearance. Then on December 31, 1981, the 13-story
Second Education Building was built. This building also contained a television studio which
handled the broadcast of the worship services both domestically and internationally.
In March of 1973, the O-san-ri Prayer Mountain in memory of Pastor Choi Jashil was founded.
Since then, many Christians have come to Prayer Mountain to fast and pray, receiving the
Holy Spirit and experience Divine Healing as well as finding solutions to their individual and
personal problems. This prayer mountain was named the "O-san-ri Choi Jashil Prayer Mountain"
to honor Pastor Choi Jashill who had devoted her life to the founding and the growth of the
YFGC from its very inception. Currently, along with the main sanctuary which was completed on
July 4, 1982, there are countless numbers of private prayer rooms and 12 other smaller
sanctuaries.
Two years following the growth of the church to a membership of 100,000 on November 4,
1979, the church grew to a number of 200,144 members on November 30, 1981. To celebrate
such wonderous growth, a special worship service was held inviting Mr. Daemus
Shakarian, the president of American Full Gospel Association of Business Owners. The L.A. Times
reported on the growth of the church to 200,000 members and emphasized the YFGC as the
largest church in the world.
With the growth to 200,000 members, Pastor Cho Yonggi began to establish independent churches
around the country. One important point to note is that all such independent churches which were
established eventually became the largest churches in their areas. This was not only true for the
churches which were established domestically, but also for the churches which were established
abroad. The servants of God who were sent out by YFGC or the foreign pastors who
attended the C.G.I (Church Growth International) conferences all were blessed greatly by God and
experienced a wondrous growth in their churches.
Having reached 200,000 members, the growth of the church never stopped but continued
until the membership reached 400,000 by October of 1984, making YFGC the fastest growing
church in the world. The growth continued to 500,000 in 1985, and to 700,000 in 1992.
Even though Regional Chapels began to be established in the early 1980s throughout Seoul's many districts and
wards, becoming independent churches with certain freedom of autonomous control draining the
membership of YFGC continued to grow to 700,000, which testifies to the work of the Holy Spirit.
In the 1980s, after the establishment and the inaugural service in 1973, YFGC entered
into a phase of reconstruction to enlarge the capacity of the church. With the completion of the
building expansion in May of 1986 of YFGC which had begun on January 22, 1983, the
church was able to accomodate 25,000 individuals for each service. In November of 1984, the
33-meter monument of a cross and praying hands was built in front of the main sanctuary,
and in 1985, the sculptured external wall of the church's facade was added.
In September of 1992, Pastor Cho Yonggi was elected as the chairman of the Executive Committee
of the World Pentecostal Assemblies of God Fellowship now known as the World Assemblies of God Fellowship
which had a membership of 30,000,000 members among 60 nations of the
world. The election took place at the 16th Pentecostal World Conference which was
held in Norway from September 9th to 13th, 1992. Up to that time, the Assemblies of God were in
the control of the American leadership, but with the election of Pastor Cho Yonggi, the main
impetus of the Holy Spirit movement was passed on to Korea.
A religious periodical in America, the Christian World, placed YFGC as the first among the "50
Great Churches of the World." Along with this honor, YFGC was honored as the church
with the largest congregation in the world by the Guiness Book of World Records, and a ceremony was
held at the Hilton Hotel Convention Center to commemorate YFGC entering the Guiness
Book of World Records.
The Full Gospel Educational Research Institute was established to educate lay members and
to promote Full Gospel theology. It was renamed the Young-san Research Institute in
August of 1990. In March of 1993, it expanded again and became the International Theological
Institute, a specialized theological research institute. ITI was founded to further develop
and promote Full Gospel theology and adopted the motto, "Think deeper, wider and forward," and
actively supports the dispatch of evangelists both educationally and financially, it became an
"assistant" to Pastor Cho Yonggi's ministry of evangelism.
In March of 1996, a collection of Pastor Cho Yonggi's sermons were printed. The 21-volume series
was published throughly the Seoul Logos Company, and it contained the messages which Pastor
Cho Yonggi delivered during his 40 year ministry. A night of honoring Pastor Cho Yonggi's
publication of the collection of sermons was held at the Crystal Ballroom of the Lotte Hotel on the
night of March 14th. The function was attended by former Deputy Prime Minister Han Wan-sang,
former Prime Minister Chung Keun-mo, the Chancellor of Yonsei University Song Ja and other
notable figures of Christianity in Korea.
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Dr. David Yonggi Cho
Biography