The Tent Church
Yoido Full Gospel Church first began in May 18, 1958, in the form of a family worship service held in the living room of Pastor Jashil Choi in Daejodong, Seodaemun-gu (currently Eunpyung-gu). Pastor Yonggi Cho and Pastor Jashil Choi had just graduated from seminary on March 15 of that year.
On the day of the Founding Service, Pastor Jashil Choi ¬placed a cloth on a cardboard box to serve as the pulpit and spread the news about the worship service to the whole village. In attendance that day was Pastor Yonggi Cho, Pastor Jashil Choi, her three children, and one old lady who was seeking temporary shelter from the rain.
One day, about a month after the church began, Pastor Yonggi Cho and Pastor Jashil Choi encountered a woman who had been paralyzed for the past 7 years. The woman suffered from paralysis after giving birth to her child, and since then she never was able to stand up on her two feet. When the two pastors first entered the house, they were unable to breathe properly due to the stench. The children were also very dirty.
Pastor Jashil Choi washed the children and her mother and together with Pastor Yonggi Cho, laid her hands on the mother’s head and began to pray in tongues.
“In Jesus’ name, be healed of your paralysis!” proclaimed Pastor Yonggi Cho. And when they had prayed for hours, a miracle began to happen. The woman began to stand up with her hand on the wall. Then she carefully began to walk one step at a time. That day she was completely healed of the paralysis and began to actively participate in the church with a healthy body.
As a result of the fervent prayer and dedication of Pastor Yonggi Cho and Pastor Jashil Choi, the membership grew to 50, exceeding the capacity of Pastor Jashil Choi’s house.
In the spring of the following year, Pastor Yonggi Cho and Pastor Jashil Choi set up a tent in the front yard of the house, laid straw bags on the ground, and held their worship service there.
Afterwards, the church experienced revival and more and more members gathered. With the offering they collected, they were able to purchase larger tents and slowly expand their venue.
The Seodaemun Church
After Pastor Yonggi Cho had undergone major surgery due to hernia and was discharged from the military, the church entered into a new phase.
On September 1, 1961, shortly after his discharge from the military, they held a revival meeting in a circus tent located in Seodaemun rotary. The speaker for the revival meeting was Pastor Sam Todd, and Pastor Yonggi Cho was his interpreter.
This revival meeting attracted crowds of people from all over Seoul. Many sick people experienced the healing powers of the Holy Spirit, not to mention the countless people who repented and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. During the revival meeting, Pastor Yonggi Cho and Pastor Jashil Choi decided in their hearts to plant a church in Seodaemun.
On October 15, 1961, the Full Gospel Revival Hall was constructed where the previous revival meeting was held, and they held their worship services there.
Meanwhile, in order to solve some problems that arose with the Seodaemun Full Gospel Revival Hall, they requested the help of lawyer Sung-soo Hwang. The construction of the Seodaemun Full Gospel Revival Hall was completed the following year with his wise and committed defense.
Pastor Yonggi Cho was ordained as a minister on April 26, 1962. From May 13 of that year, the name of the Full Gospel Revival Hall was changed to the Full Gospel Central Church, and by this time, the membership had surpassed 500 people.
Three years later, in 1964, the church membership reached 3,000. In the same year, Pastor Yonggi Cho went on his first overseas trip to the U.S. to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of the Assemblies of God, by invitation from the U.S. Assemblies of God headquarters. As a representative of Korea, he went on a preaching tour while preaching in English and introducing Korea wherever he went.
The Yoido Church
A church that grows
The Seodaemun Church experienced explosive growth each day. As the number of members exceeded 10,000, the Seodaemun church was no longer able to accommodate all of its members. A search was made to find a site for the construction of a new sanctuary. Several options were proposed, but it was not an easy task to find a suitable place for so many people to gather.
Yoido was recommended as one of the options. At the time, Yoido was a desolate island with no bridge to connect it to the rest of the city and it was only being used as a runway for airplanes. Transportation was the biggest problem. However, after receiving confirmation from God through prayer, Pastor Yonggi Cho strongly promoted the plan to build the sanctuary in Yoido. Eventually, the church purchased a piece of land on Yoido, but the construction costs were very high, and the church seemed unable to handle the enormous debt. Trusting in God for a miracle, Pastor Yonggi Cho continued to push forward with hope.
From the start of the construction, however, many problems began to surface. In the aftermath of the Middle East oil shock, the price of the Korean Won fell, leading to a rise in the price of construction materials and a decrease in church offerings.
Many church members lost their jobs due to the oil shock and the pressure on their debt was exacerbated by a reduction of the church’s credit limit by the bank. Finally, the church construction came to a complete halt. Every night, Pastor Yonggi Cho grabbed a rusty steel frame and began to cry out, “Lord! It would be better if this rusty frame were to fall on my head so that I could get out of this situation!” Even on rainy days, he didn’t stop kneeling on the straw rice bags to cry out to God and pray.
The believers who trusted in God’s plans began to join in the earnest prayer one by one. As the days progressed there began a movement among the members to save the church. When one member sold their personal belongings and brought the proceeds to the church, other members began to sell their houses and belongings to give an offering. As a result of such dedication and sacrifice, the church was able to pay off all of its debts and successfully complete the new Yoido Full Gospel Church sanctuary.
On August 19, 1973, the first service was held in the sanctuary at Yoido. And from September 18 to 22, 1973, the 10th Pentecostal World Conference was held in the Main Sanctuary of Yoido Full Gospel Church and the Hyochang Stadium. On September 23, the church held a Commemoration Service for the newly built sanctuary with 18,000 people in attendance, opening a new era for the church.
A church that spreads out to the whole world
With the founding of the Full Gospel World Mission American Association in March 1976, Pastor Yonggi Cho began to spread the gospel all over the world. In April of the same year, the Full Gospel World Mission European Association was founded and in August, the Full Gospel World Mission Japan Association was founded.
In September 1977, the Full Gospel Central Church established the Full Gospel Seminary in Los Angeles, USA. Full Gospel Seminaries were also established in Berlin, West Germany in July of 1977, in New York in February 1978, in Kobe, Japan in April 1978, in Chicago in April 1980. In addition, in August 1980, a Korean branch of the California Graduate School of Theology was established.
After his first mission trip in September 1964, Pastor Yonggi Cho continued to conduct overseas missionary work all over the world. In January 1981, Pastor Yonggi Cho attended the inaugural celebration of the 40th President Ronald Reagan and delivered a message there. This allowed him to be recognized as a global minister.
Pastor Yonggi Cho not only went abroad to do missionary work, but he also invited international ministers and church leaders to Korea and provided them with an opportunity to systematically learn about Church Growth. Since the founding of CGI as a research institute for Church Growth on November 4, 1976, the church has held hundreds of CGI seminars and more than 6 million people have attended from over 50 countries. In this way, CGI has been leading the growth of the church worldwide since its establishment.
Meanwhile, the church has also shared the word of God all over Korea and the world through sermon booklets, tapes, and broadcast. Domestic TV stations include Daejeon, Gwangju, Jeonju, and Masan MBC Stations on Sundays, Fridays, and Saturdays. International TV Stations include Los Angeles TV station in the U.S., CBS station in New York, and Gingki and Sun Stations in Japan.
A church that goes together
The Prayer Rally for the Nation and People held on October 3, 1987 in Yoido Square with more than 1 million members in attendance despite it being a public holiday. After the rally, those in attendance marched together towards City Hall in orderly fashion, while chanting hymns and shouting slogans for peace. Meanwhile, the organizers of the rally collected the offering from that day to give donations to poor children and their families.
The “Elim Welfare Town”, the largest social welfare facility in Asia for disadvantaged and unaccompanied senior citizens, was opened on July 26, 1988.
Under the theme of practicing Christian love, the church has carried out many relief projects and the “Elim Welfare Town” was approved by the Ministry of Public Affairs in 1987, and with a budget of 15 billion won completed after major construction. The town is a world-class welfare facility for Christian relief projects on a site of more than 20,000 pyeong (Korean metric). It is a facility that provides more than 500 disadvantaged youths with vocational training in various fields and accommodates over 200 unaccompanied senior citizens.
On December 10, 1988, the Kookmin Daily Newspaper was established to share the gospel with the nation. As the first Christian daily newspaper to be opened in South Korea, it has opened a new chapter in media communication as a newspaper that represents the voice of 12 million Christians in South Korea. Since its inception, Kookmin Ilbo has focused its attention on the practice of Christian love to the marginalized and those in suffering to share their pain.
On April 1, 1993, the church also received a plaque of appreciation at the “8th Anniversary of the movement for Children without Heart Disease”, hosted by the Women’s Welfare Division of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, for its contribution through free heart disease surgery.
