Korea
David Yonggi Cho was a Korean Pentecostal pastor, evangelist, and global church statesman. His impact on global Pentecostalism and the church growth movement has been unprecedented. He is best known as the founder and senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, the world's largest church. His life story has also inspired millions of people worldwide.
Born in 1936 in Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, of Du-cheon Cho (father) and Bok-seon Kim (mother), he was the eldest of nine children. Growing up under Japanese colonial rule, he contracted a fatal case of tuberculosis at age 17. On his deathbed, he heard the gospel and received Jesus as his Savior. Encouraged by US Pentecostal missionaries, he enrolled in Full Gospel Bible College (now Hansei University). Upon graduation (1958), he opened his first church on the outskirts of Seoul with his classmate Jashil Choi, his future mother-in-law who remained a close ministry partner until her death. This tent church among the post-war urban poor gained a reputation for healing and exorcism, drawing large crowds.
In the early 1960s, the US Assemblies of God conducted nationwide mass evangelism, and Cho frequently served as their interpreter. Cho moved his church to downtown Seodaemun in 1961, marking the beginning of a new era of growth in numbers and reputation. He was ordained as a minister of the Korean Assemblies of God in 1962, and his church grew to 3,000 members by 1964 and 8,000 by 1968. To address the explosive growth and training needs, he introduced the cell group system in 1964 to mobilize lay leaders, particularly women, to share in his pastoral work. In 1965, he married Sung-hye (Grace) Kim. They had three sons. The following year, he was elected General Superintendent of the Korean Assemblies of God and received a BA from Kookmin University in 1968. Later, he was conferred with two honorary doctorates.
Cho's international ministry began in the same period. In 1964, he traveled to the US to preach at the fiftieth anniversary of the US Assemblies of God. In 1966, he ministered across Southeast Asia and in the United States. He ministered at the 1967 Pentecostal World Conference in the UK, and later in European, North American, and Asian countries, including China. In 1972, he launched the Ten-Million Salvation campaign for Japan and, in 1976, established Church Growth International (CGI). This period shaped him into the most recognized icon of global Pentecostalism. His role expanded from a pastor of a Korean megachurch to an international evangelist, church-growth specialist, mission leader, and international and ecumenical religious statesman.
In 1983, his church moved to Yoido Island, which eventually became the city's financial center. The Yoido era (1983-2008) witnessed his church become the largest in the world, with 860,000 members. Cho propagated his church growth strategies through CGI and international evangelistic conferences. He also conducted mass evangelistic crusades in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and North America, eventually reaching 370 in 80 nations. To support strategic missionary efforts, he organized Full Gospel World Missions Association in 1976, which initially commissioned Western missionaries but soon expanded to Japan and the rest of the world. The church’s 2024 mission handbook reports 676 cross-cultural mission workers in 67 countries.
During the Yoido era, Cho became one of the most influential Christian leaders in Pentecostal circles and wider Christianity. Yoido Full Gospel Church hosted large international gatherings, such as the Pentecostal World Conferences of 1973, 1998, and 2023. Cho played an active role in the formation of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship in 1989, the global network of the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination. He also served as chairman (1992-2000), during which time he hosted the World Assemblies of God Conference in 1994 to launch a campaign to add one million new members to the Korean Assemblies of God.
Within Korea, he significantly contributed to the nation’s evangelization efforts. His church and the denomination launched an ambitious church-planting movement in the 1980s that resulted in rapid growth. In the 1970s and 80s, the Korean church held several large interdenominational evangelistic gatherings, such as the Billy Graham Crusade (1973), the EXPLO 74 Crusade (1974), the World Evangelization Crusade (1980), and the centenary celebration of the Korean Protestant church (1984). All these mass gatherings took place in Yoido, and Cho and his church supported most of them, often with Cho as a speaker. The above-mentioned World Assemblies of God Conference (1994) was immediately followed by the October 3 World Prayer Rally for world evangelization and care for God’s creation. This drew an unprecedented one million Christians to Yoido Plaza and Cho’s church. Participants included 2,000 world Assemblies of God leaders from 125 nations, as well as many political and civic leaders of South Korea.
Regarding inter-church relations, he supported the establishment of the Christian Council of Korea in 1989, an evangelical association of churches. He also broadened church relations. In 1997, he initiated the Korean Assemblies of God's joining the Korean National Council of Churches, an ecumenical body. Later, he played a critical role in hosting the 13th General Assembly of the World Council of Church (2013) in Busan.
The church’s social ministry grew significantly. He established the Kookmin Daily Newspaper in 1988 to bring Christian perspectives into public discourse. Cho’s use of print media began in 1968 with a monthly magazine, Sinang-gye (World of Faith), and in 1978 with a weekly newspaper, now called the Full Gospel Family Weekly. From the late 1970s, he broadcasted messages through many stations in the United States and Europe and soon expanded to include many parts of the world. He also took advantage of emerging telecommunication technology. In the early 1990s, he built a system for real-time cross-circuit broadcasting of his worship services throughout the church complex and branch chapels in the city, and even overseas.
The church established programs to help the socially marginalized both within and outside the church. In 1988, Elim Welfare Town was opened to provide care for youth with job training and the elderly. In 1993, the church launched a program to support heart surgeries for children. The church’s social services reached a systematic, global scale with the establishment of The Good People in 1999 as a registered relief and care non-governmental organization. The Pyongyang Cho Yonggi Heart Hospital project continues to expand the church’s social services. Begun in 2007, but halted in 2010 due to heightened tensions between South and North Korea, the church has continued its efforts, but to date, the project awaits a conducive political environment. This project has the potential to promote peace and reconciliation, in the context of hostile relationship, through tangible demonstrations of Christian charity. His investment in education is also significant. He developed the Full Gospel Bible School into Hansei University, a complete liberal arts university. He also established many overseas schools, including Bethesda Christian University in Ahaheim, California, USA.
For his achievements and contributions, Cho received numerous awards and recognitions. From the Korean government, he received several recognitions, including the Order of Civil Merit Mugunghwa Medal (1996) for his welfare initiatives. Internationally, he received the Family of Man Medallion (2005) from the Council of Churches of the City of New York, and the Royal Knight of Friendship of the Kingdom of Cambodia (2009) for his humanitarian work. New York City designated May 18 as “Yonggi Cho Day” (2005) to commemorate his social contributions. The US Congress also awarded the Honorable Korean Certificate (2007) for his contribution to Korean-American affairs and world peace.
Cho was known for impactful and lively preaching, generously including testimonies of healing and miracles. His theology was founded upon classical Pentecostal faith and adapted to the Korean context. His theology is best articulated in his Fivefold Gospel, the Threefold Blessing, and Fourth-Dimension Spirituality. The Fivefold Gospel was a contextual modification of the classical Pentecostal formula: Christ the Savior, (Spirit) Baptizer, Healer, and the Coming King. Cho added “Blesser” to it. The Threefold Blessing is an elaboration on the added element, presenting a holistic view of God’s blessing based on 3 John 2 and addressing the nation's post-war struggle. Fourth-Dimension spirituality is a practical guide for blessed living. To systematically promote Cho’s theological teaching, he established two institutions: Osan-ri Choi Jashil Memorial Fasting and Prayer Mountain (1973) and the International Theological Institute (1978). His teaching was widely disseminated through print and electronic media, broadcast media, and his international ministries.
His life and ministry were not without controversies. His Pentecostal faith and “wild” worship attracted somewhat ignorant criticism from mostly Presbyterian sectors. His prayer for healing was sometimes alleged to be “Shamanistic.” Equally persistent is the allegation that his theology of blessing is reducible to the “prosperity gospel.” However, the most public challenge began when the Presbyterian Church of Korea formed a theological investigation committee in 1982 in response to a formal complaint questioning Cho’s theology. The 1983 investigation report identified nine theological issues that led the General Assembly to label him “heretical”.1 Most were related to Pentecostal beliefs and practices, except for a statement on ancestral veneration and the claim for a woman revived after prayer. With a growing understanding of Pentecostal theology and spirituality, and Cho’s clarification of the latter two issues, the Presbyterian Church withdrew its declaration in 1994. Later, however, Cho was also criminally convicted of breach of trust in financial losses to his church and sentenced to a suspended prison term.
He retired in 2008 and remained Senior Pastor Emeritus until his death in September 2021. At his retriement, he made approximately 20 district chapels into local churches. He led a democratic succession process beginning in 2006, through which Younghoon Lee was elected Cho’s successor. Amid ethical questions surrounding hereditary succession in several megachurches in Korea, Cho’s leadership of the process was widely praised. He authored and edited more than 500 books, both in Korean and English. Many were translated into different languages.
NOTES
[1] Dongjun Seo, “Testing the Spirits? The Theological Controversy Surrounding David
Yonggi Cho and the World’s Largest Church, 1983-1994,” Studies in World Christianity
31, no. 2 (2025): 151–70.