65th Anniversary Meeting of Yoido Full Gospel Church
"For the Korean church, which is in crisis and stagnation, to rise again, it must restore its original form. It must be renewed."
On the 18th, at a press conference marking the 65th anniversary of the church's founding held at the Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, Pastor Lee Young-hoon, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, emphasized returning to the original intention.
One of the original intentions is aid to the poor. Pastor Lee said, "We (Yoido Full Gospel Church) started in a slum," adding, "Both society and the church will develop if we embrace the poor who are not well integrated into society."
Yoido Full Gospel Church began on May 18, 1958, with five people gathered under an old tent in Daejo-dong, Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul. However, as spiritual experiences based on the teaching of the Word gained attention, the church expanded its influence to Seodaemun and Yeouido, and at one point, the number of believers reached 800,000. Pastor Lee said, "Following Confucian tradition, the Korean church was obsessed with teaching the Word," and explained, "As a result, it could not satisfy the spiritual thirst of believers, but the Full Gospel Church was able to grow rapidly by spreading the Holy Spirit movement that conveyed spiritual experiences (thereby increasing believers)."
However, as the growth of the Korean church slowed, Yoido Full Gospel Church has also been in a stagnant state. Pastor Lee explained that the church grew by delivering messages of dreams and hope during the era of despair and poverty in the 1960s and 1970s, but a crisis came to the Korean church due to an obsession with "materialism" and "success." Although there has been a recent increase, the number of believers at Yoido Full Gospel Church has currently decreased to 580,000.
Pastor Lee said, "We have tried to faithfully practice the ministry of the early church community that focused on aid and missions, and we will make even greater efforts in the future," adding, "If we consistently show such efforts, the church will be able to regain the trust it lost and revive again."
Meanwhile, Yoido Full Gospel Church is conducting the '120th Anniversary of the Azusa Revival and Pentecost Holy Spirit Prayer Meeting' until the 21st to strengthen the early church movement and promote revival. On the 23rd, it will also hold an academic conference inviting domestic and international scholars under the theme 'History and Future of Revival.'
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