SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The Rev. Cho Yong-gi, who founded South Korea’s largest church as a symbol of Christianity’s postwar growth in the country before that success was tainted by corruption and other scandals, he died Tuesday. He was 85 years old.
Cho, pastor emeritus of Seoul’s Yoido Full Gospel Church, died at a Seoul hospital where he had been treated since he collapsed due to a cerebral hemorrhage in July 2020, the church said.
“He passed on the gospel of hope to the Korean people who fell into despair after the Korean War,” the church said in a statement. “It was key to growing the Korean church, in particular to develop Yoido Full Gospel Church as the largest church in the world.”
Better known as David Yonggi Cho or Paul Yonggi Cho Abroad, the late pastor started his church in Seoul with five faithful in 1958, when South Korea was still struggling to rebuild itself from the ashes of the war. Korea from 1950-53. Under his leadership, the church achieved explosive growth and became a symbol of the rapid growth of Christianity in what was then a deeply Confucian country.
In 1993, the church had more than 700,000 members, making it the largest congregation in the world according to Guinness World Records, the church said. Church officials said their membership has since dropped to about 600,000 and they cannot confirm whether their church remains the largest in the world.
It is still the largest Protestant church in South Korea. Church officials said it has 400 pastors and evangelists in South Korea and 500 missionaries abroad.
Despite their successes, Cho and his family have been embroiled in scandals in recent years.
In 2017 he was convicted of breach of trust and causing financial loss to the church, but escaped jail as he received a suspended prison sentence. In 2013, a politician filed a paternity suit against one of her children. His family has also faced long-standing criticism because they dominated key positions in the church and other church-related organizations.
In 2008, Cho resigned as the church’s chief pastor and was succeeded by an unfamiliar member in what the church called “a democratic and unprecedented transition of power”. In South Korea, many church founders hand over their leadership positions to their children.
Lee Hunjoo, secretary general of the Christian Alliance for Church Reform, a Seoul-based NGO, said the rapid rise of Cho Church caused other churches in South Korea to push excessively for expand their own congregations.
“It is true that Rev. Cho did a significant job for Korean churches,” Lee said. “But in a sense, the megaschurches in South Korea began with the complete Gospel church of Yoido de Cho.”
According to a 2015 government census, Protestantism was the largest religion in South Korea, followed by Buddhism and Catholicism. There were about 9.7 million Protestants at the time, representing almost 20% of the country’s 49 million people.
Cho has three children. His funeral is scheduled for Saturday and the church will receive mourners starting Wednesday, according to the church.