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| David Yonggi Cho | |
|---|---|
| Name | David Yonggi Cho |
| Native name | 조용기 |
| Birth date | 14 February 1936 |
| Birth place | Ulju County, Ulsan, Japanese Korea |
| Death date | 14 September 2021 |
| Death place | Seoul |
| Nationality | South Korea |
| Occupation | Pastor, Evangelist, Author |
| Known for | Founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church |
David Yonggi Cho was a South Korean Pentecostal pastor and evangelist who founded the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, which became one of the largest congregations in modern history. He played a prominent role in the global charismatic movement, engaged with leaders across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, and authored works on prayer and church growth. His ministry combined faith healing, prayer practices, and organizational strategies that influenced Pentecostal and evangelical networks worldwide.
Cho was born in Ulju County near Ulsan during Japanese rule of Korea. He spent childhood years amid the upheavals of the Korean War era, which shaped his early religious commitments. Seeking vocational training, he studied at institutions associated with the Pentecostal Church of God tradition and later connected with seminaries and Bible colleges linked to the Assemblies of God movement. His formative influences included encounters with Korean revival figures and international missionaries connected to Wesleyan and Holiness traditions.
In the 1950s and 1960s Cho began ministry in small prayer groups, street evangelism, and tent revivals that were common among postwar Korean Protestant leaders such as Billy Graham-inspired evangelists and indigenous revivalists. He established a congregation on Yeouido (Yoido) island in Seoul that later became Yoido Full Gospel Church, modeled in part on the congregational expansions seen in Latin America and African Independent Churches. The church grew through cell group structures, lay mobilization, and mass evangelism campaigns reminiscent of strategies used by Reinhold Niebuhr-era outreach and mid-20th-century evangelical movements.
Cho promoted a theology rooted in Pentecostal beliefs including charismatic gifts, prayer for healing, and prosperity-influenced stewardship, aligning with strands of the Word of Faith movement and elements common to leaders like Kenneth Hagin and Oral Roberts. He emphasized "third-force" prayer gatherings influenced by Korean revivalism and incorporated cell-based small groups that paralleled systems used by Apostle Paul-referencing ecclesial strategies and modern megachurch models seen in Hillsong Church and Saddleback Church. Yoido Full Gospel Church expanded through publishing, radio and television outreach comparable to TBN-style media ministries and partnered with organizations such as the National Council of Churches in Korea and global Pentecostal networks like the World Assemblies of God Fellowship.
Cho's practical theology stressed prayer, faith healing, and spiritual warfare, drawing theological interlocutors from Aimee Semple McPherson-influenced Pentecostalism and contemporary charismatic scholars. His ministry training institutes produced pastors who engaged cross-culturally in missions to countries including China, Japan, Philippines, Nigeria, and Brazil.
Beyond Yoido, Cho held leadership positions in South Korean Protestant associations and international evangelical bodies, interacting with figures from the World Council of Churches to networks of indigenous pastors in Southeast Asia. He hosted and participated in major conferences alongside leaders such as John Stott-era evangelicals, J. Oswald Sanders-trained mission strategists, and newer charismatic influencers. His church’s sheer size attracted delegations from governments and religious organizations, and Cho engaged in high-level dialogues with officials from United States delegations, South Korean presidents, and civic leaders in Seoul.
Internationally, Cho’s methods influenced church planting movements and megachurch governance models in Africa and the Americas, leading to affiliations and study tours with churches in Los Angeles, London, Sydney, and Manila. He contributed to missionary training curricula used by seminaries in Korea and abroad, and his books were translated into multiple languages for use in global evangelical education.
Cho’s ministry attracted scrutiny over theological critiques and legal controversies. Theologically, critics from mainline Protestant scholars and evangelical academics questioned aspects of his prosperity emphases and charismatic practice. Legally, he faced prosecution related to allegations of misappropriation of church funds that culminated in trials covered by South Korean courts including the Seoul Central District Court. In 2014 he was convicted and sentenced on charges connected to embezzlement and breach of trust, a decision later suspended after appeals and settlement processes involving church leadership; the case involved legal institutions such as appellate courts and drew attention from international religious freedom observers and media outlets like BBC and The New York Times.
The controversies prompted debates within global Pentecostal and evangelical networks about governance, transparency, and accountability, echoing institutional reforms pursued by organizations such as the National Association of Evangelicals and independent reviews akin to inquiries into other major megachurches.
In later years Cho transitioned leadership to successors, including his son-in-law and pastoral colleagues, reflecting succession patterns seen in other large congregations like Lakewood Church and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. He continued to write, preach on occasion, and engage in international visits until advancing age limited travel. Cho died in Seoul in September 2021, prompting statements from religious leaders across Asia, North America, and Europe and memorial services attended by clergy and public figures. His legacy remains debated among scholars of religion, church historians, and practitioners within global Pentecostalism.
Category:South Korean religious leaders Category:Pentecostal pastors Category:1936 births Category:2021 deaths