The Rev. Cho Yong-gi, whose founding of South Korea’s biggest church was a symbol of the postwar growth of Christianity in the country before that achievement was tainted by corruption and other scandals, died Sept. 14 at a Seoul hospital. He was 85.
The cause was complications from a cerebral hemorrhage last year, according to Seoul’s Yoido Full Gospel Church, where Rev. Cho was an emeritus pastor.
Better known as David Yonggi Cho or Paul Yonggi Cho abroad, the late pastor started his church in Seoul with five worshipers in the mid-1950s, when South Korea was still struggling to rebuild itself from the ashes of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Under his leadership, the church achieved explosive growth and become a symbol of the rapid growth of Christianity in what was then a deeply Confucian country.
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In 1993, the church had more than 700,000 members. Church officials said its membership has since declined to about 600,000, but it remains the largest Protestant church in South Korea. Church officials said it has 400 pastors and evangelists in South Korea and 500 missionaries abroad.
Despite his achievement, Rev. Cho and his family have been embroiled in scandals in recent years.
In 2017, he was convicted of breach of trust and causing financial losses to the church — essentially a $12 million embezzlement scheme — but he received a suspended prison term. In 2013, a female politician filed a paternity suit against one of his sons. His family has also faced long-running criticism that they dominated key posts at the church and other church-related organizations.
In 2008, Rev. Cho stepped down as the church’s top pastor, and a nonfamily member succeeded him in what the church called “an unprecedented, democratic” power transition. In South Korea, many church founders hand over their leadership positions to their children.
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Rev. Cho was born on Feb. 14, 1936. He was raised a Buddhist, but a nurse reportedly influenced him to convert to Pentecostalism at 17 after he nearly died of tuberculosis.
Lee Hunjoo, secretary general of the Christian Alliance For Church Reform, a Seoul-based nongovernmental organization, said the fast rise of Rev. Cho’s church led other churches in South Korea to push excessively to expand their own congregations.
“It’s true that the Rev. Cho did meaningful work for Korean churches,” Lee said. “But in some sense, megachurches in South Korea began with Cho’s Yoido Full Gospel Church.”
According to a 2015 government census, Protestantism was the biggest religion in South Korea, followed by Buddhism and Catholicism. There were about 9.7 million Protestants at the time, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the country’s then 49 million people.
Rev. Cho’s wife, Kim Seong-hye, died in February. Survivors include three sons.
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