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Founder of the world’s largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC) in Seoul, South Korea, Rev. Paul David Yonggi-Cho, is dead.<\/p>\n
Yonggi-Cho died on Tuesday September 14 at the age of 85.<\/p>\n
His death was announced on his official Facebook page on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
It reads, \u201cDr David Yonggi Cho has gone to be with Jesus. At the age of 85 (1936-2021).<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Yonggi Cho (born 14 February 1936 as Paul Yungi Cho) is a South Korean Christian minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith his mother-in-law Choi Ja-shil, he is cofounder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God), the world\u2019s largest congregation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are forever in our hearts; we thank God for your life which was lived in total submission to God.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s support his family with prayers. Continue to rest in the bosom of the Lord, God\u2019s general.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also a statement by the church said the revered cleric died at a Seoul hospital where he had been treated since he collapsed due to a cerebral hemorrhage in July 2020.<\/p>\n
The statement added, \u201cHe conveyed the gospel of hope to the Korean people who fell into despair after the Korean War. He was instrumental in growing the Korean church, particularly developing Yoido Full Gospel Church as the world\u2019s largest church.\u201d<\/p>\n
The church also said Rev Cho\u2019s funeral has been scheduled for Saturday September 18.<\/p>\n
Biography<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Born on February 14, 1936 in Woolioo County, Kyung-nam Province in the southern part of Korea, Cho was married to Kim Sung Hae with whom he had three children, all males.<\/p>\n The Asian Journals of Pentecostal Studies, said \u201cLess than a month later the Korean War broke out. Young Cho witnessed the destruction and suffering caused by the war. In spring of 1953, when Cho was a sophomore in high school, he was injured in the chest while exercising. He gradually became weakened. Since it was still during the war and his family was poor, he could not get proper medical treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cLater he was diagnosed as having a terminal case of tuberculosis. Without proper treatment, he became severely weakened and close to death. On what was thought to be his deathbed he was visited by a Christian girl who was a friend of his sister.<\/p>\n \u201cHis Buddhist parents had forbidden her to visit their home, but she persisted and gave Cho a Bible, preaching the gospel to him. Soon Cho became a Christian and his health began to improve dramatically. He happened to meet Kenneth Tice, an Assemblies of God missionary, and began to interpret his sermons for him and another missionary, Lou Richards. Richards taught the Bible to Cho.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Cho was reading about divine healing in the Bible, he was touched by it and repented for not having fully believed it. He prayed and fasted for three days. On the third day he had a vision of Jesus in which he was called to dedicate his life to preaching the gospel. After this experience, in 1956, he moved from Busan to Seoul and enrolled in the Full Gospel Bible College, which belonged to the Assemblies of God denomination.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough he was not in very good health, he managed to continue his studies. As his Christian faith grew deeper, his health also gradually improved. During these years of study, Cho met Jashil Choi, his classmate and a former registered nurse, who took care of him. She later became his associate pastor and mother-in-law.<\/p>\n How Cho started Yodio Full Gospel Church<\/strong><\/p>\n The Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies said, \u201cCho, a new seminary graduate, put up a tent in a slum area of Daejodong, Seodaemun-ku, Seoul on May 18, 1958 with Mrs. Jashil Choi and her three children.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe tent church that had started with only five grew rapidly as Cho\u2019s powerful message and healing ministry, with his ardent prayer and street evangelism, made a great combination. Many who had various diseases came and were healed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe news of the work of the Holy Spirit at this tent church spread among the people and, by 1961, the church had a membership of 600.\u201d<\/p>\n The Journal continues, \u201cIts 38-year history, although it assumed different names as the church moved from one location to the other, may be divided into three periods.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first is the pioneering period (1958\u20131961) in which YFGC was the instrument of the Pentecostal faith\u2019s taking root in Korea by its strong Full Gospel message and divine healing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second is the developing period (1961\u20131973) when the church took the leadership in the Pentecostal movement of Korea and spread the Pentecostal faith in the Korean church.<\/p>\n \u201cThe third is the current period of expansion (1973\u2013). The church has taken the lead in the Holy Spirit movement of the entire Korean church, has become mature enough to show its concern for Korean society, and has greatly expanded the Holy Spirit movement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Guinness World Records subsequently recorded that YGGC was reputed to be the world largest church with 700,000 members.<\/p>\n Wikipedia, in its own record, said the church once grew to 830,000 members.<\/p>\n There are however divergent views regarding the number of congregants as some church officials say its membership had declined to about 600,000.<\/p>\n Regardless, Yoido Full Gospel, is still the largest church in South Korea and has about 400 pastors and evangelists in the Asian country and 500 missionaries abroad.<\/p>\n Rev. Cho stepped down in 2008 as the church\u2019s senior pastor giving way to a member who is not a member of his family, to succeed him.<\/p>\n Controversies and scandals<\/strong><\/p>\n In the recent past, Rev Cho and some members of his family were involved in scandals.<\/p>\n In 2013, one of Rev. Cho\u2019s sons was involved in a paternity suit.<\/p>\n The cleric himself was convicted of breach of trust and causing financial losses to the church in 2017. He however got a suspended prison term.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Clerics mourn<\/strong><\/p>\n The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, said \u201cSeveral years ago, I visited South Korea because I heard of a man who had the largest Church in the world, he had a congregation of half a million people, by the time I visited him, he had an auditorium that could take approximately fifty thousand people, he was having seven services on Sundays.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard him in the service that we attended telling the members who came one Sunday to please not come back next Sunday so that those who couldn\u2019t come last Sunday can come next Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cI said God, so you can do this? Some years ago, I returned to South Korea, I had a meeting with the same man. The first time I was there, people like me could not come near the office but this time around, I went to his office at his invitation, when we met he said I have heard of you, will you please pray for me?<\/p>\n \u201cTill we meet again on the resurrection morning, Rest in God\u2019s presence Pastor Dr. David Yonggi Cho.\u201d<\/p>\n Another Nigerian pastor and founder of Champion Assembly, Abuja, Joshua Iginla, described the death of Rev Cho as \u201cgenerational icon, trailblazer, pathfinder and a man wrapped in the immortality of God.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDeath is nothing else but going home to God, the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity for your warm embrace as a true father who gave me wings to fly limitlessly,\u201d Iginla said on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n \u201cA South Korean yet spiritually available to father me regardless of tribe, distance and country. Your wisdom, teaching and instructions will abide with me forever.<\/p>\n \u201cOne may think with the millions of congregation under your care you may not be available for mentorship but that was never the case with you Dear Father, you could identify the few chosen among the thousands that were called and you mentored through every available means. Oh father my heart bleeds but I know some day we will meet and not part again at the feet of our Heavenly Father.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the channels of Divinity, mankind is a creature of Divine appointment (Job 7:1). Yet, men wrapped in the immortality of God don\u2019t die, they only transit to another realm of GLORY. On this day, my spiritual father, a generational icon, trailblazer, pathfinder and a man wrapped in the immortality of God, in the person of PASTOR PAUL YONGI CHO has answered to his GLORIOUS HOME CALL.<\/p>\n \u201cI will forever miss you Daddy, the world can never recover from the supernatural handwritings of your Divine impact and impartation. Myself and the entire family of CHAMPIONS ROYAL ASSEMBLY celebrate your life well lived to the Glory of God.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have fought a good fight and will forever be in my heart. REST IN PEACE DAVID YOUNGGI CHO\u201d.<\/p>\n Other God\u2019s General who recently passed on Among them are Billy Graham, the American evangelist and founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), who died in February 2018 at the age of 99; Reinhard Bonnke, the German evangelist and founder the Christ for all Nations (COAN), who died in December 2019 at 79; and Morris Cerrullo, the American evangelist and founder of Morris Cerrullo World Evangelism, who passed on in July 2020 at the age of 88.<\/p>\n Others are Ravi Zacharias of the American Christian apologist and founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), who died in May 2020 at 74 and Nigerian popular preacher, Prophet Temitope Joshua, founder of Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), who passed away in Lagos on June 5, 2021, a week to his 58th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Founder of the world’s largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC) in Seoul, South Korea, Rev. Paul David Yonggi-Cho, is dead. Yonggi-Cho died on Tuesday September 14 at the age of 85. His death was announced on his official Facebook page on Tuesday. 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\n<\/strong>The Christendom has lost clergymen, described as God\u2019s Generals, in the last five years.<\/p>\n