The Holy Spirit Movement of Reverend Youngsan Yonggi Cho and the Growth of Yoido Full Gospel Church

Abstract

This paper explores a fundamental factor that Youngsan (Yonggi Cho) has established the Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC), the largest church in the world. This paper is dealing with Youngsan’s understanding of the Holy Spirit. His concept of the Spirit has been extended from the “Spirit of power” to the “Spirit of person.” Such an understanding of the Spirit has resulted in exerting a decisive influence on the marvelous growth of the YFGC. After Youngsan realized the Holy Spirit as a personal being, he shared ceaseless personal fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Here is the starting point in the explosive growth of the YFGC. It is shown that there is an orderly growth process behind the marvelous growth of the YFGC. It is also found that Youngsan’s Holy Spirit movement for 50 years is accomplished on the basis of his personal understanding of the Holy Spirit. Finally, this paper suggests a couple of points for the Holy Spirit movement in the 21st century.