Book Description
"As the Korean church grew explosively in the 1970s and 1980s, its large congregations attracted the attention of churches around the world. By the end of 2007, Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC), under the leadership of Pastor Yonggi Cho, had the largest congregation in the world with a membership of 800,000 ... YFGC, and especially Cho's preaching, which forms the basis of this thesis, was foundational to the explosive growth of the Pentecostal movement in Korea. The Onnuri Church (OC), led by the Rev. Yongjo Ha, began with 12 families in a Bible study group. To date, it has established 26 churches in Korea and other places, including America, China, Oceania and Japan ... Ha's leadership and especially his preaching, also studied here, have had a strong influence on the church with its new culture of worship and tailor-made evangelistic congregation. This thesis discusses the history, developments, characteristics, and influence of these two churches in so far as they reflect preaching in the ministry of Cho and Ha. The study analyses the dependence of their leadership on effective preaching. Effectiveness in their preaching is here attributed to their dependence on the Holy Spirit and charismatic gifting; the appropriateness of their preaching to the historical context, especially that of Korea from the 1970s to the 1990s, and to their remarkable success in soul-winning which gave them an international reputation. Their preaching, like their leadership, of which it was an integral part, distilled the energy arising from the interdependence of four movements (missions, Shamanism, Pentecostalism and the Protestant work ethic) and focused that energy on growing the church."--Abstract.
