A Study of the Growth of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Korea

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A Study of the Growth of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Korea HAN AND THE PENTECOSTAL EXPERIENCE: A STUDY OF THE GROWTH OF THE YOIDO FULL GOSPEL CHURCH IN KOREA By CHUONG KWON CHO A Thesis Submitted to The University of Birmingham For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham May 2010 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis aims to investigate the growth of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Korea, which has grown to be the largest single church in the world, and has attracted the attention of many scholars. Accordingly, much work has been done to find the reasons for its growth. However, most of them are one-sided in investigating the institutional factors of the church. These are limited and inadequate in terms of methodological appropriateness. This thesis grasps the intrinsic reasons for the growth of the church by overcoming such methodological problems. This study considers Han, the Korean people’s distinctive feeling, as the contextual factor and the Pentecostal experience of the Yoido Full Gospel Church as the institutional factor. This study investigates the growth of the church through these two factors. It shows that Han is associated with specific church growth concepts through the Pentecostal experience of the church: its message, worship and church community. It also reveals that there are significant factors and processes by which Han is associated with church growth. As a result, as new findings this thesis shows how Pentecostalism, a particular sect of Christianity, adapts concretely to the Korean context. It suggests some practical methods and strategies of mission for Korean Protestantism and beyond. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Praise to God who has enabled me to complete this work. My great thanks are to Him who has watched over and guided me throughout my studies. This work would not have been achieved without the supervision of Professor Dr. Allan Anderson. He provided me with friendly encouragement, thoughtful insights and relevant criticisms. I am also deeply indebted to Dr. Andrew Yongchan Cho, Dr. Young Hoon Lee, Dr. Samwhan Kim and Dr. Hyeonsung Bae who have supported and encouraged me from the beginning this work. I would like to acknowledge the support of members of the Christian Life Centre. In particular, I appreciated the prayers and encouragement of the pastors Stuart Blunt and Andrew Taylor in helping me to adjust to life in this country. My gratitude goes to all members of the Yoido Full Gospel Church who willingly helped me to complete my fieldwork. I acknowledge a number of contributions by means of interviews, especially the senior pastor, Yonggi Cho, other pastors, elders, deaconesses and other church members. I am grateful to Rev. Peter Russell and Mrs. Wendy Ijioma who read the drafts and made helpful comments. I have benefited from the statistical help offered by Dr. Allan White for which I am very grateful. I wish to dedicate this thesis to my parents in law, Chil-soo Kim and Ok-im Kim, who have greatly helped me and my family. Without their prayers and support this study could not have been completed. I have to express my gratitude to my brothers and sisters for their kindness which I cannot forget. Finally, I would like to express my special thanks to my wife, Myung-ja Kim and to my children, Yeajoon and Yearin whose encouragement, love and prayers made this work possible. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …….. .................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................iii LIST OF CHARTS..............................................................................................................x LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..........................................................................................xiii LIST OF GLOSSARY .....................................................................................................xiv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................1 1. The Methodological Problem............................................................................4 1.1 Previous Research...............................................................................4 1.2 The Problem........................................................................................6 2. Research Questions...........................................................................................8 3. The Purpose of the Study..................................................................................9 4. Significance of the Study ................................................................................10 5. Key Concepts ..................................................................................................11 5.1 Church Growth..................................................................................11 5.1.1 Definition ...........................................................................11 5.1.2 Church Growth Theory ......................................................11 5.1.3 Critical Evaluation of Church Growth Theory: Its Strengths and Weaknesses.................................................17 5.1.4 Characteristics of Growing Churches: A Conceptual Model .............................................................22 5.1.5 Premises for Understanding Church Growth.....................24 5.2 Pentecostal Experience .....................................................................25 5.2.1 Definition ...........................................................................25 5.2.2 The Perception of Pentecostal Experience.........................26 6. Methodology ...................................................................................................27 6.1 Methodological Appropriateness ......................................................27 6.1.1 Two Kinds of Factor ..........................................................27 6.1.2 The Empirical Investigation: The Social Science Method...............................................................................28 6.2 The Methodology of the Field Research...........................................29 6.2.1 Issues of Field Research.....................................................29 6.2.2 The Focus of the Research.................................................31 6.2.3 Qualitative Research: Observation, Documents and Interviews ..........................................................................31 6.2.4. Quantitative Research: Questionnaire-based Survey................................................................................34 6.2.5 The Analysis and Interpretation of Data............................43 iii 7. Limitations of the Study..................................................................................44 8. Structure of the Study .....................................................................................45 CHAPTER II HAN AS A CONTEXTUAL FACTOR...................................................48 1. Introduction.....................................................................................................48 2. The Understanding of Han..............................................................................49 2.1 The Characteristics of Han ...............................................................49 2.1.1 Korean Despair ..................................................................49 2.1.2 The Oppressed Mind of the Korean Minjung ....................50 2.1.3 A Korean Cultural Archetype ............................................51 2.2. The Causes of Han...........................................................................52 2.2.1 Numerous Invasions and Rebellions..................................53 2.2.2 Authoritarian Social System ..............................................54 2.2.3 Korean Patriarchy ..............................................................57 2.2.4 Poverty ...............................................................................59 2.2.5 Regional Divisions.............................................................60 2.3 The Nature of Han ............................................................................62 2.3.1 Anger..................................................................................63 2.3.2 The Sense of Being Victimised..........................................64 2.3.3. The Sense of Being Abandoned........................................65 2.4 The Resolution of Han......................................................................67 2.4.1 The Need for the Resolution of Han..................................67
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