David Yonggi Cho
| David Yonggi Cho | |
|---|---|
| Born |
David Yonggi Cho 14 February 1936 Uiju-gu, Ulsan, Korea |
| Nationality | South Korean |
| Education |
Full Gospel Bible College (graduated 1958) Kookmin University (graduated 1968) |
| Occupation | Evangelist |
| Spouse(s) | Kim Sung Hae |
| Website | davidcho |
| Religion | Pentecostal |
| Title | Doctor (Honorary) |
| David Yonggi Cho | |
| Hangul | 조용기 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 趙鏞基 |
| Revised Romanization | Jo Yong-gi |
| McCune–Reischauer | Cho Yonggi |
Full Gospel Bible College (graduated 1958)
David Yonggi Cho (formerly known as Paul Yungi Cho) is a South Korean Christian minister. He is founder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God), the world's largest congregation, with a claimed membership of 830,000 (as of 2007[update]).
He was born on February 14, 1936, in Ulju-gun, now part of Ulsan metropolitan city. The son of Cho Doo-chun and Kim Bok-sun, Cho was the eldest of five brothers and four sisters. He graduated from middle school with honours. Because his father's sock and glove business went bankrupt, he could not afford high school or university tuition. Subsequently, he enrolled in an inexpensive technical high school to learn a trade. At the same time, he began frequenting an American army base near his school, and learned English from soldiers whom he befriended. He mastered English quickly, and became an interpreter for the commander of the army base, and also for the principal of his school.
Raised initially as a Buddhist, Cho converted to Christianity at the age of 17, after a girl visited him daily telling him about Jesus Christ, after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Believing that God had called him to the ministry, Cho began working as an interpreter for the American evangelist Ken Tize. In 1956, he received a scholarship to study theology at Full Gospel Bible College in Seoul. While there, he met Choi Ja-Shil (최자실), who became his mother-in-law and a close ministerial associate. He graduated in March 1958.
In May 1958, Cho held his first worship service in the home of his friend, Choi Ja-shil. Only Choi and her three children attended the service, but the church grew rapidly and soon had 50 members. Cho and church members began a campaign of knocking on doors and inviting people to come to church, and within three years, it had grown to four hundred members. In 1961, the church purchased its first plot of land at Seodaemun-gu.
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Wikipedia