Biography of Dr. David Yonggi Cho, founder of the world's largest church in South Korea

Early life
He was born on February 14, 1936, in Ulju-gun, South Korea, which is now part of the metropolis of Ulsan. Cho had two sons, Doo-chun and Kim Bok-sun, and was the eldest of five brothers and four sisters. He graduated from middle school with honors. However, when his father went bankrupt in his business (manufacturing socks and gloves), he was unable to pay his high school or university fees, so he was forced to enroll in a cheaper technical high school to learn a trade. During that time, Yong-gi Cho began visiting the American army barracks near his school, learning English from the soldiers he befriended. He quickly became fluent in English and became a translator for the army barracks commander and the principal of his school.
Yonggi Cho was raised in a Buddhist family. He converted to Christianity at the age of 17 after meeting a beautiful girl who preached to him about Jesus Christ, before he contracted tuberculosis.
When Yong-gi Cho felt called by God to the ministry, he began working as a translator for an evangelist named Kent Tais. In 1956, he received a scholarship to study theology at the Seoul Bible College, graduating in March 1958. There, he met Choi Ja-shil, who became his mother-in-law and close ministry partner, and together they founded the Yoido Full Gospel Church, a branch of the Congregational Churches, which, according to statistics available as of 2007, had 830,000 active members, making it the largest church in the world.

Wider service
For over 44 years, Dr. Yonggi Cho emphasized the importance of house church ministries, which he believed were key to church growth, as well as group ministries.

In November 1976, Yonggi Cho founded Church Growth International, an organization dedicated to teaching the principles of gospel knowledge and church growth to pastors around the world.
In January 1986, he pioneered the construction of the Elim Welfare City, providing many facilities and opportunities for the elderly, youth, the homeless, and the unemployed. These people are provided with training and four employment options.
In 1988, he founded the Kukim Ilbo newspaper company. He served as president of the World Fellowship of the Theosophical Society from 1992 to 2000, and did not seek another term after that, serving as president of the South Korean Christian Leadership Conference from November 1998. In 2008, Dr. Young-gi Cho retired and Young Hoon Lee was installed as his successor as senior pastor.

Death
Dr. Yonggi Cho died on September 14, 2021, at the age of 85, due to a stroke.

South Korea, which has been a Buddhist country for centuries, has been officially declared a Christian country by the United Nations in recent years.

Taken from Wikipedia