 of Yoido Full Gospel Church |
The largest Christian church in the country is mired in a series of internal leadership feuds.
The discord recently turned uglier after a group of attendants of Yoido Full Gospel Church demanded that prosecutors investigate the wife of Emeritus Pastor Cho Yong-gi in an attempt to keep Cho’s family from dominating the church’s decision-making bodies.
In the latest efforts to end the dispute the church’s supreme decision-making body decided to limit the role of Cho’s family in a general meeting held Sunday. Despite the restriction the dispute is expected to continue for a while since the family shows little sign of withdrawing their leadership.
This scandal is a reminder of the negative results from the growing clout of churches in Korean society.
As the socio-political influence of a church grows, the founding or senior pastors look to appoint their children or relatives as successors, rather than selecting a candidate from among well-trained junior pastors. Many other big churches here are facing obstacles in the process of leadership transfer.
“What’s happening now is similar to a dispute over father-to-son managerial transfers in private companies,” a senior official working for the church said on condition of anonymity. “This reflects how senior church leaders are vulnerable to such secular desires of transferring church leadership to their offspring in a move to maintain their grip on the church.”
Yoido Full Gospel Church has more than one million followers nationwide, the largest of Korean churches. Dozens of politicians and ranking bureaucrats are registered with the church.
As a result, it played a key role in March in pressuring President Lee Myung-bak to abolish a plan to enact a law to circulate Islamic bonds, called “sukuk” in the domestic financial market. President Lee is an elder at Somang Church, another big church in southern Seoul.
The dispute over the leadership in Yoido Full Gospel Church dates back to 2008 when Cho, then a senior pastor who presided over Sunday worship, appointed another senior pastor Lee Young-hoon as his successor. Designated as emeritus pastor, Cho pledged that he will resign from all official posts by May this year and none of his family members will take over. But it turned out to be an empty promise.
Cho currently occupies positions controlling the budget and personnel management of the church as well as dozens of affiliated units with no intent to resign by the self-proclaimed timeline.
Last year, his second son took over the presidency of the Kookmin Ilbo, a nationwide Korean-language daily owned by the church, after dismissing his father-in-law. Cho’s two other sons also control organizations with great influence in the church.
Earlier this month a group of elders and followers of the church filed a collective petition with the prosecution calling for an investigation into Cho’s wife, Kim Sung-hye. She is suspected of having caused financial losses to the church through a murky real estate deal. But this petition is widely viewed as resistance to those who are trying to stop Cho family scheme to dominate the church’s management, observers said.
Kim reportedly has a decision-making role in five organizations under the control of the church, including Hansei University in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province.
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