Korean Charismatic Church
Title: The history of pentecostal & Charismatic Pnuematologies in the Korean Church
CHapter i
INTRODUCTION
Today, many Korean churches have Pentecostal and Charismatic (P/C) characteristics – experiential spirituality: the openness to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, emphasis on prayer, on exuberant worship, on evangelism, and on religious experience – even before foreign Pentecostal denominations initiated the Pentecostal movement in Korea. Yong-gi Hong, a minister of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC), notes that most mega-churches in Korea are charismatic. It is hard to distinguish between non-Pentecostal and Pentecostal churches simply by focusing on worship styles and structures in Korean churches, even though differences do exit. There are no great distinctions between denominations because most of them follow Pentecostal and Charismatic practices – speaking in tongues, healings, and prophecy. Peter Hocken also points out the charismatic tendencies of the Korean Church as follows.
Several of the world’s megachurches are found in Korea; these churches are pentecostal-charismatic or open to charismatic-type worship and ministry. From the 1970s, many denominations joined together in large-scale revival meetings with an emphasis on the Holy Spirit, contributing to rapid church growth, although not as rapidly as Korean Pentecostalism.
Most mega-churches and their leaders already have had a charismatic experience; they are strong in prayer and are open to receive the Holy Spirit - baptism in the Holy Spirit (fullness of the Holy Spirit) - and this holds true not only for mega-churches but for most other churches as well. Furthermore, their understanding of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts is like the teaching of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements.
Stanley M. Burgess categorized renewal movements into the Pentecostal, charismatic, and neocharismatic movements. According to Burgess, charismatic renewal represents a transdenominational movement of
CHapter i
INTRODUCTION
Today, many Korean churches have Pentecostal and Charismatic (P/C) characteristics – experiential spirituality: the openness to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, emphasis on prayer, on exuberant worship, on evangelism, and on religious experience – even before foreign Pentecostal denominations initiated the Pentecostal movement in Korea. Yong-gi Hong, a minister of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC), notes that most mega-churches in Korea are charismatic. It is hard to distinguish between non-Pentecostal and Pentecostal churches simply by focusing on worship styles and structures in Korean churches, even though differences do exit. There are no great distinctions between denominations because most of them follow Pentecostal and Charismatic practices – speaking in tongues, healings, and prophecy. Peter Hocken also points out the charismatic tendencies of the Korean Church as follows.
Several of the world’s megachurches are found in Korea; these churches are pentecostal-charismatic or open to charismatic-type worship and ministry. From the 1970s, many denominations joined together in large-scale revival meetings with an emphasis on the Holy Spirit, contributing to rapid church growth, although not as rapidly as Korean Pentecostalism.
Most mega-churches and their leaders already have had a charismatic experience; they are strong in prayer and are open to receive the Holy Spirit - baptism in the Holy Spirit (fullness of the Holy Spirit) - and this holds true not only for mega-churches but for most other churches as well. Furthermore, their understanding of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts is like the teaching of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements.
Stanley M. Burgess categorized renewal movements into the Pentecostal, charismatic, and neocharismatic movements. According to Burgess, charismatic renewal represents a transdenominational movement of