Yoido Full Gospel Church, 

Yoido, Seoul, South Korea

In our Christianity around the world report this month, I wanted to do a small report on the Yoido Full Gospel Church.  Many of us have never been in settings of more than 80 thousand people - and that's at a good football game.  But what do you think about a church where every Sunday there is at least 800,000 people in attendance?  Yoido is the largest church in the world.

The church: Yoido Full Gospel Church, Yoido, Seoul, South Korea. This is the numero uno church in the world, if size is anything to go by, with over 837,569 members.
Denomination: Pentecostal (Assemblies of God).
The building: It's a gigantic building that is shaped like a huge baseball stadium. The lighting is very bright and everything about the place is... shall we say, rather "over the top". The service felt like a baseball game. I was seated on the extreme right and was tempted to start the wave.
The neighborhood: Yoido is an island on the south side of Seoul that is similar to Manhattan in many ways. There is the National Assembly, the Financial District, Stock Exchange... a very "high powered neighborhood" to say the least.

When asked how full was the building, one gentleman reported "A sell-out crowd, bulging at the seams! I felt like I was in the back seat of a compact car with four other people squeezed in."

When asked to describe the pre-service atmosphere, he responded, "There's a pre- worship gospel time. I arrived at 11.00am and they were pretty well warmed up."

When asked what musical instruments were played, he responded,"Organ, piano, synth, guitar, drums, flute, clarinet, sax, tambourine... and a symphony orchestra."

And when asked was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or what, he responed, "It was very hearty. The singing reminded me of a Wesleyan tent revival meeting. But the prayer times got very rowdy. I felt a tad uncomfortable."

The gentleman was presented with numerous questions however I just selected a few to share with you concerning the atmosphere of the largest church in the world.  Coming from small churches all my life, I can relate to many people who say there is no way they would join a large church because they seem so impersonal.  The number one reason I've heard time and time again is that they would not have access to the Pastor nor would the Pastor know them personally.  As I stated in my bio, My dad was a Pastor (Southern Baptist) and the largest church he pastored was no more than 100 members on a given Sunday.  However, one day I found myself joining an 8,000 member church.  The church now has more than 15,000 members yet I feel right at home. But I knew that the Spirit of the Lord directed me to join.

What's my point?  The word of God says that He (God) has placed us in the body as it pleaseth Him (I Cor 12:18).  Regardless of our background and family association with a particular church or denomination, we must still seek God to find out where He specifically wants us to be.  And if a church is not the one God wants you at - please don't talk it down or impede its progress.  I'm reminded of the words Jesus gave to his disciple John concerning such a situation.

Mark 9:38-41

-And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
-But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
-For he that is not against us is on our part.
-For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

And a word for those that believe that some churches are just to large -

Acts 2:41
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Acts 4:4
Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

Below is one more picture -

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.  (James 1:22)

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