Church Growth International’s 30th Conference Opens in Seoul, South Korea, With Pentecostal Leaders Among Speakers

Church Growth International (CGI) has announced speakers for its 30th CGI Conference, according to a Korea Times report. Lee Young-hoon, the CGI chairman and senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, leads a congregation that the report describes as the world’s largest. Lee has led Yoido Full Gospel Church since 2008, and in 2022 he was unanimously appointed chairman of the CGI board of directors.

Yoido Full Gospel Church also hosted the 27th CGI Conference in Seoul in May 2018, when pastors from 50 countries prayed for revival. The report on the speaker lineup lists several other figures. James Marocco founded King’s Cathedral and Chapels in Hawaii in 1980 and has established 165 churches across Hawaii, the mainland United States and 14 other countries. Frank Hinkelmann is vice chairman of the International Council of the World Evangelical Alliance. Dominic Yeo leads the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, which the report says has 85 million members across 442,000 churches worldwide. City Harvest Church in Singapore, led by Kong Hee, is reported to have 45,000 registered members and was recognized in 2012 as one of the world’s top 10 churches.

A second Korea Times report describes the conference as it opens in Seoul. The 30th CGI Conference will run for four days beginning on a Wednesday and is expected to welcome more than 10,000 church believers and leaders from 50 countries. Sessions will be held at Yoido Full Gospel Church, the Osanri Choi Ja-sil Memorial Fasting Prayer mountain and the Yonsei University Amphitheater. Attending global leaders include Hinkelmann of the World Evangelical Alliance, William Wilson of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, Yeo of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship and Rev. Paula White.

Lee, speaking as CGI chairman, urged churches to deliver God’s grace to those who have lost hope. He said the church today faces spiritual challenges including war, famine, infectious diseases and drugs. The report notes that this is the first CGI conference since the 2019 gathering, held just before the coronavirus pandemic broke out. Lee’s call to reach people who have lost hope is a reminder of comfort offered to the grieving (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

The second report gives the reach of the global bodies involved. It states that the World Evangelical Alliance has 600 million followers, the Pentecostal World Fellowship has 650 million believers, and the World Assemblies of God Fellowship has 442,000 churches and 85 million members. These figures are as reported by the Korea Times and have not been independently verified in the source material.

The United Christian Churches of Korea and the Assembly of God Korea will also join the conference. Organizers say it will be the biggest Christian event ever held in Korea, a claim the report attributes to the organizers.