South Korea’s Megachurches

In 2014, South Korean pastor David Yonggi Cho was convicted of embezzling $12 million from the massive megachurch he founded in the megacity of Seoul. Instead of his church imploding from the scandal, Yoido Full Gospel Church continues to be the largest megachurch in the world. With a membership equivalent to one of every 20 residents in greater Seoul, it serves up to 200,000 congregants each week.

Yoido is just one of many megachurches flourishing in South Korea, home of five of the world's 10 biggest congregations. Exploding alongside the rapid development of Korea's urban center, the phenomenon, especially in Seoul, holds stronger than in the United States, where the rise of the megachurch has changed the country's religious landscape since the 1970s. In Korea, over 10,000 members flock to the coveted pews of each of these churches every week, with members averaging nearly three visits per week and over two-thirds diligently paying tithes. Despite controversies--sex scandals among clergies, financial dishonesty, and hereditary transition of church leadership--the megachurches hold fast to their congregations.

Such success is not built merely on brainwashing. The megachurches’ strongly committed members are always vetted, usually affluent and well-educated, such as Korea's former president, Lee Myung-bak, once an elder at a megachurch. They are also fighting against the current: In reality, Protestantism overall is on the decline in Korea due to infighting, while Catholicism has grown by over 70 percent in the last 17 years. These megachurches' success is thanks to their founders' ability to treat their church like the religious conglomerate that it is -- by adapting and innovating in the competitive market.

"Korean people as a whole are not very happy with megachurches, but that is not the whole story," Kim Sung-gun, a religion expert at Seowon University in South Korea, tells The Diplomat. "Generally speaking, a majority of attendees ... are positive about the prospects of their own church. They’re quite satisfied with what’s going on."