The 30th CGI Conference opens in Seoul
Lee Young-hoon, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church and chairman of Church Growth International (CGI), leads a prayer for peace on the Korean Peninsula and hope for the world church, at the 2013 CGI Conference held at Seoul World Cup Stadium. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church
The 30th Church Growth International (CGI) Conference will kick off its four-day event on Wednesday, welcoming over 10,000 church believers and leaders from 50 countries. The conference will take place at Yoido Full Gospel Church, Osanri Choi Ja-sil Memorial Fasting Prayer mountain and Yonsei University Amphitheater.
Among the global church leaders attending the conference are Frank Hinkelmann of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), William Wilson of the Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF), Rev. Dominic Yeo of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF) and Rev. Paula White, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s evangelical Christian advisor.
Welcoming church leaders and believers from around the world, Lee Young-hoon, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, urged all churches to deliver God’s grace to those who have lost hope and are in despair arising from pain, disease and poverty under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
“Today’s church is facing a number of spiritual challenges, including war, famine, infectious diseases and drugs. People are enthusiastic about futile things such as money, power and pleasure more than ever. But we know that such futile things do not offer eternal hope,” Lee, who also serves as chairman of CGI, said.
Attendees of the 2007 CGI Conference gather at Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, to take part in a worship service. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church
The 30th CGI Conference has a special meaning as it is the first conference to be held since the last gathering in 2019, right before the coronavirus pandemic broke out. This year’s conference will be the world’s largest and most influential pastoral meeting where various topics concerning church growth will be discussed and prayers will be dedicated to the revival of churches. Yoido Full Gospel Church says the 30th CGI Conference will create waves that will bring about the new revival and growth of the world’s churches.
What also draws attention is that this year’s conference will be a forum, to be attended by a number of famed spiritual leaders from around the world. Among them are the leaders of the WEA, which has 600 million followers worldwide; the PWF, the world’s largest Pentecostal Holy Spirit movement organization with 650 million believers; and the WAGF, which has 442,000 churches and 85 million members. On top of that, the United Christian Churches of Korea, the country’s leading organization of church associations, and the Assembly of God Korea will join the conference, which will make it the biggest Christian event ever held in Korea.
The conference will begin with the opening prayer on Oct. 23 at Yoido Full Gospel Church to be led by Rev. Lee; Dr. Kim Jang-hwan, chairman of the Far East Broadcasting Company, and James Marocco, senior pastor of King’s Cathedral & Chapels. Frank Henkelmann, Rev. Dominic Yeo, Rev. Rachel Rogers from the U.S., Rev. Vincent Leoh from Malaysia and other lecturers will host seminars and workshops concerning church growth until Oct. 24.
On Oct. 25, a Holy Spirit prayer meeting will be led by Rev. Paula White, Satish Kumar from India and Kong Hee from Singapore at Osanri Prayer Mountain. In the evening, Dag Heward-Mills, the Ghanaian religious leader and founder of the Lighthouse Group of Churches, will preside over the Friday night service at Yoido Full Gospel Church.
Attendees of the 1987 CGI Conference gather to observe a service at Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church
The 30th CGI Conference will come to an end with a grand prayer rally on Oct. 26, the event’s last day, at Seoul’s Yonsei University Amphitheater. At the prayer, Rev. Lee, Rev. David Sumrall of the Cathedral of Praise in the Philippines, Francois Forschle of the International Evangelistic Centre Evidence and William Wilson will preach.
The rally will become a place where more than 10,000 pastors at home and abroad, along with fellow believers, will gather to pray for world peace and the revival of the world’s churches at Yonsei University, which was set up by missionaries as an extension of the great revival movement that erupted in Pyongyang.
Established in 1976, CGI is an international organization founded by Cho Yong-gi who grew Yoido Full Gospel Church into the world’s largest church. This year’s event will be the first conference to be hosted by Rev. Lee who has driven the revival and growth of the world’s churches since becoming the CGI chairman in 2022.