Korean Revival & Evangelistic Campaigns 1950-80s

Youth for Christ (YFC) was a slogan which sprang forth in 1936, but the movement began in 1944 in America when evangelistic Saturday night youth rallies began. YFC began in Korea when some GIs held evangelistic rallies. The war broke out on 25 June 1950, when North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea.

Its post-war surge of evangelism reached its cress when Robert Pierce [evangelist and UN correspondent], Robert Findley, Gil Dodds and others leaders saw a local revival break forth in the weeks before the outbreak of war in Korea.

– J. Edwin Orr

When Bob Pierce, Gill Dodds and I were invited to Korea we discovered that our Lord had brought us into the midst of revival that might well have been lifted out of the pages of the book of Acts. I saw revival in Korea. I saw more than 25,000 persons profess to accept Christ as Saviour within six weeks. I saw more than four thousand persons daily at 5am prayer meetings. I saw hundreds continue all night in prayer for days on end. I saw crowds up to 75,000 come together to hear the gospel. In such a movement of the Holy Spirit, our part was incidental. These meetings in which we participated were only a small part of the great revival in Korea. All the while there were other great meetings being held by Korean pastors and evangelists. The revival is a demonstration of the awful reality of the person of the Holy Spirit.

– Robert “Bob” Finley

From the rapid industrialisation of the 1960s onwards, there was an explosion of growth amongst Evangelical churches (and other religions). The evangelical movement held campaigns under the banner of “Thirty Million to Christ” in 1965 and held “Explo 74.” 

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

– 2 Timothy 2:15

In 1972, a year before Billy Graham was to hold a multi-denominational campaign in May 1973; 1.2 million people attended the pre-gatherings across the country and 16,700 were converted. In Yoido Square, located on an island in the Han River, Seoul, 516,000 people gathered (one author states one million) for the main event on 30 May 1973 and by this time 37,000 people had been converted.

I have visited about fifty countries for revival gatherings, but this one is the most meaningful in the Christian history. Spiritual revival is really happening everywhere in Korea.

– Billy Graham

Explo 74 was held in Yoido Square in August 1974 and many well-known speakers spoke. Under the title “Jesus Revolution-Spiritual Explosion,” 30,000 people from 90 countries joined the gathering that was organised by Campus Crusade for Christ and included programs on evangelism teaching. One evening an attendance of 1.5 million people turned up.

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s Protestants doubled in number. In 1977, the seventieth anniversary of the Pyongyang Great Revival (1907-1910), the Korean Council of Evangelists held a national revival gathering at Yoido Square. On the first day, 800,000 attended and 300,000 prayed through the night for Korea.

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path… And The entrance of Your Words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

– Psalm 119:105, 130

In August 1980, a cumulative total of 10.5 million people attended the four-day, Here’s Life, Korea ’80 World Evangelization Crusade (HLK-’80 WEC) at the Yoido Plaza. One and a half million people decided for Christ Jesus during the Here’s Life campaign. On the final night, 2.7 million attended. Including the daytime meetings for six days, the accumulative attendance was 16.3 million.

Paul Yonggi Cho, was the pastor of the largest church in the world; the Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, South Korea. In 1982, they saw 110,000 converts, but the church was only able to absorb 60,000 new members, the remaining 50,000 were absorbed into other evangelical churches. During 1982-1983 they saw 230,000 conversions within their church. In 1984 the Yoido Full Gospel Church was growing at the rate of twelve thousand new converts each month and this was not growth from other fellowships. 

…My son…the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

– 2 Timothy 2:1-2

Used with permission from Revival Fires and Awakenings by Mathew Backholer.

By Mathew Backholer. Find more about Mathew’s books here.