South Korea-based
church holds graduation ceremony for over 100,000 Bible students,
the largest in the world
Press Release
November 21, 2022
DAEGU, South Korea
– A graduation ceremony for Bible students from Zion Christian
Mission Center (ZCMC) Class 113 was held at Daegu Stadium on
November 20. With a total of 106,186 graduates from 79 countries
including the Philippines, it was the largest in the world for a
theological education institution.
ZCMC is the Bible
education institution operated by Shincheonji (New Heaven and New
Earth) Church of Jesus, a church based in South Korea. Their
students completed a 9-month theology course that covers the 66
books of the Bible.
This is their second
100,000-person graduation, after almost 3 years. When the pandemic
hit, the institution shifted to online learning and utilized the
virtual platform to make their theology lessons more accessible to
the public including pastors.
In a press conference held
before the ceremony, Chairman Lee Man-hee shared, "When this world
has become corrupt and is full of sin, God desires to carry out the
work of recreation. That one book [Revelation] is actually the
content of recreation... People have to become a new person,
completely changed."
Among the graduates, there
has been a significant increase in the number of pastors and
seminarians for a total of 522 pastors in Korea and overseas.
One of the pastors, Heo
Jeong-wook, presented his testimony at the graduation ceremony as a
representative of domestic graduates. After 20 years of ministry, he
said, “I only learned traditional theology at seminary, but I didn’t
know much about the Book of Revelation. I put aside the difficult
words and only taught the words that are easy to convey to the
congregation members. I repent that I was a sinner who added to and
subtracted from the word of God." He added, “I have let go of
everything I had and have come forward to the truth. I have
completed this course by learning the real theology that leads to
heaven, not human studies. I thank God for giving me a chance at
life.”
