Shincheonji Graduates 59,192, Including 2,248 Pastors Amid Growth

The Zion Christian Mission Center, operated by Shincheonji Church of Jesus, celebrated its 116th graduation ceremony on November 2 at the Shincheonji Cheongju Church in South Korea, marking a significant milestone in religious education. Despite facing intense persecution and slander, the institution produced an impressive 59,192 graduates this year, including 2,248 pastors who completed the rigorous theological program. The ceremony, themed "Love and Blessing, Light to the World," drew approximately 20,000 graduates both inside and outside the building, with additional participants joining online from Shincheonji Churches worldwide due to limited space. This event continues a remarkable trend of growth, with the past four years seeing over 13,500 pastors graduate and total graduates exceeding 100,000 annually in recent years, including 108,084 in 2023 and 111,628 in 2024.

During the ceremony, Shincheonji Church Chairman Lee Man-hee delivered a powerful message emphasizing the importance of genuine faith grounded in scripture rather than church authority. He challenged believers to verify their faith through direct engagement with the Bible, stating, "There are far too many people who claim to believe in Jesus but do not follow the Bible completely." The event featured a compelling graduation speech by former pastor Oh Sun-kyung, who shared her personal journey of struggling to understand Revelation despite reading the Bible over 30 times and eventually abandoning her ministry. She urged fellow pastors to master Revelation through Shincheonji's teachings, emphasizing that "now that the secrets of Revelation have been revealed, the role of a pastor is to lead believers to heaven" and encouraging them to "become those who are sealed by God" by achieving perfect understanding of scripture.

The Zion Christian Mission Center's educational approach focuses on systematic Bible study covering prophecy and fulfillment, God's will, and the flow of scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Students must complete three levels of free, year-long courses—introductory, intermediate, and advanced—and score 90 points or higher on comprehensive exams to graduate. This rigorous curriculum has proven highly effective in training religious leaders, as evidenced by the growing number of pastors graduating from the program. The mission center's success in producing thousands of qualified theological graduates each year demonstrates its significant impact on religious education and spiritual development within the Christian community, particularly through its emphasis on direct scriptural understanding and mastery of complex biblical texts like Revelation.