S Korean Lee Young-hoon new world Pentecostal leader
A senior pastor with Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, the 70-year-old was elected at the recent world conference in Helsinki by representatives from 90 countries. His selection shows the growing role of Asian communities in this part of global Christianity.
Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – South Korea’s Lee Young-hoon, senior pastor with the Yoido Full Gospel Church, is the new general secretary of the Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF), the world’s largest association of Pentecostal Christian denominations.
Elected at the 27th World Conference held recently Helsinki (Findland) with participants from 90 countries, his selection highlights the growing influence of Asian, especially Korean Churches in the global Pentecostal movement.
Lee, who hails from Seoul, is 70 years old. He is the second Asian to lead the PWF. The first was Pastor Prince Guneratnam (1945-2022), from Malaysia, who served from 2010 to 2019.
Founded in 1947 in Zurich, the organisation today comprises 76 different Christian denominations from all over the world that recognise themselves with the Pentecostal movement headquartered in Tulsa, United States.
The South Korea-based Yoido Full Gospel Church has been actively involved in the PWF since 1973 and hosted the movement’s world meeting in Seoul in 1998.
Pastor Lee had previously served as its vice president, fostering close cooperation with Pentecostal leaders in various countries.
The outgoing president, William Wilson of the United States, spoke about his successor, saying, "Pastor Lee Young-hoon is a global leader deeply trusted by the international Pentecostal community. His leadership will significantly contribute to the advancement of the global Pentecostal church”.
For his part, Lee Young-hoon said: “I will do my best to ensure that the churches in Korea and Asia become forward bases for world evangelization.”
In addition to consolidating the theological foundations of the movement, the new PWF president said he will dedicate himself to boosting the global network of Pentecostal Churches, establishing systems for training the leaders of the next generation.
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