Shincheonji Church Graduates Over 59,000 Theology Students Amid Growing Pastor Participation

The Zion Christian Mission Center celebrated its 116th graduation ceremony at the Shincheonji Cheongju Church in South Korea, producing 59,192 graduates this year including 2,248 pastors despite facing significant persecution and slander. This continues a four-year trend where graduating pastors have exceeded 13,500 total, indicating substantial growth in religious leadership participation within the organization. The mission center, operated by Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, provides systematic Bible education focusing on prophecy fulfillment and scriptural flow from Genesis to Revelation through its free year-long program.

Students must complete all three course levels—introductory, intermediate, and advanced—while achieving scores of 90 points or higher on comprehensive examinations to graduate. During the ceremony, Shincheonji Church Chairman Lee Man-hee emphasized the importance of genuine faith grounded in scripture rather than institutional authority. He stated that many who claim belief in Jesus fail to follow the Bible completely, urging believers to verify their faith through direct engagement with scriptural texts rather than relying on church hierarchies.

A powerful testimony came from former pastor Oh Sun-kyung, who described her previous inability to understand Revelation despite reading the Bible over thirty times and eventually abandoning her ministry due to this struggle. She now encourages other pastors to study at Shincheonji's mission center to properly master Revelation and guide their congregations effectively. Oh emphasized that with Revelation's secrets revealed, pastors must lead believers to heaven by mastering the promised Word without alteration, achieving what she called "a perfect 100 on the Bible test" to become those sealed by God.

The graduation event, themed "Love and Blessing, Light to the World," attracted approximately 20,000 graduates to the physical venue while remaining participants joined online from Shincheonji Churches worldwide due to space limitations. This year's ceremony follows four consecutive years where total graduates surpassed 100,000, with 108,084 graduating in 2023 and 111,628 in 2024 according to mission center records. The consistent growth in graduation numbers, particularly among pastoral participants, demonstrates the expanding reach of Shincheonji's theological education model despite external criticism and challenges.