President Park Jung-Hee's government aggressively enforced the high-growth policy, attracting foreign capital, technologies, and resources on the basis of Korea's cheap labor. However, his policy ended up with a destroyed rural society, rapid urbanization, and a wider gap between the rich and the poor. Many people who lost their community wanted to find peace in the church community. In fact, their anxiety and loss of identity became the foundation for the rapid growth of Protestantism. Also, social unrest, chaos, political and social pressure, and fierce struggle for life nourished the growth of Protestantism. While some churches promoted evangelizing the people and the industries, most churches infused ‘blessing-oriented faith' presenting blessings to the rich and the powerful and taught good health, wealth, and success to be the fruits of faith.

The rapid growth and revival of Protestantism between the 1960s and 1980s took place in the midst of the destruction of the rural community and the unrest and chaos of civilization. The fast-growing Protestantism under the circumstances of a widened gap between the rich and the poor intensified capitalistic competition, exploration and pressure, emphasizing the ‘blessing-oriented faith'. Protestantism satisfied the worldly values and desires, and even gave the corrupted rich people indulgence with blessing. Most of the so-called conservative churches neglected to take care of socia1 problems and desperate people. However, the ‘blessing-oriented' church promised material blessings and success, teaching that health, wealth and success would be God's blessing as the result of strong faith.

In this way, religion in Korea has grown remarkably together with the economic growth. In the early 1970s, the Yushin System deprived people of the freedom of society and standardized the culture of society. In the system, every religion had more influence on society, and actively participated in social affairs. Ironically, since the March First Movement, Korean religions, whether progressive or conservative, could promote more religious movements than ever. As a result, religions had the unprecedented growth. Every religion in Korea had an explosive increase during the rapid industrialization beginning with the 1960s. Particularly, Protestantism had doubled its number from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. This is in striking contrast to the decreasing religious population due to the cultural stability in Korea in the late 1990s.

The rapid growth of churches in the 1970s was mainly due to evangelical gatherings.

1) Revival gathering with Rev. Billy Graham

The first mass gathering in the 1970s was held with a renowned American evangelist, Billy Graham in May 1973. This was a meaningful multi-denominational gathering because most of the denominations, even the Salvation Army and the Assemblies of God, had participated. Before the main event was held, 1.2 million people had attended the pre-gatherings all over the country for a year. Among these 1.2 million people, 16,700 decided to accept Jesus Christ. On May 30th, 516,000 people gathered in Yoido Square for the main event. Rev. Graham said, “I have visited about 50 countries for reviva1 gatherings, but this is the most meaningful one in the Christian history. Spiritual revival is really happening everywhere in Korea”. By this main gathering, 37,000 people accepted Jesus Christ.

2) Explo '74

Explo '74 was held in Yoido Square by the Campus Crusade for Christ(CCC) in August 1974. There were many well- known speakers from home and aboard, including Dr. Bill Bright, the President of the CCC. Under the title of ‘Jesus Revolution-Spiritual Explosion' 30,000 people from 90 countries joined the gathering. Unlike other gatherings, this was not just a one-time event. It included programs to train people how to spread the Gospel.

3) National Revival '77

Celebrating the great revival in Pyongyang in 1907, the Korean Council of Evangelists organized and held a national revival gathering in Yoido Square in 1977. This gathering addressed the need to have a Korean-led gathering after the Billy Graham's gathering in 1973 and the Explo '74 in 1974. On the first day, 800,000 people gathered. At night, 300,000 gathered to pray for Korea throughout the night.

Due to mass revival gatherings, Korean churches experienced explosive growth in number. Based on the statistics of Korean religion in the late 1970s, 29 million people, about 80% of the 37 million populations, had religion. About 28% of these 29 million people, i.e. 7 million were Christians. Among Christians, 47% or approx. 2.87 million were Presbyterians.

As of the year 2005, Korean churches sent 17,000 missionaries to 180 countries in the world, which puts Korea in the second spot after the U.S. in terms of the number of missionaries sent overseas. 15% of 50,000 churches in Korea have participated in mission. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the great revival in Pyongyang in 1907, local churches hope to make another leap through active mission in 2007. Korean churches also have a vision to become the top in sending the largest number of missionaries by sending 50,000 missionaries by the year 2030. This is the way of repaying the privilege and blessing that God has granted to Korean churches.

In its 5,000-year-old history, the Korean people have been through painful sufferings because the country is positioned among powers such as China, Russia, and Japan. The Korean Peninsula had wars constantly. So, the Korean people could not live for a second without depending on the Absolute Being. In the old times, people worshiped Shamanism, and the remnants still linger in people. When Buddhism was introduced, the whole country believed in the religion. But when Buddhism conspired with politics and lost its religious purity, people accepted Confucianism instead. Therefore, the Korean people have inherited the nature of depending on the Absolute Being.

When Protestantism was introduced in Korea, persecution and martyrdom took place because authorities had the Confucian belief. However, within the short period of a century, more than 25% of the population believes in Jesus Christ, which is quite a remarkable growth. Even though Buddhism and Confucianism had already spread throughout the nation over a period of 500 years, people weren't reluctant to choose the newly introduced religion because Protestantism was the religion of life. In fact, the remains of other religions stil1 exist and some people are into Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. However, Protestantism is the mainstream in today's Korea.

This presents two implications. First, Koreans are a very religious people. The Gospel took root on such a ground and bore fruits easily. Second, Koreans pursue new things all the time. In this sense, Korean churches are required to present both self-examination and vision to the people. We should be reminded that there is always the possibility that people may turn their backs on Protestantism if the religion loses the vitality of the Gospel. If Protestantism fails to provide vision to the people, they may not depend on the religion and leave for something new. This is a serious issue, not only for Korean churches, but also for churches throughout the world. God has granted special blessings and commitment to Korean churches, and churches in the world look upon Korean churches with expectation and envy.

After the Second World War, conflicts of ideology brought the Cold War system. As a result, Korea was divided between the North and the South. Every Korean hopes for reunification. In this situation, Korean churches have sought to realize reconciliation and unification in various ways, including mission in North Korea, and will perform their noble tasks in the future.