Guwonpa (Salvation Sect)

Overview

Guwonpa (literally "Salvation Sect") is a collective name for a religious movement that began in Daegu in the early 1960s and for the branches that grew out of it. Kwon Shin-chan, Yoo Byung-eun, and others started the movement under the influence of independent foreign missionaries. The name was not chosen by the groups themselves but was applied by their critics. It is reported to have been coined as a critical label by Tak Myung-hwan, then director of the Research Institute for Religious Problems. The movement is commonly divided into the following three lines.

• Kwon Shin-chan–Yoo Byung-eun line: Operated under the name Korea Lay Evangelical Mission. In 1981 it formed a denomination called the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea (Gidokgyo Bogeum Chimnyehoe).
• Lee Yo-han (born Lee Bok-chil) line: Split off from the Kwon Shin-chan–Yoo Byung-eun line. It uses the names Korea Jesus Baptist Church and Word of Life Mission and is centered on Seoul Central Church in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province.
• Park Ock-soo line: The Good News Mission (Korea Jesus Baptist Church), founded in 1986. It operates organizations such as the International Youth Fellowship (IYF).

The three lines currently have no contact with one another. Since 2014 the Lee Yo-han and Park Ock-soo groups have reportedly been reluctant to be grouped with the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea. Although the groups' names include the word "Baptist," they have no connection with the Korea Baptist Convention or the Korea Bible Baptist Church. The Korea Baptist Convention has publicly stated that it has no relationship with Guwonpa.

Principal Claims and Teachings

As summarized by critics, the characteristic teachings of Guwonpa are as follows.

• It emphasizes realizing that one's sins have already been forgiven as the core of salvation. In evangelism, its members reportedly begin by asking whether a person is certain that his or her sins have been forgiven.
• It is criticized for teaching that a person who has once been saved has no further need to repent. According to this criticism, it also regards it as wrong for a saved person to confess that he or she is a sinner.
• It criticizes the worship and institutions of established churches. Some critics also maintain that it teaches that salvation is attained only through its own fellowship.

Critics regard these teachings as resembling Gnosticism (an ancient heresy holding that salvation comes through special knowledge) and antinomianism (the claim that because one has received grace, the law and repentance are unnecessary).

Assessments by Korean Denominations and Ecumenical Bodies

According to reports in the Christian press, the following denominations declared Guwonpa heretical in the years indicated.

• Korea Evangelical Holiness Church: 1985
• Kosin Presbyterian Church in Korea: 1991
• Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap): 77th General Assembly, 1992
• Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapshin): 1995 and 2014
• General Assembly of Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong): 2008
• Korean Methodist Church: 2014

A study report of the Tonghap denomination concluded that Guwonpa fails to distinguish between two kinds of repentance: the once-for-all repentance at the time of salvation and the repeated repentance that takes place in the process of sanctification (growing in holiness). The report also judged unbiblical the claim that a person who calls himself a sinner will go to hell. It further concluded that the three lines do not differ in their understanding of God or of salvation.

Positions and Rebuttals of the Groups Concerned

• The Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea maintains that no religion teaches that one may live recklessly because one is saved, and that its doctrine has long been misunderstood. The group has requested corrections and right-of-reply statements in response to a number of media reports, and these have been published. It also maintains that the founder of the denomination was Kwon Shin-chan, not Yoo Byung-eun.
• In an interview, Park Ock-soo asserted that labeling him a heretic reflects a practice of branding as heretical any group that has not joined the Christian Council of Korea. He also stated that many pastors who had heard his lectures had apologized to him.
• In 2002 at Kyungnam University, some student mission organizations criticized the Good News Mission in the mistaken belief that it was connected with the Odaeyang incident. These organizations reportedly later issued a public apology to the IYF.

Social Controversies

• In 1974 the TEAM mission, which operated the Far East Broadcasting Company, reportedly dismissed Kwon Shin-chan after a conflict and fired eleven associated staff members.
• Yoo Byung-eun came under suspicion in connection with the Odaeyang incident of 1987.
• Yoo Byung-eun was sued over the use of members' offerings and other funds as business capital, and in 1991 he was arrested on fraud charges.
• After the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014, Yoo Byung-eun was identified as the de facto owner of Chonghaejin Marine. Prosecutors conducted search-and-seizure raids targeting the Yoo family, the Seoul church of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea, and the Geumsuwon compound in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province.
• Park Ock-soo was tried on charges of financial fraud but was acquitted by the Supreme Court in July 2017.