Yong Do Lee has been classified as a mystic. This is based on the specific quality of his faith. This paper makes clear the origin of Yong Do Lee’s mystical faith and how he used it to reform the church. It also analyses his revival service as a cultural phenomenon and him as a super- star of Christianity. This analysis considers the revival service as a social or cultural phenomena and will present the reason Yong Do Lee was so popular in Korean Christianity, arguing that he is the origin of Jesus Church. Until now, there has been no explanation on Yong Do Lee as a star of Korean Christianity and his social phenomenon. During the period of Japanese occupancy, there were many pastors who paid attention to the revival service, which had important cultural elements in Korean Christianity. While others considered mysticism as a way of individual meditation, Yong Do Lee introduced it to the church revival and gave a new, vital power to the churches through asceticism meditation. Young age, unlimited love, prayer, and sermons calling people to compassion caused him to have many ardent followers, and their gatherings were so enormous. His pictures were famous among believers, and many letters had the quality of modern fan letters to superstars. The revival services he led were similar to people coming to a concert seeking a superstar. Yong Do Lee was especially popular among the women believers. The analysis of these specific features show that Yong Do Lee had the some of the same characteristics as a superstar, which was different from other revival leaders. Yong Do Lee was criticized because he rebuked other pasters in his sermon, and eventually he collapsed from the false prophecy of Joon Myung Han in 1932. But his followers continued to participate in Yong Do Lee’s church, showing people their cohesive power. Yong Do Lee gained popularity from the whole country, but especially in the northwest regions of P’yongyang and Pyongan-Namdo.

Yong Do Lee has been classified as a mystic. This is based on the specific quality of his faith. This paper makes clear the origin of Yong Do Lee’s mystical faith and how he used it to reform the church. It also analyses his revival service as a cultural phenomenon and him as a super- star of Christianity. This analysis considers the revival service as a social or cultural phenomena and will present the reason Yong Do Lee was so popular in Korean Christianity, arguing that he is the origin of Jesus Church. Until now, there has been no explanation on Yong Do Lee as a star of Korean Christianity and his social phenomenon. During the period of Japanese occupancy, there were many pastors who paid attention to the revival service, which had important cultural elements in Korean Christianity. While others considered mysticism as a way of individual meditation, Yong Do Lee introduced it to the church revival and gave a new, vital power to the churches through asceticism meditation. Young age, unlimited love, prayer, and sermons calling people to compassion caused him to have many ardent followers, and their gatherings were so enormous. His pictures were famous among believers, and many letters had the quality of modern fan letters to superstars. The revival services he led were similar to people coming to a concert seeking a superstar. Yong Do Lee was especially popular among the women believers. The analysis of these specific features show that Yong Do Lee had the some of the same characteristics as a superstar, which was different from other revival leaders. Yong Do Lee was criticized because he rebuked other pasters in his sermon, and eventually he collapsed from the false prophecy of Joon Myung Han in 1932. But his followers continued to participate in Yong Do Lee’s church, showing people their cohesive power. Yong Do Lee gained popularity from the whole country, but especially in the northwest regions of P’yongyang and Pyongan-Namdo.

Yong Do Lee, Mysticism, superstar, revival services, Jesus Church