South Korean founder of world’s largest Presbyterian church sparks outrage by naming son as his successor
- Kim Sam-whan’s controversial decision to hand the reins of power to his son was initially found to be in violation of the church’s constitution
- But this was reversed after a four-day Korean Presbyterian Church general assembly, of which Kim is a past president, agreed to allow the succession
A South Korean church that is one of the world’s largest and collects tens of millions of dollars from its followers has come under fire after its chief pastor chose his son as his successor.
Pastor Kim Sam-whan named his son, Kim Ha-na, as the next chief pastor of the presbyterian Myungsung Church in Seoul, which he founded in 1980 with 20 other members.
The megachurch has some 100,000 members, who give about 40 billion won in (US$33.2 million) in tithes each year.
Kim Sam-whan’s controversial decision to hand the reins of power to his son was initially found to be in violation of the Korean Presbyterian Church’s constitution, which bans nepotistic succession in the event of retirement. But he appealed that decision, made by a regional council, to the KPC’s general assembly – of which he is a former president.
He argued that because his son had not taken over the leadership of Myungsung Church until two years after his retirement in 2015, the move did not violate the KPC’s constitution.