Seongbong Lee (1900—1965)

Country of Origin

  • Korea

Countries/Regions of Ministry
  • Korea
  • North Korea
  • Manchuria
  • Japan
  • United States
Traditions
  • Evangelical
  • Holiness
Ministries
  • Pastor
  • Revivalist
  • Healing Evangelist

Few Korean revivalists carried their message through as many layers of national suffering as Seong-bong Lee. Born at the dawn of the twentieth century, his ministry unfolded alongside Japanese colonization, ideological upheaval, and the devastation of war. These historical forces did not merely form the background of his life; they shaped the urgency, tone, and theology of a revival ministry that spoke powerfully to a wounded people.

Lee was born on July 4, 1900, in Ganli, Pyeongan-namdo, during a period of severe political and economic instability. His family lived in extreme poverty, and his early life was marked by chronic sickness and repeated encounters with death. Though his parents converted to Christianity when he was young—introducing a disciplined life of prayer and Scripture—Lee’s adolescence was marked by despair, rebellion, and unbelief. Illness, social marginalization, and economic frustration eventually drove him to moral collapse and suicidal despair.

At the age of twenty, facing a life-threatening disease and possible amputation, Lee experienced a decisive conversion. In deep repentance, he surrendered his life to God, vowing to serve Him if granted life and strength. Although his physical healing was not immediate, Lee later interpreted this prolonged suffering as God’s providential preparation. This experience became foundational for his theology, particularly his conviction that suffering could function as divine discipline and a means of spiritual formation.

Following his conversion, Lee entered Gyeongseong Bible School (1925–1928), operated by the Korean Holiness Church. There he was shaped by the fourfold gospel of regeneration, sanctification, divine healing, and the Second Coming of Christ. Even as a student, Lee demonstrated unusual evangelistic gifts, especially among children, combining narrative preaching, passionate exhortation, and song.

Lee’s pastoral ministry began in Suwon and continued in Mokpo and Sinuiju, where his churches grew rapidly through evangelism and revival meetings. Reports of repentance, moral transformation, and divine healing accompanied his preaching. Healing was never presented as an end in itself, but as a sign pointing to God’s saving grace, often leading to conversion, the renunciation of idols, and renewed Christian commitment.

In 1937, Lee was appointed as a national revivalist, leading large-scale revival meetings across Korea during the final years of Japanese occupation. His preaching emphasized thorough repentance, earnest prayer, and reliance on God’s power amid national suffering. After liberation in 1945 and through the devastation of the Korean War, Lee devoted himself to rebuilding broken churches, especially in rural and marginalized regions, through itinerant revival ministry and the formation of the “Immanuel Commando.”

Lee’s healing theology rested on several core convictions: sickness was often—but not always—related to sin; divine healing was grounded in Christ’s atoning work; and all healing ultimately lay within God’s sovereign will. Prayer—persistent, earnest, and often accompanied by fasting—stood at the center of his ministry. Yet Lee consistently insisted that healing served the greater purpose of salvation and the glory of God.

By the time of his death in 1965, Seong-bong Lee had become a spiritual bridge between earlier Korean revivalists and later Pentecostal leaders. His legacy endures in Korean Christianity through his emphasis on repentance, prayer, divine healing, and hope for a suffering church.

Jun Kim
Asia Pacific Theological Seminary
 

For Further Reading:

  • Seong-bong Lee, Buheungeui Bigyeol [The Secret of Revival] (Seoul: Word of Life Books, 1993).
  • Seong-bong Lee, Immanuel Gangdan [The Pulpit of Immanuel] (Seoul: Word of Life Books, 1993).
  • Seong-bong Lee, Malo Mothamyeon Jukeumeuro [If You Cannot Preach in Words, Preach by Death] (Seoul: Word of Life Books, 1993).
  • Myeong-su Park, Studies on the Korean Revival Movement (Seoul: Lifebook, 2000).