Shincheonji Church Graduates Nearly 60,000 Students Who Claim Mastery of Biblical Revelation

The Shincheonji Church of Jesus marked a significant milestone as 59,192 students officially graduated from the Zion Christian Mission Center's 116th class during a ceremony held at the church's Cheongju location. The church describes these graduates as believers who have mastered the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, representing what they characterize as a profound understanding of scriptural mysteries that traditional seminaries and churches have failed to explain.

The Zion Christian Mission Center operates a structured educational program requiring students to complete three levels—elementary, intermediate, and advanced—with each graduate needing to score at least 90 out of 100 on the final comprehensive examination. This rigorous approach to biblical education has attracted religious leaders worldwide, with 2,248 ordained pastors among this year's graduating class. Over the past four years, more than 13,500 pastors have graduated from the program, indicating growing interest among established religious professionals in alternative biblical interpretation methods.

Chairman Lee Man-hee addressed the gathered graduates with a message challenging conventional religious authority structures. He emphasized the importance of returning directly to biblical text rather than relying on church hierarchy, stating that genuine faith requires personal engagement with scripture. His remarks referenced Revelation 22:18–19, warning against adding to or taking away from God's Word while asserting that Shincheonji has achieved mastery of the Book of Revelation's teachings.

Testimonies from graduates highlighted transformative experiences with the program. Oh Sun-kyung, a former pastor who previously led three churches, shared how years of struggling to understand Revelation led to ministerial burnout before finding clarity through the Mission Center's teachings. Another graduate, Park Sang-jun, described his journey from criticizing Shincheonji based on negative documentaries to embracing its teachings after attending classes with his wife and discovering what he called strictly scripture-based instruction.

The global reach of Shincheonji's educational mission was evident through participants like Lígia Monteiro, who traveled 16 hours from the Netherlands to attend the ceremony. She noted that the program's distinctive approach of explaining biblical verses using scripture itself, rather than personal interpretation, provided the compelling foundation for her spiritual development. The graduation event, themed Love and Blessing—The Light That Shines on the World, brought together more than 20,000 graduates in person at Cheongju Church with tens of thousands more participating online through Shincheonji churches worldwide.

Tan Young-jin, Director-General of the Zion Christian Mission Center, reflected on the significance of the growing graduation numbers despite what the church describes as persecution and misunderstanding. He characterized the graduates' achievement as more than academic knowledge, describing it as personal transformation through biblical truth. The continued expansion of Shincheonji's educational programs and the increasing participation of ordained pastors suggest shifting dynamics in global religious education and biblical interpretation methodologies that could influence how Christian communities approach scripture study in coming years.