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Sincheonji followers during a service

Tribe of Judas Thaddaeus Daegu Church, which has been identified as an epicenter for novel coronavirus transmission in Daegu, is one of 12 nationwide branches of the Shincheonji religious order, overseeing the Daegu/North Gyeongsang Province area. The name “Shincheonji” is so widely known in the religious community that scarcely anyone is unaware of it by now. It is a denomination that the Protestant community is particularly wary of. Prior to the 2000s, Protestants were most concerned about the Unification Church of Reverend Moon Sun-myung -- but since then, Shincheonji has become the chief focus of their alarm. Such is the threat they perceive from the order’s missionary efforts. For this reason, orthodox churches regard it as a heretical cult. Over the past few years, even the Catholic Church has issued warnings over Shincheonji.

The full name of the Shincheonji order is “Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony.” Members abbreviate this to “Shincheonji Church of Jesus.” “Shincheonji” is itself an abbreviation of “shincheon sinji,” meaning “new heaven and new earth,” while “tabernacle of the testimony” refers to a tabernacle for seeing, hearing, and witnessing to the truth of the Book of Revelation. Shincheonji was founded in 1984 by Lee Man-hee, now 89. Shincheonji describes Lee as the “shepherd of promise” who stands witness to the Book of Revelation, while the order is the “tabernacle of promise created as in the Bible.” The order also claims to be “the only faith in the world to share the prophecies of God and Jesus Christ hidden in the Bible and the reality in accordance with those prophecies.”

Shincheonji can only be joined after candidates undergo Bible education at the Zion Christian Mission Center, its independent Bible instruction institution, and pass a completion test. Over six months of education, students are instructed in beginning, intermediate, and advanced courses that cover everything from Genesis to the Book of Revelation. Shincheonji claims that some 103,764 people underwent instruction over a 10-month period last year, and that the “congregation includes over 300,000 people.”

Sharing its overseas missionary activities on its official website, Shincheonji mentions the establishment of a church in Wuhan, China, last year. Some observers are now questioning whether the virus has been spread by congregation members who became infected while traveling to the Wuhan church. In response, Shincheonji said that the “church in Wuhan is unable to engage in activities because it has been closed by Chinese authorities, so no congregation members have been there.”

Shincheonji founder Lee Man-hee

Members of the Protestant community described Shincheonji as a “cult that regards Lee Man-hee as a savior.”

Former International Women’s Peace Group representative Kim Nam-hee, who previously served as second-in-command at Shincheonji and claims to have been in a common law marriage relationship with Lee, called him “not a savior but a sinner like me” in a YouTube video on Feb. 16. Sharing pictures as she described Lee being hospitalized and undergoing an operation, she explained, “It couldn’t get out that he was sick, so I cared for him myself and paid the hospital bills.”

In response, Shincheonji said, “We unambiguously say ‘Church of Jesus’ in our order’s name and make it clear that Jesus Christ is the Tabernacle’s leader.”

“Nobody among our congregation members refers to Lee Man-hee as a savior. That is merely somebody’s claim,” it added.

What has the Protestant community most concerned is the way in which Shincheonji goes about its evangelism. They claim that the order regards traditional and Catholic churches as “harvesting” targets, sending secret agents -- so-called “harvesters” -- to infiltrate established churches and lure in congregation members. In particular, they allege that it creates divisions by fabricating allegations of improprieties by pastors, then “gobbles up” the church once the pastor has been expelled. In response, Protestants have established a “Shincheonji heresy countermeasures committee,” and a number of churches have taken to urging caution from their congregations, posting signs at their entrances with phrases like “Shincheonji out” and “No Shincheonji admitted.”

A large-scale Shincheonji event

In a statement on Feb. 21, the Korean Association of Church Communication (KOACC) said, “Shinjeonji currently has 125 disguised locations of religious activity nationwide, a number that increases to 740 if small meeting places are included.”

“In addition to a thorough investigation into all of these, there need to be comprehensive quarantine measures to prevent the disease from spreading,” the statement said.

For now, Shincheonji has announced the “complete closure of all Shincheonji-affiliated churches and associated institutions as of Feb. 18.”

“If the directions of disease prevention authorities and all matters and materials demanded by public health authorities are presented in a prompt and diligent manner, we will actively cooperate going forward,” it added.

But some observers worried that the situation could escalate unless response measures that specifically address issues related to Shincheonji are taken.

“Religious groups may become fanatical and make extreme decisions if they perceive their organization as being destabilized or their religious as being suppressed, so sophisticated measures will be needed,” said Rev. Hwang Young-ik, a former headquarters director for the Christian Ethics Movement of Korea (CEMK) minister leadership forum.

Jang Seon-hee, director of the public relations department at Shincheonji Seoul Church, makes an official statement on Feb. 23 (Shincheonji website)

“In the case of Shincheonji, there are some 50,000 to 100,000 people who have undergone special evangelism training alone, using not only churches but free English classes and academies as bases and regarding professional soldiers as targets for evangelism,” he explained. “So there’s a difficulty in that there’s no guarantee the [virus’] spread can be prevented simply by closing the churches.”

In particular, Hwang claimed that “some of the Shincheonji ‘harvesters’ have histories of infiltrating established churches and registering there as well.”

“If they don’t attend Sunday services at the other church, they might be suspected of being Shincheonji members, so there’s the risk of a major spread of infections as they go to their other churches while infected,” he explained.

But Kim Cheol-won, a minister at Gwacheon Holiness Church and co-representative of Citizen Solidarity for Shincheonji Countermeasures in Shincheonji’s base of Gwacheon, said, “There doesn’t seem to be much likelihood that Shincheonji members have dual registration at other churches.”