The name "Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony" or simply Shincheonji, would ring a bell among some Singaporeans.
If you're not familiar, it is the church at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak in Daegu, South Korea that authorities are struggling to contain.
At the time of writing, the east Asian republic has reported 3,150 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 16 deaths.
Yet, as international attention turned towards the Shincheonji, reports emerged not of a regular megachurch (of which there are many in South Korea) but of a shadowy and secretive organisation alleged to have cult-like characteristics.
So what exactly is Shincheonji? What do they actually believe in? And do Singaporeans have cause for concern?
The founder
Lee Man-Hee, the founder of Shincheonji. Image from HWPL.KR
Shincheonji was founded by Lee Man-Hee in 1984 according to Public Radio International (PRI).
Lee, 88, founded the church from the ashes of another controversial Christian revivalist movement, the Tent Temple Movement — which fell apart in the 70s after its spiritual leader was accused of fraud.
The New York Times reported that Lee is a self-styled messiah figure, while The New Zealand Herald's investigation turned up congregants who believe Lee to be the appointed successor of Jesus.
According to PRI, official church literature identified Chairman Lee (as he is known to believers) as "the promised pastor", "the one who overcomes", or "the advocate".
PRI's interview with Lee uncovered another absurd belief surrounding Shincheonji's founder.
When asked about leadership succession after his death, Lee replied, "This is a nonsense question."
Adherents reportedly believe that Lee will live forever.
Beliefs
It seems that many of the beliefs Shincheonji's congregants hold to are intrinsically linked to Lee.
The New Zealand Herald reported that members of the church believe that Lee is the only person capable of interpreting the Bible correctly.
This doctrine consequently leads to the conviction that Shincheonji is the embodiment of the one true Christianity.
According to PRI, the church's doctrine dictates that everyone who is not a member of Lee's church will be denied forgiveness and destroyed on Judgement Day.
In fact, it gets a little more specific than that with South China Morning Post reporting that Lee's followers believe he will only take 144,000 believers with him to heaven on Judgement Day.
Awkward, given the church's reported membership ranges in various reports from 150,000 to 240,000 adherents.
Aggressive and deceptive methods
In any case, the Shincheonji's claim to exclusively be the one true church means that members are often sent to other churches to recruit followers for Lee.
This is a constant frustration for many churches, especially because of Shincheonji's reportedly aggressive and deceptive methods.
According to National Public Radio (NPR), Shincheonji proselytisers go about their work in secrecy, without revealing their identities.
PRI reported that one method commonly used was for missionaries to be planted in mainstream churches and invite that church's congregants to seemingly innocent Bible studies which serve as a platform for persuasion.
According to The New Zealand Herald, another strategy used by Shincheonji missionaries involved getting themselves into positions of leadership within the church, before the final aim of staging a takeover.
An ex-member of the church was quoted by The Guardian as saying that the church runs recruitment competitions amongst its members, with fines imposed for congregants who cannot fill their quota.
In Korea, these methods have led to many mainstream churches putting up signs warning Shincheonji proselytisers from attempting to infiltrate their congregations, reported The New York Times.
Isolation
Yet, perhaps the biggest grievance many have with the church is its habit of isolating its congregants from their families, friends, and the rest of mainstream society.
The New Zealand Herald told the story of one newly converted member in Auckland, whose family had tried to talk out of joining the church.
Shincheonji churchgoers in Auckland helped the new member "escape" his family by paying for his flight to Korea, where he began residing with other church members.
He subsequently stopped communicating with friends and family.
Another new convert in New Zealand was allegedly persuaded to donate his entire year's university fees to the church after fellow believers convinced him that earthly education was pointless.
Donating all of one's money to the church is a common practice for adherents according to The New Zealand Herald.
The New York Times quoted Moon Yoo-ja, a 60-year-old Korean woman whose daughter joined the church, as saying that Shincheonji ruined families.
She claimed that many housewives who converted to follow Lee left their husbands and children.
"Once they fall into the trap of the church, they often abandon school and jobs," she added.
Activities
Image via Shincheonji's YouTube Channel
According to PRI, new converts are expected to complete at least six months of rigorous Bible study classes before they are allowed to attend the church's big worship services.
Believers are asked to keep the location of the church's activities a secret, because of the persecution that Shincheonji faces from other churches.
When attending these big services, members are all uniformly dressed in white shirts, dark pants, with an identity badge hanging around their necks, reported PRI.
According to The New York Times, Shincheonji makes its churchgoers sit on the floor shoulder to shoulder during services.
Centre of the Covid-19 outbreak
It was at one of these services in the South Korean city of Daegu where the country experienced a major outbreak of Covid-19.
The New York Times reported that a woman known publicly as Patient 31, is believed to be the link between many of the cases from the Shincheonji cluster.
The 61-year-old had checked into a small hospital in Daegu on Feb. 7 for injuries sustained in a minor traffic accident.
One day later, she developed a sore throat, though that did not stop her from attending a Shincheonji church service the next day.
However, she soon developed a fever and continued to stay in the hospital, where doctors recommended that she transfer to a bigger one where testing for Covid-19 could be conducted.
According to The New York Times, Patient 31 refused, claiming that she had not visited China in recent months, nor had she met anyone one known to have the virus.
The following Sunday she slipped out of the hospital to attend church again.
On Monday after the service, as her sickness persisted she finally gave in and sought testing for the coronavirus.
She was confirmed to have the virus on Tuesday.
At least 1,000 Shincheonji members attended one of the two services where Patient 31 was attendance.
Illness not a reason to miss church
So why did Patient 31 seem so bent on attending church despite the fact she was hospitalised?
According to CNN, illness is not accepted by the church as a valid reason to miss services.
This is reinforced by the fact that churches take roll calls via special cards that members use to swipe in and out of services.
If a member is found to be missing, their absence is noted and followed by further action.
A former member is quoted by CNN as explaining that followers who are so sick that they can't be at service are expected to "make up for the time" by attending service on Monday or Tuesday.
Another former member told The New York Times that Lee's followers were "taught not to be afraid of illness".
This teaching, along with the church's practice of forbidding attendees from wearing masks during service (in fact members aren't allowed to wear anything on their faces even glasses) where they are packed tightly together on the floor laid the perfect conditions for the spread of a virus that has already been deemed highly contagious.
Shincheonji in Singapore
What about Singapore? What is the presence of the church here?
On Feb. 28 the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) released a statement indicating that it had been investigating a local chapter of Shincheonjil.
Investigations uncovered that the Singapore chapter of the church had been using "similar deceptive recruitment methods" as previously reported in Korea and New Zealand.
Furthermore, according to MHA, Shincheonji had established front entities to target Christian youths and young adults to join their local chapter.
"A controlling influence is then exerted over these young members requiring them to comply with strict instructions to conceal the local existence of SCJ and their involvement with it," the statement read.
"Members are not allowed to contact one another, verify teachings with other churches, or inform their families of their involvement."
One of these entities was found to be a company called Spasie Pte Ltd, which MHA describes as claiming to offer "consultancy services, as well as the development of software".
According to a profile on SPG Business, Spasie was incorporated on Dec. 8, 2016, and holds an office on Niven Road.
More recently, Shincheonji set up a sole proprietorship in Singapore called Kings Ave, described as providing corporate training services, motivational courses and personal development workshops.
According to MHA, this entity is also a front, used to lease a property for the church's religious activities.
A Shincheonji-related outbreak here?
MHA said their investigations began before the Covid-19 outbreak, but were accelerated due to the church's link with the outbreak in Daegu.
"However, interviews with members of the SCJ in Singapore who have been called up so far found that they have not been in recent physical contact with persons from the Daegu cluster."
In total there are five South Koreans and two Singaporeans who are assisting with ongoing investigations into the unregistered local chapter of the Shincheonji.
Of the five South Koreans, four had entered Singapore before the outbreak in Deagu, while the other, who entered on Feb. 21, is reported to be well.
"MHA intends to take action to proscribe the activities of SCJ in Singapore," the statement concluded.
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Top image from Shincheonji's YouTube Channel