Editing Shincheonji Church of Jesus (section)

==History==
Lee Man-hee was born in 1931. In 1967, he became a member of the [[Tabernacle Temple Church]]<ref name="birthstory">{{cite web |url=http://www.newscj.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=715996|title=[Issue Focus-Shincheonji②] Did you know properly? The birth and story of Shincheonji|newspaper=Newscj|date=March 9, 2020|first=Kang|last=Soo-Kyung}}</ref> which, under pressure from the "religious purification policy" of [[Chun Doo-hwan]] (coup in 1980),{{clarify inline|date=February 2026}} became affiliated with the [[Presbyterian Church]]. Lee left the Tabernacle Temple in 1971.<ref name="birthstory"/> Lee was also once a member of the [[Olive Tree (religious movement)|Olive Tree]],<ref name="Guwonpa, WMSCOG, and Shincheonji: T">{{cite journal|last1=Kim|first1=David W.|last2=Bang|first2=Won-il|date=2019|title=Guwonpa, WMSCOG, and Shincheonji: Three Dynamic Grassroots Groups in Contemporary Korean Christian NRM History|journal=Religions|volume=10|issue=3|pages=212|doi=10.3390/rel10030212|doi-access=free|hdl=1885/204914|hdl-access=free}}</ref> a new religious movement whose existence has been said to have in part led to the first [[anti-cult movement]] in postwar Korea,<ref name="Calgary">{{cite book|last= Kim|first=Chang Han|date=2007|title= Towards an Understanding of Korean Protestantism: The Formation of Christian-Oriented Sects, Cults, and Anti-Cult Movements in Contemporary Korea|location=Calgary|publisher=PhD Diss, University of Calgary|url=https://ucalgary.scholaris.ca/bitstreams/5b4a5fcf-5ba4-424d-a294-3f3dc44d911a/download|pages=213–236}}</ref>{{undue weight inline|date=February 2026}} although this connection is not present in Shincheonji's biography of Lee.<ref name="birthstory"/>

On March 14, 1984, Lee founded Shincheonji and opened its first temple that June in [[Anyang, Gyeonggi|Anyang]], [[Gyeonggi Province]]. Membership grew and in June 1990, the Zion Christian Mission Center was established in [[Seoul]]. In 1995, the membership within South Korea was divided into 12 "tribes" according to geographic territories. In 1999, the headquarters were moved to [[Gwacheon]], which has a prophetic meaning within Shincheonji theology. Mainline Christian churches became alarmed at the loss of members, and the first cases of [[deprogramming]] Shincheonji members began in 2002. The clash between the [[Chonnam National University]] Christian Student Union and Shincheonji at that time marked the starting point for the organized response against Shincheonji.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lee|first=In Chang|title="이단사역 시스템, 한국교회가 공고하게 세워야 합니다"|trans-title="The Korean Church Must Firmly Establish a System for Addressing Heresy"|url=https://www.igoodnews.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=62807|access-date=9 August 2024|newspaper=Igoodnews|date=16 March 2020}}</ref>