Olive Tree (religious movement)

Olive Tree is the most common English name of a Christian new religious movement founded in South Korea by Park Tae Son (Korean: 박태선; Hanja: 朴泰善; MR: Pak T'aesŏn). The movement was originally known in Korea as Jesus Christ Congregation Revival Association of Korea (Korean: 한국예수교전도관부흥협회; RR: Hanguk Yesugyo Jeondogwan Buheung Hyeophoe) and later as The Church of Heavenly Father (Korean: 천부교; Hanja: 天父敎; RR: Cheonbugyo). In a revised 2009 version of his 1996 doctoral dissertation on the history of Korean Pentecostalism, pastor Young Hoon Lee called the Olive Tree “the fastest growing and largest of the Korean syncretistic religions during the 1950s and 1960s,” although he noted it had become “largely insignificant” by the end of the 20th century.

The Olive Tree is regarded as a cult by mainline Christian denominations in Korea, and Korean scholar Kim Chang Han has argued in his doctoral dissertation that combating the Olive Tree was a main reason for the emergence of an organized anti-cult movement in South Korea.