It was founded on 2 December 1945 by Kyung-Chik Han, who later won the 1992 Templeton Prize.

[2] On 24 March 1949, ground was broken for a new facility to replace the building and tent that had become too small for the growing congregation.

Han was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, membership had grown to 60,000 (making it, at that time, the largest Presbyterian congregation in the world), excluding 500 sister churches planted by members of the original congregation.

Han, who at the time was a Pastor Emeritus, Youngnak gained an English language ministry, International Worship in English, which was founded by an American missionary to Korea, Bill Majors.

For his efforts, Majors was made an Honorary Citizen of Seoul in 2005.