Hearing the gospel

Seongbuk Church has undergone significant transformation over the past decade. Originally established as a branch of Yoido Full Gospel Church, it became an independent disciple church on 1 January 2010. Senior pastor Reverend Jaemyung Jung was appointed in June 2011, after which the church continued to expand, becoming fully independent in 2016.

In March 2023, the church initiated the construction of a new sanctuary with a special service and groundbreaking ceremony. A topping-out service followed in September 2024, and the church was renamed Seongbuk Full Gospel Church in July 2025. The new sanctuary was officially dedicated on 24 December 2025, marking the completion of a major milestone in the church’s development.

Built after demolishing the previous worship building, the new facility is situated on a site of approximately 6,083m² and consists of two basement levels and two above-ground floors. The sanctuary can accommodate a total of 853 people, comprising 703 seats on the main floor and 150 seats in the balcony. The building’s footprint is approximately 833m², with a total floor area of around 3,630m².

A selection of DPA Microphones models consists of one 4088-DC-A-F10-LH-S headset microphone, one KIT-4099-DC-4C-C consisting of four microphones, one 4099-DC-1-101-P kit for the piano, four 4098-DC-F-B01-120 soloist microphones, eight SC4098-BX15 choir microphones and four 2011 stage condenser microphones. Finally, six sAKG P170 ambient microphones have been provided, four for the balcony and two for the stage.

For distribution, PreSNT has installed an optical MADI optical connection between FOH and the stage, while a primary and redundant Dante network has been deployed across FOH, the control room, video editing suite and stage I/O infrastructure. The hybrid infrastructure combines analogue, MADI and Dante cabling.

“The system was designed to meet key operational priorities, such as high sound quality, system stability and reliability, ease of operation, even with personnel changes, and fast and efficient troubleshooting,” explains Ingang Audio’s project manager Taehyun Son, who worked alongside technical support and tuning specialist Jiho Ahn. The Seongbuk team consisting of Sim Go-seong and Jung Bong-gil is delighted with the new system that delivers high-quality audio for both speech and live music.

The sanctuary integrates both functional and symbolic elements, including a main worship hall, communion room and broadcast/ control room. The design incorporates biblical symbolism, such as pillars representing the seven churches of Revelation and cross-shaped windows symbolising the 12 apostles.

Speaking about the architectural vision behind the new sanctuary, Jung emphasises the concept of an “open roof”, symbolising a heart open towards God and allowing divine light to fill the space. “My hope is that the church will become a place people feel drawn to – where congregants and visitors alike can experience God’s grace not only within the sanctuary, but also beyond its walls, encountering his presence both inside and outside the space,” he says.

From an acoustic perspective, several challenges were addressed. The space had high reverberation due to size of the space and insufficient absorption in the initial design, so acoustic improvements were made through a revised design and interior material selection. To further reduce reverberation, the subwoofers and front speakers have been integrated into the stage front with structural reinforcement to minimise vibration, with maintenance access provided beneath the stage. A large LED wall behind the stage introduces acoustic compromises, but this was intentionally accepted as part of the church’s visual media concept.

Seongbuk Church supports a wide range of events requiring advanced AV production, including weekly worship services (speech, live band, praise team), seasonal productions (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving) including musicals and choir performances, and annual New Year concerts featuring a 40-piece orchestra and choir. The previous system had been primarily optimised for speech, with insufficient channel capacity and limited flexibility for music-driven performances.

The church worked with PreSNT for the overall system design, equipment selection and system integration, with support from Ingang Audio for the supply of the Meyer Sound system, technical assistance and system tuning. The PreSNT team led by project manager Park Weon Chul and technical specialist Kim Sung Hee has installed a Meyer Sound system based on its low-distortion performance, accurate phase response and coverage control, and transparent and reliable sound reproduction. Main system components comprise an L-R setup of six-per-side Meyer Sound PANTHER modules, two 2100-LFC subwoofers, one ULTRA-X20 as a choir side monitor, two ULTRA-X40 as balcony speakers, a further four ULTRA-X20 as under-balcony speakers and three ULTRA-X20 as front-fill speakers, two MJF-208 as pulpit monitors and a Galileo GALAXY 816 processor. In the lobby, PreSNT has installed two HK Audio IL60-TW passive 2-way speakers, four PREMIUM PR:O 112 monitor speakers on the podium and two PREMIUM PR:O 112 monitor speakers for the worship team. The speaker inventory also includes two Genelec 8340A as FOH monitor speakers, two 8330A as C/R monitor speakers and an 8300-601 GLM calibration kit.

The church has also taken delivery of an SSL Live L200Plus as the main FOH console along with two ML32.32 I/O boxes and a BLII Concentrator high-density MADI I/O device. In the control room, a Behringer Wing Compact provides backup and video audio mixing. A KLANG immersive personal monitoring system has also been provided, consisting of a KLANG:vokal IEM processor and a KLANG:kontroller, along with a pair of Sennheiser HD25 headphones.

PreSNT has fitted an extensive microphone inventory, including eight Shure QLXD4K wireless microphone receivers, two QLXD2/BETA87 wireless handheld transmitters, six QLXD2/BETA58 wireless handheld transmitters, one QLXD1 wireless beltpack transmitter, one UA844+SWB wireless antenna distribution system and two UA874XA wireless antennas.