A former Swedish megachurch pastor has resigned from the church  board of the largest Assembly of God church in the world.

Ulf Ekman, the former leader at Word of Life, announced earlier this week  that he and his wife Birgitta would be converting to Catholicism, and that he  would also be departing his post at Yoido Full Gospel Church, where pastor David  Yonggi Cho was recently convicted on charges that millions of dollars  of church money was spent on buying his son’s stocks. Cho was also sentenced to  three years in prison.

(Photo: TidningenDagen Youtube video screenshot)

Ulf Ekman shares his reaction to joining the Roman Catholic  Church in a video posted on March 9, 2014.

Ekman did not mention the church scandal in his resignation letter, but  thanked the board “for a vital and blessed fellowship over the years,” in a  document published by Charisma News.

“It has been immensely important for me to have been entrusted with the  honour of belonging to this great group of ministers. I treasure it very much  and carry it with me into future engagements in the Body of Christ,” wrote  Ekman.

The former megachurch pastor clarified that his conversion and departure from  the board was “not a severing of ties.”

Instead, Ekman and his wife were merely being faithful for what God had  called them to do.

“The Lord gave me a word a few months ago: ‘The task is fulfilled but the  friendship remains’,” he wrote. “We treasure the friendship we have with you in  the Lord and believe we will, in a different capacity continue to have a living  fellowship and a deep unity in Jesus. Let us draw inspiration from one another  and together work for the strengthening of the Body of Christ on the earth.”

In an explanation on his website, Ekman explained that his and his wife’s  conversations with Catholics challenged their “protestant prejudices” and led  them to the realization that they “in many cases did not have any basis for our  criticism of them.”

“We needed to know the Catholic faith better. This led us to … realize that  it was actually Jesus Christ who led us to unite with the Catholic Church,” the  pastor stated.

(Photo: Facebook/David Yonggi  Cho)

Disgraced Pastor David Yonggi Cho, founder of  world’s largest Pentecostal congregation in South Korea was convicted of  embezzling $12 million from his church.

The decision was one that began “around the beginning of this millennium” and  come from an “an increased longing for and understanding of the importance of  Christian unity started to grow in us,” he explained in his letter to Cho.

“We have seen a great love for Jesus and a sound theology, founded on the  Bible and classic dogma. We have experienced the richness of sacramental life.  We have seen the logic in having a solid structure for priesthood, that keeps  the faith of the church and passes it on from one generation to the next,” he  wrote on his website. “We have met an ethical and moral strength and consistency  that dare to face up to the general opinion, and a kindness towards the poor and  the weak. And, last but not least, we have come in contact with representatives  for millions of charismatic Catholics and we have seen their living faith.”

Ekman founded the charismatic Livets Ord (Word of Life) in Uppsala, Sweden,  in 1983, and served as pastor there for close to 30 years.

Cho, 78, was sentenced to three years in prison after he was  convicted of directing officials to buy stocks from his son at four-times the  market price. The church subsequently lost U.S. $12 million, according to The Gospel Herald. Hee-jun, Cho’s oldest son, the former CEO  of the media company, Kookmin Ilbo, was also sentenced in February to three  years in prison for his participation in the embezzlement scheme.