Shincheonji Church of Jesus maintained a high standard of crowd management at the graduation of 108,084 theology students of Class 114 on November 12th 2023 in Daegu Stadium and Daegu Auxiliary Stadium, South Korea.

The Department of Internal Affairs of Shincheonji Church of Jesus was responsible for providing guidance inside and outside Daegu Stadium, where the graduation ceremony was held, and gathered in the early morning despite the near-freezing temperatures.

In light of the sheer number, the challenge was not only to welcome and guide 100,000 graduates and guests into the stadiums, but also to regulate traffic to prevent safety accidents.

The Department of Internal Affairs established an organic cooperation system with the Department of Volunteering & Transportation of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which oversaw the 2200 buses that graduates and congratulatory guests rode to the event venue, and began meticulous and pre-emptive crowd management. To achieve this, an information centre was established, volunteer guides were assigned to each section, and team leaders were appointed on all 2200 buses.

Despite the cold and early start, volunteers never lost their smiles and greeted and provided directions to those visiting the event venue at every corner. Team leaders were strategically placed so that even if there was a risk of overcrowding or the possibility of crowds deviating from the line, cooperation could be achieved by communicating with the team leaders in real time to direct the crowd. Thousands of information volunteers were deployed to the site to guide and supervise the entire event. Moreover, the Ministry of Internal Affairs provided guidance training and first aid training for emergency situations.

As the graduation ceremony ended at around 2pm on the 12th, an announcement rang out in the stadium. From then on, team guide leaders, who were assigned to 30 to 40 graduates, guided graduates safely out of the stadium. In the words of Team leader Joseph Lee (28), “I think that order and safety are the most important as 100,000 people gather. To achieve this, we practised by running a guided simulation before the event.”

At the same time, outside the stadium, guide volunteers wearing fluorescent vests with the word 'Guide' written on them were lined up about 5 metres apart to prevent crowding.

However, regardless of how excellent a system is, it is useless if members do not follow instructions. The graduates, who were the protagonists of that day's event, faithfully followed the instructions from the beginning to the end of the event and created a safe graduation ceremony. In addition, event officials agreed that 'the event was able to be held safely because of the graduates' 'high sense of order.'

Volunteer Young-mi Lee (42, female), who was in charge of guiding the graduates, said, “The graduates must have been shattered as they had to move early in the morning to accommodate the spread of the travel time, but no one complained and they all participated brightly, energetically, and willingly.”

Meanwhile, Zion Christian Mission Centre, a free Bible education institution of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, produced 108,084 students through a graduation ceremony on that day. This is the largest number by any single denomination, and the third graduation of more than 100,000 students by Shincheonji, following 103,764 students in 2019 and 106,186 students in 2022.