The Fountain of Life Church is a Pentecostal Church known and frequented by the young and business people with a membership strength of thousands of people. Located at Ilupeju, Lagos, Nigeria, it receives faithfuls from the environs and beyond. It is a nice piece of architectural work located in a serene environment which is easily accessible with top-notch visuals.
The Fountain of Life Church was founded in 1992 by Taiwo and Bimbo Odukoya with a stated vision to teach men and women the art of building successful relationships and the principles of leadership so they can be all they are created to be. From its humble beginning in 1992, the Fountain of Life Church has grown with branches in Nigeria and Abroad. The Church has several missions in South Africa, the United Kingdom, United States of America, Switzerland, Kenya, Central Africa Republic, Republic of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Republic of Benin and Togo. The ministry flows with a mission to provide a home for the lost; guide those in search of direction, purpose and calling; and raise a people who are committed to making a difference.
Prior to going into full-time ministry, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, the Senior Pastor of Fountain of Life Church, worked as a petroleum engineer with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for 12 years. He retired in January 1994, after his call to ministry. In 1980, he met the late Bimbo Odukoya (nee Williams), they got married in 1984 and in 1992, they founded and co-pastored the Fountain of Life Church.
Pastor Bimbo Odukoya passed away in 2005. After the death of one of the founding pastors, many people were worried that the Church will never be the same. Pastor Taiwo Odukoya had to keep the church going despite his brokeness at that time. His daughter, Tolu Odukoya said, “That period wasn’t easy for him. Suddenly, my father was becoming an old man. When I returned from the United States, he was looking like a 70-year-old man. I was a 300 level student at an American university when my mother died. On getting home, I saw him seated on the floor in his room, looking aged. He couldn’t talk well; he was obviously broken but the hurt and pain didn’t make him despise who God was. I think his hope in Christ pulled him out of the dark period. People kept wondering who the pastor of the Church was when my mother was alive. Whenever I told them it was my father, they argued with me. My mother became more popular because she was on television, but people didn’t know that it was my father’s idea. He allowed her soar and was very supportive of her. For almost five years, my father slept on the floor as he couldn’t sleep on the bed without his wife. I told him to remarry but he didn’t want to remarry; he was not ready for it. He still wore his wedding ring for almost six years after my mother’s death. It was when he went to the United States for a check-up that his doctors, who were friends to him looked for a way to take off the ring. They asked him to remove all his jewellery for the check-up and they made sure he didn’t wear the ring back. She stated that despite his brokeness, he made sure he kept church moving. He believed that the Church of God must keep marching on no matter the circumstances. In her words, “My mother died on December 10 and I fell seriously ill during that period, but my dad left me for the church. He called my aunt to stay with me, saying the Church needed him. The Church was really in disarray during that period too. He rates God higher than any other thing. Since God gives and takes, he believed that we shouldn’t lose the giver and hold on to the gift because the giver will always give us gifts.
God was with Pastor Taiwo Odukoya. He kept the church moving and later got married to Nomthi Odukoya. The Fountain of Life Church despite the challenging times keeps moving forward and has a membership strength of thousands at every service.
The church consists of several departments including Drama, Hospitality, Healing Streams, Church Care, Government Relations, Outreach, Music, Protocol/Security, Ushering and Technical Departments, Ministeries which include “Discovery for Men”, “Discovery for Women”, “the Woman Leader” and “Boaz and Ruth”, “Church 3:16”, etc and social initiatives such as “Fountain Initiative for Social Development (FISD)”, a not-for-profit social enterprise, established to provide professional services to stimulate necessary development in underprivileged communities, “Grace Spring Rehabilitation Home (GSRH)” , a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that offers hope and a future to the vulnerable, rescuing children from the street, “The Lord’s Kitchen”, an outreach of the Church where they reach out to the underprivileged by providing them with food as well as feeding their souls spiritually, “Nidus Aquilae Hospital (Formerly Grace Springs medical Centre)” , an independent multi-specialist hospital established to provide excellent and affordable medical services and “The Hope Centre”, a department which is committed to assisting firstly vulnerable members of the church with their basic needs and also our community by attending to the basic needs of its vulnerable citizens.
We bless God for his faithfulness over His Church. The Church keeps marching on and the gates of hell shall never prevail.
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