Continued:
THE METEORIC RISE OF NATION CHURCHES
Part 3: Emergence on the Global Stage
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Matthew 5:14
By Daniel Breakforth
From Small Beginnings to Global Platforms, the story of Nigerian Pentecostalism is a story of visionaries who began in obscurity and grew into leaders of movements now touching the ends of the earth. From prayer meetings in living rooms to auditoriums that rival sports arenas, some indigenously established churches like Church of God Missions, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), Christ Embassy, Deeper Life Bible Church, Living Faith Church Worldwide and The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) — have journeyed from humble beginnings into global recognition.
Christ Apostolic Church
The Christ Apostolic Church stands as the pioneer in this lineup. Its roots stretch back to the late 1920s when a young man named Joseph Ayo Babalola emerged during a revival linked to the Faith Tabernacle Church. By 1930, mass gatherings in places like Oke-Oye, Ilesa Kickstarted by the Oke-Oye Revival were drawing tens of thousands, with reports of healings and conversions. Initially allied with The Apostolic Church from Britain, administrative and doctrinal disagreements led to CAC’s independence in 1941. Interestingly, with the visit of Babalola to Asamankyese, Ghana in 1935, CAC became the first Church to reach out to a country outside Nigeria. Notably, the CACI in Ghana predates the same movement in Nigeria both in foreign affiliation as well as in her break up with The Apostolic Church (more on this in another article). In the 1950s and 1960s which were once termed the Glory Years of CAC, , She consolidated her base through rural evangelism and prayer mountain ministries and established schools which eventually were handed over to the Government to assist in running them (This has been discussed previously). By the late 1980s, its membership in Nigeria was already in the millions. Today, CAC has a strong diaspora presence, particularly in the UK, US, and Europe, where congregations often serve as cultural and spiritual anchors for Nigerian immigrants.
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries
The MFM began much later, in 1989, when Dr. Daniel Olukoya, a former Sunday School teacher at CAC and then a university lecturer at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) invited a handful of people into his 69 Old Yaba Road, Yaba living room for prayer. Within 2 years, the small group had moved into a rented hall, and by the mid-1990s, the movement was drawing thousands through its emphasis on aggressive prayer and deliverance. At that time, the immediate community in Yaba was taken by the message of prayer si much so that the Church relocated to the swamps by UNILAG second gate and developed the area. By 1996, the movement had invaded staff and students of the academic institutions around namely UNILAG, Federal Technical College and Yaba College of Technology. The relocation to MFM Prayer City where 24/7 prayer sessions are held marked her arrival on the global stage. The early 2000s saw exponential expansion, with the Prayer City along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway hosting tens of thousands weekly and up to a million allegedly during her Cross Over Nights. During that same period, David Yongi Cho of blessed memory visited from South Korea and notably visited the Prayer City. By the 2010s, MFM had spread throughout the book and cranny of Nigeria with substantial number of branches across sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, she had planted over 300 branches in the UK alone, with a worldwide presence stretching across Africa, North America, and Europe where she has regional overseers. The Church with a particularly strong passion for classical music has a well established youth grooming system. She also has s football culture nurturing the Youth through her own football clubs in the Nigerian Football League. The Church has established a university at her Prayer City.
Christ Embassy aka LoveWorld Nation
Christ Embassy traces its origins to 1987 when Chris Oyakhilome, still a student at Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma began a youth fellowship known as Youth For Christ which metarmorphorsed into Believers’ Loveworld. In the early 1990s, the group was attracting hundreds in Benin City, and by the mid-1990s, it had moved its headquarters to Alausa and then Oregun, Lagos. The late 1990s and early 2000s marked a media explosion — with first a reach across many Television stations in Nigeria, the most by any church in the Nation’s history. By 2002/2003, LoveWorld TV became one of the first African Christian satellite channels, broadcasting to multiple continents. The story of the emergence of Christ Embassy would be incomplete without the story of Rhapsody of Realities, the daily devotional which is the ‘Messenger Angel’ of the Ministry said to be translated in over 8000 languages of the World. Rhapsody of Realities as well as a strong media presence were the divine instruments that announced Christ Embassy on the Global Stage from 2003. By 2010, Christ Embassy’s Healing School and global concerts like “The Experience with Sinach” were attracting audiences from dozens of nations. The Church is renowned for nurturing gospel ministers in a manner that no single church has rivalled in this century. Today, the church claims millions of followers worldwide and maintains an active presence with about 4000 churches in over 100 countries while its media presence has a much wider reach in virtually every country on the globe.
Deeper Life Bible Church
Deeper Life Bible Church began in 1973 when William Kumuyi, a young mathematics lecturer, started a small Bible study with 15 students at the University of Lagos. Eventually the Church became an ‘excommunicated offshoot’ of Apostolic Faith Church which had become one of the legs churches of the time. By 1979, the fellowship had grown to over 500 members, and the transition into a full-fledged church began. In 1981, an unusual growth led to the gathering of 8000 for the Deeper Life Conference. In the 1980s, Deeper Life’s monthly revival meetings in Lagos attracted tens of thousands and arrived on the global stage by 1989 when with 50,000 regularly gathered worshippers, she was considered globally as the largest megs Church in Africa and third largest in the world. In the 1990s, over 100,000 attendees often gathered at its annual retreats which began to draw even more members. By the 1990s, the church also had branches in dozens of countries. While growth plateaued in Nigeria in the 2000s with Charles Peter Wagner visiting in 2004 and counting 140,000 people in a Sunday service. Due to the limitations of certain of her policies her upsurge in growth seemed to have abated for a while. At this time, Deeper Life began a quiet rebranding. Unwilling to permit worshippers the use of television and other temptation prone media in the past, Deeper Life formerly known for only radio tapes finally went on television and the internet. Used to building batchers for worship for about 3 decades, Deeper Life began to build multi million dollar mega cathedrals to preserve her harvest. Significantly, the Youth got some ‘freedom’ and the Church began to organise rallies for her crusades,a thing formerly alien to the Church. The Church also established a university and 15 secondary schools. The process of rebranding had continued as a few years ago, the youth music ministers played ‘Hapoy Birthday to you’ for the General Superintendent, Kumuyi in a Church that discouraged celebration of birthdays. Furthermore, the culprits who were suspended were welcomed back k after the plea of Pastor Kumuyi. The movement remains influential, with a strong global footprint by well over a million members in over 60 nations and a reputation for deep Bible teaching and personal holiness. The Global Crusades with Kumuyi (GCK) has further strengthened the reach of the ministry ti evangelize as the G.S marches strength unabated and eyes undimmed like Moses to his 84th year.
Living Faith Church Worldwide aka Winners’ Chapel
LFC popularly known as Winners Chapel, began in 1981 as Faith Liberation Hour Fellowship when David Oyedepo claimed to have received a divine mandate to preach prosperity, faith and liberation in an 18 hour vision between 1st and 2nd May 1981. Starting in Kaduna about 2 years later with just a few members, the Church grew root in the North and then moved to Lagos in 1989 in obedience of the instruction-Get down to Lagos and raise me a people. By the mid to late 1990s, its growth was phenomenal. In 1999, it opened Faith Tabernacle in Ota — a 50,000-seat auditorium built in one year that entered the Guinness World Records as the largest church auditorium at the time. This was her emergence on the Global Stage. Websites in the year 2000 listed a Pastor David ‘OYEDEPA’ as Pastor of the 13th largest single Church in the world with 50,000 members. Through the 2000s and 2010s, expansion accelerated, with churches in over 65 nations and massive educational ventures including Covenant University and Landmark University, over 20 secondary schools and about 200 nursery and primary schools including in other African countries and the UK with an aggressive plan for many mote. From 2019-2020, the Church planted over 15,000 new churches and with 22,000 branches became the indigenous Church with the second largest spread in Nigeris and Africa. The current Ark Project, once completed, will further cement its status as one of the nation-churches with the largest temple in the world.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God
The Redeemed Christian Church of God, founded in 1952 by Josiah Akindayomi, started in a small Lagos building at Ebute Meta with just a few members. For decades it remained relatively small, until 1981 when Enoch Adeboye became General Superintendent (later Overseer) . He launched the Global Parish Vision, aiming to plant a church within 5 minutes of every person on earth. In the 1990s, RCCG began international expansion in earnest, reaching into Europe, North America, and Asia. Lekki ’98, the planned gathering of 3 million people which ended up as 7 million people and stood Nigeria’s commercial capital still signalled her strong emergence on the global stage.
By the early 2000s, the Redemption Camp along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was drawing millions for regular annual gatherings namely the RCCG Convention or anniversary in August and the Holy Ghost Congress in December. Today, with over 49,000 parishes in more than 190 countries, RCCG is the most globally widespread Nigerian church.The 73rd RCCG Convention held last week has also further cemented this position. In the words of Pastor Adeboye, this is the Covenant the Church made with God and according to the Founder, Papa Akindayomi of blessed memory, Jesus will meet this Church on his second coming.
From the 1930s prayer mountains of CAC to the satellite networks of Christ Embassy, from Deeper Life’s campus Bible studies to MFM’s prayer cities, from Winners Chapel’s megastructures to RCCG’s worldwide parishes, these churches embody different faces of Nigerian Pentecostalism. Yet they share a common thread: they began small, grew through relentless evangelism and bold vision and have left an indelible mark not only on Nigeria but on the global Christian landscape. These churches continue to spearhead boldly, the move of God with evangelism and reaching the lost in these end times more aggressively than arguably any other churches or ministries in the world especially outside Nigeria. They have transformed from the appendage ‘mega churches’ and have now become ‘Nation Churches’.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven
Matthew 5:15 & 16
Part 4:Winning Souls And Building Cities.
#ChurchGist
