I came across this comprehensive report
online about Nigeria’s David O. Oyedepo. The head Pastor of Living Faith
Church, is one of the biggest names in the Church scene.
Read the report below: -
David O. Oyedepo is reported to be the
richest pastor in Nigeria (by Wikipedia) affectionately called “Papa” by
members of his congregation, born September 27, 1954.
He is a Nigerian Christian author,
preacher, the founder and presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church World
Wide, also known as Winners Chapel, and its affiliated international
churches known as Winners Chapel International, with headquarters in
Ogun State, Nigeria. Oyedepo is the senior pastor of Faith Tabernacle, a
50,000 seat church auditorium, reported to be the largest church
auditorium in the world by the Guinness Book of Records
With the outstanding Canaanland
reportedly worth over N90 billion, with diverse projects erected and
revenue accrued from it, four jets valued at N25 billion, N15 billion on
three universities and several other schools, a reported N250 billion
housing estate when concluded, annual offering and tithes to the tune of
N31.2 billion annually, 7million books estimated to have raked in
N1billion, 400 buses worth N600 million, N10 billion Goshen City at
Abuja and several other ventures have made him a pastor with uncommon
grace for prosperity.
According to Wikianswers, Bishop Oyedepo
is arguably the richest pastor in Africa. The church he founded in 1981
has grown in leaps and bounds. The ministry now has over 2000 satellite
branches and present in 60 countries and reportedly boasts of over one
million members worldwide and several others via outreaches.
The Bishop entered the Guinness Book of
World Records in 2008, when he became the pastor of the largest worship
centre in the world, with a sitting capacity of 50,000 and an overflow
of 250,000 in Canaanland, Ota, Ogun State.
“The
international headquarters of Winners Chapel is called Faith Tabernacle.
It covers about 70 acres (280,000 m2) and is built inside an over
10,500-acre (42 km2) church complex called Canaanland, the international
headquarters of the ministry in Ota, a suburb of Lagos. The building
took 12 months to be completed. The foundation laying held on August 29,
1998 and the announcement of the time frame of one year for the
building project was announced on September 13, 1998, by Bishop Oyedepo
at the Iyana Ipaja church while work began on September 18, 1998. The
dedication of the building held on September 19, 1999 with 97,800
faithful in attendance. Faith Tabernacle is presently the largest church
building in the world, with a sitting capacity of 50,400 people and an
outside overflow capacity of over 250,000, with four services every
Sunday.
Construction
completed in Canaanland till date is estimated to be not less than $600
million (N90 billion) with an additional Canaan City Estate currently
under construction which will be the largest housing estate in Africa
and easily one of the largest in the world with 15,000 housing units and
at a cost of N250 billion or $1.6 billion. This is part of a grander
scheme of 150,000 houses to be built by the church.”
It was also learn’t that an average of
N100 million offering and N500 million tithe are offered weekly. The
estimate was that if a worshipper pays at least N100 during their four
services weekly on Sunday, their over one million members would have
paid N100 million. And an average of 500,000 of the worshippers
fulfilling their tithes every Sunday with an average of N1,000 is N5
million. If we add the offering and tithe annually that’s N600 million
times 52 weeks and that’s N31.2 billion annually. But note that even an
individual at times paid several millions on a Sunday as tithe,” a
source divulged.
As an educationist, Bishop David
Oyedepo’s mission currently pioneers the establishment of educational
institutions at all levels in and outside Nigeria, including the widely
established Hebron or Covenant University with over 7,000 students as
well as Faith Academy with 1,500 students both in Canaanland. Covenant
University was well documented in a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)
documentary on Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary because of
landmark achievements in its few years of existence. Covenant University
was adjudged the best private university in Nigeria in 2005, and one of
the goals of the institution is to be among the best 10 in the world by
or before 2020.
According to Bishop Oyedepo, “Covenant University is not just an institution, it is a revolution in education.”
Faith Academy on the other hand placed
fourth of all secondary schools in Nigeria during the 2010 Senior
Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE). The second university of the
church known as Landmark University in Omu Aran, Kwara State, was
approved by the Nigerian Government in March 2011 and immediately
resumed academic activities the same month with about 1000 students.
Construction at Landmark University is estimated to be in the realm of
at least $50 million (N7 billion) so far, while Bishop Oyedepo insists
that ‘spending continues’. Landmark University (LU) has the mandate of
spearheading an agrarian revolution in Nigeria. Bishop David Oyedepo
stated in August 2010 that it takes a ride of more than 100km to go
around the walls of Landmark University. Landmark University is 1,400
acres. The third and Fourth one under construction is Crown University
in Calabar, Cross River State and Kings University, Abuja. There are
strong plans for about three more universities across Africa – Ghana,
Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya as announced by Bishop Oyedepo
during Shiloh 2007.
1,000 acres have already been acquired
for the University in Ghana, while 300 hectares (about 750 acres) have
been acquired for the Congo university and this is going to be a French
speaking university. Recently, President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia
appealed to the World Mission Agency (WMA) of the Living Faith Church to
build a university in The Gambia.
Some other projects that were announced
during the initial foundation laying in Canaanland in 1999, include a
towering administrative headquarters and a 500 bed hospital among many
other projects.
Winners’ Chapel also runs a chain of
about 30 secondary schools and over 50 primary and nursery schools in
Nigeria. The secondary schools are known as Faith Academies except those
within the universities known as Covenant University and Landmark
University Secondary Schools respectively. The nursery and primary
schools are known as Kingdom Heritage Model Schools (KHMS). Some of the
secondary schools are in Badagry, Iyana Ipaja, Ibadan, Asaba, Kaduna,
Ilorin and Osogbo. The mission is presently working on building at least
a secondary school each in every country in Africa.
The Winners Chapel currently has a Goshen
City which is a camp like Canaanland in Abuja and is along kilometre
26, Abuja-Keffi Road. It has an ultra-modern auditorium which
accommodates over 15,000 and a secondary school, Faith Academy, a youth
centre as well as Kingdom Heritage Model School (nursery and primary)
which were all dedicated on October 2, 2010. The auditorium is a replica
of the Faith Tabernacle. Goshen is complete with a dual-carriage way
running through the 740 acre facility with street lightning as well as a
housing estate with over 45 housing units among others and all these
were constructed in only 15 months. There are plans for a university to
be built in Goshen. Goshen is now the mission headquarters of the Living
Faith Church. It is worth over N15 billion.
All over Nigeria and Africa, Winners
Chapel has a lot of architectural masterpieces which emphasize utility.
The use of pillars in their auditorium are de-emphasized as these enable
every worshipper to have visual access to the altar. Some of these
masterpieces are Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Goshen, along Km 26
Abuja-Keffi Expressway, the old site of Winners Chapel in Durumi, Abuja,
built in 6 months; Garden of Faith, Kaduna, Winners Chapel, Kano,
Winners Chapel, Benue and Winners Chapel, Nairobi (Wonderland), Kenya to
mention a few. Winners Chapel, Nairobi is the largest church auditorium
in East and Central Africa and the auditorium sits 20,000. Reportedly
worth N3.5 billion, it was dedicated in April 20, 2013.
Other assets of the church include four
aircraft (Gulfstream 1, 2 and 4 and a Lear jet) currently each of the
Gulfsteam worth N8 billion. That’s N24 billion while the Lear jet a old
one was worth N1billion.
During a Powerhouse Meeting in April
1982, David Oyedepo listed seven areas where God had spoken to him
concerning the future of the ministry. He stated that, “At the base of
the commission will be a tent which will sit 50,000 people”. He stated
that very soon there will be millions gathering at the base to listen to
the gospel. He added that he saw them flying with the gospel on wings
which showed that soon the ministry will have her own aircraft. He added
that the whole world will soon be able to hear the message of the
commission from the base. At that time, the internet as we know it today
was not in view. At the inception of the ministry, David Oyedepo got
instruction to commit the spoken word into writing with the same measure
of proof. This led to the establishment of the Dominion Publishing
House which won the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
Gold Award in 1996, and has produced over 7 million books till date.
Every December, Winners’ Chapel holds its
annual prophetic gathering, called Shiloh. The annual Shiloh and normal
church services at the Faith Tabernacle can be viewed online real time
approximately, over 500,000 people attend the Shiloh and if each of them
spent at least 2000 at the six days event, that’s an average of N1
billion.
Though nobody can truly estimate the net
worth of Bishop David Olaniyi Oyedepo, but the current estimate is
around 600 billion naira.
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