Living Faith Church Worldwide

Living Faith Church Worldwide
Classification Evangelicalism
Theology Neo-charismatic movement
Headquarters Canaanland, Km. 10, Idiroko Road, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria
Founder Bishop David Oyedepo
Origin 1983 (1983) Ilesha, Nigeria
Official website faithtabernacle.org.ng

Living Faith Church Worldwide (also known as Winners Chapel) is a megachurch and a Christian denomination founded by Bishop David Oyedepo in 1983. The organization has since become a global network of churches with congregations in 65 countries.

History

The beginnings of the church can be traced back to May 1981 when Oyedepo at age 26 claims to have had an 18-hour vision from God. In this vision God spoke to him saying, "Now the hour has come to liberate the world from all oppressions of the devil, through the preaching of the Word of faith; and I am sending you to undertake this task".[1] Two years later, the church began operating with four members on December 11, 1983.[2] In 2014, the Church is in 65 countries. [3]

Faith Tabernacle

The international headquarters of Winners Chapel is called the Faith Tabernacle. It covers about 70 acres (280,000 m2) and is built inside an over 17,000-acre (69 km2) church complex called Canaanland,[4] the international headquarters of the ministry in Ota, a suburb of Lagos. The building took 12 months to be completed. The foundation laying took place on August 29, 1998. The dedication of the building took place on September 19, 1999 with 97,800 people in attendance. The structure is purported to have been built without any debts and within a year of work beginning.

Between 1999 and 2014 when the 55,000 acre Phillipine Arena was completed, Faith Tabernacle was the largest church building in the world. It has a seating capacity of 50,400 people and an outside overflow capacity of over 250,000, with four services every Sunday.[5] Cannanland was procured in 1998 and was initially 560 acres (2.3 km2). Presently it is over 17,000 acres (69 km2) and will take about 120 km to navigate around it.

On Dec 11 2013, exactly 30 years after the church commenced services, Pastor David Oyedepo Jnr, first son of the founder ministered for the first time at the Church's annual Shiloh gathering. In December 2015, Oyedepo Jnr became the resident pastor of the Faith Tabernacle with unfounded rumours that the older Oyedepo had retired.

In Dec 2015, Oyedepo also announced commencement of the construction of a 100,000 capacity Faith Arena which when completed would be the largest auditorium in the world. The Theatre will be centralised within a 15,000 housing estate to be known as 'Canaan City'.

Beliefs

The Church is founded upon twelve core emphases as follows:

  1. FAITH (1 John 5:4; Eph. 6:16)[6]
  2. THE WORD (John 1:1-12; Heb. 1:3)[7]
  3. SIGNS AND WONDERS (Ps. 82:5-7; John 3:8)[8]
  4. THE HOLY SPIRIT (Acts 1:1-8; Isaiah 10:27)[9]
  5. PROSPERITY (3 John 2; Ps. 35:27; Zech. 1:17)[10]
  6. PRAYER (1 John 5:14)[11]
  7. HEALING (Isaiah 53:3-4; Jer. 8:22; Matt. 8:17)[12]
  8. WISDOM (Prov. 24:3-4, Isaiah 33:6)[13]
  9. SUCCESS (Joshua 1:8-10)[14]
  10. VISION (Prov. 29:18, Jer. 29:11)[15]
  11. CONSECRATION (Hebrews12:14; 2Tim. 2:19)[16]
  12. PRAISE (2 Chro. 20:20-22; Ps. 67:1-7; 149:1-9)[17]

The theological position of the church is Pentecostal.[18]

Dominion Publishing House

The publishing house that grew out of Winner's Chapel was founded on 5 December 1992.[19] Dominion Publishing House has published over 120 books, most of which have been written by Oyedepo.

Education

Many educational institutions are linked to the chapel, including Covenant University,[20] Landmark University,[21]Faith Academy[22] and over 150 Kingdom Heritage Model Schools.[23] In addition, there is a ministry training college called The Word of Faith Bible Institute.[24]

Shiloh

Every year in December, the church hosts a global event called Shiloh. The mandate for this event is drawn from the Bible books of Joshua 18:1 and 1Samuel 1:3.

The purpose of the event is to usher the visitation of God to his people. It also marks the end of the Church year.

As of 2012, there were millions in attendance in all the locations and the church website also experienced a huge hit.

The event is held mostly in the first week of December.

Criticism and controversy

Critics have accused Winner's Chapel of adopting a health, wealth, prosperity gospel that is contrary to biblical teaching. Oyedepo himself engages in healing ministry[5] and Forbes estimates his worth at $150 million, also reporting that in March 2011, Oyedepo purchased for $30 million a Gulfstream V jet aircraft.[25][26]

See also

Living Faith Church entrance

References

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120602142147/http://domi.org.ng/about. Archived from the original on June 2, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ Martin Lindhardt, Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, BRILL, Netherlands, 2014, page 115
  3. ↑ Martin Lindhardt, Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, BRILL, Netherlands, 2014, page 115
  4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120428040226/http://www.africanpastors.net/Pastors%20Webpages/David%20Oyedepo.html. Archived from the original on April 28, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. 1 2 "Church of the 50,000 faithful". News.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - FAITH (105 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - WORD (MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - SUPERNATURAL (100 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - HOLY SPIRIT (84 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES -PROSPERITY (118 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - PRAYER (96 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - HEALING (90 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - WISDOM (82 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - SUCCESS (80 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  15. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - VISION (100 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  16. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - CONSECRATION (80 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "12 PILLARS MESSAGES - PRAISE (102 MP3)". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  18. ↑ "Winners Chapel Faith Tabernacle HQ". LGTNigeria. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  19. ↑ "12 Pillar Messages". Domionlinestore.org. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  20. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120502042201/http://domi.org.ng/education/c-u. Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ↑ University, Landmark. "Landmark University". Lmu.edu.ng. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  22. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120429235203/http://domi.org.ng/education/faith-academy. Archived from the original on April 29, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120501183932/http://domi.org.ng/education/khms. Archived from the original on May 1, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120502053701/http://domi.org.ng/domi-network/wofbi. Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. ↑ "Wealthy Nigerians, Pastors Spend $225 million on Private Jets". Forbes.com. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  26. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120605092222/http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2011/06/07/the-five-richest-pastors-in-nigeria/. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)

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