Chris Oyakhilome

Christian Oyakhilome (also known as "Pastor Chris") (born 7 December 1963) is the founder and president of LoveWorld Incorporated, also known as Christ Embassy, based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Ministry and theology

Oyakhilome's ministry holds meetings in the United Kingdom, the United States,Ghana and South Africa, and has "healing school" sessions in South Africa, Lagos and Canada. He was also the first to pioneer a Christian-based television network from Africa to the rest of the world. He also held the largest single night event held in Nigeria in 2006 with 3.5 million people in attendance "Good Friday Miracle Night". Oyakhilome also hosts Higher Life conferences in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, UK, US and Canada, and organized the ''Night of Bliss'' South Africa event at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. Oyakhilome also operates an International School of Ministry, which held one of its Ministers' Network Conferences in 2016 with 5,000 ministers in attendance from 145 countries, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Oyakhilome runs an online prayer network using social media to send messages to Christians in several countries. He had over 1.2 million followers on Twitter in 2013, over 1.9 million followers on Facebook, and operates a smartphone messenger called KingsChat. In 2015, Oyakhilome was given an honorary doctorate from Ambrose Alli University and Benson Idahosa University. In 2017, Oyakhilome, in partnership with Benny Hinn, created the Christian cable channel LoveWorld USA.

Oyakhilome has hosted several online programs including five editions of the Global Day of Prayer, with Pastor Benny, the first edition on 27 March 2020 having people from many nations of the world in attendance.

Personal life

Oyakhilome was born on 7 December 1963 in Edo State, Nigeria, the son of Elder T.E and Angelina Oyakhilome.

In 1991, Oyakhilome married Anita Ebhodaghe. They had two daughters. Anita Ebodaghe filed for divorce on 9 April 2014 at the Central Family Court in London. After the separation, they also decided to share custody of their two children. They divorced in February 2016 after 25 years of marriage on the basis of "Unreasonable Behavior." On 6 October 2018, Oyakhilome's first daughter Sharon Oyakhilome, married Phillip Frimpong; a Ghanaian man, and her mother was reportedly absent.

In 2011, ''Forbes'' estimated Oyakhilome's personal wealth as between $30 million and $50 million.

Philanthropic work

Oyakhilome operates the Inner City Mission Project, which works to assist orphaned and indigent children in inner cities in several countries. The organisation is under the auspices of the Chris Oyahkilome Foundation, which works to help the poor and those in the inner cities. The organisation sends relief materials to countries when disasters strike and works with government parastatals to improve social wellbeing.

The Chris Oyakhilome Foundation is one of the major sponsors of th
inner city orphanage homes
in Africa managed by pushaboo, an organisation spearheading the care of mothers and babies around the world.

Other agencies supported by Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International (COFI) are the Volunteer Medical Corps, Trauma Care International Foundation, Inner City Mission for Children, Future Africa Leaders Foundation and the Bible for All Mission.

Honors

Oyakhilome has an honorary doctorate in divinity from Benson Idahosa University.

He is a graduate of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, where he obtained a degree in architecture and an honorary Doctor of Science award.

Controversies

Oyakhilome's statement about marriage has been a subject of controversy. He has come under strong criticism from Nigerians on social media over his religious views on gender equality.

A Facebook post cited an excerpt of the clergyman's message titled "Who is a husband and what is his role?", in which husbands were defined as "masters" as opposed to "male partners".

Oyakhilome's ex-wife, Anita, on 8 February 2016 finalised her divorce from Oyakhilome and dropped his last name for "Obhodaghe".

Oyakhilome has also been a target of criticism by the Treatment Action Campaign for his support of faith healing as a supposed cure for HIV/AIDS, and his devotional Rhapsody of Realities has claimed tumors will disappear if rebuked.

Oyakhilome has been accused of preaching the prosperity gospel and using his followers for money, stating that those who donate to his ministry will be rewarded with wealth, health .

Oyakhilome also supports YouTube-propagated conspiracy theories about a " New World Order".

In March 2021, his television network Loveworld was fined £125,000 by British regulators Ofcom after it breached broadcasting rules by airing “inaccurate and potentially harmful claims about coronavirus”.

Writings

Oyakhilome is the author of several books, including ''Rhapsody of Realities'', distributed monthly in several countries.

He is the author of "Power of the Mind" and also many other books.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oyakhilome, Chris
Living people
Nigerian television evangelists
Nigerian Pentecostal pastors
Faith healers
1963 births
People from Lagos
Prosperity theologians