Living Faith Church Worldwide (also known as Winners' Chapel) is an international

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of magnetic charm, persuasion, or appeal. In the fields of sociology and political science, psychology, and management, the term ''charismatic'' describes a type of leadership. In Christian theology, the term ...

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct Religion, religious body within Christianity that comprises all Church (congregation), church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadersh ...

. The headquarters is located in Ota,

Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It is bordered to the south by Lagos State and the Bight of Benin, to the east by Ondo State, and to the north by Oyo and Osun states while its western border forms part of the national borde ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. The organization has since become a global network of churches with over 6 million members in 147 countries.

History

The beginning of the church manifested on May 2, 1981, when David Oyedepo (aged 26) had a spiritual encounter while lodging in one of the rooms within the ''International Hotel'' located in the Omi-Asoro Quarters of Ilesa City, in the present-day

Osun State Osun (; ), is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states for 84 km and for 78 km respectively, to the north by Kwara State for 73 km, to the south by Ogun State for 84 km and to the wes ...

. He claimed to have had an eighteen-hour supernatural encounter which was a vision from God. 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 A word is a basic element of language that carries meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguists on its ...

; and I am sending you to undertake this task". In 1983, the church began operating with four members on December 11.Martin Lindhardt, ''Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies'', BRILL, Leiden, 2014, page 115

Faith Tabernacle

Canaanland was procured in 1998 and was initially . It is in Ota, Ogun,

. The church's international headquarters, Faith Tabernacle, was built in Cannanland between 1998 and 1999, taking twelve months to complete. The foundation laying took place on August 29, 1998. In 1999, the Faith Tabernacle was inaugurated with 50,400 seats. On Dec 11 2013, Oyedepo's first son, David Oyedepo Jnr, 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.

The Ark

In 2019, Bishop Oyedepo announced the commencement of the construction of a 100,000-capacity sanctuary called "The Ark" (It was formerly called Faith Theatre). The Ark will specifically include a 20 Floor Mission Tower (International Headquarters Facility). In 2021, it began construction of a temple called The Ark with 109,345 seats, next to Faith Tabernacle.

Organization

As of 2014, the Church was in 65 countries.

Dominion Publishing House

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

Beliefs

The Church is founded upon twelve core emphases called the 12-Pillars. The theological position of the church is

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

. The association has a

confession of faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds: ...

Education

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

United Kingdom

In 2014, the church applied to open a Kingdom Heritage Model School in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Concerns were raised by the National Secular Society about the church linking disobedience to witchcraft. The application was later withdrawn.

Shiloh

Every year in December, the church hosts a global event called Shiloh. The church says the mandate for this event is drawn from the Bible books of Joshua 18:1 and 1Samuel 1:3. The event is held mostly in the first week of December. The church sees the purpose of the event as being to usher the visitation of God to his people. It also marks the end of the Church's calendar year. As of 2012, there were millions in attendance. The Presiding Bishop also said up to 160 nations hooked up to Shiloh 2015, with nationals from 55 nations present at the Canaanland, Ota,

References

External links

* , official website of the Faith Tabernacle
Winners Chapel London

Winners Chapel New York

Covenant University

Dominion Publishing House

Landmark University
{{coord missing, Nigeria 1981 establishments in Nigeria Charismatic denominations Christian organizations based in Nigeria Christianity in Lagos Evangelical megachurches in Nigeria Organizations based in Ogun State Pentecostal denominations established in the 20th century Religious organizations based in Lagos Christian organizations established in 1981 Word of Faith churches