Bishop David O. Oyedepo
Ministry Profile
The Ministry Profile of the Apostle over this Commission.
The Mandate
Received a call into the ministry through a heavenly vision, where he saw a lineup of battered, beaten, tattered, deformed, groaning for escape.
In response to his question, ‘But why Lord?’, God answered, “But from the beginning it was not so, and now the hour has come to liberate the whole world from all oppression of the devil through the preaching of the Word of faith and I AM sending you to undertake this task.”
Today, he stands as an Apostle of Faith to the nations, the impact of whose ministry has continued to spread across many nations of the world.
As an accomplished author, he has written over 100 titles, which circulate both in hard and online stores around the world. A number of these titles have been translated to other major languages of the world including French, Chinese, Spanish and others.
He is the Founder and President of Living Faith Church Worldwide, a.k.a. Winners’ Chapel International, and presently oversees over 21,000 churches across Nigeria and several thousand across six major continents of the world.
He is the founding and Senior Pastor of the Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, Nigeria, the international Headquarters of the Church, which is reputed to be the largest single congregation in the world.
As a leader of renown, he has redefined leadership as an evolution of values. Today, he is spearheading a revolution in education across the nation, through his network of primary and secondary schools and the establishment of two thriving universities, namely Covenant University, Ota, and Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, both in Nigeria.
- 100+
- titles written
- 21,000+
- churches across Nigeria
- 2
- universities
- 27 Sept 1954Born. He began his academic career in Architecture and later went on to obtain a PhD in Human Development, from Honolulu University, Hawaii, USA.
- 2 May 1981Received a call to full time ministry, at 26.
- 29 May 1981Began his teaching ministry through a weekly fellowship meeting called ‘Faith Liberation Hour’ and a monthly seminar that covers Friday evening.
- 11 Dec 1983Began his Church ministry and planted the 1st Church in Kaduna, called Living Faith World Outreach.
- 25 Apr 1985Published and released his first 2 books, ‘The Miracle Seed and the Law of Faith’.
- 1 Sept 1986Founded the Word of Faith Bible Institute, which today runs across many nations of the world.
- May 1987Began church planting work in the northern part of Nigeria.
- Sept 1989His mission acquired a 13-acre property in a prime area of Kaduna city called Garden of Faith.
- 24 Sept 1989Moved into Lagos, following a divine mandate, “Arise, get down to Lagos and raise me a people”.
- July 1992Founded Dominion Publishing House, whose printing press has today grown to an industrial scale and currently publishes Bibles.
- 1994 – 1999Led a great revival at the Lagos church that took the church from about 3,500 to 50,000 within 5 years.
- May 1994Following another divine mandate, “The harvest of Africa is overripe, rush in and preserve it from decadence”, embarked on Mission to Africa. Today, his mission has a strong presence in over 41 nations of Africa.
- 18 Sept 1996His Mission took delivery of the first mission aircraft.
- May 1998His mission acquired 530 acres of property in the outskirts of Ota, a suburb of Lagos, which is today called Canaanland.
- Sept 1998 – Sept 1999A 50,000-seat capacity sanctuary called Faith Tabernacle was built and dedicated within one year to the glory of God.
- 1999Started the annual convocation of Winners worldwide, tagged “Shiloh”, which now transmits to about 177 nations in real time and draws delegates from between 50 and 60 nations annually, with millions gathering at various viewing centres across Nigeria and many other nations of the world.
- Aug 2000Embarked on Mission to the world, covering Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
- Oct 2002Founded Covenant University, which is today listed among the Elite Universities of the world.
- Mar 2011Founded Landmark University, a university blazing the trail today within the Nigerian university education space.
- May 2015Led a great church growth revival that doubled the attendance of the Lagos church twice within 6 months. Today, the Faith Tabernacle is said to be the largest local church congregation in the world, with about 38,000 home cells.
- 2019By divine instruction, led the planting of over 5,000 churches across Nigeria within one year.
- 2020By divine signal, also led the planting of over 10,000 churches within one year across Nigeria and over 1,200 others across 35 other nations of the world, in spite of the global restriction imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 2021By divine instruction, led the replication of over 21,000 new home cells within one year at Faith Tabernacle, which represents about a hundred percent of the existing home cells.
- 2022Led the planting of Churches in 80 additional nations across 4 continents of the world.
- TodayThe construction of the historic 100,000-seat capacity stadium-like sanctuary, whose foundation was laid on March 25, 2021, is very much in progress, with God’s hand clearly evident in the areas of speed, supplies, etc. To God alone be all the glory.
- Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Education (FNAE).
- Award in recognition of Leadership in Enhancing Academic and Research Excellence in Higher Education, Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, LA (2011).
- Distinguished Award for Excellence in Education, Administration and Leadership, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (2012).
- Fellow of the Nigerian Society for Financial Research (FNSFR).
- Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Strategic Management (FNISM).
- Honorary Doctor of Divinity, Bethel Graduate School of Theology, Riverside, California.
- National Honour: a road was named after him by the Federal Government of Nigeria, in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (2008).
- Listed among the 100 most reputable people on earth, 2 times running.
- 1983 till dateFounder and President, Living Faith Church Worldwide, a.k.a. Winners’ Chapel International.
- 1986 till datePresident, Word of Faith Bible Institute.
- 1992 till datePresident, Dominion Publishing House.
- 2002 till dateChancellor and Chairman, Board of Regents, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria.
- 2011 till dateChancellor and Chairman, Board of Regents, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Nigeria.
To God alone be all the glory.