On Saturday, May 1, last week and Sunday May 2 in the week ending today, the priests, congregations, new converts, old members, distant admirers and well-wishers of the Living Faith Church, popularly known as Winners Chapel Worldwide, never took time off to celebrate the 45 years anniversary of the founding of their church.
Holding onto the teaching of the church’s founder and spiritual head Bishop David Oyedepo that taking a spiritual holiday to engage in any celebration or anything else is a dangerous thing, the people of Living Faith Church took two days and concentrated on some spiritual activities in reviewing the 45 years of their mission’s existence here on earth. The activities were carried out under the broad heading of thanksgiving which is the lifestyle of every member of that congregation.
Members of that church body are brought up to believe that continually thanking God for any small or big blessing is an article of faith which will always bring to them more blessings. The saying here is that thanksgiving to God is an application for more.
Like many other Christians, winners have been trained that they must learn to count their blessings and name them one by one. It is when you count that you can more ably realise the need to appreciate each of what God has done in your life or in the life of the Ministry known to the world as the Living Faith Church.
Well, Winners Chapel Worldwide is 45 years this month. What good things has it added to Nigeria and life on earth here today? What is it about Living Faith Church that other Nigerians, Africans, the Black race and other people of the world can learn from it in order to add to the stock of their knowledge and wisdom? The first, I think, is the idea by Oyedepo that you do not need to be white before you can do things right and succeed. Rather, the main things or traits you need to cultivate are: discipline, planning, faithful execution of your plan, focus or persistent pursuit of your goals and alas, you will be successful whether you are black, white, yellow or red.
The story of how Living Faith Church began in Kaduna on May 1, 1981with less than 30 members, grew steadily over the years to become today one of the leading Pentecostal churches in the world with membership spread across all the continents of the world, is a fascinating one. It talks about the power of grit, hard work, focus and discipline.
On May 1, Oyedepo, in a worldwide telecast from Canaan land, Ota in Lagos, Nigeria gave the multitude of his congregation gathered across the world ready for the thanksgiving service a list of the blessings the mission has enjoyed in the past 45 years. Some of them, he said, include peace, tranquility and prosperity. Others are steady growth, rapid expansion and monumental impact on individual lives and on nations of the earth.
What are some of the key elements responsible for the achievements of some of the success stories of the mission? Divine leading is surely one of the factors responsible for the rise and rise of Oyedepo’s ministry. Another of Oyedepo’s secrets to success is unquenchable faith. He does nothing without first being led by God to do them. When his church began in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, and it was time for him to leave Kaduna and move to another location, it was God who led him to where he was to set up his headquarters’ camp in Ota, Lagos. The decision was not based on his human, secular, intellectual or businessman thinking and decision making prowess.
Dangerous giving is one of the secrets to prosperity. Withholding when one is in a position to give is an invitation to remain in poverty and lack.
Living Faith has grown numerically and qualitatively over these years. If you ask me what is another major factor responsible for this massive growth, I will say it is soul winning. Oyedepo himself is said to once in while lead evangelistic teams. Many souls won to the church and increasing its population are Oyedepo’s personal converts. The Bible says in Proverb 11: 30 that a soul inner is a wise person. Nothing pleases God more than a faithful servant winning souls. And the reward is handsome as can be seen in the numerical strength and the growth in quality of the church today.
It may be a serious omission if mention is not made of the great impact which Bishop David Oyedepo and the Living Church which he founded have made on the Christian world with the Dominion publishing Company an arm of his ministry which publishes spiritual books.
Some of the leading books that have come out of Dominion Publishing Company are: Understanding the Power of Faith, The Breakthrough Power of Vision, Understanding the Power of Praise, Understanding Financial Prosperity, Satan Get Lost, Breaking the Curses of Life, Understanding Divine Direction and Keys to Divine Health.
Pick up any of David Oyedepo’s books and on one page towards the end of the one you are holding, you will have all the more than 70 titles he has so far produced from his fecund pen and computer.
Any attempt on my path here to give a review of some of these leading books will turn this piece into a book review of Oyedepo’s books which is not the intention of this write up.
