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HISTORY: Assemblies of God Church

The Assemblies of God denomination traces its roots back to a religious revival that started during the late 1800's and continued through the early 1900's. The revival was characterized by a widespread experience of spiritual manifestations such as speaking in tongues and supernatural healing, giving birth to the Pentecostal movement.

Charles Parham is a prominent figure in the history of the Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal movement. His teachings greatly influenced the doctrines of the Assemblies of God. He is the founder of the first Pentecostal church - the Apostolic Faith Church. He started a Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, where students came to learn about the Word of God. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit was emphasized here as a key factor in one's walk of faith. 

During the Christmas holiday of 1900, Parham asked his students to study the Bible to discover the biblical evidence for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. At a prayer meeting on January 1, 1901, they concluded that the Holy Spirit Baptism is expressed and evidenced by speaking in tongues. From this experience the Assemblies of God denomination can trace its belief that speaking in tongues is the biblical evidence for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. 

The revival quickly spread to Missouri and Texas, and eventually to California and beyond. Pentecostal believers from around the world gathered at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles for a three year (1906–1909) revival meeting.

Another important meeting in the denomination's history was a gathering in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1914, called by a preacher named Eudorus N. Bell. As a result of the spreading revival and the formation of many Pentecostal congregations, Bell recognized the need for an organized assembly. Three hundred Pentecostal ministers and laymen gathered to discuss the growing need for doctrinal unity and other common goals. As a result the General Council of the Assemblies of God was formed, uniting the assemblies in ministry and legal identity, yet preserving each congregation as a self-governing and self-supporting entity. This structural model remains intact today.

In 1916 a Statement of Fundamental Truths was approved and adopted by the General Council. This position on the essential doctrines of the Assemblies of God denomination remains virtually unchanged to this day.

The Assemblies of God ministries have focused and continue to concentrate on evangelism, missions and church planting. From its founding attendance of 300, the denomination has grown to more than 2.6 million members in the United States and over 48 million overseas. The national headquarters for the Assemblies of God is located in Springfield, Missouri. 

In Nigeria

 Between the years 1931 and 1935 a group of young men and women soundly converted and living at Old Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria, were reading various religious periodicals that told of many people in many lands who were receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues, according to Acts 2:4. They became convinced that the Pentecostal experience was for them, too. Within a short while many of them were blessed with the Baptism in the Holy in 1934. 

They established a number of churches. At that time they were not affiliated with any overseas Mission. After much prayer they requested the American Assemblies of God to send them a resident missionary.

In June, 1939, Rev. & Mrs. Williams Lloyd Shirer, a Missionary in what was then called Gold Coast (Ghana) was sent to meet the few Pastors and young men of "The Church of Jesus Christ." They worked out an agreement of affiliation with the Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri, U.S.A. and the "Church of Jesus Christ" was officially renamed "Assemblies of God". Early in July 1939, the Shirers returned to Tamele, Gold Coast (Ghana).

 Late in August, 1939, the affiliation agreement was officially sanctioned. Rev. Shirer's recommendation to the American Assemblies of God resulted in Rev. and Mrs. Everrest L. Philips coming to Nigeria in February, 1940. Other Missionaries soon followed.From that beginning both the Nigerian Pastors and the overseas Missionaries found a great response to their preaching of the Gospel and church planting efforts. One of the first projects they embarked on was to establish a Bible School at Old Umuahia, Abia State, where the young pastors could receive training for the Ministry. Later, a Printing Press was established at Aba, Abia State, to provide printed materials for the young, growing and multiplying churches. That Printing Press is still operating and is producing huge amounts of literature not only for the Nigerian Assemblies of God but for other churches, too. And that one Bible School has grow to ten schools strategically located in the country.

for more info on this ministry visit - www.aognigeria.org, www.ag.org

HISTORY: Mountain of Fire Ministries

Soon after completing his Ph.D. in the United Kingdom, and while working at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya summoned a prayer meeting. This was on a Wednesday in 1989. Twenty-three brethren showed up at the meeting. The venue of that meeting was in his living room.

After that meeting, the voice of providence kept calling for subsequent meetings. At these meetings, the power of God came down and verifiable miracles began to happen in the lives of the attending brethren. The power of God began to evangelise the prayer meetings and a spiritual explosion began with people coming from far and wide to seek the face of God.

With more and more people attending the prayer meetings, a larger location was required. The prayer meetings moved to #60, Old Yaba Road, Yaba, Lagos. Here, the teeming crowd of believers grew in even more amazing proportion necessitating yet another relocation.

The prayer group was offered and purchased an abandoned slum located at 13 Olasimbo Street, Onike, Yaba. It was a fairly large piece of land near the second gate of the University of Lagos. That slum has now been transformed into the International Headquarters of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries of which Dr. Olukoya is the General Overseer. The name “Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministries” was revealed to DKO during normal prayer and the church had its first service on April 24, 1994.

Even at the new location, believers and those seeking help kept coming leading to a very large congregation. This situation posed a challenge of crowd, growth and expansion management to the leadership of the church. Thus, under the direction of the Lord, MFM evolved a strategy of a network of branches in every state capital, local government headquarters, senatorial district and locality. Till this day and across the world, MFM branches spring up as one of the fastest growing churches of this generation. International church branches first started in London before spreading to the United States, Canada, the rest of Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. On every continent, MFM is profoundly visible and greatly impactful.

for more info on this ministry visit - www.mountainoffire.org

HISTORY: Deeper Chritian Life Ministry

 Deeper Christian Life Ministry (also known as Deeper Life Bible Church) is a non-denominational Christian Church with its international headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. It is overseen by the General Superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi. It is a Holiness-Pentecostal church with an emphasis on holy living.

In 1973, while serving as a Mathematics Lecturer at the University of Lagos, W.F. Kumuyi started a Bible study group with 15 university students who had come to him requesting training in the Scriptures. The church started as the Deeper Christian Life Ministry. William Folorunso Kumuyi, was a former Anglican who joined the Apostolic Faith Church after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit

In 1975, he was expelled from that church for preaching without being credentialed. He continued his independent ministry, which in 1982 became the Deeper Life Bible Church. By the early 1980s that small group had grown to several thousand, at which time Deeper Life Bible Church was formally established. The church has spread throughout sub-Saharan Africa and then to the United Kingdom, from where branches were developed in western Europe, Russia,India, and North America.

By 1988 the congregation had grown to 50,000, and now numbers 120,000 members, and is considered one of the largest churches in sub-saharan Africa, with a sizeable population in the world. Dr. Johan Combrinck reports that the Deeper Life Church not only has an attendance of 120,000 every Sunday, but has planted over 500 churches in Lagos, 5,000 in the rest of Nigeria (with an independent estimate of more than 800,000 members in Nigeria alone), and 3,000 elsewhere (with missionaries to 40 countries of Africa) as the movement missionary contribution.

C. Peter Wagner, in an article titled 'Those Amazing Post-Denominational Churches' wrote: "By far, the most rapidly growing segment of Christianity on all six continents is a type of church that does not fit traditional categories or classifications. Missiologists have recognized its presence for some time, but it is such a recent phenomenon that they have not yet agreed on a name for it. Perhaps one title that would fit is the term 'post-denominational.

"Go to almost any metropolitan area and ask to visit the largest Christian Church. Chances are it will be one of these new post-denominational churches'. In Lagos, Nigeria, it would be the Deeper Life Bible Church, pastored by William Kumuyi. On a recent Sunday I saw 74,000 adults worshipping together, with 40,000 children meeting in a separate building across the street."

for more info on this ministry visit - www.dclmhq.org

HISTORY: Winners' Chapel

Winners' Chapel (also known as Living Faith Church Worldwide) is a megachurch founded by Bishop David Oyedepo in 1981. The Church has since become a global network of churches with congregations in 34 countries.

The beginnings of the church can be traced back to May 1981 when David Oyedepo claimed 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".Two years later the church was formed with four members.

The international headquarters of Winners Chapel is called Faith Tabernacle. It covers about 70 acres (280,000 m²) and is built inside an over 10,500-acre (42 km²) church complex called Canaanland, 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.

Faith Tabernacle as from 1999-2008 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.^] Cannanland was procured in 1998 and was initially 560 acres (2.3 km²). Presently it is over 10,500 acres (42 km²) and will take about 120 km to navigate around it.

Beliefs

The Church is founded upon twelve core emphases as follows:

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

The theological position of the church is Pentecostal.

The publishing house that grew out of Winner's Chapel was founded on 5 December 1992.^] Dominion Publishing House has published over 60 books, most of which have been written by David Oyedepo.

Many educational institutions are linked to Winner's Chapel, including Covenant University, Faith Academy and Kingdom Heritage Model School. In addition there is a ministry training college called The Word of Faith Bible Institute.

Every year in December, the church hosts a global event called Shiloh. The purpose of the event is the usher the visitation of God to his people. As of 2012, there was millions in count of the attendance in all the locations and the church website also experienced a huge hit. The event holds mostly first week in the month of December.

for more info on this Ministry visit - www.winnerschapelmowe.com