As the Living Faith Church, founded by Bishop David Oyedepo implements its plan to spend over N160 billion to build its new 100,000-seater auditorium, known as ‘The Ark, Nigeria News Abroad gathered that donations have begun to pour in to the church account from far and near.
In statement made during his sermon on Sunday, Bishop Oyedepo said two individuals, among others, have donated $1Million Dollars each as part of fund meant to complete the new edifice. According to the Bishop, it was impossible for anyone to give such a large sum if one has not been a giver when one has little. The Bishop stressed the need for believers to give as Jesus himself preached. He however said, no church members will be tasked for the building project, saying the fund to build it was already available. The bishop did not name the anonymous donors.
The groundbreaking ceremony for The Ark was carried out by Bishop Oyedepo early this year, March 2021. According to reports, N45 billion was released for the project out of the N160 billion earmarked for it.
The project which has already kicked off will be completed in three years.
First announced in late 2015 as the “Faith Theatre”, the 100,000 seats stadium-like project has now been officially renamed as “The Ark”, unveiled at the church earlier last Month.
Sited on about 1,000 hectares of land (the site of the old Faith Academy compound), within the vast premises of the current church building, the Ark will specifically accommodate 106,000 seats and will include a 24-Floor Mission Tower (International Headquarters Facility) made up of two twin towers of 12 floors each.
Upon completion, the existing 50,000 seaters Faith Tabernacle will serve as an overflow facility.
Canaanland is in Ota, Ogun state and is the 5,000-acre (20 km2) estate and campus, that houses the 50,000 seat auditorium, the church secretariat, the church’s youth chapel, a primary school called Kingdom heritage model school, a full boarding mission secondary school called Faith Academy, with over 1,500 students and the Covenant University facilities – which accommodates over 7,000 students, fully resident in ultra-modern hostel facilities – with fully equipped faculty buildings and numerous staff housing facilities.
Canaanland campus also has for-profit establishments operated by the church such as a bakery, a bottled water processing plant, a petrol station, various restaurants and shopping stores, several residential houses that provide for the over 2,000 church employees and guesthouses. Four banks are also present on this Estate, three of which are branches of external commercial banks and one which is a community and micro-finance Bank and operated by the Church. The whole of Canaanland which includes a proposed 15,000 housing estate known as Canaan City had increased to 17,000 acres as at 2012.
The Ministry’s biggest annual meeting Shiloh, holds every December in the same Faith Tabernacle and often welcomes thousands of congregants across the world. Faith Tabernacle was reported as the Worlds’ Largest Church Auditorium in December 2005.
The Winners’ Chapel International network of churches is located in over 300 cities, in all states of Nigeria, and in several cities in 45 African nations, Dubai, the United Kingdom and the United States. Oyedepo has been seen as one of the pioneers of the Christian charismatic movement in Africa and has been referred to as one of the most powerful preachers in Nigeria. He is the Chancellor of Covenant University and Landmark University. He was named in 2011 by Forbes magazine as being the richest pastor in Nigeria.
In 2020, he announced that before the year runs out, God whom he claim told him, will plant 10, 000 churches globally. By January 1st 2021, it was announced that despite the disturbance caused by Covid-19, the church was able to plant 10, 000 with resident Pastors allocated to each.