Inside Pastor Kumuyi’s N5b 30000 seater ultramodern Auditorium
+ All you Need to know about the N350b Deeper Life Ministry
13 years after, Pastor Kumuyi led Deeper Life 30,000 seater auditorium has been commissioned on Tuesday, April 24th, 2018 amidst pomp and pageantry.
Sahara weekly check revealed that the ultra modern headquarters in Gbagada, Lagos can house over 30,000 worshippers comfortably. The cathedral is a mini stadium and costs the church N5 billion to build.
An Italian civil engineering firm, Cappa & D’Alberto, won the contract for the construction. The building which began in June 2005 covers 6,200 square meters, with additional 1,624 square meters for land spacing, sidewalks and car parks. An additional underground car park will take about 200 cars at once.
Dignitaries, including Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and thousands of Nigerians witnessed the grandeur inauguration of the multi-billion Deeper Life Bible Church headquarters in Gbagada area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Tuesday.
All the assets of the conservative church
The Deeper Life Bible Church which Pastor Williams Folorunsho Kumuyi started with only 15 members in 1973, while teaching Mathematics at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, has gone so big.
Today, the ministry has become international and worth over N350 billion with branches in almost every continent of the world, with worshippers numbering over three million. With an international headquarters worth N4 billion, N40 billion camp, International Bible Teaching College worth N10 billion branches all over the continent worth N100 billion amongst others.
In fact, everywhere you turn in Nigeria and all over Africa and other continents, Deeper Life is constructing new structures, some of them so massive and could be termed ultra modern.
But most impressive is their ultra modern headquarters in Gbagada, Lagos. The 30,000 – seater cathedral is a mini stadium and costs the church N4 billion to build. An Italian civil engineering firm, Cappa & D’Alberto, won the contract for the construction. The building covers 6,200 square meters, with additional 1,624 square meters for land spacing, sidewalks and car parks. An additional underground car park will take about 200 cars at once.
Deeper Life also has a 240 hectare project off the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Olowosedo Village, Kilometer 42, Ogun State. It is used for retreats and special programmes. This place is so massive that it looks like a new town being carved out of the bush. Most of the structures, such as hostels, chalets and an elaborate water supply system have been completed.
It also has its own electricity supply scheme and a petrol station which is yet to be completed. A 130,000 capacity main auditorium is also underway. This camp known as Deeper Life Conference Centre, is worth N40 billion. Similarly, the ministry has a world class International Bible Training Centre (IBTC) at Ayobo, Lagos. It is a village complex with chalets, conference centre, offices, classroom blocks, new 10,000 capacity student hostels, a massive kitchen complex, supermarket, children’s church, factory producing mattresses, iron beds, pillows and paint for church use.
Also inside it is the ministry’s university in progress worth N2.5 billion. The IBTC which serves as their stand in HQ in Lagos pending the completion of the Gbagada church is worth N10 billion.
Huge cathedrals have equally sprung up in almost all the 36 states of Nigeria where the church has branches. In Ebonyi, the ministry has a N55 million state headquarters. It is a 5,000 sitting cathedral. In Port Harcourt, Rivers state, the Deeper Life Complex has a main adult auditorium that sits about 10,000 and a children’s church which also sits 10,000 bringing the capacity to 35,000. The cathedral is worth N2.5 billion.
Major sources of income for the ministry are tithe and offering. Among the three million worshippers in the ministry, if one million of them pay tithe of an average of N1,000 weekly in a year, it’s about N52biilion. While N100 offering by at least two million worshippers weekly and in a year is over N10 billion.
Other sources includes the ministry’s Christian Women Mirror which was formerly published by late Mrs. Abiodun Kumuyi. It is a monthly magazine that is dedicated to building godly Christian life ministry. It contains articles that address family issues like child training, love, leadership and unity in the family. The magazine is widely read, home and abroad. The ministry sells about five million copies monthly at the rate of N20 per copy, thus they net in about N100 million monthly and N1.2 billion annually.
They also publish a bi-annual Sunday school manual called Search the Scripture, it comes in different languages and it’s sold for N60. The ministry publishes over five million copies because other ministries buy from them too to teach Sunday school. They pocket about N1 billion annually from it.
They also publish another monthly journal known as Life Magazine. It features articles on discipleship, godly living and account of God’s mighty power at work in the lives of ordinary people. This publication alone brings in about N1.2 billion annually.
Furthermore, in 2008, Pastor Kumuyi joined the league of churches that have their own satellite television stations in Nigeria. The primary purpose of the station is to evangelize the world for Christ, as his messages feature prominently in the satellite station. The satellite dish and decoder goes for over N20,000 and has a viewership of over three million. That translates to an average of N40 billion.
Meanwhile, the electronics department of the church handles the recording of all events in the church. This department provides translation of the sermons into different languages. This department makes a monthly income of about N100million. And N1.2 billion annually.
Pastor Kumuyi, who remarried in 2010 to Esther Blaise after the demise of his wife in April 11, 2010, lives in IBTC at Ayobo, Lagos and rides a black SUV jeep. His late wife bore him two sons.