Church auditoriums around the world make are built to accommodate a large number of congregants ranging from hundreds to thousands of believers who converge to worship. In terms of digital transformation, I give it to the Nigerian church – especially the Pentecostals. I may not agree with most of them but they are pretty impressive with their innovative business model. This innovative tactics has put the Nigerian church on the global map of pace setters because of the gigantic record breaking edifices they put up. Below is a top ten countdown of largest Evangelical Church auditoriums around the globe.
10. Calvary Temple
Calvary Temple is a Bible believing new generation megachurch located in Hyderabad, India. It was founded and is currently being pastored Dr. P. Satish Kumar who started the church after an alleged revelation and promise by God that it will grow in multiples. The Calvary Temple has over 225,000 members as a January 2020.
9. Great Temple
The great Temple also known as the general convention of the assemblies of God is a Pentecostals christian denomination in Brazil. It is affiliated with the Assemblies of God. The headquarters is in Rio de Janeiro. The great Temple is the 9th largest christian denomination in the world. With a population of about 3.5 million people, the temple boasts of atleast 280,000 congregants in a service.
8. Deeper Christian Life Church
Number eight on the list is the new headquarters of the Deeper life church located in Gbagbada, Lagos was commissioned in 2018. The modern church has a capacity of 30,000 seaters and is headed by Pastor W.F Kumuyi.
7. Gereja Bethany Indonesia
The church is officially known as the Bethany Church of Indonesia In English. This church headquarters is located in Surabaya city in Indonesia. The Asian church is an Evangelical Charismatic Christian denomination and is led by Abraham Alex Tanuseputra. Gereja Bethany comes at number eighth on the global countdown.
6. Word of Life Bible Church
The 35,000 capacity church building located in Warri, Delta State Nigeria. It was built by Senior pastor and founder of Word of Life Bible Church, Ayo Oritsejafor who was once the President of Christian Association Of Nigeria(CAN). The fully air-conditioned ultra modern church facility was dedicated on Wednesday, January 1, 2014, it is said to be worth over N500 million.
5. Faith Tarbanacle
Faith Tarbanacle is the headquarters of Living Faith Church Worldwide popularly known as Winners Chapel. The megachurch is located in Ota, Lagos Nigeria the vicinity is also called Caanan land. With a 50,000 seating capacity, Faith Tarbanacle hosts the the yearly week-long Shiloh programme organized by the church’s general overseer Bishop David Oyedepo with thousands of attendants from more than 60 countries.
4. God is Love Pentecostal Church.
God Is Love Pentecostal Church is located in São Paulo, Brazil. It is better known as Deus é Amor which means “God is love” in Brazilian language. The 60,000 seating capacity Pentecostal megachurch building is 4th on the countdown.
3. Champions Royal Assembly.
The church was founded by Bro. Iginla, the stadium like 80,000 seater auditorium is the headquarters of Champions Royal Assembly and is located in Abuja. It’s not certain if the church building is complete at the time of writing this.
2. Glory Sanctuary Dome.
This 100,000 seater capacity megachurch building came under heavy media criticism during its unveiling in 2018, dignitaries and well meaning Nigerians argured that mighty Church buildings were useless in an impoverished country like Nigeria. The church is owned by Pastor Dr. Paul Enenche founder and general overseer of Dunamis international gospel centre. It is located in the capital city of Abuja.
1. Hand of God Cathedral.
Located around Airport road Igwuruta, Port Harcourt. The headquarters of salvation ministry is set to be the world’s largest church auditorium. The megachurch has a capacity of about 100,000 seater. However the church is still under construction but the full potential has already set it on the world map, earning it its current position as number one on the list of largest Evangelical church auditorium on earth. The church is lead by popular Port Harcourt based preacher and Televangelist David Ibiyeomie.
Is it not amazing that the Nigerian church is way more advanced technologically than universities, businesses and even the government? Most of them now collect tithes, offerings and donations online, with high quality websites and IT infrastructure, they are a long way ahead.
Nigerian churches have been streaming church services online to the entire world for over ten years now but almost no Nigerian higher institution conducts online classes. Application for transcripts take months and results compilation takes forever. And yet nobody sees the ill of this dysfunctional system of daylight robbery?
Some of these churches have Universities built with donations from poor church member that cannot afford the school fees of those universities I know the Nigerian church has a steady stream of income – with a business machinery well funded by threats of hardship and hell to tithe defaulters, and a promise of heaven to faithfuls by the CEOs/GOs, regardless, they are quite good at what they do.
The above list should not be mistaken for that of the largest christian churches in the world. The largest church building on earth is St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. It is the headquarters of the Catholic church and home to its supreme pontiff (the Pope). The top ten countdown is in the category of Evangelical Church Auditoriums and only church auditoriums are included in this list. Church tents, canopies and overflows are excluded from the list. For example, the Redeemed Christian Church of God three million capacity church campground fails this criteria as it is not a completely enclosed building.
Currently schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic but the big churches are unscathed because they have systems already that can broadcast to every home linked to the internet and also keep their income streams steady. While we applaud and these men of God for their glorified abilities, let’s begin to ask why most of them do little or nothing to challenge the status quo of the Nigerian society.
What do you think about the list and the number of Nigerian Churches in it? Kindly share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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