Who is Pastor Sunday Adelaja

Sunday Sunkanmi Adelaja was born in the village of Idomila Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria. He attended St. Paul Primary School for his early education and then completed Idomila Community High School. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord in March 1986 just before graduation. Like others in his school, he was praying and searching for a scholarship to study at a Nigerian university. However, the Lord had a different plan. After graduation, the young Sunday received a scholarship to study journalism at Byelarussian State University, USSR.

For a Christian of only six-months, the Soviet Union was a difficult place to be. Just as he was contemplating returning to Africa, he heard God whisper into his heart, "I have a purpose for bringing you here." He returned to his life and studies with restored vigour and hope. He continued his studies and remained a committed and active Christian. There were trials and persecution from the Communists, but God kept him through the years. However, the period after the fall of communism was also a dangerous time for Christians. Many of Sunday's friends, although surviving the persecution, fell away in the atmosphere of sin and moral bankruptcy that followed in the wake of freedom.

Sunday received the call to enter the ministry early in his Christian life, but continued his journalism education. As the time neared for his graduation from university, he made no plans for a career in professional journalism. Knowing that he was to be in the fulltime ministry, he began to seek professional preparation by investigating Bible schools. God interrupted his search and told him, "I have different ways of preparing my Generals, one way is by associating them with existing leaders in the body of Christ. Another way is through Bible School. The third means of preparation is by raising up the leaders in a strong local church. However, when I want to do something new and unique, I take my Generals to the wilderness. This is your wilderness in Russia and it is your preparation, your Bible school."

Sunday and his friends, who had served with him in the underground church, began to travel throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union and teach, preach and plant churches. They did this until they were detained by KGB officials in Belarus. The government demanded that Sunday be deported and God paved the way for Sunday to enter Ukraine.

As Sunday and his friends were praying against the deportation declaration, he received a call inviting him to interpret for Jeff Davis, a pastor travelling and speaking in Ukraine. Sunday paid for the ticket himself and went to Ukraine to "do the Lord a favour." A few weeks after this trip, Sunday received a phone call from Pastor Davis. He had signed a contract with a television station in Kyiv and needed someone there to represent his interest. Several months later Sunday Adelaja arrived in Kyiv ready to begin his job at the station.

He worked diligently at the station, exhibiting the Godly character that he still lives today. The director of the station noticed the difference and began to ask questions about his life. Sunday responded by preaching the Gospel. So impressed, the director asked Sunday to create a program with Christian values. Thus God opened the door for Sunday to minister the Gospel through television each week, and get paid to do it! God allowed Sunday to begin spreading the Gospel before beginning a church.

When he arrived in Kyiv he told God that he did not want to start a church in Kyiv because he did not want to leave another church in its infant stage. He had started churches in Belarus and God had told him to leave just as it was getting established. However, God revealed that there was a purpose in leaving the churches. God was teaching him not to embed his heart in the churches he began. God does not want his ministers to "own" churches or denominations, but to rather be caretakers and ready to follow the Master's voice and call. By 1993, Sunday could no longer deny the urge of the Holy Spirit to begin a church.

In November of 1993, Sunday began a Bible study in his apartment with about seven people. The church grew quickly and in 1994 was registered under the name Word of Faith Bible Church. Before he formally started the church, Sunday went before God to get revelation. God revealed the vision of the church to Sunday and asked if he would obey.

Pastor Sunday founded the church upon the following words from God: God is desiring to build a mega-churches in Kyiv and had given the vision of starting mega-churches to others in Europe as well; also, God wanted a missionary church that would send out missionaries all over the world, especially China and the Arab countries. These revelations are still motivating factors in the church today.

Seven months after founding the church, Pastor Sunday married his princess, Abosede. After living in the former Soviet Union for eight years, Pastor Sunday had almost given up hope of marrying someone from Africa or Nigeria. When he felt it was time to marry, he went directly to God and began to pray. Pastor Sunday was invited to help organize a conference in Moscow conducted by Bishop Wale Oke. At the conference he first saw Bose and knew that he must knew her more. He prayed and received a sure word and revelation from the Lord that he was to marry Bose and then began pursuing her. They communicated by telephone until they met again. At this meeting, Pastor Sunday knelt at her feet to ask her hand in marriage. Now Pastor Sunday and Bose have been blessed with three wonderful children - Perez, Zoë and Pearl.

In the nine years since Pastor Sunday began the church with seven people in his apartment, God has done miraculous things. The church has continued to multiply even though they had to change locations many times in the first few years. Pastor Sunday and the church have overcome many lawsuits sponsored by the government. The government has attempted to deport Pastor Sunday several times, but the united prayers of the church all over the world caused the process to fail. Now the church has over 20 thousand members in Kyiv alone, with over 15 services each Sunday in different halls of Kyiv. Below are some statistics that display the things God has done in Kyiv through His servant, Pastor Sunday Adelaja.

* Over 20 services are held every Sunday in various auditoriums of Kiev, Ukraine
* Over 50 daughter churches function in the Kiev region
* More than 100 daughter and satellite churches exist in the cities and villages of Ukraine
* Over 200 churches in the countries of the former Soviet Union, the USA, Germany, UAE, Israel, and Holland have been founded
* 20,000 members in Kiev's Central Church
* More than 1,000,000 citizens of Ukraine have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour
* Over 2,087 home groups with 3,000 leaders of home groups and outreaches
* More than 50% of the members and congregation of the church are actively involved in volunteer ministries
* More than 2,000 people have been set free from drug and alcohol addiction in the church's "Love Rehabilitation Center
* 2,000 people are fed daily in the church's soup kitchen "Stephania"
* Hundreds of street and abandoned kids are ministered to through outreaches
* Pastor Sunday has personally authored more than 30 books, along with over 1,000 recorded audio and video sermons
* The church's Christian television and radio programs reach approximately 8 million people weekly
* In its nine years of existence, The Embassy of God has become a well-known and respected church not only in Ukraine but internationally as well
* Tens of thousands of people from different cities and countries gather for the anniversary of the church and the various conferences conducted regularly

Info from Family Aid international