William Folorunsho Kumuyi, popularly known as W.F Kumuyi, is an author, pastor and televangelist. He is known for holiness movement. He is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry situated at Kilometre 42 on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
W F Kumuyi Biography
William Folorunsho Kumuyi was born into a Christian family in Erin-Ijesha, Osun State, western part of Nigeria on the 6th of June 1946. He completed his secondary school education in 1961 at Mayflower School in Ikenne, Ogun State, from where he proceeded to the University of Ibadan and in 1967 graduated with a first-class honors degree in mathematics where he graduated as overall best graduating student in that year. He subsequently took a post-graduate course in Education at the University of Lagos.
Early life
He became born again in April 1964. Hewas influenced by John Wesley, Charles Finney and Charles Spurgeon. His father was a member of the Anglican Church. According to an article in The Sun (Nigeria), Kumuyi is also said to be “a one-time member of the Anglican Church (now Anglican Communion), Celestial Church of Christ, Scripture Union (SU) movement and Apostolic Faith before breaking away to found Deeper Life.”
In 1982, he began teaching mathematics at Mayflower School, his alma mater. Furthermore, in the early 1970s, to become a lecturer of mathematics at the University of Lagos
Ministry
In 1973, while being a lecturer of mathematics at the University of Lagos, he began a Bible study group with 15 students who had come to him for Bible training.This training became the foundation of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry. In 1975, Kumuyi was expelled from the Apostolic Faith Church for preaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He continued his independent ministry, which in 1982 became the Deeper Life Bible Church. And as at 2005, the Christian ministry is said to have over 800,000 affiliates.
Place of worship
The Deeper Christian Life Ministry founded by Kumuyi has the international headquarters of its church in Gbagada, Lagos. The church auditorium at the international headquarters could contain up to 30,000 worshippers; it was described by experts as the fourth largest in the world. The auditorium was inaugurated on the 24th of April, 2018; the Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, attended the inauguration.
Other notable places of worship of his Christian ministry include: the Deeper Life Conference Centre in Ogun State at Kilometer 42, Lagos–Ibadan Expressway and the International Bible Training Centre (IBTC) at Ayobo, Lagos
Personal life
Kumuyi met Abiodun Olowu in September 1972. She became one of his Bible study students and a member of his fledging Christian ministry. They got married on 13 September 1980 in Lagos, and they have two children, Jeremiah and John before she died on 11 April 2009.
On 13 October 2010, exactly 18 months after the death of his first wife, Kumuyi married Folashade Adenike Blaize in London. Folashade is the Administrator of the Deeper Life Bible Church, London.
Publications
The Hour of Decision, 1990, ISBN 978-2367-70-2
How to Know God’s Will in Marriage, 1990, ISBN 978-9-78236-713-6
Have Compassion on Them, 1991, ISBN 978-9-78236-700-6
The Spirit Controlled Family: W.F. Kumuyi, 1996, ISBN 978-9-78236-742-6
The Lord’s Prayer, 1997, ISBN 978-1-85424-370-6
The Truly Liberated Woman, 2000, ISBN 978-978-2908-25-4
Supernatural Supply in All Situations, 2009, ISBN 978-0-88144-416-2
Daily Manna, Volume 1, 2011, ISBN 978-1-90549-379-1
Daily Manna: A Daily Devotional Guide, 2014, ISBN 978-1-46759-809-5
Higher Everyday: A Daily Devotional Guide for Successful Youths, 2014, ISBN 978-1-46759-810-1
Awards
Foreign Policy magazine listed him among the “500 most powerful people on the planet” in 3013
He received an honorary PhD from the University of Abuja in 2018
Social media handles
Instagram: @pastorwfkumuyi
Twitter: @pastorwf_kumuyi
