In this article, you will learn details about Pastor Kumuyi’s life. Pastor Kumuyi’s full name is W.F. Kumuyi. He is the pastor of the Deeper Life Bible Church, which he founded (Lagos, Nigeria). Continue to read to learn more about him.
Pastor Kumuyi’s biography in brief
William Folorunso Kumuyi is a pastor, author, and televangelist. His Holiness Preaching made him renowned. We’ve compiled a list of intriguing facts about one of Nigeria’s most well-known pastors so you can learn more about his life and personality.
How old is Pastor Kumuyi?
William Folorunso Kumuyi was born on 6 June 1941 in Osun State, Nigeria. He celebrated his 80th Birthday on the 6th of June 2021.
Early life and education
Pastor Kumuyi whose official name is William Folorunso Kumuyi was born in Erin-Ijesha, Osun State, Nigeria. He was born into an Anglican family of Mr Gabriel Kumuyi Akinfenwa and Comfort Idowu Kumuyi Akinfenwa.
William finished his secondary school in 1961. He began teaching math at Mayflower School in Ikenne, Ogun State, the following year. He continued on to the University of Ibadan, where he got a first-class honours degree in mathematics in 1967. William Kumuyi then returned to Mayflower School as a mathematics teacher. He obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of Lagos after 5 years. In 1973, he was employed as a lecturer. At that time, he founded the Deeper Life Bible Study group.
Deeper Life Church
In 1973, while teaching Mathematics at The University of Lagos, William Folorunso Kumuyi started a small Bible study group. It consisted of 15 university students who listened to the Scriptures and Pastor’s preaches. By the ‘80s, this group had grown into a few thousand members. At this time, the Deeper Life Bible Ministry was established.
By the late ‘80s, the group had grown to 50 thousand members. It makes the Deeper Life Bible Church the 3-d largest Christian church in the world. The Deeper Life Bible Church is not only attended by so many people on Sundays, but has planted nearly a half a million churches in Lagos, 5,000 in Nigeria, and over 3,000 around the world.
Journalist Alan Isaacson provided an interesting study about Deeper Life Church in the book “Deeper Life: The Extraordinary Growth of the Deeper Life Bible Church”. The journalist talked with many members of the ministry. They told him that Christ miraculously changed their lives in response to the prayer of the Pastor and Deeper Life Church.
Pastor Kumuyi once said:
“God, in the growth of Deeper Life Bible Church, has strategically and prudently used miracles to ‘make all men come to Him’ (John 3:26). We take Christian living and holiness seriously”.
Isaacson made a conclusion that in many cases the history of Deeper Life is combined with the story of W.F. Kumuyi’s life. The journalist reported that the pastor was a gifted man, clear-thinking and humble. He was a dedicated Christian and deserved the title ‘the man of God,’ which his followers gave him. When he was younger, Kumuyi devoted a lot of time to reading and studying the Bible. He knew the Scriptures inside out and put a lot of effort into applying it.
He was one of the few preachers who spoke clearly and authoritatively to the Nigerian situation. His preaches featured high moral tone. He was trying to find the wholeness and harmony of the community, where faith, honesty, and justice could be highly valued. In 2013, Pastor Kumuyi was named as one of the “500 most powerful people on the planet”.
Personal life
In 1972, Pastor William Kumuyi met his first wife, Abiodun Olowu and they have got married at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry 8 years later. They had a white wedding at The Chapel of Resurrection at the University of Lagos.
When pastor Kumuyi met his future wife Abiodun Olowu in September 1972, they began discussing a subject new to her. At the time, she was a high school student in Lagos. The Pastor told the young woman about human helplessness in the face of sinful habits and about the relationship of people and God, their Creator. He quickly told her the story of God’s love which made her interested. She decided to confess her sins and receive Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.
Later Abiodun accepted Pastor’s marriage proposal defying all the pressure from friends and family concerning marriage. An energetic, dynamic, and visionary woman, Abiodun Kumuyi was a great helper to her Pastor-husband. She ran the women ministry in the Deeper Life Church which saw the restoration of peace in many families. The members of the ministry fondly called Abiodun Kumuyi Mummy or Mama. She also established the Christian Women Mirror magazine.
Pastor Kumuyi and his wife have two children, Jeremiah and John, his wife passed away on Saturday, April 11, 2009.
In October 2010, about 18 months after the death of his first wife, Pastor William Kumuyi married the second time in London. Pastor Kumuyi remarried to Esther Folashade Adenike Blaize.
71-year-old Pastor Williams Folorunsho Kumuyi has recently shocked all the members of his church when he married Esther Blaize. It was a quiet ceremony held in London. Esther Blaize is well known in the Deeper Life Church as she is the Administrator of the Deeper Life Bible Church in London. For this reason, the church wedding was done in the UK. Many well-known pastors of the Deeper Life Church attended the ceremony. Revealing the reason behind the quiet nature of the event, the church secretary, Pastor Livinus Nnadozie, said,
“Those who deserved to know were duly informed. If he wanted a high profile wedding, he could have done that, but he himself voted for a low key ceremony and we are happy about that”.
The truth is that his two sons, who are based in the US, Jeremiah and John, had exerted enormous pressure on their elderly father to marry again. Even some key members of the church advised pastor Kumuyi to remarry.
Pastor Kumuyi is known to be one of the most influential religious leaders in the world. Hope you found a lot of interesting facts about the personality and life story of Pastor Kumuyi.
