The beginnings of the church date from May 1981 when Oyedepo had a spiritual encounter. He claims to have an eighteen hour supernatural encounter which was a vision from God. He says God spoke to him saying, "Now the hour has come to liberate the world from all oppressions of the devil, through the preaching of the Word of faith; and I am sending you to undertake this task". In 1983, the church began operating with four members on December 11.
was procured in 1998 and was initially, it is in Ota, Ogun, Nigeria. The church's international headquarters, Faith Tabernacle, was built in Cannanland between 1998 and 1999, taking twelve months to complete. The foundation laying took place on August 29, 1998. The dedication of the building took place on September 19, 1999 with 97,800 people in attendance. The structure is purported to have been built without any debts. In 1999, the BBC reported that Faith Tabernacle was the largest church in the world with respect to how many worshipers it can seat. It has a seating capacity of just over fifty thousand people. The largest church in terms of size is Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. On Dec 11 2013, Oyedepo's first son, David Oyedepo Jnr, ministered for the first time at the church's annual Shiloh gathering. In December 2015, Oyedepo Jnr became the resident pastor of the Faith Tabernacle. Oyedepo announced commencement of the construction of a 100,000 capacity Faith Theatre. The Theatre will be centralised within a 15,000 housing estate to be known as 'Canaan City'.
Beliefs
The Church is founded upon twelve core emphases The theological position of the church is Pentecostal.
The publishing house that grew out of Winner's Chapel was founded on 5 December 1992. Dominion Publishing House has published over 120 books, most of which have been written by Oyedepo.
In 2014, the church applied to open a Kingdom Heritage Model School in Kent. Concerns were raised by the National Secular Society about the church linking disobedience to witchcraft. The application was later withdrawn.
Shiloh
Every year in December, the church hosts a global event called Shiloh. The church says the mandate for this event is drawn from the Bible books of Joshua 18:1 and 1Samuel 1:3. The event is held mostly in the first week of December. The church sees the purpose of the event as being to usher the visitation of God to his people. It also marks the end of the Church's calendar year. As of 2012, there were millions in attendance. The Presiding Bishop also said up to 160 nations hooked up to Shiloh 2015, with nationals from 55 nations present at the Canaanland, Ota Ogun State.
