William Kumuyi


William Folorunso Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry situated at Kilometre 42 on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria. He is the author of several books.

Background

Kumuyi was born into a Christian family in Erin-Ijesha, Osun State, western part of Nigeria. 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 honours 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. He became a born-again Christian in April 1964.
On his upbringing, Kumuyi was quoted to have said Kumuyi was 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 , Kumuyi is also said to be "a one-time member of the Anglican Church, Celestial Church of Christ, Scripture Union movement and Apostolic Faith before breaking away to found Deeper Life."

Teaching career

Kumuyi began teaching mathematics in 1962 at Mayflower School, his alma mater. He went on, in the early 1970s, to become a lecturer of mathematics at the University of Lagos.

Christian ministry

In 1973, while being a lecturer of mathematics at the University of Lagos, Kumuyi 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. 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 sit up to 30,000 worshippers; it was described by experts as the fourth largest in the world. The auditorium was inaugurated on 24 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 Kilometre 42, Lagos–Ibadan Expressway and the International Bible Training Centre at Ayobo, Lagos.

Published books

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. Abiodun Kumuyi 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.

Awards

In 2013, Foreign Policy magazine listed Kumuyi among the "500 most powerful people on the planet".
In 2018, Kumuyi received an honorary PhD from the University of Abuja.