What makes the Yorubas tick (7), By Sunday Adelaja

Yoruba pastors lead several of the largest churches and mega-church movements in Nigeria. While Nigerian mega-churches are often multi-ethnic in membership, they are heavily founded and led by Yoruba leaders, particularly within the Pentecostal movement. Yoruba pastors hold a very high profile in the top leadership of Nigeria’s biggest churches

Why the Yorubas Build and Pastor the Largest Churches Worldwide

Some Prominent Churches Led by Yoruba Leaders:

Fastest Growth: RCCG is often cited as the fastest-growing church, with multiple branches in almost every street in Lagos.

Yoruba Leadership Concentration: While being national churches, there is a strong concentration of Yoruba pastors in leadership positions, including in regional branches outside the South-West.

Multi-ethnic Membership: While the founders are Yoruba, these churches, such as RCCG and MFM, are characterised by diverse congregations (multi-ethnic).

Global Influence: Yoruba-led churches like RCCG have expanded globally, with presence in over 180 countries.

Talking of the global influence of the Yorubas in religious matters, in Europe the Yoruba leadership in religious circles is not left behind at all.

Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, the founder of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), established what is often cited as the largest church in the UK.

As another Yoruba person, I am credited to have built the largest evangelical church in Europe. And so that it doesn’t sound like singing my own praise, I’ve decided to seek the help of AI to speak about me. Here is what I found below:

“Nigerian-born Pastor Sunday Adelaja is the founder of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations (also known as Embassy of God) in Kyiv, Ukraine, which has been widely cited as the largest evangelical church in Europe. While St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City remains the largest church in the world and Europe by physical size and interior measure, Adelaja’s ministry is recognised for having the largest evangelical congregation on the continent.

Key Facts About Sunday Adelaja and Embassy of God

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Adelaja and his family fled the country after reports that he was on a Russian hit list. While many of the church’s large congregations in Ukraine were dispersed due to the war, approximately 200 branches reportedly remain active within the country.”

The White Garment or Aladura Church Movement

In Nigeria and indeed all over the world, there is a branch of Christianity that has dominated the Yoruba space for decades. In fact this now global movement is credited to have been established by sons and daughters of Yoruba at various times in history.

The Aladura movement represents a syncretic blend of Christian teachings and Yoruba cultural practices. While there are many branches, the most prominent Aladura churches include:

Today, white garment churches are a vital part of the Nigerian diaspora. In places like South London, these churches serve as cultural anchors for young British Nigerians, fostering a sense of heritage through language and community. Despite facing occasional stigma or being viewed as “syncretic” by more orthodox or Pentecostal groups, they remain a thriving and joyful expression of African Christianity.

The secret of these Yoruba leaders is not about ethnicity alone, but about a combination of history, culture, structure, and environment.

Yoruba spirituality has always been:

Long before Christianity and Islam, Yoruba traditional religion (Ifá/Orisha system):

When Christianity came, it didn’t replace this, it rather evolved from it.

As such, Pentecostal churches became modern expressions of an already organised spiritual culture.

The Yoruba were among the first to receive:

Lagos is not just economic, it’s also:

Yoruba culture strongly values:

This translates directly into:

Many Yoruba-led churches are run with:

They treat ministry with the discipline of an enterprise

Not all big churches are Yoruba-led.

But the ecosystem that produces large-scale churches is strongest in the South-West.

To build a “mega church,” you need:

The Yoruba environment provides all five consistently.

Yoruba people produce many of Nigeria’s largest churches because:

It’s not that Yoruba people are “more religious,” it’s that they have built a system through which religion can scale massively. In my next article (Part 8), I’ll be discussing the political power and influence of the Yoruba people.

Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He was based in Ukraine