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Laughing on his private jet – the £93m pastor accused of exploiting British worshippers

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A church run by a controversial  multi-millionaire African preacher has been accused of ‘cynical exploitation’ after its British branch received £16.7 million in donations from followers who  were told that God would give them riches in return.

Followers are ferried in double-decker  shuttle buses to the church, handed slips inviting them to make debit card  payments, and are even told obeying the ministry’s teachings will make them  immune from illness.

Today’s Mail on Sunday revelations about the  Winners’ Chapel movement have prompted the Charity Commission to review the  charitable status  of the church – one of the fastest-growing in the  UK.

Winners’ Chapel is part of a worldwide empire  of evangelical ministries run by Nigeria’s wealthiest preacher David Oyedepo,  who has an estimated £93 million fortune, a fleet of private jets and a  Rolls-Royce Phantom.

revelations about the Winners¿ Chapel movement have prompted the Charity Commission to review the charitable status of the church ¿ one of the fastest-growing in the UK.Plenty to smile about; Preacher David Oyedepo of the  Winners Chapel movement aboard one of his private jets. He also owns a Rolls  Royce Phantom

Dubbed ‘The Pastorpreneur’, he was accused  earlier this year of slapping the face of a young woman he said was a witch. The  assault case was struck out but is being appealed.

Branches of the church have sprung up in  major UK cities in a huge recruitment drive centred on Mr Oyedepo’s ‘prosperity  gospel’. This claims that congregants who make regular donations and pay tithes – a ten per cent levy on their income – will be rewarded financially by God.

Followers are urged to target vulnerable  people such as the lonely, the sick, the homeless and the suicidal as potential  candidates for conversion.

Last night, Labour MP Paul Flynn said  Winners’ Chapel was cynically exploiting supporters. ‘They [Winners’ Chapel] are  making clearly spurious claims and it seems to be a cynical exploitation of the  gullible,’ he said.

Referring to the slapping incident, Mr Flynn  added: ‘What is also alarming is the reported violence and the lack of respect  for the status of women. It’s taking us back to a previous age of ignorance and  prejudice that we all thought the church had escaped.’

Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young 'witch' across the face in front of a congregationCaught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young  ‘witch’ across the face in front of a congregation

This newspaper’s investigation can further  disclose:

  • Congregants are handed a payment slip  requesting payments using cheque, cash or debit card when they enter London’s  Winners’ Chapel.
  • Donations to the ministry in England almost  doubled from £2.21 million to £4.37 million between 2006 and  2010.
  • Mr Oyedepo’s superchurch in Nigeria received £794,000 or 73 per cent of the charitable donations paid out by the British  Winners’ Chapel between 2007 and 2010. This was despite claims in Africa that he  is enriching himself at the expense of his devotees.
  • The registered charity has spent £6.81 million on evangelism and ‘praise, worship and  fellowship’.
  • The church’s ‘Joseph Squad’ preaches in  British prisons and has a weekly broadcast named ‘Liberation Hour’ on satellite  and cable TV here.

In the past three years, Winners’ Chapel  churches have been established in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford,  adding to those in London, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow.

An undercover Mail on Sunday reporter  attended Sunday services  at Winners’ Chapel’s ‘London HQ’  in  Dartford, Kent, which attracts 1,000 congregants – chiefly African and Caribbean  immigrants. It is run like ‘a business conference’ by Mr Oyedepo’s son, David  Oyedepo Jnr. Packed buses deliver singing worshippers from South-East London,  Essex and Kent to the huge auditorium.

The reporter saw a payment slip being given  to every person entering the church encouraging them to donate money by cheque  or cash or to fill in a form with their debit card details. The slip said tithes  should be paid separately using a ‘Kingdom Investment Booklet’ and the reporter  was informed that payments could also be made by phone. A pastor told the  worshippers: ‘You shall be financially promoted after this service in Jesus’s  name if you are ready to honour the Lord therefore with all your givings, your  tithes, your offerings, your Kingdom investment, your sacrifices.’

Congregants were told to fill in their slips  and hold them above their heads while the donations were blessed.

Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young 'witch' across the face in front of a congregationOne of the fleet: A jet belonging to Mr Oyedepo – he has  at least two that he bought with his huge fortune

The service was interspersed with  testimonies. ‘I received a bill from  the bank that I didn’t understand, so  I prayed,’ said one congregant. ‘A few days later, the bank wrote to apologise  for their mistake – Hallelujah!’ ‘Hallelujah,’ the audience shouted  back.

Congregants were told they could gain favour  by persuading others to follow Mr Oyedepo’s teachings. His son said: ‘Look  around you. Someone is sick and already wishing he or she were dead, that is a  fruit ripe to harvest. Someone is confounded and considering suicide as an  option, that is another fruit that is ripe to harvest.

‘Someone else is lonely and wondering if  there is any future for him, that is another fruit ripe to harvest.

‘Also there are many men and women, young and  old that are homeless, these are fruits ripe to harvest.’

The reporter was taken, with 20 other new  recruits, to a room where preachers gave sermons claiming acceptance of the Lord  would prevent them ever being ill or suffering misfortune.

The Mail on Sunday has seen video footage of  Mr Oyedepo striking a woman across the face and condemning her to hell after she  said she was a ‘witch for Jesus’. He attacked her in a Winners’ Chapel  superchurch, believed to be in Nigeria, in front of worshippers. A separate  video shows him saying: ‘I slapped a witch here last year!’

In May, he was sued for £800,000 over the  alleged assault. The case was struck out – a decision which is now reported to  have been appealed.

The Winners’ Chapel movement, also  known as  the Living Faith Church, has hundreds of churches in Nigeria  and across Africa,  the Middle East, the UK and the US.

Mr Oyedepo has received fierce criticism in  Africa. One Nigerian  journalist accused him of ‘leading a growing list of  pastorpreneurs – church founders exploiting the passion and emotion that  Christianity  commands to feather their nests’.

Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young 'witch' across the face in front of a congregationMarriage: Seen here with his wife Faith, Mr Oyedepo has  a son who runs services at the chapel’s London headquarters

Catholic Cardinal Anthony Okogie criticised  such preachers for placing materialism above Jesus’s message. He reportedly  said: ‘They have been skinning the flock, taking out of the milk of the  flock.’

Among Mr Oyedepo’s fleet of aircraft are said  to be a Gulfstream 1 and Gulfstream 4 private jets. It is also claimed he and  his wife, Faith, travel in expensive Jeeps flanked by convoys of siren-blaring  vehicles. He is the senior pastor of Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000-seat auditorium  in Lagos reputed to be the largest church in the world, and runs a publishing  company that distributes books carrying his message across the world.

His other business interests span  manufacturing, petrol stations,  bakeries, water purification factories,  recruitment, a university, restaurants, supermarkets and real estate. The latest  addition is a commercial airline named Dominion Airlines.

A Charity Commission spokesman said: ‘The  Charity Commission is  currently assessing what, if any,  regulatory  role there is to play with regard to the complaints made against the World  Mission Agency. It is important to clarify that this does not constitute an  investigation at this stage.’

Winners’ Chapel administrator Tunde Disu  declined to comment.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220833/Laughing-private-jet–93m-pastor-accused-exploiting-British-worshippers.html#ixzz29wktxISF Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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