•City People Reveals The Story Of Rev. SUNDAY ADELAJA
Ukraine based Pastor, Dr Sunday Adelaja has revealed how he survived Russia’s attack on Ukraine where he lives. He is the only Blackman with the biggest Church in Ukraine. And 90% of his church members are Ukraine citizens. He has been living in Ukraine for 35 years. He got there when he was 19. He is 55 years old now and he has all his investments in Ukraine. He never thought a time will come like this when he will need to flee Kyiv, in Ukraine.
Rev. Sunday Adelaja, recently revealed that Russian President, Vladimir Putin has marked him for death…
Adelaja, who is the founding pastor of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations, Ukraine, revealed this in a Facebook video broadcast.
Narrating how the bridge leading to his residence was bombed, Adelaja said if he had not fled with his family, he might have been killed by the missiles, which hit part of his residence.
“This is the first time I and my family have been able to have a place to put our head in the last 48 hours. We’ve been travelling, some times walking, running, sometimes we are in the car, standing in long queue of people who want to escape for their lives in Ukraine.”
“I wanted to stay back and send my wife to get out of the country if necessary, but then I got an information that in few days, that was 2 days ago, the Russians were going to enter Kyiv. And from the American intelligence, we got to know that they have a list of people for elimination. This is not ordinary people, but it is for influential people, people who have a public opinion and I am on that list. And I know that I am on that list because I have been persona non grata in Russia since 2005. I’ve been a personal enemy of Putin for close to 20 years now. He banned me from going to Russia. Anyway, that’s another story,” he said.
Adelaja said before he left, he hid some African students in an underground bunker at his apartment.
“But before I left, we were able to gather some African students in my house; some people live with me and some people came to join. We have an underground bunker in my house now; so everybody are in the underground bunker. I would have lived there, stayed back but when I was told that I am on the list, all our leaders in the church and people said I must leave.”
“So, I had to quickly arrange for myself and Pastor Bose to go to a safe place. So as I am talking to you right now, we are in a safe place. I will not give you more details than that but the most important thing is that we are no more in that place where they bombed, that bridge leading to my house they bombed. We escaped before then, otherwise, we would not have been able to escape, the shelling is just all around our house.
“We just want to let you know that we are safe. So, your prayers should keep on going for a lot of people, Ukrainian citizens, foreigners, students, families. Just keep on praying for Ukraine,” he said.
Before he fled Ukraine, Adelaja had shared his experience of the ongoing war in a Facebook post.
He had written, “Hello Dear Friends, while we still have access to the internet here in Ukraine, since no more telephone communication is possible within Ukraine, I will like to use this opportunity to send out this message to our friends and families all over the world.
“Yes, it is true. We are under attack in Ukraine. We couldn’t believe it for a long time that Russian Federation would attack Ukraine, but alas it has happened. Personally, I thought this is not possible but I’m right now in the midst of it. Americans were right…
“From my house here Kyiv I could hear bombs and loud sounds of shelling. We are in the midst of a total war with Russia. We stand in faith, we stand in God, and we put our trust in his promises, while we hope for the best. We ask the world to pray for Ukraine.
“Pray for peace. Pray for Russia. Pray for world leaders, especially for the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and the USA. Meanwhile, we are staying safe at home, praying and believing God for the best.”
Sunday Adelaja is the founder and senior pastor of the Embassy Of The Blessed Kingdom Of God For All Nations, an evangelical-charismatic megachurch and a Christian denomination in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Sunday Sunkanmi Adelaja was born in the village of Idomila Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria. His name Adelaja means “crown settled this fight” in Yoruba. He was raised by his grandmother and became Christian in March 1986 just before graduating from high school.
In 1986, after graduation, Adelaja left Nigeria because he received a scholarship to study journalism at the Belarusian State University in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR.
After graduation and the breakdown of the USSR, he moved from Belarus to Ukraine in December 1993.
He claims he was threatened there by authorities for having a picture of Jesus in his house, but nevertheless, he began Christian activities in Belarus during his studies. He married and took a job in Kyiv.
In 1993, 7 people and he founded the “Embassy Of The Blessed Kingdom Of God For All Nations” in his apartment. The church was officially founded in 1994 as the “World of Faith Bible Church”.
In 2013, the church claimed 25,000 members in Kyiv, 100,000 members in Ukraine, and 1,000 churches in the rest of the world.
Thousands of people are fed daily in the church’s soup kitchens in Kyiv. The church also has a program for helping homeless people acquire skills, thus helping them back to normal life and work. According to the church, 2,000 children have been helped off the street and have been returned to their families. Furthermore, the church runs a 24-hour hotline, named “Trust line”. for people in need to call for help. The church also works with addicted people and has a program helping them to be set free from their various addictions. The main organization is called “Love Rehabilitation Center.” According to the church, more than 5000 drug and alcohol addicted people have been set free from their addictions through the church’s work.
The New York Times made the following statement about Adelaja: “Could there be a more unlikely success story in the former Soviet Union than the Rev. Sunday Adelaja, an immigrant from Nigeria who has developed an ardent — and enormous — following across Ukraine?”
He founded many educational institutions connected to the church, and among them, the following are more known: the Joshua Missionary Bible Institute in Ukraine, the Center of Restoration of Personality and Transformation of the Society in Ukraine, the History Makers Bible School in the US, the UK, Germany, France, and the Institute for National Transformation in Nigeria.
The church has been credited with playing an active role in the popular gatherings that eventually led to the Orange Revolution. Sunday Adelaja has, however, denounced in Ukrainian media his implied initiation of the Orange Revolution. The mayor of Kyiv, Leonid Chernovetsky, is a member of the Embassy of God, but he is in opposition to the principal actors of the Orange Revolution, including Premier Yulia Tymoshenko. President Viktor Yushchenko has provided Adelaja with a certificate of thankfulness for his support in the Orange Revolution. During the protests, the church erected a tent chapel on Independence Square and offered shelter to thousands of people who came to Kyiv.
When Dr Sunday Adelaja stated in a video that America’s intelligence report has it that he’s on Putin’s hit list for assassination, many wondered who he is. Down the Post was a comment by someone who derided and asked, “Who’s Sunday Adelaja for him to be in Russian hit list?” Like the author of such a comment, there are many Nigerian Christians at home who do not know how powerful Sunday Adelaja is in the world. But clearly, based on facts, no preacher of African descent (not to talk of Nigeria) has been so recognized globally by both religious and secular authorities like Sunday Adelaja.
Sunday Adelaja founded the largest evangelical church in Europe with over 97% whites. The Embassy of God ballooned into Ukraine’s first true megachurch. At a point, Russian authority suspected the church to be America’s spy and attempts on his life were made severally. In May 2009, Sunday Adelaja was the face of Kyiv (Ukrainian capital city). In October 2010, he was awarded ‘The Most Influential Expats 2010’ by the Kyiv Post newspaper. In April 23, 2007, he was honoured to open the U.S. Senate in prayer. On August 23, 2007, he was honoured to speak twice at the United Nations.
At the Azusa Street Revival Festival on Saturday, April 25, 2009, Sunday Adelaja received the first International William J. Seymour Award. He has been invited to the high profile Clinton Global Initiative meeting where global solutions are discussed by global public figures. Sunday Adelaja is one of the most powerful persons in Ukraine and he is known globally. One reason for his fixated criticism of Nigerian preachers is that he doesn’t believe that people should use ministry to build personal castles. There are more than 300 operational rehabilitation centres for alcohol and drug addicts in Ukraine and Europe since 1994 that are linked to his church. He might be extreme in his criticism but he is passionate and driven by the right perspective for ministry.
Pastor Sunday supports Ukrainian nationalism – a political view to strengthen the independence of Ukraine against Russian, Polish, Hungarian or some other yoke. He has been one of the voices of courage in Ukraine against Russian dominance. So it is true that he should be on the Russian hit list. Pray for him. You may not like him but he is a true general in God’s army. He earned the rank!
