28 Facts About Sunday Adelaja

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.

Sunday Adelaja 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.

Sunday Adelaja married and took a job in Kyiv, becoming a TV presenter, and "possibly the first black correspondent on Ukrainian screens".

At the time of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on 22 February 2022, Sunday Adelaja was living in Irpin.

In 1993,7 people and Sunday Adelaja founded the "Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations" in his apartment.

Sunday Adelaja 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.

Sunday Adelaja has frequently faced racism from his critics in the Orthodox Church.

In October 2010, Sunday Adelaja was one of the foreigners in Ukraine who were awarded The Most Influential Expats 2010 by the Kyiv Post newspaper.

In May 2009, Sunday Adelaja became The Face of Kyiv 2009.

At the Azusa Street Revival Festival on Saturday April 25,2009, Sunday Adelaja received the first International William J Seymour Award.

In March 2007 Sunday Adelaja became an Honorable Member of the Euroasian International Chamber of Commerce.

In May 2004 The Redeemed Christian Church of God Holland Mission gave a Special Appreciation to Sunday Adelaja for being part of what God is using His church to do in reaching out to the people of the Netherlands.

Sunday Adelaja opened the US Senate in prayer on April 23,2007, and spoke twice at the United Nations on August 23,2007.

Sunday Adelaja was accused in November 2008 of being involved in the dealings of King's Capital, a financial group led by a former member of his congregation.

Sunday Adelaja promised as much as 60 percent returns on investments and drew many of its investors from the church.

On February 5,2009, a criminal case against Sunday Adelaja was filed on acclaim and suspicion of fraud.

Investigators said they had testimony indicating that Sunday Adelaja was involved in the financial machinations allegedly committed by the King's Capital financial group.

Sunday Adelaja considers the police's decision to investigate him for involvement in the financial group's machinations as an implementation of political order.

In March 2016, the Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith announced in a press release that Sunday Adelaja was in recovery after confessing before a conference of pastors to adultery with women in the church.

Sunday Adelaja considers it unfortunate that patriotism does not apply to all Ukrainians.

Sunday Adelaja thinks racism is not typical of the Ukrainian society.

Sunday Adelaja's church has been credited with playing an active role in the popular gatherings that eventually led to the Orange Revolution, and during the protests, the church erected a tent chapel on Independence Square and offered shelter to thousands of people who came to Kyiv.

Sunday Adelaja stated about the then candidate in and later winner of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election Viktor Yushchenko: "He is a committed believer who is serious about his faith, and is influenced by God and the Bible".

In 2006, Sunday Adelaja was invited to appear on a Russia TV show, but was barred from entering the country.

Sunday Adelaja's church was criticised by Russian authorities as both a vector of American influence in Russia and as Satanic, and most Russian branches were closed.

At the time of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sunday Adelaja believed that he was on a Russian hit-list, a view seen as plausible by the scholar Catherine Wanner.