When we think about the richest people in the world, our minds immediately switch to Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and the likes.
In doing this, we would not be wrong. These men currently hold the titles of the richest men in the world. But switch the criteria to other areas, like the 10 richest pastors in the world in 2020, and you’ll find that there are heavyweights in that sector.
While their followers typically don’t focus on the size of their pastor’s pocket, choosing instead to focus on the messages that they bring from God and the things they can impart into their lives, these men have amassed some wealth for themselves.
While many are uninterested, a large number of people would be intrigued to know exactly how much money some pastors have made during their time serving God.
Pastors are ordained ministers or priests with a spiritual charge over a congregation. The pastor provides spiritual direction to the congregation and receives spiritual dues, such as tithes, offerings, and so forth on behalf of God.
While pastors are charged with the obligation to teach and provide guidance to their congregation, a sizeable number of them have become rich through their ministries.
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Even more fascinating is the fact that many of the preachers on this list are from Nigeria. Proceed to the list below to find out which preachers in the world are on this list of top 10 richest pastors in the world in 2020.
Recommended: Which is the biggest church in Nigeria 2021?
10. Matthew Ashimolowo
The first person on our list of the 10 richest pastors in the world is Matthew Ashimolowo. He is a Nigerian preacher and the senior pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) in London.
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He has spent the last 30 years preaching the word of God around the world. The church (KICC) started in 1992 but has now grown so much that it has many branches around the world.
Matthew Ashimolowo was born in Kaduna State, Northern Nigeria, to Muslim parents on 17 March 1952. He is the fourth of five children, whose father was a military man who was often transferred around the country.
His Muslim name was Ahmed, but after his father died, he found Jesus while drunk at the age of 22. After that, he went to a Bible school in Lagos to further his ministerial career.
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Matthew Ashimolowo started as an assistant pastor at Foursquare Gospel Church after which he moved to the UK to start his ministry with only 11 members.
Now, his church has grown to over 12 thousand members and has become one of the most successful churches in the world.
In addition to being a pastor, he is also an author, a motivational speaker and a businessman. From all of his exploits, Matthew Ashimolowo has definitely become very successful.
He earns an annual salary of £100,000 from his church but the majority of his wealth comes from selling Christian literature and documentaries through his media company, Matthew Ashimolowo media. According to Celebrity Net Worth, his current net worth is six million US dollars ($6,000,000.00).
9. T.B Joshua
T.B Joshua’s full name is Temitope Babatunde Joshua and he is a 56-year-old charismatic Nigerian pastor, evangelist and philanthropist.
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He has said in the past that if people were measured according to their philanthropy, then he would be the richest pastor in Africa.
T.B Joshua is one of Nigeria’s most controversial pastors and is the founder of one of Nigeria’s most popular churches, The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), which he founded in 1987.
In addition to his church, he is also the founder of Emmanuel TV, Africa’s largest Christian television network. He is sometimes described as the Oprah Winfrey of evangelism as he has over 400 thousand subscribers on YouTube and over two million fans on Facebook.
His purported healing powers have made him one of the most famous and controversial pastors in Nigeria, and his church, which is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria is known as a place of pilgrimage for over 15 thousand Christians worldwide.
In addition to that, SCOAN maintains branches in many countries around the world including Greece, Saudi Arabia, Asia, and others.
Because of his influence, it is easy to see how T.B Joshua would have amassed his wealth, which Celebrity Net Worth claims is to the tune of 10 million US dollars.
8. Bishop T.D Jakes
Bishop T.D Jakes, whose full name is Thomas Dexter James Sr., is one of the most popular preachers in the world and spoke at the inauguration of former President Barack Obama in 2009.
He is a writer, preacher, and a movie producer, who has been called America’s best preacher. Bishop T.D Jakes has gone as far as to be featured on TIME magazine’s September 2001 cover.
In 1980, Jakes, then 23, became the pastor of Greater Emmanuel Temple of Faith with only ten members. He successfully grew the congregation to over 100 members then moved to a different county where his congregation grew.
What is TD Jakes’ net worth?
In 1996, T.D Jakes began his ministry, The Potter’s House, which is a non-denominational megachurch, with his family and 50 employees, in what would become only the start of his success.
Since then, Jakes has influenced people’s lives, published a number of best-selling books and made a lot of money. He currently lives in a mansion which is worth 1.7 million dollars and is regularly seen wearing a diamond-encrusted watch worth 20 thousand dollars.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, T.D Jakes is worth 18 million dollars.
7. Jesse Duplantis
Jesse Duplantis is next on our list of the 10 richest pastors in the world in 2020. He is an American preacher and the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries (JDS), which is headquartered in America but has branches in the UK and Australia.
Duplantis was born in July 1949 and preached his first sermon in 1976, but by 1978, he was a full-time evangelic minister who used his music and comic talents in his work.
In 1997, he founded Covenant Church, an outreach of Jesse Duplantis Ministries. The JDS website states: “Jesse Duplantis Ministries is an evangelistic ministry dedicated to reaching people and changing lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our vision is world evangelism and our desire is to see God bless everyone in every way.”
JDS owns a private jet and a home worth 3 million dollars, which he has been severely criticised for. Several organizations have had their eye on Duplantis for many years, especially for the alleged dubious ways that he uses to avoid paying tax. He also once asked his followers to contribute 54 million dollars for him to buy a private jet.
When he was heavily criticised for it, he described commercial flights as “full of demons”, a reference to several situations when demon-possessed people would show up on planes while Duplantis was flying.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, his net worth is 20 million ($20,000,000) dollars.
6. Creflo Dollar
Creflo Dollar Jr. was born Michael Smith and is an American pastor, rap artist and the founder of the World Changers Church International (WCCI).
He also heads the Creflo Dollar Ministerial Association (formerly called International Covenant Ministries), Creflo Dollar Ministries, and Arrow Records.
Dollar first started developing WICC in 1986. His first service had only eight people in attendance and was held at a school cafeteria in College Park, USA.
In 2007, WICC reported that the church had grown to more than 30 thousand members and made more than 70 million dollars ($70,000,000) in 2006.
In June 2012, Dollar was arrested after he allegedly attacked his 15-year-old daughter, punched and choked her. His other 19-year-old daughter corroborated with the story at the time.
His mugshot was released and charges were pressed against him but those charges were dropped after Dollar agreed to go to anger management classes.
Creflo Dollar is a highly controversial pastor, who has been criticised in the past for his lavish lifestyle. Creflo Dollar owns two Rolls-Royces, a private jet, a million-dollar home in Atlanta, a $2.5 million home in New Jersey, and a home in Manhattan that he bought for $2.5 million in 2006 and sold for $3.75 million in 2012.
In 2014, his private jet ran off the runway at a UK airport. Following that, he asked church members for donations so that he could buy a newer model.
Creflo Dollar’s net worth
Creflo Dollar has a net worth 27 million dollars ($27,000,000) according to Celebrity Net Worth.
5. Chris Oyakhilome
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome is a Nigerian preacher who is popularly known as Pastor Chris. He is the founder and president of Love World Incorporated, which is also known as Christ Embassy.
Oyakhilome has had many firsts. He was the first preacher to pioneer a Christian-based television network from Africa to the rest of the world. He also held the largest single-night event held in Nigeria. It was tagged Good Friday Miracle Night and had 3.5 million people in attendance.
His church, Christ Embassy, has branches in the UK and Canada, and regularly holds healing school sessions in South Africa and Canada.
He also hosts Higher Life conferences in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, UK, US and Canada and operates a social media prayer network.
In addition, Oyakhilome operates a social media application called KingsChat through which he shares prayers to followers.
Oyakhilome is the author of the daily devotional, Rhapsody of Realities, which has been translated to over one thousand languages and is the second most translated book after the Bible.
He is not without controversy though as his marriage to his ex-wife, Anita Obhodaghe, has been a source of plenty controversies. She filed for divorce in London after 25 years of marriage to Oyakhilome on the grounds of “Unreasonable Behavior.”
He has also been criticised for his views on gender equality and for exaggerating the abilities of his Rhapsody of Realities to cure illnesses like HIV/AIDS and tumours.
Chris Oyakhilome’s net worth
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has an estimated net worth of 50 million dollars ($50,000,000), according to Celebrity Net Worth.
4. Benny Hinn
Toufik Benedictus ‘Benny’ Hinn was born in December 1952 and is an Israeli televangelist best known for his regular Miracle Crusades.
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These Miracle Crusades are faith healing events that are filmed in public spaces like Stadiums and others and then shown on Hinn’s television program, This is Your Day.
Hinn was born in Israel but after the six-day war between Palestine and Israel, his family moved to Ontario, Canada, where he converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Pentecostalism.
During the time after his conversion, he was so religiously inclined that his family started to worry that he was becoming a religious fanatic.
In December 1973, Hinn travelled to Orlando, Florida where he later founded his ministry, the Orlando Christian Center in 1983.
Eventually, he started to claim that God was using him to heal people and thus started his Miracle Crusades sessions at his church. As they became more popular, he moved them to stadiums and auditoriums, eventually airing them on his TV show, This is Your Day, which he launched in the early 1990s.
In 1999, he stepped down as a pastor from the Orlando Christian Center and focused on filming This is Your Day. Meanwhile, his former church has been changed to Faith World Church.
Aside from being a pastor, Hinn is also an author who released over 30 books before his death.
He came under criticism too after Inside Edition reported on his 685 thousand dollars ($586,000) home and his Mercedes-Benz after Hinn claimed to live a modest lifestyle.
His several healings have also been called into question by the Los Angeles Times, NBC’s Dateline, the CBC’s The Fifth Estate and the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes.
Benny Hinn’s net worth
Benny Hinn’s net worth is estimated at 60 million dollars (60,000,000), according to Celebrity Net Worth.
3. Joel Osteen
In the third place on this list of 10 wealthiest pastors in the world is Joel Osteen. He is an American pastor, televangelist and author’ and is one of the most famous pastors in the world. He is so popular that he has been called the most popular preacher on the planet and is often hailed as one of the most influential religious people in the world.
As of 2018, Osteen’s televised sermons had an audience of over 10 million viewers in the US and several million more in over 100 countries weekly.
In addition to these impressive accomplishments, Osteen has also written seven bestselling books.
Joel Osteen was born in Texas in 1963 to John Osteen and Dolores Pilgrim. His father was the original founder of Lakewood Church, which Osteen took over after his father’s death in 1999.
Osteen studied radio and television communications in Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma but did not graduate before returning home in 1982 where he founded Lakewood’s television programmes and produced his father’s shows until the senior Osteen’s death in 1999.
Joel Osteen’s father tried to get him to become a preacher for many years, a request he finally granted on 17 January 1999, six days before his father died.
After that, Osteen was made senior pastor at Lakewood Church in October 1999. Since then, membership at the church has grown from five thousand to 43 thousand by 2014.
In 2003, Lakewood Church acquired the Compaq centre, which is the former home of NBA team, The Houston Rockets. 105 million US dollars was spent to renovate the building including the addition of five more stories to increase the capacity of the building.
Osteen has stated that as a senior pastor at the church, he is not paid an annual salary and instead depends on the income from his book sales.
He is worth a whopping 100 million dollars ($100,000,000) according to Celebrity Net Worth.
2. Bishop David Oyedepo
Next on our list of the pastors with the highest net worth in the world is Bishop David Oyedepo. He is a Nigerian preacher, businessman, architect and the founder and presiding Bishop of the megachurch Faith Tabernacle in Ogun State, Nigeria, and Living Faith Church Worldwide, also known as Winners’ Chapel International.
Winners Chapel International has branches in 300 cities in Nigeria and in 45 African countries. Oyedepo is also the chancellor of Covenant and Landmark universities.
David Oyedepo was born on 27 September 1954 in a mixed religious family to a Muslim father and a Christian mother. He was raised by his grandmother who taught him the ways of the church and the importance of tithing.
Oyedepo became born again in 1969 through his teacher, Betty Lasher. According to him, he received a mandate from God during an 18-hour vision to liberate the world from all oppressions of the devil through the preaching of the faith.
This vision was what allegedly led to found his church, Living Faith Church World Wide (LFCWW), first called Liberation Faith Hour Ministries.
Although Living Faith Church (AKA Winners Chapel International) started in Kaduna, it soon moved to Lagos in July 1989 after Oyedepo claimed to have received instructions from God to liberate the people of Lagos.
Oyedepo is the richest pastor in Nigeria with a net worth of over 150 million dollars ($150,000,000). His church owns four private jets and several buildings, including in London and the US.
He is the chairman of Dominion Publishing House (DPH), which publishes Christian works under the branch of his ministry. He is also an author and publisher who has written over 70 books.
He is the owner of Covenant University, Faith Academy and Kingdom Heritage Model Schools. A third university named Crown University is also under construction.
1. Kenneth Copeland
Kenneth Copeland sits at the top of our list of the 10 richest pastors in the world in 2020. He is an American televangelist and author. He runs the Texas-based Kenneth Copeland Ministries (KCM) whose motto is “Jesus is Lord”.
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Copeland was born in Texas and raised near a United States Army Air Forces airstrip which made him want to become a pilot.
Prior to his conversion in 1962, Copeland was a singer signed to the Imperial Records label. He had one Billboard Top 40 song, titled ‘Pledge of Love’. The song stayed on the chart for 15 weeks and peaked at the 17th spot.
After his conversion, he devoted his life to the gospel. In 1967, he enrolled in the Oral Roberts University, becoming chauffeur and pilot to Oral Roberts.
Kenneth Copeland has been the subject of a lot of controversies. Presidential candidate, Mike Huck used Copeland’s television show to facilitate the sale of his books. He also used church property to conduct a fundraiser for his presidential campaign.
Copeland’s church has four private jets and the pastor himself lives in a $6.3 million dollar mansion. He has claimed to be a billionaire, but according to Celebrity Net Worth, Copeland is worth 300 million dollars, which is a sizeable amount for anyone.
Thanks to his accomplishments, Copeland has amassed a large number of followers and lots of money, which puts him at the top of our top 10 richest pastors in the world.
Conclusion
Pastors are taxed with leading their congregation, especially through the voice of God, which many of them state as the motivation behind their way of life.
Now you know exactly how much your favourite pastors have made from their profession.
Many people have said for years that one of the easiest ways to make money is to become a pastor. From the information contained in this article, it is easy to see how they may have come to that conclusion.
Source of pastors’ net worth: Celebrity Net Worth
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