BREAKING: Bishop David Abioye, Thomas Aremu set to retire from Oyedepo’s Living Faith Church

The Living Faith Church, also known as Winners Chapel, is set to honor two of its esteemed leaders, Bishop David Olatunji Abioye and Bishop Thomas Aremu, as they prepare to retire.

Bishop Thomas Aremu’s farewell service will be held at Living Faith Church Basorun in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. Following that, Bishop David Abioye will be celebrated on Friday, October 18, in Lokogoma, Abuja.

Bishop Abioye has been a key figure in the Living Faith Church since 1979 when he first met the church’s founder, Bishop David Oyedepo. Over the years, he has served as a close advisor and confidant to Oyedepo. In 1987, he was appointed to lead one of the church’s five original branches and was consecrated as a bishop in 1993, becoming the youngest bishop of a fully-fledged church at just 32 years old.

Bishop Aremu, who transitioned to full-time ministry after a successful career as an accountant, is notable for being the last remaining bishop among the seven consecrated in November 1999 at the Garden of Faith in Kaduna.

The retirement of these influential leaders coincides with recent updates to the church’s operational manual, known as the Mandate. The revised guidelines now establish a retirement age of 58 for church leaders, changing from the previous age of 60. Only Bishop Oyedepo, the founder, is afforded a lifetime service privilege, while future leaders will serve a maximum of two terms of seven years each, pending approval from the Board of Trustees.