Numbers do not lie.
South African based Prophet Shepherd Bushiri is now the most popular prophet in Africa followed Nigeria’s Prophet TB Joshua of The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).
The Malawian born prophet and the founding father of Enlighten Christian Gathering ranks in over 3.8 million followers on Facebook.
The flamboyant pastor who is re-branding his ministry to Prophet Shepherd Bushiri Ministries (PSBM) following a series of image-tarnishing incidents that include alleged money laundering, sexual abuse, and fraud charges.
He is either loved or loathed but his page, formed in March 2011, has been one of the fastest rising Facebook pages.
His Nigerian competitor, Prophet T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN) falls on number 2 with over three million five hundred thousand followers.
T.B. Joshua is directly followed by another Nigerian man of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God with 3.1 million followers.
Adeboye is the only pastor on the list who has a Ph.D. from a reputable institution, having obtained his Doctorate in Applied Mathematics from the University of Lagos where he serves as the Professor of Mathematics.
New York Times described his church as “one of [Africa’s] most vigorously expansionary religious movements, a homegrown Pentecostal denomination that is crusading to become a global faith”.
David Oyedepo, arguably Africa’s richest pastor, is on number 4 with over 2.1 million Facebook followers. Oyedepo is the founder and presiding Bishop of the megachurch the Living Faith Church Worldwide which is also known as Winners’ Chapel International.
In 2011, Forbes ranked Oyedepo as the wealthiest preacher in whole of Africa with a net worth of over US$150 million (about 113 billion Malawi Kwacha). His church owns four private jets and several buildings in the US and the UK.
