Salvation Ministries says its new Hand of God Cathedral in Port Harcourt can seat 120,000 worshippers, and Pastor David Ibiyeomie described it at its dedication as the world’s largest steel-frame church auditorium. Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners’ Chapel), dedicated the building on Friday, 6 November 2026, The Trent reported.

The ceremony at the church’s global headquarters in Igwuruta, on the Port Harcourt International Airport Road in Rivers State, drew many of Nigeria’s best-known Pentecostal leaders, and video of the vast blue-seated auditorium spread quickly across social media.

Hand of God Cathedral by the numbers

According to The Trent, work on the cathedral began in 2010 with a design for about 40,000 worshippers, before it was expanded to its present reported capacity. Seen from above, its five wings around a central structure resemble an outstretched hand, which gives the building its name. Published project details describe eight floors covering about 56,130 square metres.

WithinNigeria reported that Ibiyeomie said a company that assessed the structure valued the building alone at about ₦46 billion, and that he said it was completed without bank loans or foreign aid. The outlet noted that this is a valuation, not an audited figure for total spending, and that it found no Guinness World Records certification of the “world’s largest” claim.

The church held its first regular Sunday service after the dedication on 8 November.

Oyedepo: “never an altar of entertainment”

Ibiyeomie publicly regards Oyedepo as his spiritual father. Praying over the new building, Oyedepo declared: “The fire of the Lord will never go out from this altar. This will never be reduced to an altar of entertainment,” according to WithinNigeria.

Punch reported that during the same service Oyedepo laid hands on Ibiyeomie and Pastor Korede Komaiya of The Master’s Place International Church to “re-ordain” them. A Salvation Ministries statement described it as “a fresh impartation. A fresh oil. A fresh mantle. A fresh fire for a new season.”

Who came to the dedication

The Trent listed Pastor Faith Oyedepo, Bishop Mike Okonkwo of TREM, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria President Bishop Francis Wale Oke, Dr Paul and Dr Becky Enenche of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Pastor Jerry Eze of Streams of Joy, and Pastor Femi Emmanuel of Livingspring Chapel among the guests. Political guests included Rivers State Deputy Governor Professor Ngozi Nma Odu and former Anambra governor Peter Obi.

Largest church in Nigeria? The debate online

The cathedral’s reported capacity puts it ahead of other giant Nigerian auditoriums, including Dunamis’s Glory Dome in Abuja, reported at 100,000 seats, and Living Faith Church’s planned Ark at Canaanland, Ota, according to The Trent and WithinNigeria.

Not everyone celebrated. Legit.ng reported that a video of the interior posted on X on 5 November “divided opinion sharply,” with some users calling it a remarkable achievement and others questioning the priorities behind spending on such a project.

Why it matters

Nigeria now has several of the largest church buildings on the continent, a visible sign of how fast African Pentecostalism has grown since Salvation Ministries began in Port Harcourt in 1997. Older readers will remember when Seoul’s Yoido Full Gospel Church, led by the late David Yonggi Cho, was the byword for a megachurch. Today much of that story is being written in Africa, as our earlier evangelism report on Nigeria anticipated.

The same week, Christians in Plateau State were mourning victims of another village attack. Oyedepo’s prayer that the altar never become “an altar of entertainment” speaks to questions many Nigerians are now asking: whether giant buildings will remain places of worship and discipleship, and how a church’s resources reach believers in need.

As reported by The Trent, WithinNigeria, Punch and Legit.ng. Compiled and edited by the Jesus Social newsroom.

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