Get info about Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo

pastor Matthew Ashimolowo

Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has been the Senior Pastor of KICC for over 15 years. He has a dynamic gifting to combine his calling as a Pastor and teacher, with the roles of mentor, businessman and spiritual father.

During more than 30 years in the ministry, Pastor Matthew has given countless people the spiritual and practical foundation on which to successfully build their lives. His broadcast ministry, Winning Ways, is viewed by millions of people in Europe, Africa, Asia, the USA and the Emirates.
A prolific writer of more than 60 books, including the award winning ‘Tongues of Fire’, Pastor Matthew constantly challenges believers to become the best they can be.
His influence on church growth and evangelism has guaranteed countless requests for his comments by a variety of mainstream media including BBC TV and Radio, Sky News, The Times and Guardian broadsheet newspapers, as well as a broad spectrum of Christian and faith-based publications.
As a respected leader, Pastor Matthew sits on the Board of Reference for God TV and is considered a Christian thought leader, Biblical scholar and media commentator on a variety of issues that have left indelible marks on modern society.

Matthew Ashimolowo (born 17 March 1952 in Nigeria) is the Senior Pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) in London.
His Winning Ways programme is aired daily on Premier Radio (London) and Spirit FM (Amsterdam) and on television in Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, TV Africa, the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and Europe on The God Channel and Inspirational Network.

Contents

• 1 Personal life
• 2 Financial irregularities
• 3 References
• 4 External links

Personal life

Pastor Ashimolowo converted to Christianity from Islam at the age of 22 after the death of his father before enrolling with a Bible school.^[1]
Forbes estimated Ashimolowo's net worth is at between $6-10 million.^[2] KICC annual accounts confirmed that he earns an annual salary of £100,000^[3] but the majority of his wealth comes from the sale of Christian literature and documentaries from his media company, Matthew Ashimolowo media. ^[2] This is consistent with the fact that Ashimolowo subscribes to and teaches success in the vein of Prosperity theology, which in most respects is considered controversial.

Financial irregularities

The charity behind Kingsway International Christian Centre is The King's Ministries Trust. This was investigated by the Charity Commission of England and Wales between 2002 and 2005. A report of the inquiry was released in October 2005.^[4] The report concluded that there had been serious misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity. At an early stage in the investigation, it was considered that the charity's assets were at risk, and control was removed from the existing trustees and placed in the hands of an independent external company (the accountancy and management consultancy practice KPMG), who regularised the charity's affairs.
The report found that:^[4]

• there was serious misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the Charity (section 21)
• he was responsible for approving payments and benefits to himself and his wife, Yemisi, totalling more than £384,000 (section 11)
• he and his family received benefits from the Charity including:
  • free accommodation for himself and family (section 4)
  • an £80,000 car (section 12)
  • he had made personal purchases using the Charity’s Visa card, including the purchase of a timeshare apartment in Florida for £13,000 (section 18)
• over half a million pounds was paid out to Ashimolowo's private companies, which were operated from church property and had unclear business relationships with the charity (section 15)
• Ashimolowo acted as both a trustee and a paid employee of the charity (section 4)

He was ordered (section 34) to repay £200,000.
In a subsequent debate in the House of Lords, Lord Swinfen questioned the Charity Commission's running of this investigation. He acknowledged the technical breach, but highlighted its openness, "This unincorporated trust has for some years been remunerating its trustees for various services and doing so quite openly. It made the mistake of not realising that it should have altered its constitution explicitly to allow that to be done." He then questioned the cost of the investigation "With some advice from the commission and the use of the charity lawyer, the trustees of this charity could have affected these changes for some £12,000—one-hundredth of the sum the commission has already spent." He added "The commission believes, understandably, that the future success of this charity is assured by the charity having new trustees".^[5]