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Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) is not a church that happens to pray. Prayer is its identity — the thing it was built on, the thing it’s known for, and the thing that has shaped everything from its Sunday services to the university it founded.
The ministry was founded in 1989 by Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya at a prayer meeting in his living room in Lagos, Nigeria. What began with a handful of people pressing into God in a small apartment has grown into a Pentecostal movement with branches across Nigeria and in several countries around the world. If you’ve spent any time in Nigerian Christian circles, you’ve almost certainly come across MFM — its prayer books, its all-night prayer sessions, or its signature approach to spiritual warfare and deliverance.
This profile covers who MFM is, how it started, what it teaches, and why it continues to draw millions of worshippers decades after that first prayer meeting.
Who Is Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries?
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) is a Pentecostal denomination founded in Yaba, Lagos State, Nigeria in 1989. It was founded by Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, widely known by his initials DKO.
What sets MFM apart from many other large Nigerian churches is its theological emphasis. While the prosperity gospel dominated much of Pentecostal Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s, MFM went in a different direction. The founding broke known paradigms in Christendom because it did not conform to the prosperity and get-rich sermons that were prevalent at the time. MFM’s establishment was built on a central mandate to set the oppressed free through vociferous prayers and deliverance exercises.
MFM describes itself as a “do-it-yourself” ministry — meaning it equips believers to engage in prayer and spiritual warfare personally, rather than depending entirely on a clergy to pray on their behalf. That self-activating approach to faith has been a major part of its appeal.
History and Founding
Dr. Olukoya has disclosed that God gave him the vision to establish the church while asleep in a one-bedroom apartment in Lagos. He said he was in a boys’ quarters on Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, in 1977 when he heard a sharp voice calling him. The vision stayed with him for more than a decade before it materialized.
The prayer group eventually purchased a large site at an abandoned slum near the University of Lagos and converted it into what became the International Headquarters of MFM. The first service at that location was held on 24 April 1994.
From there, growth came quickly. Worshippers kept arriving, deliverance services drew large crowds, and the congregation expanded beyond what a single location could hold. MFM created a network of branches in every state capital, local government headquarters, senatorial district, and locality.
Today, at the global headquarters in Lagos alone, regular worshippers exceed 250,000. The area around the headquarters has become so saturated with MFM facilities that it is informally referred to as “MFM Village.” Prayer City, located along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, serves as the ministry’s major spiritual retreat and hosts flagship events like the annual Water of Fire programme.
Founder and Leadership
Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya is one of the more unusual figures in Nigerian Christianity. He is not just a pastor — he’s a scientist.
Born on 15 July 1957 in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, Olukoya is a Nigerian pastor, scientist, and professor. He is the first Nigerian scientist to clone genes. He studied microbiology, obtained a doctorate, and worked as a researcher at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research in Lagos before his ministry took off. His scientific background has shaped how he teaches — his approach to prayer and spiritual warfare tends to be systematic and structured, which many of his followers find accessible and practical.
He became born again during his time at Methodist Boys’ High School in Lagos, and his Christian convictions deepened through the years even as he pursued his academic and scientific career. When MFM was finally established, he brought both his faith and his disciplined thinking into how the ministry was structured.
He is married to Pastor Shade Olukoya, who serves alongside him in the ministry’s leadership. Their son is Elijah Toluwani Olukoya.
Beliefs and Teachings
MFM’s theology is rooted in Pentecostal Christianity, with a particularly strong emphasis on three things: prayer, holiness, and deliverance.
The ministry holds the Bible as its ultimate authority and affirms standard Pentecostal doctrines — the new birth, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, divine healing, and the imminent return of Christ. But what defines MFM’s public identity is its doctrine of spiritual warfare. Members are taught that the Christian life involves active, persistent combat against demonic forces, and that prayer — especially aggressive, targeted prayer — is the believer’s primary weapon.
MFM places a great value on holiness, urging members to live lives free from sin and worldly influences. This emphasis on personal transformation is central to the ministry’s values. The church has a dress code and applies what many members describe as a strict standard of Christian living. This is intentional — MFM has always believed that holiness and effective prayer are connected.
Midnight prayer is also a significant part of MFM’s spiritual culture. It is viewed as a dedicated time of intercession and spiritual warfare when prayers carry particular power.
MFM does not celebrate Christmas, a stance Dr. Olukoya has publicly explained by pointing out that the word “Christmas” does not appear in Scripture.
These convictions have helped create a very distinct congregational culture — one that is serious, disciplined, and deeply committed to intercession. If you’re looking for practical prayer disciplines to strengthen your walk with God, MFM’s framework gives you a sense of how structured spiritual engagement can shape a believer’s life.
Ministries and Programs
MFM has expanded well beyond Sunday services. Over the decades, it has transformed from a prayer meeting into a mega-religious organization with branches across the world, including first-rate medical, educational, and sporting facilities.
Education
MFM’s educational work is one of its most significant contributions outside of direct ministry. The educational sector of MFM includes Mountain Top Schools (covering Nursery, Primary, and Secondary levels), Mountain Top University, D.K.O. Scholarship and Sponsorship, and MFM Academic Awards. Mountain Top University is located at Prayer City in Ogun State, Nigeria, and represents MFM’s most ambitious venture into Christian education.
Dr. Olukoya has made claims about MFM’s academic impact that have attracted attention — including the assertion that MFM has produced a high number of first-class graduates in Nigeria, though this is a claim tied to the ministry’s own reporting.
Prayer Events and Prayer Cities
Prayer is MFM’s flagship ministry. The annual Water of Fire programme, held at Prayer City along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, draws massive crowds and is described by the ministry as an interdenominational event for miraculous breakthroughs.
Dr. Olukoya has described MFM as “a prayer ministry” and stated that its vision is to spread the “fire of prayer” across Nigeria through the establishment of prayer centres in different locations. The ministry has prayer cities in locations including Warri, Enugu, and Pankshin in Plateau State, and has been developing a Miracle City in Gwagwalada, Abuja.
Deliverance Services
Deliverance services are a defining feature of MFM’s public ministry. These are sessions where people come seeking freedom from what the ministry describes as demonic oppression, generational curses, and spiritual attacks. MFM deliverance sessions can draw enormous crowds, and testimonies from participants have fueled the ministry’s growth across Nigeria and internationally.
Publications
Many publications on deliverance have been credited to Dr. Olukoya, including the popular prayer books Prayer Rain, Prayer Passport to Crush Oppression, and Pray Your Way to Breakthroughs. These books are widely distributed and have become standard resources for many Christians interested in prayer warfare — not just MFM members. Prayer Rain in particular has been described as a comprehensive guide to combating spiritual adversity through targeted prayer.
MFM has also made a significant impact in the areas of evangelism and soul-winning, youth development, choral music, philanthropy, and print, electronic, and multimedia platforms.
Church Services and Activities
MFM holds regular services throughout the week. Services at the Lagos headquarters typically include Sunday worship, Wednesday Manna Water services (midweek prayer and teaching meetings), and various departmental meetings for youth, women, men, and other groups.
The Manna Water service is a distinctive MFM programme where members receive what the church calls prophetically charged water, tied to the belief that God can use physical elements as points of contact for healing and breakthrough. These services attract large midweek attendance.
All-night prayer meetings are also a regular feature. MFM has built its culture around the idea that sustained, fervent prayer — not passive belief — is what moves God’s hand in the life of a believer. The prayer points for spiritual breakthrough that many Nigerian Christians use today reflect, in part, the prayer culture that MFM popularized over decades.
Location and Online Presence
MFM’s International Headquarters is located in Lagos, Nigeria near the University of Lagos campus in Yaba-Akoka. Prayer City, the ministry’s major spiritual retreat centre, is located along Kilometer 12, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.
The ministry has branches across all Nigerian states and in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ghana, South Africa, and several European nations.
The official website is mountainoffire.org, and the ministry maintains active social media and YouTube channels where Dr. Olukoya’s messages are distributed.
Impact and Influence
MFM’s impact on Nigerian Christianity is hard to overstate. The MFM deliverance brand of prayer warfare has become a current standard for Pentecostals and most orthodoxies, fashioned after the style of the late Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola, whom Dr. Olukoya credits as a mentor.
In practical terms, MFM helped shift Nigerian Pentecostalism toward a more prayer-intensive, warfare-centred model of Christian life. Its prayer books are used far beyond its own congregation, and its approach to spiritual warfare has influenced how many Nigerian and African pastors teach and lead.
It is also worth noting MFM’s academic footprint. Dr. Olukoya is a credentialed scientist who has contributed to biotechnology research in Nigeria, and his intellectual background gives MFM a somewhat unusual profile among African Pentecostal ministries — one that blends rigorous prayer culture with an institutional investment in education and research.
MFM is one of the churches covered in Flicxa’s ongoing look at Nigeria’s largest church congregations, where its impact on African Christianity is considered alongside other major ministries. The Redeemed Christian Church of God, another major Nigerian Pentecostal body, offers an interesting comparison — a different theological emphasis but a similarly vast national and global footprint. You can read more about RCCG here.
What Makes Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Notable?
A few things stand out when you look at MFM’s story.
First, it built its identity around something that wasn’t fashionable in its early years. When other churches were preaching prosperity, MFM was preaching holiness, warfare prayer, and deliverance. That theological distinctiveness gave it a devoted following that grew precisely because it offered something different.
Second, its founder’s background is genuinely unusual. A pastor who is also a molecular biology researcher and the first Nigerian to clone genes is not a common combination. That credibility has helped Dr. Olukoya build trust with educated and professional followers who might otherwise be skeptical of dramatic spiritual claims.
Third, MFM built infrastructure alongside its spiritual ministry — schools, a university, medical facilities, prayer cities. That investment in community development has extended its influence beyond the congregation.
The growth of churches like MFM and figures like Apostle Arome Osayi, whose emphasis on prayer and holiness resonates with a similar audience, reflects a broader hunger in Nigerian Christianity for depth over spectacle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries?
MFM was founded by Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya (DKO), a Nigerian pastor, scientist, and professor. He established the ministry in 1989 following what he describes as a divine call he received in the late 1970s.
Where is Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries headquartered?
The International Headquarters is in Lagos, Nigeria, near the University of Lagos in the Yaba-Akoka area. The ministry also has a major Prayer City along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.
What does MFM believe?
MFM is a Pentecostal ministry that emphasizes the authority of Scripture, the power of prayer, holiness in Christian living, and deliverance from demonic oppression. It does not celebrate Christmas, citing the absence of the term in the Bible.
What are MFM’s most well-known books?
Dr. Olukoya has authored numerous prayer and deliverance books. The most widely known are Prayer Rain, Prayer Passport to Crush Oppression, and Pray Your Way to Breakthroughs.
Does MFM have international branches?
Yes. MFM has branches in multiple countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, Ghana, South Africa, and parts of Europe, in addition to its extensive network of branches across Nigeria.
What is the Water of Fire programme?
The Water of Fire is an annual interdenominational prayer event held at MFM’s Prayer City along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. It draws large crowds and is described by the ministry as a time of prophetic prayer and miraculous intervention.
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Featured Image Alt Text: Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries headquarters Lagos Nigeria, founded by Dr Daniel Kolawole Olukoya
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[…] molecular geneticist, and professor based in Lagos. He is the founder and General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), one of the largest deliverance-focused Pentecostal churches in the world. Known simply as […]