Biography of Pastor Foluke Adenike Adeboye

Pastor Foluke Adeboye Biography

The wife of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the general overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Mrs. Foluke Adenike Adeboye (nee Adeyokunmu), affectionately known as Mummy G.O. or Mother-in-Israel, is a minister, missionary, Bible teacher, author, mentor, role model, administrator, and spiritual mother.

She was born on July 13, 1948, into the Morounfola Adelusi Adeyokunmu and Pa Jacob Adeyokunmu family. In Ijeshaland, Osun State, her father was a prince of the Owa Obokun Oji royal dynasty. Out of ten children, she is the oldest. As a catechist for the Methodist Church (now known as an assistant pastor or deacon) and a teacher with the Methodist Mission of Nigeria, Prince Jacob was a stern disciplinarian who ensured that all of his children, including Pastor Foluke Adeboye, were raised as staunch Methodists. In contrast, her mother worked as a cloth merchant.

In Ilesha, Osun State, Pastor Foluke Adeboye attended Methodist Girls Primary and Secondary School. She was consistently at the top of her class and had an excellent mind. Foluke had demonstrated her exceptional intelligence to the point that her contemporaries and the younger kids coming behind her were looking up to her as a role model throughout the family and neighborhood.

She continued on to the United Missionary College (UMC) in Ibadan, where she graduated in 1966 with a certificate as a grade II teacher. The United Missionary College, which was akin to a university back then, was among the top institutions for teacher preparation. She served as the Sunday School Superintendent and was heavily involved in church activities while attending the College. She also participated heavily in athletics and drama. She was also a devoted member of the national devout and conservative evangelical Christian students’ organization, Scripture Union (SU).

She also received a certificate in child evangelism training from Child Evangelism Ministry, Holland, in 1985, and an associate diploma in education in mathematics and science from the University of Lagos. She also participated in several professional development training courses abroad and in Nigeria. CRSM organized the Special Needs Education Training, which was held at Columbia University in New York in 2005. Other courses included are “Understanding Accelerated Christian Education (1992),” a proficiency course for directors and heads of schools at the University College of St. Johns & St. Marks, Plymouth, United Kingdom (2000).

1965 saw her meet Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and 1967 saw their marriage. At the moment, she was nineteen years old. Pastor Adeboye disclosed that he had met her by divine appointment before their marriage, as she was meant to be only one of many relationships he had been in before they met. However, she later gave him a little New Testament Bible and two snow-white handkerchiefs as a birthday present. It was evident to him that this was the woman he would marry by the time he received the gifts.

By the grace of God, he was able to stick with her by herself after writing off all the other girlfriends before the day was out. He claimed that the main difficulty he faced during their courtship was her father’s strictness as a Methodist minister. He admitted that he could only see her in the company of another person. If they took a walk, it was only for a very short while. He said, “Now that I look back on it, I am thankful to God for this because the old man was abiding by the very excellent standards set forth by the Scriptures.”

Even though Foluke was the least qualified of all her suitors, she nevertheless consented to marry Pastor Adeboye. Despite having other suitors asking for her hand in marriage, she chose him regardless of his financial status. In 1973, a friend invited them to the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), which was then led by Pastor Josiah Oluwafemi Akindayomi, the General Superintendent. Two years later, Pastor Adeboye received his pastoral ordination, and in 1981 he was appointed General Overseer.

She has provided Pastor Adeboye’s ministry with a solid foundation of support. To quote Pastor Adeboye, “My wife has been very helpful.” To be honest, I’m not sure what my life would have been like without her, looking back. Without this woman, I don’t know how I would have managed the ministry that God entrusted to me.

She oversees the ministry’s educational division in addition to the children’s, women’s, and African missions ministries—all of which are areas of great personal interest for her. She also coordinates and oversees the activities in the kitchen during outreaches, conventions, congresses, conferences, and other major events. If God hadn’t given my wife such incredible courage and character, I don’t know how I would have handled things.
Pastor Foluke Adeboye is endowed with exceptional abilities in administration, planning, hospitality, counseling, and mentoring. He provides many people with consolation, care, and encouragement while also offering love, hope, and support to those who are in need. She has coordinated work in the field of Christian education and made significant contributions to the Nigerian education sector with her passion for planting Christian schools. She started the Christ the Redeemer’s Schools Movement, a fervent movement that resulted in the founding of several Christian educational institutions that support children’s educational welfare both in Nigeria and abroad.

Since her official ordination as a minister in 1996, she has occupied several high-ranking roles within the church, most notably as President of the Redeemed Women Fellowship (also known as God Women Fellowship). She oversees women’s affairs. The Annual Women in Ministry program, which she hosts for all female pastors in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (R.C.C.G.) worldwide, is hosted by her. The project is focused on teaching R.C.C.G Pastors’ Wives and Midwives. As the chief editor of Courage Magazine, the official publication of R.C.C.G. women, she contributes to the dissemination of knowledge about contemporary challenges affecting Christian women.

She is the president of Certain Women, a charity organization. This welfare ministry serves for the emotional, financial, material, and spiritual needs of widows both within and without the church. She maintains close relationships with her mentees through a variety of means, such as the yearly “Feast of Esther,” which brings together women who serve as General Overseers, Heads of Ministries, or wives of Prelates, Heads of Ministries, or Women Leaders of Ministries to engage in fellowship, prayer, renewal, growth, and development as well as to fill in for their churches, ministries, and country. To the glory of God, she is a pioneer in a number of endeavors, ministries, and missions.

She established “Habitation of Hope,” an organization created in the hopes of transforming and empowering destitute and despondent boys living on the streets and providing them with the chance to grow up to be responsible and self-sufficient adults. In order to help curb moral decadence in society, she also founded “Wholistic Ministry,” a faith-based non-profit making organization of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), in April 2002. This organization is effective in social reformation and community development, as evidenced by the hordes of commercial sex workers, the rise in pregnant and stranded teenagers, and the neglected young girls and ladies in various stages of destitution who are all suffering from the effects of this decadence.

She also started “Friends of Jesus,” an organization devoted to providing for the needs of the underprivileged who have taken up residence at the Redemption Camp. She also has a strong enthusiasm for Nigeria and the healthy development of the youth. As such, she is given special attention during the section of the R.C.C.G. meetings dedicated to prayers for Nigeria and its youth.

Pastor Folu is a woman who has dedicated her life to empowering humanity through the provision of high-quality education and scholarships at various levels worldwide. Congratulations are in order, dear Folu, as you have been awarded a Doctor of Education (Honoris Causa) by Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, Edo State.

Pastor Foluke Adenike Adeboye’s books

In addition, she is the author of these books:
• Kingdom Love (2008)
• Heaven in your home (2006)
• The Mother-in Christ (2004)
• The Seven Secrets of Great Achievers (2003)
• This also shall pass (2001)
• Can I Cry Out (1999)
• The Pastors’ Wives Manual published in 1995.

She is blessed with three sons who are pastors and happily married with kids: Adeolu, Leke, and Dare (Called to Glory); she also has a daughter, Bolu.

In addition to being a hospitable and experienced teacher with a passion for excellence at all levels of education, Pastor Foluke Adeboye is a dutiful wife, a devoted mother and grandmother, a tireless evangelist, and the spiritual mother of millions of people worldwide, including well-known religious leaders like Bishop Francis Wale Oke, Bishop David Oyedepo, Reverend Joe Olaiya, Reverend Moses Aransiola, and Pastor Uzodinma Obed, among many others. She is the epitome of so many qualities that have enhanced the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God Worldwide’s life and work in general.

Social media is where Pastor Mrs. Foluke Adenike Adeboye is active. She may be reached on her official Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X accounts.