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Sunday Adelaja (Nigerian (Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian: Сандей Аделаджа) is the founder and senior pastor of the Embassy of God, an evangelical-charismatic megachurch〔(List of Megachurches - Europe )〕 in Kiev, Ukraine. He immigrated to the USSR and Belarus as a scholarship student from Nigeria in 1986 to study journalism. After graduation and the breakdown of the USSR, he started several churches that he later handed over to other pastors before he moved from Belarus to Ukraine in December 1993. After moving to Ukraine, he started a large network of churches known as the Embassy of God Church. The church is also active in Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the United States and Uzbekistan. Adelaja has faced criticism from local groups, other Ukrainian Evangelical churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church and from foreign-based Christian countercult organisations as well as accusations of involvement in fraud. ==Biography== Sunday Sunkanmi Adelaja was born in the village of Idomila Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria. His name Adelaja means "the King settled this fight" in Yoruba.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Adelaja )〕 He was raised by his grandmother and became Christian in March 1986 just before graduating from high school. After graduation Adelaja left Nigeria because he received a scholarship to study journalism at the Belarusian State University in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR. He claims he was threatened there by authorities for having a picture of Jesus in his house, but nevertheless, he began Christian activities in Belarus during his studies.〔Out of Africa: edited by C Peter Wagner and Joseph Thompson, Regal Books, USA (2004) ISBN 0-8307-3292-6〕 He married and took a job in Kiev, where he eventually founded and became pastor of the Embassy of God church, initially with only a handful of fellow African students.〔(Nigerian pastor finds new flock in Ukraine ), BBC News, 30 October 2006〕 Today he plays an active role in the political and social life of Ukraine and was an influencing factor the Ukrainian Orange Revolution. Sunday speaks, preaches and teaches fluently in Russian. By age 33, he had built the largest charismatic church in Europe, having started with only a few followers in a small apartment in downtown Kiev in 1994. Since then his church has grown to more than 700 churches in over 45 countries and has been instrumental in starting over 300 rehab centers for drug addicts and alcoholics, situated all over Ukraine and Russia.〔(Prominent pastor from Europe addresses students ), ''Liberty University'', March 2008〕 Pastor Sunday was honored to be on a first page article of the Wall Street Journal in July 21, 2006.〔''Wall Street Journal'': A man with a mission: A Nigerian minister sets out to save Kiev, Friday, July 21, 2006, Vol. CCXLVIII No. 17〕 Pastor Sunday was honored to open the U.S. Senate in prayer on April 23, 2007.〔United States of America ''Congressional Records'': Proceedings and Debates of the 110th Congress, First Session, Vol. 153, Washington, Monday, April 23, 2007, No. 65〕 Pastor Sunday was honored to speak twice at the United Nations on August 23, 2007.〔(Pastor Speaks at the United Nations ), ''Charisma'' magazine, August 2007〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sunday Adelaja」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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