08/04/2022
The Foursquare Church, officially named the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, is a Pentecostal denomination that resulted from the dynamic evangelistic ministry of Aimee Semple McPherson, who opened the historic Angelus Temple on Jan. 1, 1923.
Following the opening of Angelus Temple, our founder did not take time to rest on her laurels. The first “branch” church from Angelus Temple had its beginnings in Oct. 1923 in Long Beach, Calif. Other Los Angeles-area church plants rapidly ensued in Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Santa Ana; all four churches are still open today. As time passed, Foursquare branched out to the rest of the United States; we now have churches in most of the 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska.
The launch into foreign ministry fields also began in the 1920s. In 1927 Sister McPherson commissioned Vincente and Teodora DeFante as missionaries to the Philippines. Foursquare is still alive and well in the Philippines, which has a very strong national church presence. A former missionary herself, our founder’s desire to go around the world with the Foursquare Gospel led to The Foursquare Church’s being known as a missionary movement. At this time we have approximately 100 missionary units deployed throughout the world. From our earliest days, foreign missions was a primary emphasis—and remains so today.
In Nigeria, the Church started in October 1955 through the endeavours of a missionary couple; Rev and Mrs. Harold Curtis from USA. The registered headquarters in Nigeria is at 62/66 Akinwunmi Street Yaba, Lagos State. The Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria currently has about 4032 churches spread over 154 districts and 824 zones as at September 2018. The Church in Nigeria has also reached out to neighboring countries and had established in the Republic of Benin, Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, Cote de voire and Central African Republic. Most of these churches in the west coast have been nationalized.
