Discover the inspiring history of Foundation Faith Church — from a Port Harcourt parlour fellowship to a global apostolic movement under Archbishop Sam Amaga.
INTRODUCTION
Every great move of God tends to start small — a whisper in a prayer chamber, an obedient step into the unknown, a handful of faithful people gathered in an ordinary room. The story of Foundation Faith Church is exactly this kind of story. It did not begin with a grand auditorium, a television crew, or an established congregation waiting to be pastored. It began with two adults and five children in a parlour, and a man who was convinced that God had spoken to him.
Nearly four decades later, that same seed has grown into Salem International Christian Centre, a global ministry network with churches, schools, a university, a foundation for orphans, and disciples scattered across continents. This is the story of Archbishop Sam Amaga and Bishop Dr. Love Sam Amaga, and how their obedience to a divine mandate became one of the most remarkable church-planting testimonies to come out of Nigeria.
SECTION 1: THE EARLY CALL
Long before there was a church building, there was a burning conviction. Archbishop Sam Amaga's journey with Christ began in 1972, when he was born again, and by January 1973 he had already begun preaching the gospel — a young man discovering that the call of God on his life was not a passing interest but a lifelong assignment.
For years, that calling ran quietly alongside a promising secular career. Sam Amaga rose to prominence in the management of a leading pharmaceutical company in Jos, Nigeria — the kind of career many would consider a mark of success. But in July 1982, standing outside his office one ordinary morning, he sensed unmistakably that his season there was over. God was calling him away from the boardroom and into full-time ministry, even though he had not yet worked up the courage to tell his wife what he already knew in his spirit.
The years that followed were a season of preparation rather than public ministry. The Amagas relocated to Makurdi, where he combined part-time missionary work with running a business, quietly building the foundation for what was to come. By December 1984, the day his son was born, he was formally commissioned into missionary ministry — itinerant, outreach-focused work that took him further into the field. By August 1985, he had moved into mission work in Ozoro in the then Bendel State, and shortly afterward to the Igbanke mission field, where the seeds of lasting fruit were planted among people who remain in the faith to this day.
Then came the defining moment. On March 7, 1986 — later specified as March 15, 1986, in the ministry's own record of the encounter — the Lord spoke directly to His servant with a mandate that would shape everything that followed: "I am sending you to raise Me an army — not one great man, but a great people." This army was to be:
- Strong in faith and unable to be defeated by the devil
- Empowered by wisdom
- Intimate with the Holy Spirit
- Doing exploits in life and for God
This was not a call to build a congregation. It was a call to raise a generation.
SECTION 2: THE BEGINNING IN PORT HARCOURT
With the mandate settled in his spirit, Archbishop Sam Amaga and his family made the move that would become the turning point of the ministry — relocating from Ozoro to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, roughly 38 years ago. There was no congregation waiting for them, no infrastructure, no name recognition. There was only a young family, five children, and an unshakeable sense that God had sent them there for a purpose.
The first gathering was not held in a rented hall or a church building. It happened in a parlour — an ordinary sitting room that became the birthplace of a movement. The first believers were, quite literally, the Amaga household: Archbishop Sam Amaga, his wife Dr. Love Sam-Amaga, and their five children — Pastor Covenant Sam-Amaga, Rev Joyce Sam-Amaga, Rev Isaiah Sam-Amaga Jnr, Rev. Ezekiella Sam-Amaga, and Faith Sam-Amaga.
It is difficult to overstate how humble those early days were. There was no guarantee of growth, no marketing strategy, no institutional backing — only faith that the God who had spoken so specifically in the prayer chamber would be faithful to His word. The Amagas held on to the conviction that what they were building was not a local fellowship destined to remain small, but the first phase of something the Lord Himself had called "an army."
SECTION 3: JULY 1, 1988 — A HISTORIC BEGINNING
Out of that parlour fellowship, Foundation Faith Church was formally established on July 1, 1988, at No. 12 Ino Abasi Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. This date stands as a landmark in the ministry's history — the point at which years of preparation, mission work, and obedience to a divine mandate crystallized into an actual, functioning local church.
The young congregation did not stay in one location for long. In 1989, the church moved to 10 Trans-Amadi Road, and by August 1993, it relocated again to 1 Faith Avenue, Rumuomasi, Port Harcourt — each move a sign of steady, God-given growth. What began as the "first ten years of church-planting labour," in the ministry's own words, that Archbishop Sam Amaga, his wife, and their five children embarked upon in Port Harcourt would go on to become the worldwide ministry now known as Salem International Christian Centre.
SECTION 4: GOD'S VISION
At the heart of Foundation Faith Church is a vision that has never changed since it was first given: to raise an army of believers who are strong in faith, empowered by wisdom, intimate with the Holy Spirit, and doing exploits in life and for God.
This vision is deliberately expansive. The ministry does not measure its work by attendance figures alone but by an audacious, long-range goal: to help establish 300 million disciples in over 150,000 churches worldwide. Whether or not that number is ever fully reached, it reveals the scale at which Archbishop Sam Amaga has always thought about the assignment God gave him — not a single congregation, but a global multiplication of faith communities carrying the same DNA.
Central to this vision is the conviction that spirituality without practical wisdom is incomplete, and that no true spiritual life is possible without an intimate, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. The ministry teaches that every remarkable act of grace in a believer's life is a direct reflection of the Spirit's presence and power at work.
SECTION 5: MISSION
The mission of Foundation Faith Church flows directly from its founding vision and expresses itself through several interlocking priorities:
- Winning souls — reaching the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ
- Making disciples — moving new believers from conversion to spiritual maturity
- Raising leaders — identifying and developing men and women for ministry and marketplace leadership
- Church planting — establishing new congregations locally, nationally, and internationally
- Global evangelism — carrying the gospel beyond Nigeria's borders
- Equipping believers — providing the biblical training and practical tools needed for believers to live out their faith with confidence
This is a ministry that has always understood evangelism and equipping as two sides of the same coin. Winning people to Christ is only the beginning; the deeper mission is forming them into the kind of "army" the founding mandate described.
SECTION 6: THE GROWTH STORY
The growth of Foundation Faith Church has unfolded in clearly defined phases, each one marked by a fresh geographical expansion of the vision.
Phase One: Port Harcourt (1986–1998). This was the founding decade — the parlour fellowship, the formal establishment on July 1, 1988, and the subsequent relocations to Trans-Amadi Road and Faith Avenue, Rumuomasi. This period produced the leaders and disciples who would go on to carry the vision to new frontiers.
Phase Two: The Move to Lagos (1998). In December 1998, with international missions calling, Archbishop Sam Amaga handed over the Port Harcourt work — by then home to thousands of disciples — to other leaders and relocated to Lagos to birth the next phase of the vision. Between 1998 and November 12, 2000, God supernaturally provided a sizable parcel of land in the Lekki axis of Lagos, and it was here that Salem International Christian Centre (SICC) — described as the global church-planting arm of Foundation Faith Church — was formally established and moved to its permanent site.
Phase Three: Expansion into Europe. The Amagas relocated to London to pioneer the ministry's European work, with the Archbishop commuting between Lagos and London for monthly programs until the work was firmly established. That effort has since grown into a diocese spreading across university campuses and multiple European nations, with viable campus fellowships now planted in numerous universities.
Phase Four: Africa and Beyond. During this same season of expansion, work was also planted in Ghana, and the ministry continued to extend its reach across the African continent and to other parts of the world.
Today, Archbishop Sam Amaga presides over the network of Foundation Faith Churches worldwide, with Salem International Christian Centre standing as the ministry's global outreach and church-planting engine.
SECTION 7: PLATFORMS THROUGH WHICH THE MINISTRY TOUCHES LIVES
Church Ministry
At its core, Foundation Faith Church (Salem Family) remains a network of local congregations — dioceses and provinces led by bishops and pastors the Amagas have personally raised, including leaders such as Bishop Segun Aina, Bishop Jide Ayangbesan, Bishop B. O. Jolomi, and Bishop Dave Onimisi, who leads the European work.
Education Ministry
Education has been one of the ministry's most enduring platforms:
- Salem University, Lokoja — The vision for a university came to Archbishop Sam Amaga in his prayer chamber around 4:20 a.m. on August 6, 2002. It was licensed to operate in Nigeria on May 17, 2005, and opened its doors to its first set of students in February 2009. Archbishop Amaga serves as its Chancellor and Visioner.
- Salem Pastoral and Management College (SPAMIC) — Established to train and equip ministers, missionaries, pastors, and marketplace leaders, with campuses in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja, Ghana, and London, under the leadership of Bishop Dr. Love Sam-Amaga.
- Covenant Faith Bible Institute (CFBI) — Founded with Dr. Love Sam-Amaga as pioneer rector, CFBI runs short courses to mobilize ministers and believers into their God-given destinies, with a special focus on strengthening Christian marriages and homes.
- Faith Education Center and Faith International College — Nursery, primary, and secondary schools in Port Harcourt established since January 12, 1990, with Faith International College producing strong results in the West African Examinations Council's Senior School Certificate Examination.
- Salem Wisdom School and Salem Oxford International School — Later additions to the education platform, continuing the mandate to raise the next generation of leaders in Lokoja and beyond.
Television, Publishing, and Media Ministry
Bishop Dr. Love Sam-Amaga has authored and co-authored more than 120 books alongside her husband, and the couple's teaching ministry reaches believers well beyond the walls of any single church through television broadcasts and published works, including titles that speak into marriage, family life, and personal destiny.
Family and Children's Ministry
Long before Foundation Faith Church existed as an institution, Dr. Love Sam-Amaga was already investing in children's evangelism, having started children's Bible clubs as far back as 1980. That heart for the next generation has since grown into a network of children's ministry training and family-focused conferences addressing marriage, singleness, and parenting — an outworking of her calling to, in her own words, "liberate and raise the most neglected group of humanity."
Youth Ministry
The European arm of the ministry has placed particular emphasis on campus outreach, with fellowships established across multiple universities as part of the vision to see a generation of young people "catch the fire of revival" and carry it forward themselves.
Leadership Development
Through the International Covenant Ministerial Council (ICMC), which Archbishop Sam Amaga leads as International President, the ministry now oversees a network of more than 1,000 churches and ministers worldwide, dedicated to raising strong, effective leadership across the global body of Christ.
Missions and Church Planting
Church planting is not a side activity for this ministry — it is the organizing principle behind everything it does. From the original Port Harcourt congregation to Salem International Christian Centre's outposts across Nigeria, Europe, and Africa, the ministry has consistently multiplied itself by raising leaders and releasing them to plant new works.
Sam Amaga Foundation
Founded in 1992, the Sam Amaga Foundation exists to give orphaned and vulnerable children "a help, a hope, and a future." The Foundation provides trauma counseling and full university scholarships to orphans across fields ranging from accounting and nursing to law and entrepreneurship. Through initiatives such as "Project One Million Orphans," the Foundation has awarded scholarships to well over 150 orphans from across Nigeria, with many going on to graduate and build stable careers and families of their own.
SECTION 8: CORE VALUES
The ministry's core values are woven through everything described above, and they can be summarized as:
- Faith — an unwavering trust in God's Word and promises
- Wisdom — the practical application of biblical truth to everyday life and leadership
- Intimacy with the Holy Spirit — viewed as the non-negotiable foundation of genuine spirituality
- Integrity and Righteousness — living lives that reflect Christ's character consistently
- Diligence and Capacity Building — a continual pursuit of growth, learning, and personal development
- Leadership and Responsibility — raising people who exhibit confidence, dignity, and ownership at every level of ministry and life
- Excellence — refusing to settle for the average, and instead pursuing distinctive achievement in one's calling
SECTION 9: IMPACT
Nearly four decades after that first meeting in a parlour, the fruit of this ministry can be measured in several tangible ways:
- Thousands of lives transformed through the churches planted under the Foundation Faith Church and Salem International Christian Centre banner
- A network of over 1,000 churches and ministers connected through the International Covenant Ministerial Council
- Leaders raised and released, many of whom now oversee dioceses and provinces across Nigeria, Europe, and Africa
- Educational institutions established, from nursery schools to a fully accredited university
- Humanitarian impact through the Sam Amaga Foundation, which has rescued, counseled, and educated dozens of orphaned children, several of whom have gone on to earn postgraduate degrees
- Nations reached, with the ministry's footprint extending from Nigeria into Ghana, the United Kingdom, and other parts of Europe
SECTION 10: WHY FOUNDATION FAITH CHURCH CONTINUES TO GROW
Several threads run consistently through the ministry's nearly four-decade history and help explain its sustained growth:
Strong biblical teaching. From the earliest itinerant preaching days to the present, the ministry has anchored itself in what its founder calls "the raw, undiluted Word of God."
Vision-driven leadership. Every major phase of expansion — Port Harcourt, Lagos, Europe, Ghana — traces back to a specific, remembered moment of divine instruction, giving the ministry a strong sense of direction rather than growth for its own sake.
A relentless emphasis on discipleship over crowd-building. The founding mandate was never simply to gather large numbers, but to raise an "army" — a phrase that recurs throughout the ministry's language and points to intentional, deliberate formation of believers.
Investment in leadership development. Through SPAMIC, CFBI, and Salem University, the ministry has built durable institutions for training the next generation of pastors, missionaries, and marketplace leaders, rather than relying solely on the founder's personal ministry.
A global missions mindset. From the very first years, the vision was never limited to Nigeria. That outward-facing posture — Lagos, then London, then Ghana — has allowed the ministry to keep expanding well beyond its city of origin.
CONCLUSION
The story of Foundation Faith Church is, at its heart, a story about what God can do with obedience and a small beginning. Two adults and five children in a Port Harcourt parlour did not look, by any earthly measure, like the seed of a global ministry. But Archbishop Sam Amaga and Bishop Dr. Love Sam-Amaga trusted a word spoken in a prayer chamber — that they were being sent to raise not one great man, but a great people — and they built their lives around that word for nearly four decades.
Today, that seed has grown into Salem International Christian Centre, with churches across Nigeria, a diocese in Europe, a university, a foundation for orphans, and thousands of disciples carrying the same mandate the Amagas received in 1986. Whatever season you find yourself in — whether your beginnings feel too small to matter, or your assignment feels too costly to pursue — the history of this ministry stands as a reminder that God is faithful to what He begins, even when it starts in a parlour with only seven people in the room.
CALL TO ACTION: To learn more about the history, vision, and ongoing work of Foundation Faith Church and Salem International Christian Centre, visit the ministry's official platforms and explore how you can connect with a local church, support the Sam Amaga Foundation, or enroll in one of its training institutions.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- Who founded Foundation Faith Church?
Foundation Faith Church was founded by Archbishop Sam Amaga and his wife, Bishop Dr. Love Sam-Amaga. - When was Foundation Faith Church established?
Foundation Faith Church was formally established on July 1, 1988, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. - Where did Foundation Faith Church begin?
It began in a parlour fellowship in Port Harcourt before its first formal address at No. 12 Ino Abasi Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt. - How many people attended the first gathering?
The first gathering consisted of two adults — Archbishop Sam Amaga and his wife — and their five children. - What is Salem International Christian Centre?
Salem International Christian Centre (SICC) is the global outreach and church-planting arm of Foundation Faith Church, established around 1998 and headquartered in Lekki, Lagos. - What is the vision of Foundation Faith Church?
Its vision is to raise an "army" of believers who are strong in faith, empowered by wisdom, intimate with the Holy Spirit, and doing exploits in life and for God. - What is the mission of the ministry?
Its mission includes winning souls, making disciples, raising leaders, planting churches, pursuing global evangelism, and equipping believers. - Who is Archbishop Sam Amaga?
Archbishop Sam Amaga is a Nigerian pastor, church planter, and educator who founded Foundation Faith Church and Salem International Christian Centre, and serves as Chancellor of Salem University. - Who is Bishop Dr. Love Sam-Amaga?
She is Archbishop Sam Amaga's wife and ministry partner, an author of over 120 books, founder of children's evangelism initiatives dating back to 1980, and rector of Salem Pastoral and Management College. - How many children do Archbishop and Bishop Amaga have?
They have five children: Pastor Covenant Sam-Amaga, Pastor Joyce Sam-Amaga, Pastor Isaiah Sam-Amaga Jnr, Rev. Ezekiella Sam-Amaga, and Faith Sam-Amaga. - What is Salem University?
Salem University is a Nigerian university in Lokoja, Kogi State, founded by Archbishop Sam Amaga, licensed in 2005, and opened to students in 2009. - What is Salem Pastoral and Management College (SPAMIC)?
SPAMIC is an institution that trains pastors, missionaries, and leaders, with campuses in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja, Ghana, and London. - What is the Covenant Faith Bible Institute (CFBI)?
CFBI is a training institute founded by the Amagas, focused on equipping ministers and strengthening Christian marriages and families. - What is the Sam Amaga Foundation?
Founded in 1992, the Sam Amaga Foundation provides counseling and university scholarships to orphaned and vulnerable children in Nigeria. - How has Foundation Faith Church expanded internationally?
The ministry expanded from Port Harcourt to Lagos in 1998, then to London to pioneer work in Europe, and later to Ghana and other nations. - What are the core values of the ministry?
Its core values include faith, wisdom, intimacy with the Holy Spirit, integrity, diligence, leadership, and responsibility. - What long-term goal does the ministry pursue?
The ministry has expressed a vision of helping to establish 300 million disciples in over 150,000 churches worldwide. - Who leads the ministry's work in Europe?
Bishop Dave Onimisi coordinates Salem's operations in Europe and chairs the Salem Europe Governing Council. - What denominational or ministerial networks is Archbishop Amaga part of?
He leads the International Covenant Ministerial Council and has been affiliated with bodies including the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and the Pentecostal Bishops' Communion of Nigeria (PEBICON). - How can someone connect with Foundation Faith Church or support its work?
Individuals can visit the ministry's official websites to find a local church branch, enroll in one of its training institutions, or partner with the Sam Amaga Foundation's scholarshipprograms for orphans.
Foundation Faith Church was founded by Archbishop Sam Amaga and Bishop Dr. Love Sam-Amaga on July 1, 1988, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria — beginning as a parlour fellowship of two adults and five children before growing into Salem International Christian Centre, a global ministry network spanning Nigeria, Europe, and Africa.
"It started with two adults and five children in a living room. Nearly 40 years later, it's a global ministry spanning three continents. This is the remarkable story of Foundation Faith Church."
Pull Quotes:
- "I am sending you to raise Me an army — not one great man, but a great people."
- "What began in a parlour with seven people has grown into a worldwide ministry."
- "The vision was never to build a crowd, but to raise an army."
Suggested Image Captions:
- "Archbishop Sam Amaga and Bishop Dr. Love Sam-Amaga, founders of Foundation Faith Church."
- "The original site at No. 12 Ino Abasi Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt, where Foundation Faith Church began."
- "Salem University, Lokoja — the educational legacy of the ministry's vision."
- "A Sam Amaga Foundation scholarship recipient at university graduation."
Note on sourcing: This article was compiled from publicly available information published by Salem International Christian Centre, Sam Amaga Ministries International, Salem University, and the Sam Amaga Foundation. Readers seeking the most current details on branch locations, leadership, or programs should consult the ministry's official websites directly, as ministry information changes over time.
