Pastor Agu Irukwu: ‘The Black Church is a sleeping giant; if it wakes up, its influence is significant’

He’s planted one of the biggest churches in the UK. If we want to see revival come, it’s time we took prayer and fasting seriously, but not religiously, says Pastor Agu. When we do, the rest will fall into place

There are many things that are larger-than-life about Pastor Agu Irukwu. At 6ft 5in tall, the Nigerian-born father-of-three leads one of the UK’s largest churches, Jesus House for All Nations. The congregation in north London began nearly 30 years ago with just 33 people, but grew to almost 3,000 people before Covid.

Until recently, Pastor Agu also oversaw the UK branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), a Black majority church network that is among the fastest- growing denominations in the nation. In 2011, he was voted the “most inspirational black man” by London’s Metro newspaper, and has held senior roles at the Evangelical Alliance (EA) and Festival of Life, the all-night prayer meeting at London’s ExCeL centre that gathers as many as 40,000 worshippers.