The claims Who leads

Is Bishop Dag Heward-Mills’s church a one-man church, as the VRT documentary says?

No: Lighthouse is a worldwide network with bishops, a Bible school, mission hospitals and, by the church’s own count, 7,649 churches. Its founder sits on the boards of the Pentecostal World Fellowship and of Church Growth International, the body founded by Korea’s Yoido Full Gospel Church.

By See For Yourself24 October 20262 min read

What the documentary said

originated in Ghana. Worldwide, they claim there are no fewer than 7,649 churches. Online, they have millions of

De Vlaamse kerken behoren tot Lighthouse Group of Churches, een internationaal kerknetwerk dat ontstond in Ghana. Wereldwijd zouden er naar eigen zeggen maar liefst 7649 kerken zijn. Online hebben ze miljoenen volgers.

VRT narrator11:55 in the broadcast

ones are mainly the one man churches. The owner controls virtually everything the word of the owner is like the final

Er zijn hier duizend-en-een kerken. Bijna overal waar je gaat, zie je een kerk of een groot aanplakbord. Die zijn vooral van eenmanskerken. De eigenaar controleert vrijwel alles. De eigenaar heeft het laatste woord.

Manasseh Azure Awuni, Ghanaian journalist14:28 in the broadcast

Heward-Mills is the head of such a one-man church, the Lighthouse group of churches.

Dag Heward-Mills staat aan het hoofd van zo’n eenmanskerk, Lighthouse Group of Churches.

VRT narrator, over footage of Bishop Dag’s church (VRT_MAP C4)14:50 in the broadcast

Watch VRT at this point · VRT NWS Pano11:55 (opens the recording on YouTube at 11:55)

Go Church’s full written reply to VRT, in Dutch and English.

What the film left out

The label comes from Manasseh Azure Awuni, and VRT’s narrator then applies it to Bishop Dag in VRT’s own voice. VRT did not tell viewers that Manasseh is being sued by the church over the very stories VRT relied on, or that a Ghanaian court found him in contempt in that case in October 2022 and ordered him to apologise to the church and to Bishop Dag.

VRT’s own film calls two of its witnesses former bishops of the church. The network has its own school for pastors, the Anagkazo Bible and Ministry Training Centre, founded in 1996. It runs mission hospitals in Ghana: St. Kathryn’s Hospital in Accra, a 40-bed hospital according to Church Growth International, and St. Gamaliel’s Hospital.

Its founder holds seats on international church bodies. He was elected to the Pentecostal World Fellowship’s Executive Council in São Paulo in September 2016. He sits on the board of Church Growth International, founded by Korea’s Yoido Full Gospel Church, and was the Friday Night Service speaker at its conference in Seoul on 25 October 2024. The Ghana News Agency listed him as a member of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship among the speakers at its 10th World Congress in Accra, 14 to 16 October 2026, the first ever held in Africa, one week before VRT aired.

Church leaders from abroad have come to him too. The ministry’s 2016 film says Dr David Yonggi Cho of Yoido Full Gospel Church and Dr Prince Guneratnam, who chaired the Pentecostal World Fellowship from 2010 to 2019, visited Lighthouse Chapel International.

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, board member of Church Growth International. Church Growth International (cgikorea.kr)

The record: his own words, across the years

2017

Accra, Ghana, Conference session (Dag Heward-Mills channel)

He recalls that Korea’s Dr David Yonggi Cho came to dedicate the church’s first building, in a poor part of Accra.

This church, Yonggi Cho, the pastor of the largest church in the world, he did not dedicate this church. He dedicated our old church which is in a slum. Right in that old corner. He came there. We had a great time there. We had great times. And we are still having.

Watch · Accra, Ghana, 201751:02 to 51:32 (opens the recording on YouTube at 51:02)

The front of St. Gamaliel’s Hospital with its name on the building — St. Gamaliel’s Hospital, one of the ministry’s mission hospitals in Ghana. Dag Heward-Mills Ministries (daghewardmills.org)

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills addressing a packed conference hall in Kampala — Teaching pastors at a conference in Kampala, Uganda, 2025. Frame from Dag Heward-Mills Conference (GTWC) Channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hE8IKA2G4M

The verdict

A one-man church does not have bishops, hospitals, a Bible school and seats on the boards of world Christian bodies. VRT took the phrase from a man the church is suing and read it out as fact.

Questions people ask

How many churches does Lighthouse Group of Churches have?

By the church’s own count, 7,649 churches worldwide. VRT reported the figure and labelled it the church’s own.

Is Bishop Dag Heward-Mills recognised by other churches?

Yes. He was elected to the Pentecostal World Fellowship’s Executive Council in 2016, sits on the board of Church Growth International, and spoke at the World Assemblies of God Congress in Accra in October 2026 as a member of the fellowship.

Who called Lighthouse a one-man church?

The Ghanaian journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, whom the church is suing for defamation over his reporting on it. VRT’s narrator then repeated the phrase.