The vision of the church was manifested on May 2, 1981, when David Oyedepo (aged 26) had a holy spirit encounter while he was lodged in a room in an 'International Hotel' at the Omi-Asoro Quarters of the city of Ilesa, in what in known today as Osun State, Nigeria.

He claims to have had an eighteen-hour holy spirit encounter which was a divine vision from God. Almighty God spoke to him that, "Now the moment has come to deliver the world from all devil oppressions, through the proclaiming of the Word of faith; preaching Good news; and I'm sending you to carry out the task". The church started operation on December 11, 1983 with only four members.

Canaanland (the megachurch) was acquired in 1998 and was a total of 560 acres (2.3 km2), in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. This international headquarters of Faith Tabernacle, was constructed in Cannanland from 1998 and 1999, which took exactly twelve months to perfect. They laid the foundation on August 29, 1998.

In 1999, Winner's Church was inaugurated with about 50,400 seats.

On December 11, 2013, Oyedepo's heir (first son), David Oyedepo Jnr, ministered at the church's annual Shiloh event for the first time.

David Oyedepo Junior became a resident pastor of the Church in December 2015. David Oyedepo (papa) announced the beginning of the construction of the 100,000 capacity Faith Theatre. This Theatre will be centralized within a 15,000 housing estate which will be known as "Canaan City".

The Church was founded on twelve core values The theological status of the church is Pentecostal.

The Church has been established in 65 countries as at 2014.

The denomination is noted for being charismatic and evangelical.

Some notable educational institutions has been linked to the mission, they includes: Covenant University, Faith Academy, Landmark University and over 150 Kingdom Heritage Schools. There is also a ministry training school called The Word of Faith Bible Institute.

Every December, the church always host a global gathering called Shiloh. The man of God said that the mandate for this popular event was established as a result of the books of 1Samuel 1:3 and Joshua 18:1 in the Bible. The event is usually held most of the time in the early days of December.

The church sees the essence of the event as to usher the visitation and ministration of God to his followers. It also used to celebrate the end of the calendar year of the Church.

Every year event, sees millions in attendees from different part of the world. The General overseer ones said that up to 160 countries was at the Shiloh gathering of 2015.