Royalhouse Chapel International was founded by the Most Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah after his encounter with the Lord in Holland on June 19th 1991.
In March 1999, God impressed upon the Apostle General to change the name of the church to Royalhouse Chapel International to give the church a global focus. Over these years, the membership of the church has grown from twelve to tens of thousands. The church has also spread to other nations with hundreds of local assemblies and several other international missions.
On 19th June 1991, while in Holland, I had a destiny-changing encounter, which gave birth to this ministry. I had travelled to Holland to seek greener pastures to cater for my family. On this fateful day, I was asleep in my room when at midnight; I heard knocks on my door. I woke up to see who it was, (thinking it was my Indian landlord) but he was not the one so I returned to bed. Around 2 am, I heard the knocks again, woke up again and turned the lights on to see who it was. I did and to my amazement, there was no one. Rather, I felt a supernatural presence in my room.
An audible and authoritative voice instructed me to pray. Knowing it was the Lord’s command to me, I prayed for 3 hours amidst tears. I had disobeyed the Lord when He commanded me to return to Ghana to start a ministry for Him. I had taken His grace and mercies for granted by rejecting the ‘call’. After several hours of prayer, God had mercy on me and gave me another chance. He instructed me to reach for my Bible, which immediately flipped to 1 Timothy 3:1“This is a true saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.”1 Timothy 3:1.
God ordained me a “bishop” that morning to have oversight over His church, which will be established through me. As I meditated on this I asked, “What good can come out of being a bishop?” He responded, “JUST TRUST ME”. He covenanted with me and this has been the beginning of His faithfulness in my life and for us as a church.
Before his arrival in Ghana in November 1992, Apostle General gave the approval to his wife, Rev. Mrs. Rita Korankye Ankrah (affectionately called Mama Rita) to start Sunday services with members of Showers of Blessings, (a fellowship he had started in Ghana before leaving to Holland) who were then available.
The meetings began in March 1991 at the GES Model Nursery School in Accra North Ridge with 12 adults and 5 children attending the first Sunday service.
The name under which they operated from March 1991 was Abundant Life Missions International** In July 1993, the name of the church was changed to Bible Worship Centre and later International Bible Worship Centre to reflect the new vision and focus with which Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah was going to operate. In 1999, God impressed upon the Apostle General to change the name of the church to Royalhouse Chapel International to give the church a global focus and has been the operational name of the Church since then.
Although Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah returned from Holland in November 1992, he assumed full leadership of the church in January 1993. That year, the number of worshippers increased significantly from 30 to 150 adults. Thus, in 1994, it became necessary to relocate the church to the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) canteen which had a larger facility. The influx of members made it impossible for the ADB canteen to be used for Sunday services so the church was moved to the Blackmoore and Sons warehouse on the Ring Road. The warehouse was transformed into a beautiful worship centre and from October 1994 to November 2000, that place was (to be) the IBWC auditorium where many healings, miracles, and deliverances (would) occur.
Following the considerable increase in membership and the need to acquire a bigger place of worship, a historic move was made on November 4, 2000. Thousands of worshippers attended an All Night prayer vigil at the Blackmoore and Sons premises. Around 4 am, they were led in a prayer march to Ahenfie, the newly acquired church property located near the Obetsebi Lamptey Circle on the Ring Road West a distance of about three (3) kilometres from the Blackmoore and Sons premises. Symbolically, “it was a cross over from Egypt to the Promised Land.” Ahenfie is thus considered by all members of Royalhouse Chapel as a land of prophecy and promise.
Today, we are preparing ourselves to move into the Oil Dome which is expected to be one of the finest edifices to God’s honour with a five-storey office complex attached. This is how far the Lord has brought us