Derek Prince - Marriage and The Growth of His Ministry

Marriage and The Growth of His Ministry

While serving in Palestine, Prince met Lydia Christensen, a Danish woman who ran an orphanage in Ramallah and who had adopted eight girls (six of whom were Jewish). Despite Lydia being 25 years Prince’s senior, they married. Prince strongly supported the establishment of the State of Israel, which he saw as the fulfilling of Biblical prophecy, but he left for the UK with the last British convoy out of Jerusalem. In 1949 he resigned his Fellowship at King's. In the UK, Prince used Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London, to encourage people to join a Pentecostal church he was leading at his home in Notting Hill. In 1957 he and Lydia moved to Kisumu in Kenya, where he became a school principal and adopted a Kenyan baby. He had his prayers answered on two occasions when he prayed for people to be raised from the dead during this time. In 1962, the Princes moved to Canada, and from there to a pastorate at Peoples Church in Minneapolis, becoming US citizens. From here they moved to Broadway Tabernacle in Seattle where he ministered along with James A Watt whom he had met in Canada. During this time Prince was becoming widely known through his cassette-tape Bible lectures, and he became involved with the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International. This led to a move to Faith Tabernacle in Chicago, and then to Good News Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. In May 1971 Derek Prince Publications opened offices in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Derek Prince Publications became Derek Prince Ministries in December 1990.

Lydia Prince died 5 October 1975, the same year her biography was published, Appointment in Jerusalem. Derek later married Ruth Baker, who he had also met in Jerusalem,They married 17 October 1978. In 1981 they moved from Florida to Jerusalem where they lived six months out of the year. The '80s saw tremendous growth of the ministry.

1984 - Derek Prince Ministries (DPM)-South Pacific office opened in New Zealand and DPM-South Africa. The Global Outreach Leaders Program began which made Derek's material available for free to Christian leaders around the world. Distribution reached 200,000 books to 124 pastors and leaders by 1995. Living Sacrifice (in Chinese) began airing under Derek's Chinese name Ye Guang-Ming (Clear Light in English).

1985 - DPM-Australia and Canada offices opened.

1986 - DPM-UK office opened and The Workman God Approves started airing in Chinese. Derek Prince Interpretiruet Biblia started airing in Russia.

1987 - German missionary to Mongolia heard English broadcast (from Seychelles) and began to translate program into Mongolian.

1989 - DPM-Netherlands office opened,overseeing Eastern Europe and CIS countries.

Derek and Ruth traveled extensively in ministry up until the time of Ruth's death on 29 December 1998. The following list of countries covers their ministry from 1993 to 1998. Some of these countries were visited more than once: Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Hungary, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, Poland Bahrain, Cuba, Colombia, Switzerland, France, Portugal, India and England.

Derek’s radio program, which began in 1979, has been translated into more than a dozen languages and continues to touch lives. His main gift of explaining the Bible and its teaching in a clear and simple way has helped build a foundation of faith in millions of lives. Derek’s nondenominational, nonsectarian approach has made his teaching equally relevant and helpful to people from all racial and religious backgrounds, and his teaching is estimated to have reached more than half the globe.

In 2002, Derek said, “It is my desire—and I believe the Lord’s desire—that this ministry continue the work, which God began through me over 60 years ago, until Jesus returns.”

Derek Prince Ministries continues to distribute his teachings and to train missionaries, church leaders, and congregations through the outreaches of more than thirty DPM offices around the world, including primary work in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For current information about these and other worldwide locations, visit www.derekprince.com.