Apostle Chris Naidoo was born on the 25th of December 1956 at St. Monica’s Nursing Home to Josephine and Luke George Naidoo. He was the youngest of six siblings and attended Lotus River Primary School and Heathfield Secondary School. Christopher was an avid soccer player, best known as a striker/winger for Atlantis Soccer Club and Crusaders Soccer Club. As a child, he attended Rylands Full Gospel Church with his father.
He started his career in 1972 with the South African Permanent Building Society (Perm Bank). Although he was first employed as a janitor and mail messenger, Chris was incredibly hardworking and worked his way up to become one of the key leaders at the bank responsible for the development of the mass market and managed a large property, investment and branch network.
In 1981, at 25 years old, Chris married Gloria Una Paulse.
In 1982, upon attending a business conference event, Chris dedicated his life to the Lord and immediately became actively involved in church ministry and evangelism. He began serving as a deacon, but soon started preaching in the church and the community.
In 1985, he won an award as one of the three most outstanding young executives in South Africa sponsored by the Urban Foundation and French government. This is just one of the many awards he received during his time in the corporate field.
In 1989, during a revival crusade in George, God gave Chris a vision showing him that the church of Jesus Christ can be mobilised to meet the needs of the people by uniting in one common purpose. That purpose is “to fulfill the great commission of Jesus” and establish His kingdom on Earth. Chris strived to unite churches and leaders through revival and empowerment crusades.
He resigned from Perm Bank in 1991 to devote his time and passion to the empowerment of the historically disadvantaged communities and full-time ministry, establishing Jehovah Jirah Ministries.
As an ordained pastor, Chris led multiple healing and revival services and mass crusades – preaching to both the rich and poor across South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe and beyond. Chris particularly had a heart for the less fortunate and donated both his money and resources to feeding, clothing and uplifting the poor and disadvantaged.
As a preacher, Apostle Chris Naidoo boldly proclaimed the name of Jesus and preached the gospel throughout Africa, especially in informal settlements, evangelising hundreds of thousands of people to the Lord. His constant strive for doing God’s work was well-known to those around him and he was often invited to speak to dignitaries and leaders, both locally and internationally.
After a four-year absence from the bank, in 1995 Chris was approached and persuaded by Standard Bank of Africa to return to the banking sector and pioneer the e-bank concept in the Western Cape. Thereafter, he became the director of retail banking for Standard Bank, Western Cape. His responsibilities included management of the branch network, consumer division, home loans, and emerging market. Coupled with this, he was also extensively involved in the transformation and re-engineering processes within Standard Bank of Africa.
Through Hope of Africa Foundation, which was established in 1997, Chris continued with his passion to train and empower communities economically, socially and spiritually. Chris challenged pastors, politicians and leaders to engage communities by offering poverty relief, youth development, women’s development, job creation, and training unskilled workers.
In 2001, after years of serving together in ministry, Chris’ wife, Gloria, suddenly passed. Even after such a heartbreaking loss, Chris continued to preach the gospel and function in the fivefold ministry as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher.
In 2003, the Church of Restoration was established with the purpose of equipping the church members to work in the ministry and the missions. The vision of the church was to empower each member to fulfill their full potential in Christ.
In 2004, Chris married Beverley Miller and they served together in ministry for 16 years. Together with their family, they continued to do missionary work in Africa, hosting many crusades and revival services throughout Africa. They also headed up the Church of Restoration, multiple businesses, including Gloria Memorial Park and M&Y Tombstones, prayer networks and a television evangelism show called Arise Africa.
Over the years, Apostle Chris Naidoo established many churches throughout Africa, networking with church leaders around the world to empower Christians to achieve their full potential so that they can demonstrate the love of Jesus to the world. He has also written multiple books on business, leadership development and mentorship for success.
He leaves behind his wife Pastor Beverley; children: Chantal, Esther, Matthew, Yahzeel, Bevan, Jarrod; his grandchildren: Hannah, Nahum and Christian; and his sisters, family, extended family, friends, associates and ministry team.