Our History | FGBMFI Singapore

Members smiling around a table at a fellowship meeting

Founder

1913 – 1993

Our founder

Demos Shakarian

Founder, Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International

Demos Shakarian was not a preacher. He was a businessman who believed that working people would listen to someone who shared their world, and that a meal and an honest testimony could reach people a church service never would.

That conviction became the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International. What began around one table in Los Angeles is today a fellowship in nations across the world, Singapore among them.

Born21 July 1913, of Armenian heritage
By tradeA dairy farmer and businessman in California
FoundedThe fellowship, in Los Angeles in 1952
His storyTold in The Happiest People on Earth

The vision

“I saw millions of men around the world… Their faces were dead, lifeless. Then the vision changed. The men were now joyous, with hands raised, praising God. They were the happiest people on earth!”

Demos Shakarian

This vision gave birth to a movement that crossed denominations, cultures and nationalities. The same spirit fuels FGBMFI Singapore today, as laymen hear the personal testimonies of FGB men from chapters across Asia.

Milestones

Seven decades, one calling.

1952
A fellowship begins in Los Angeles
Demos Shakarian, a California rancher, founds the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International with a simple idea: business people telling other business people what God has done in their lives.
The early years
A slow start, then a voice
For its first year the original group met weekly with little visible result. Then a gift of $1,000 made it possible to launch a small publication, Full Gospel Business Men's Voice, and the stories began to travel.
1972
A movement of hundreds of thousands
Twenty years on, membership had grown to around 300,000 as chapters multiplied from city to city.
1988
Across ninety nations
By 1988 the fellowship counted some 3,000 chapters in 90 countries — a network of local gatherings held together by a shared purpose.
1993
A new generation of leadership
Following the death of Demos Shakarian, his son Richard Shakarian assumed leadership of the organisation.
2023
The work continues
Francis Owusu was elected international president, as the fellowship continues its work around the world.