The church was founded by the first pastor, Brian Baker, who was born in England and with his wife, Valerie Baker, migrated to New Zealand in 1972 and ran various ministries there. They subsequently trained at Rhema Bible Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma under Pastor Kenneth E. Hagin, and started the Inner City Faith Fellowship at Holmes Hall in Belmont, a suburb of Perth, on 9 December 1979. The church moved five months later to Brisbane Street, five blocks north of Perth's central business district. Baker was ordained by Hagin in 1980. At this time, the Bakers were assisted by Pastors Mark and Joanne Willhite and Pastors Mike and Randa Moorhead from Kansas City, who returned overseas after helping to establish Faith Christian Academy, which in February 1982 commenced teaching 70 school students from years 1 to 10 within the church's building.