Ulf Ekman is the founder and pastor of Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden, which more than 3,000 people count as their home church.
Word of Life has an extensive missions program, runs a number of educational facilities and produces books in several languages in addition to audiotapes, CDs, videos and DVDs containing faith-inspiring teaching, distributed all over the world. In Russia alone, 5 million books have been spread.
Ulf Ekman regularly holds seminars for pastors and Christian leaders in many different countries. His preaching has helped, equipped and inspired Christians all over the world to live their lives in victorious faith in God. Together with his wife, Birgitta, Pastor Ulf heads the international ministry of Word of Life

Ulf Ekman was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 8 December, 1950. On 28 May, 1970, a few days before his high school graduation, he had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and became a Christian, something that radically changed the direction of his life.
Ulf Ekman then enrolled at Uppsala University and studied ethnography, history and theology for several years. In the spring of 1976, he met Birgitta, who later became his wife. Birgitta was the daughter of the Swedish missionaries Sten and Maj Nilsson and brought up in northern India.

In January 1979, Ulf Ekman was ordained minister of the Swedish Lutheran Church, and for some years he worked as chaplain at Uppsala University. As he preached about the believer's authority in the name of Jesus, many students were drawn to the Lord, and a minor revival broke out among the students.
In the beginning of the 1980s, Ulf Ekman moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A., where he attended Rhema Bible Training Center for one year.

Upon his return to Sweden in 1983, he left the Lutheran Church and founded Word of Life Church and Bible Centre in Uppsala, Sweden. At the time, this was a very unusual undertaking in Sweden, and it wasn’t long before his name and face had become known all over the nation.
During the remainder of the 1980s, Ulf Ekman and Word of Life Church were more or less constantly in hot air. Media questioned the church, and religious leaders warned against the preaching of faith and the abundant life in the Spirit.
However, despite the fierce opposition, the congregation grew and similar churches sprang up in many places all over Scandinavia. Slowly, the spiritual climate began to change.
Nowadays, Ulf Ekman is a highly appreciated and often-invited speaker at churches and conferences of various denominations, not only in Scandinavia but also internationally.

Ulf Ekman is the chairman of Word of Life Foundation and also teaches at Word of Life Bible Centre, which has graduated more than 9,000 students since its inception in 1983. Over the years Word of Life has started Bible schools in 16 countries, such as Albania, Russia, Israel, Bratislava, India, Singapore, Vietnam and China.
Ulf Ekman is the president and founder of Livets Ord University, affiliated with Oral Roberts University (ORU) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A. He has also been a member of ORU's Board of Regents since 1997.

Ulf Ekman has authored around 40 books, several of them translated into more than 30 languages. In addition, around 1 million audio- and videotapes with Bible teaching have gone out all over the world from Word of Life in Uppsala.
Ulf Ekman also hosts the TV shows Another Day of Victory, broadcast on various satellite and cable networks, and Kväll med Ulf Ekman (in Swedish only), broadcast on the Christian Swedish TV channel “Kanal 10.” Both of the shows can also be viewed on Word of Life’s website.

Since 1989 Word of Life Church and Ulf Ekman Ministries has been actively engaged in missions. Over a period of just a few years, more than 1,000 churches were planted in former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, either directly or indirectly as a result of our missions work.
Together with his wife, Birgitta, Ulf Ekman heads the international ministry of Word of Life and travel extensively to preach. The primary purpose of the work is presently the establishment of 15 centres, similar to Word of Life in Uppsala, in strategic places around the world. These centres constitute bases for local churches and educational institutions, as well as outreach work in forms of evangelization and various humanitarian programmes. As of today, there are Word of Life centres in Moscow (Russia), Donetsk (Ukraine), Yerevan (Armenia) and Baku (Azerbaijan). In addition, Ulf Ekman participates in numerous leadership and pastors’ conferences all over the world.