Gbenro Adesina
The 2021 Annual Camp Meeting of The Apostolic Faith Church in the region of West and Central Africa (WECA), began today August 1, 2021. The two-week programme will end on August 15, 2021.
The 2021 Camp Meeting, with the theme, “Earnestly Contend for the Faith”. was preceded by Ministers and Workers’ Conference held on Friday, July 30, 2021.
It would be recalled that the church could not hold the 2020 Camp Meeting physically as a result of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In its place, the church held a “Special Consecration Period” between Sunday August 16 and 30, 2020.
However, the authority of the church is ensuring that this year’s meeting is observed in strict compliance with the Covid-19 protocols of the various governments in the countries of West and Central Africa. Participants of the annual event are expected to use their face masks, wash their hands or use hand sanitizers, when necessary.
The annual camp meetings, which usually held at Faith City, located at Igbesa Area of Ogun State, was decentralized as members were asked to gather at their various zonal, district and regional headquarters, which are allowed to run some basic activities. They are to join the WECA headquarters at Anthony Village, Lagos, virtually for major activities including messages/sermons, concerts and family education, among others.
Welcoming the participants to the event, WECA Acting District Superintendent (DS), Rev. Gabriel Ajayi, thanked God for the demystification of Coronavirus in the world saying, “Last year, we had a Camp Meeting that was totally virtual. There is an improvement this year compared to last year. We pray that if Jesus tarries, we will all gather in Faith City, our camp meeting ground. Though, it is usually a three-week event, this year, we will hold it for two weeks, between Sunday August 1 and 15, 2021. For our web audience, events will be streamed live throughout the camp meeting through http://servicehub.afmweca.com.
The acting DS read goodwill messages from the General Superintendent of the Church, Rev Darrel Lee, the United Kingdom DS, who will be taking over as WECA DS in November, Rev Isaac Adigun, the Vice Chancellor, Crawford University, Igbesa, Prof. Reuben Jiya Kolo and Zacchaeus Oyedokun from Namibia. He noted that goodwill messages were also sent from different parts of the world.
In his sermon anchored on the book of Jude targeted at “believers”, he urged the church to hold firm to sound/biblical doctrines, stressing the importance of preserving and teaching sound doctrines as well as living by them.
Ajayi condemned Christians, who are turning God’s grace to lasciviousness, saying no one could be in sin and expect the grace of God to abound.
He points out that there is no half Christian because it is either one is a Christian or a sinner. “A Christian who commits sin is a sinner. Those Christians, who are committing sins are undermining the power of God in the church and they are Achans. May God restore Achan in Jesus name. Men pleasing Ministry is replacing men pleasing God”, he added.
He said, “We will only preach sound doctrines in Apostolic Faith. We are not after anybody’s money. We will speak the truth, nothing but the truth. By God’s grace, we will not only preach the truth, we will live the truth. We will practice what we preach. A member of Apostolic Church, who is not grounded in sound doctrines is not a member and his name is not in the book of life. You should prove what you preach with the life you live. We will continue to preach the word and live it and do it”.
He condemned members of the church sneaking to other churches that are not preaching sound doctrines.
He charged the leadership of the church to maintain God’s standard in the church stressing, “It is the responsibility of the leadership to make sure the standard does not fall. The doctrine is unblemished and they must make sure that they groom members for heaven. Reprove and rebuke is the duty of leadership. Leadership should live exemplary life. Our leadership should be careful not to allow anybody to pocket them. We should be careful of gifts. If you want to give me gift, put it in the tithe box, it will get to me, don’t bring it to me. Gift blindfold and closes the mouth to speak the truth. Satan wants to destroy the church but he will not succeed”.
Ajayi vowed to preserve the church doctrines handed over to him by his predecessors, who are Rev. Timothy Gbadebo Oshokoya, Rev. Josiah Olubode Soyinka, Paul Akazue and Rev Bayo Adeniran.
His words, “Other religious bodies know that there is power here. Jesus Christ raised Lazarus, who had died and was buried for four days. God raised somebody who had died for four days in this church. I am a witness. When I was living in FESTAC, I brought a dead child to this church and I returned him home alive. We did not want our children to ask where are the miracles that our fathers told us. It is better to lose our lives in Christ than to lose our faith. We will never become a nominal church. God will preserve our sound doctrines”.
