By Philip Robinson- Adefioye, UK
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Divine Revelation Parish, Liverpool, United Kingdom, celebrated its 17th years of existence in 2023.
The celebration sermon titled: “His Banner over me is love”, guest speaker of the day Pastor Gustaf Du Plessis of the Living Stone International Church admonished the church members to imbibe the spirit of love, according to him the Divine Revelation parish is what it is today because of the genuine love the Parish pastor and his wife has for God and His work.
Pastor Du Plessis emphasised that the church should be a warrior of praise pointing out that praising God is the heart of thanks giving.
“Our weapon is that we should be a warriors of praise and show love in action and practical without that we are hypocrites.
“We should love God and people sincerely not by mouth but from the bottom of our hearts. Though it is not easy to love, although there are some funny attitudes among some church members but that shouldn’t make us to stop loving”, Du Plessis advised.
While encouraging the Parish to intensify its relationship with God he admonished the youths to beware of lusting after the things of the world.
Meanwhile the Area Pastor of Divine Revelation Pastor and Pastor in Charge, Jacob Olufemi Oluwabiyi described the 17 years of the parishjourney thus far as a huge task and far from a smooth sail.
Pastor Oluwabiyi in an exclusive interview with www.sunrisetimes.com.ng hinted that the word smooth or easy was not what the church went through in the early days. He said as a matter of fact the journey was filled with challenges, the days of weeping, pains and disappointments was greater than the days of smiling and laughter and indeed that is the evidence that God is in this business.
His words: “The word smooth can never withstand the things we’ve gone through, it was never smooth, it was filled with ups and downs and difficulties. The days of weeping, pains and disappointments were more than the days of smiling and laughter but in all that is the evidence that God is in this business.
“Our father in the Lord, the General Overseer Pastor E.A Adeboye in the school of discipleship said once you are a disciple, you are noted in ‘hell’ ,those are the indicators to tell us that indeed we are doing the work but it was never smooth from day One, 6th of August 2006 till now”.
The Clergy who also narrated other challenges they encountered said moving from one place to another in search for a place to worship affected the member’s attendance. According to him some of the members stopped attending church services .
According to Oluwabiyi, the parish had some whites and Caucasians in the past but they left because they couldn’t identify with the mode of worship.
” Being a new church our own part of worship was what they couldn’t identify with, they left some still stayed for a while but there is always challenges, we could not hide it even though we tried to be politically correct, the whites and blacks it was huge challenge then and being a new church we could not retain them but thank God for conferences and seminars now we are more knowledgeable, we know the exact thing to do to ensure that everyone feels included or feel they belong in the assembly”.
While emphasizing on God’s goodness, Pastor Oluwabiyi since the commencement of the parish journey, Pastor Oluwabiyi thanked his wife for being there for him at all times adding that she has been a pillar of support.
