By Philips Robinson-Adefioye, UK
It was celebration galore at The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Divine Revelation Parish Liverpool, United Kingdom as the parish clocked 18 years.
The celebration theme tagged: “Now I am Lifted” was picked from the book of Psalms 2:3, saw hundreds of people who trouped out in numbers from nocks and craning of Liverpool to grace the occasion.
Prior to the celebration, the parish fondly called DRL declared a week of fasting and prayer and on the eve of the major event the presence of God was brought down through praise, worship and the word from the throne of Grace to show God’s appreciation.
The guest minister, Pastor Kolawole Olawale Hamzat, the Pastor in charge of RCCG ‘Pathfinder Parish and Assistant Zonal Pastor in Manchester described the 18th year celebration as the Lord’s doing pointing out that a heart of thanksgiving will prompt God to do more.
Pastor Hamzat, formerly an Islamic cleric hinted that it had been challenging at the beginning but the church scaled through, therefore the congregation have every cause to thank God for tremendous sustenance and increase.
In his words: “This is the Lord’s doing, I am very happy and I want to thank God for what God is doing in Divine Revelation for using our dear Pastor and the wife to foster His Kingdom in the City of Liverpool.
“Looking behind, it was not an easy task most especially in UK, where there were ups and down but they did not allow the mountains before them to shift their focus, they held on to God’s promises and here we are to return the glory to God for being there all along”.
Hamzat, a professional Accountant/Banker and author who has written some inspiring life changing books emphasized that the church should not rest on her oars while urging the body of Christ to forge ahead to win more souls through evangelism and also pray for the land of UK for revival.
” The church will definitely do more through evangelism to win more souls for Christ and we must not forget to pray for the United Kingdom for revival and that God should heal the land”. He stated.
The host, Pastor Jacob Oluwabiyi expressed his gratitude to God for bringing the church thus far.
Pastor Oluwabiyi in an exclusive interview with www.sunrisetimes.com.ng stressed that the celebration was beyond what he envisaged saying the members came out in their unusual, to make the anniversary a unique one, after the COVID 19 pandemic.
The charismatic preacher hinted that the anniversary Theme: ‘Now I am Lifted ‘ was given by God and indeed the presence of the Most high moved mightily during the event and it has been testimonies all the way after the anniversary.
Oluwabiyi, a surgeon by profession said the history of RCCG, Divine Revelation Parish cannot be complete without mentioning or giving kudos to the foundational members and every other member that became part of the parish there after stressing that it was a huge challenge in the beginning.
“It’s been a long journey but we thank God that He granted us favour, it was an amazing celebration. it was beyond what I envisaged, every member really contributed towards the celebration because it was a memorable one, something we’ve not done before, after COVID 19 pandemic , that was one of the major celebrations we did and that is why we knew that it is God that wants us to do it and that is the reason God gave us the Theme: ‘Now I am lifted’ and indeed we can see the hand of God from the testimonies that have been coming in this 18th year anniversary but the celebration is awesome, all glory to God.
“No way the history of the parish will be complete without talking about the foundational members, I am very grateful to them.
“It’s being a huge challenge, I remember when we have to carry loudspeaker on our head, and we took the pulpit to the back of my van perpetually. The first pulpit of the church, I constructed it myself .
“ God has been amazing as the finance increases we started to change things.
“We also have challeges moving from one place to other especially in this culture that we are into. When it comes to the Pentecostal church, its not what they encourage. We have to be moving from one Pub to other, one location to another, it was up to five different locations before we got where we are presently” Said Oluwabiyi .
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Organising Committee of the Parish 18th anniversary celebration, Davis Ehigiator said the event was huge success hinting that it was the first time event of such magnitude will take place under open heaven during the anniversary.
Mr Ehigiator said there is always a new innovation and thank God for togetherness and love in God’s presence.
“I really thank God for the success of the event and to my subordinates, without them we wouldn’t had experienced a splendid outdoor celebration”. He said.
