Servant-hearted Leadership Modelled in Lagos!

Posted by Bill on February 18, 2012

“Finishing is better than starting …” (Ecclesiastes 7:8)

Pastor Sam serving his leadership team (standing, wearing white shirt)

The end of year (2011) workers celebration in Lagos was a way of showing gratitude to the Lord for a successful year of laboring in His vineyard. During the celebration, many recounted how the church began with just four leaders, but today, through the activities of their LIFE groups, their leadership had increased to thirty in number – actively doing God`s work with joy and gladness. At his church, they say, “It has been a discipleship made easy with the introduction of cells ministry into the church.

On behalf of the Lord and the pastoral team of the church, Pastor Sam expressed his appreciation of the lay leadership team. He also seized the opportunity to re-emphasise servant-hearted ministry and demonstrated this by serving all present with food and drink. He added that … “The Master expects more of this ministry in the years ahead.” Pastor Sam challenged everyone to take a cue from Godwin Adam’s testimony (see below) of how he served his way to the top of his place of employment within one month of being hired! Pastor Sam said, “The act of service is not limited to the four walls of the church building. By serving, we might win some into the Kingdom.”

When asked what they thought about the celebration, some in attendance commented:

Charles Emmanuel says: A jaw-breaking part of the party was when Pastor Sam removed his jacket and tie, and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to serve the workers their meals and drink. Not only did he do this to show his appreciation for the workers, I believe this was a great way of setting an example to everyone that being a leader was about being a servant. This party also revealed the fact that every worker in Dominion Impact Church is important and special in the household of God. And the fact that someone is delegated to a menial role does not make him/her less important, irrespective of their task.

Bose Adedipe says: Greatness! Greatness! Greatness! Greatness is achieved through service. “Pastor Sam. You are a great model of servant-hearted leadership for us.” The end of the year workers party revealed the character and passion of our leadership to us, more than ever before.

Tayo Olatunji says: One thing that touched me most was the act of service as modeled by my daddy, Pastor Sam. This taught me humility, and the fact that service is not unto those who are older or better than us, but to the less privileged and the down trodden.

Godwin Adam says: Three weeks ago I was here to share my testimony of a new job at the cargo wing of the airport (Lagos). It happened that one of my senior colleagues asked me to sweep the floor of our Director`s office. I did the sweeping with joy, despite the duty being outside of my job description. I swept the floor, and went further by re-arranging the scattered office and placed things in order. Our Director later came into his office with his close friend (who has a good knowledge of how this office used to be in disarray). This friend congratulated my boss on the new-look office. Our Director asked who had tidied his office. When he learnt it was me, he immediately handed to me the keys to the warehouse and also the company`s accounting records, making me the company`s accountant and warehouse manager! Even when I said that I knew nothing about accounting, he simply said, “You are the right guy for these two positions. I give praise to God.

Friends, there are many in the church that are called ‘leader’- it’s their office. However, many of these ‘so called’ leaders have no idea what leadership means, and how to go about it. Jesus modeled leadership to the Church and the un-churched (Mark 10:43-45). Christian leadership is all about influencing others in the right way. Service is that way! Thank you, Pastor Sam, for modeling right leadership to us.

Bill

Food Drive, Nigeria … A great success!

Posted by Bill on February 4, 2012

The Lord is busy at work through His faithful people at Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria. CCI is glad to be partnering with Dominion Impact Church (Pastor Elijah and Pastor Kola).

I hope your spirit will be encouraged and strengthened as you read the following report from Pastor Elijah in Lagos.

Dear Friends,

Hunger, nakedness, illness, homelessness, oppression and the likes characterises the environment in which we live and minister every day in Lagos and Ibadan.

God hasn’t given the ultimate solution to our government. But to the church, the Lord has commissioned us to take charge of the situation and occupy/take territories from the enemy, for His kingdom. Most churches around us have neglected this holistic ministry of meeting the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of the people. But as God gives His grace to Dominion Impact Church at Lagos and Ibadan, we want to make a difference in the lives of many needy people.

“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me” (Matthew 25:35-36).

Moved with compassion for our people, Dominion Impact Church, through its Life-groups in Lagos and Ibadan, sought to fulfill the above Scripture by embarking on ambitious ‘reaching out in love’ exercises within the New Oko-Oba and Challenge communities. This outreach was targeted at meeting some basic needs in the homes of the less-privileged. To us, it was a way of demonstrating the love of Christ in a practical way to people who don’t know Him. Christmas time, we believe, is an ideal time to do to this.

The Food Drive was carried out at Lagos and Ibadan, on the 18^th and 22^nd of December, 2011. The careful choice of food items was also necessary because of the Christmas and New Year festive season. We engaged our Street Kids (one of our Life groups) in our outreach strategy as a means of touching hearts. After the food drive, we saw that many homes had opened up to the gospel. Parents came and showed their appreciation to us, and it was a perfect opportunity to present the Lord to them.

We are grateful to you for your prayer support and for helping us to finance this outreach opportunity. Our food drive was a great success! The pictures were taken at our Ibadan Church food drive.

We love you
Pastor Elijah
Dominion Impact Church

Thank you for your valued partnership. If you would like to support the work of Dominion Impact Church in Nigeria, please just click on the PayPal button below.

CCI takes no fees or charges from your donation. The amount you send, less only what PayPal charges us, will be sent to Dominion Impact Church.

“Reaching Out” … Our usual practice!

Posted by Bill on November 26, 2011

Reaching “in” and “out” with the love of Christ is the heart-beat of healthy small groups. Loving one another in the church, and loving those with whom we associate outside the church is concrete proof that we are disciples of Jesus Christ (John 13:34, 35). In many churches, there’s too much talk of love, and not enough action. This is not the case, however, regarding a small church in Lagos, Nigeria – Dominion Impact Church. Here in the “City of Excellence” this church is making a difference by ministering in a most excellent way … the way of practical love. Pastor Elijah Samuel, CCI’s associate director for Africa, says …

A social gathering was organised by our small group to celebrate a few family members in our church, those who are less privileged than most. We aimed at making these people see what our church family is like and to help them experience a sense of “belonging” to the rest of the church family.

We did things that families would normally do in common, such as sharing food, having fun, and fellowship. We also gave out gifts to these people. This time was so impacting we have planned to do this again during the Christmas season for our neighbouring community. “Reaching out” with the love of Christ has become our usual practice.

Small Groups Teaching in Nigeria

Posted by Bill on August 1, 2011

How fortunate we are to have Elijah Samuel, a mighty man of God, serving on our team as Director of Small Groups Development for Africa. He is gifted, humble, passionate and hardworking. Small Groups Development is what African churches need. The following is a report from Elijah. read on →

A vision of visions 2 – Lagos, the ‘Centre of Excellence’

Posted by Bill on July 25, 2011

Yep, the ‘Centre of Excellence’ is the slogan for the amazing city of Lagos in Nigeria where Bill and I arrived on May 6, just after lunch, and stepped out into a brick wall of humidity!

Our brother and CCI’s Field Director for Africa, Pastor Elijah Samuel, gave us this wonderful feedback and testimony on our visit.

There were no better times than May 2011 for the much anticipated visit of Cells-church Consultants International to our Lagos and Ibadan church. The meetings were well publicised and attendance at the two location were very encouraging.

Bill and Nick came to Nigeria with the aim at strengthening our ministry and empowering me as the African Field Director for CCI, to take more of the land for the Kingdom through the small groups’ development ministry.

The team arrived in Lagos on May 6th and started training of church pastors and leaders on Saturday May 7th. This training session went for 7-hours and was strengthened with power point presentation (which made it much easier to communicate the simple message of small group ministry to the audience). The training session was also interactive. The participants were allowed to share their new understanding. Amazingly people rose-up to air their views, and thanked Bill for coming to equip and empower them.

Sunday 8th May was a Cells-Celebration worship service where several testimonies on cells activities were received from members. One common feature of all the testimonies heard was that of answers to prayers in the entire small group operated by the church. This gave us the confidence and assurance that God is with us during our small group activities as much as He is with us during the celebration service. Thus cells and celebration is meant to compliment each other.

We would like to share the testimony of a member by name: Friday Adams. He is presently a cell pastor and our youth leader. He got married late last year and he and his wife are expecting their first child this year. Friday used to be a non-believer (the type who doesn’t like meeting with pastors, because he avoids being preached to or invited to a church service). Pastor Elijah is a regular visitor to his compound, ministering to others. On each visit, Friday would go into hiding in his bedroom, waiting for Elijah to leave before coming out.

However, one day, things didn’t go as Friday had planned. He met with Elijah and that was the day that the salvation of God came into his life. He accepted Jesus into his life and joined he church. Elijah listened to Friday’s story of his endless search for a good job, without success. He had visited several shrines and practiced fetish things to get a job but all to no avail. Elijah prayed with him and promised that the church would assist. With God, and through His church, Friday in less than six month of staying in fellowship with God secured a good job in a private cargo clearing and forwarding company. Friday loves his work so much, and is disciplined and dedicated to his duties. This led the management of the company to honor him with a company car, two years later. The pictures show Friday with Lydia his beautiful wife. And him alone, dancing at the altar, during a worship service.

Elijah Samuel

You can read more about Dominion Impact Church in Nigeria, and some of the other amazing things that God is doing in Africa on a new website, ‘Africa for the Kingdom‘

Please prayerfully consider making a donation to support Pastor Elijah ministry in Nigeria. Your gifts for this ministry go towards providing a permanent internet service for the church and the pastor (about $300 set up plus $1,100 per year subscription); rresources (food, clothing, etc.) for community outreach groups, reaching out to women, orphans, the unemployed and illiterate and to support small groups training courses for in-church leaders and other churches in the community.You can do this right now simply by clicking on the PayPal button below.