A church family built on grace

In the summer of August 1998, I came back to Nigeria from Italy in order to process a travel visa for my wife to join me in Italy. I joined the RCCG, the then Love Assembly Parish — now Victory House Festac Town — at 24th Road, Festac Town, Lagos, with my wife who was already a member as of then.

The late Pastor Biyi Owolabi was the area pastor there. He and other ministers conducted our marriage counselling for almost two months and then our wedding on the 5th October 1998, on a Monday morning, with about seven people in attendance. After we had secured my wife’s visa, on a particular Sunday after service we went to see late Pastor Biyi Owolabi in his office to also thank him for all his caring and prayers for us. It just happened that Pastor Musa Bako and his wife, who had come from Germany, were there also in his office — we did not know them then — and other pastors were there too.

Pastor Biyi Owolabi asked us to kneel down and all the pastors circled around us and started praying. While they were praying, the late Pastor Owolabi said that there was a prophecy — that God was opening a door for RCCG mission to Italy, and that God wanted to send us to start it. We said Amen, but did not really understand what it meant at the time.

Before we travelled back to Italy, late Pastor Owolabi prayed for us again and encouraged us to go and start a house fellowship or anything, and that they would see how to help us. When we came back to Italy, it took a little while for me to be able to talk to the pastor of my former church — Pastor Joe Decker of Christ Peace and Love Church — about what God wanted us to do, because he had a lot of trust and dependency on me with regards to the responsibilities I had been given.

By 1999, after we had our first son, we started the first RCCG house fellowship centre in Italy in my house in a small town, Cologne Brescia. By 2000, we had gathered a considerable number of members, so we decided to rent a small place in Brescia city, Italy. Lewis Enwegbara used to visit Italy for business — late Pastor Owolabi asked him, on my request, to be taking us on Workers in Training teaching any time he came around, which he did a couple of times as he visited.

By 2001, the RCCG Italy mission was officially commissioned by Pastor Brown Oyitso, who had by then taken over from the late Pastor Owolabi. The Love Assembly Festac then became a zonal headquarters and was later named Victory House. Lewis Enwegbara eventually stayed back and became Italy national coordinator.

From 2001, the church in Italy gradually began to grow and expanded to different cities and states. By the time we were relocating to the United Kingdom in 2012, we had been part of the planting of about 31 parishes of RCCG in Italy. Just about the time we were to leave for the UK, I received an email from Pastor Dele Olowu, the then Regional Coordinator for Europe Mainland, appointing me to be a coordinating pastor to Portugal. I painfully explained to him about our concluded journey to the UK. We left Italy for the UK with a very heavy heart.

By the time we were relocating to the United Kingdom in 2012, we had been part of the planting of about 31 parishes of RCCG in Italy.

We were leaving the work and the people we loved for the unknown. We refused that any form of send-off or gift be done for us — till date. Though we could hardly feed ourselves then, the Italy mission was part of our heart.

After we left Italy, for a long period of time I could not gather myself to do anything. Later I started an NGO called Hope-Day Global Foundation, which took me to Nigeria, still looking for what God may want me to do. I ventured into business too — we had a cosmetic retail outlet at Tradefair Market Balogun, God also helped us to build a paint factory in Ijepu-Lekki Lagos, we also built our own house, and I wrote and published two books titled “Rudiments of a Believer’s Authority” and “The Voice of Hope”. Even in those confusions, God was helping us.

We thank God for Pastor Oyitso Brown who advised me to go back and start a parish in the UK, which we did. Miraculously, once again God positioned Pastor Musa Bako, who assisted us immensely with the start-up of the parish — RCCG Grace Assembly Dinnington. In just a few years now, God has been gracious to us and the parish is growing gradually. In just about 10 years, God has helped us buy our own church property.

In just about 10 years, God has helped us buy our own church property.

RCCG Grace Assembly Church has the most wonderful families in our church community and amazing ministers and workforce. Nothing can be better than serving God through this great platform — The Redeemed Christian Church of God.

I had never thought that anyone could be interested in our story and our little journey. We thank God for His love and ever-faithfulness, and we hope to be able to do more for God for all He has done for us and our families.