The 61st Delegate Conference of St. Joseph's Chosen Church of God is better witnessed than described. The event which started on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 is witnessing great works of God as the leadership is churning out reforms and restructuring to attract great development in the church for the great
harvest. His Eminence, Apostle Samson Nyeche Ogbu like his usual self on his welcome address to the entire delegates on Friday, February 14, 2025 started with a quote from Douglas Cecil that, “All evangelism is a form of witnessing, but not all
witnessing is a form of evangelism. How we live serves as a foundation for evangelism, not as substitutes.” At this point he appreciated God for His mercies to grant the members the opportunity of converging at the Global headquarters of
the church for this great conference. "It is a new dawn for us and all those who will respond to this clarion call to Kingdom Commitment. As a Church we are grateful to God for sustaining us, even in the midst of spiritual, economic, social and moral crisis that
has bedeviled all aspect of our national lives. The Grace of God has always been sufficient for His people. "Let me appreciate the members of the Ecclesiastical Council, Board of Governors, Ministers Council and the entire members of this Church for their enormous support and courage in making sure the vision and dreams of the Leadership, in line with the purpose of God comes to manifestation," he said. He thanked every member starting from the leadership to all the branches over their commitment to the growth and development of the church. He reminded them of his interactions with God as the year 2023 was winding down. That he sought the face of God for the guiding light for the next year 2024 and was taken to Revelation 3:8 that
eventually became the guiding light for the year 2024 with the theme “A year of Open Door." "The year 2024, the Lord called me and said, if I come today, how many of your members will be Kingdom Candidates, I couldn't answer Him, so He instructed that I should go and raise Kingdom Citizens starting from my Ministers. This revelation therefore, formed the basis for our guiding light for 2025." This led to the theme “A Year of Kingdom Commitment.” “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust...” Matthew 6:33; 1 Timothy 6:20. Today, the Spiritual Leader is committing every member to the virtue of Kingdom Commitment. "It is pleasing God more than anything else. Pleasing God means obeying Him in all things; and doing that which is acceptable in His sight and advancmg His course on
earth," he said. This accordingly he also referred to the views of our Lord Jesus Christ when He said in Matthew 22:37-38 that with every fibre of our being, we must be committed to loving and serving Him. Explaining further the Spiritual Leader said we cannot love God without serving Him quoting Luke 9:23,24 that true commitment to Him is that of self-denial, one must be selfless and ready to serve God. Apostle Ogbu emphasized that from henceforth, more attention will be placed on soul winning and Kingdom expansion. "We shall commit more resources to evangelism and soul winning programs and ensure Kingdom citizens are raised and established for the Master Jesus before He comes. "I encourage all the Ministers and Leaders of this Church to keep the monthly subtitles of our theme for this year, they should form the basis of your messages when organizing your programs and preparing your daily and weekly messages. "I implore you to be teachers of the word and also doers, we must teach and practice what we are teaching, so that those under us will follow. The Lord is calling for Kingdom citizens not worldly minded people," he said. He regretted the retrogressive growth in membership of the Church from the available records. He therefore insisted that the "core assignment is to
bring people into the Kingdom and raise Disciples for Christ, therefore we need to launch into the deep and catch more men for the Lord. "Enough of fishing in shallow waters, all ministers and members of this Church must be involve in soul winning. "Many had left because of change of locations and other factors, we must take the Church closer to the homes of the people, if they don’t come to us, we should go to them with the Gospel," he emphasised. Generally, he saw the year 2024 as an eventful year in all the Regions, Zones and branches as they had their Conventions that recorded great successes, fellowships. "I and my team had an Apostolic Tour to participate in all the Conventions, the climax was the Music Concert - 'The Encounter Season 6.' I congratulate the Supervisors and Heads of the Ministries/Fellowship for their doggedness and commitment towards the work of God," he joyfully said. Apostle Ogbu at this point delved into restructuring of the church since the inception of his Administration two years ago.
He said from National to Branch level has been going through one reform or the other. "Since the beginning of 2024 the following changes in Leadership has been done. The first on the reforms and restructuring is Dissolution of Directorate System. This subsequently is followed by the Appointment of the following National officers and committees: Minister-in-charge of Education & Research Apostle J A. Jacobson; Minister-in-charge of Ecclesiastical Matters/Head, National Prayer
Ministry - Apostle S.N Obasuy; Secretary General - Staff Pastor Elohor Eniwore; Assistant Secretary General - Pastor Akpunku Victor Ikechiuku; Deputy Rector - Staff Pastor Abraham Okevwie; Baptist (Italy Region) - Staff Pastor Joshua Okojie; Assistant Baptist (Italy Region) — Staff Pastor Anthony Aghimien. 3. Counseling and Disciplinary Committee headed by Apostle Desmond Moses. 4. Dissolution and reconstitution of the Ecclesiastical Council and Board of Governors. The Board of Governors now have five standing Committees that advise the Board of Governors on matters relating to their Committees: a. Finance Committee, b. Human Capital and Education Committee, c. Infrastructure Committee, d. Legal Committee, e. Evangelism and Church Growth Committee. Furthermore, the Regions of the Church has been restructured to operate at these levels: i. Branches, ii. Districts, iii. Zones, iv. Regions. The Diaspora branches of the church will now operate as Regions for now. 5. Ministers and workers Grading/ Categorization:The Ministers Cadre in this Church has been graded into twelve levels, namely: (a.) Senior Apostles, (b.) Apostle Grade I, (c.) Apostle Grade II, (d.) Apostle Grade III, (e.) Staff Pastor Grade I, (f.) Staff Pastor Grade lI, (g.) Staff Pastor Grade III, (h.) Pastor Grade I, (i.) Pastor Grade II, (j.) Pastor Grade III, (k.) Associate Pastor, (l.) Minister in Training (MIT), (m.) Fathers and Mothers of Churches. 6. The office of the National Father General and Mother General and their Deputies is for life, but that of Regions and Zones henceforth will serve for three years, if they served well, they can be retained for another three years, and someone will come in. Branch Father and Mother of Church are expected to serve for three years also and can be given another three years opportunity to serve if they did well; after then, they should be appreciated and let another person be given the same opportunity to serve.
The directive also said that with effect from April 01, 2025, no officer will be allowed to double as Branch Father of Church and Zonal/Regional Father General. Likewise, Mother of Church and Zonal/Regional Mother General. Both offices should be separated for effective supervision. The Church according to the Spiritual Leader have some reasons to
also celebrate. "Lord has been very kind and gracious, He is our strong and dependable support system. He has helped us to acquire two storey buildings of four flats each in Benin City, two official vehicles and so many projects in Regions and branches had been attended to by this administration. "The Board of Governor recently approved the installation of solar power system to power the Secretariat, Gateway Bible College hall and the Global Headquarters," All these are marvelous works achieved so far which the Spiritual Leader concluded that God is always at work for His people, may His name be praised. The 61st conference of the Church also had lectures which the Spiritual Leader said will benefit the delegates. "The Theme which is exactly the guiding light of the Church for 2025 was carefully selected with sessions that will enrich your soul and the purpose why you are called from darkness into the marvelous light of God. I trust my God will do unusual miracles in your lives and you will go home blessed," he said. The highlight of the conference would be the ordination of 43 ministers of God. "Also, there will be an ordination of 43 Pastors, and sighting of the Box of Covenant and Prayers, and other exciting moments in the presence of God. I bless you all, you are a wonderful set of people, thank you for being a part of this church. I will not fail to thank all those within and outside Nigeria who partnered with me financially in hosting this Conference without sharing levies to Regions, may God bless you richly," he said. Finally Apostle Ogbu reminded every delegate that St.Joseph's Chosen Church of God is governed by the Holy Ghost which was made manifest through our father the Founder of this Church. "Hold unto your salvation and the fact that the coming of the Lord Jesus is at hand. Preach the gospel and win souls into the Kingdom. Be committed to the Kingdom of God, and fixing your eyes on Him, keep watching unto His coming and let no man deceive you with vain words. "Continue in the faith and in your good works for the Lord, in due season you will be greatly rewarded. Meanwhile the conference started on Tuesday with series of of ministers' meetings where lectures were delivered by various resource persons. On Tuesday, it was arrival of ministers who were billed for a three day meeting. By 4:30pm the Secretary General, Staff Pastor Elohor Eniwore gave a run down on the conference with reference to the time schedules. The Spiritual Leader came up but first with a torching annuncement of the death of one of the Apostle by name Apostle Abraham Amadi. After a one minute silence for the departed. he touched on some issues which were finally made elaborate on Friday which marked the major combined date for every participants. At this point, Apostle Gideon Irerehievwie threw more light on the issue of ministers' reappraisal to evaluate them for more production. That such evaluation would bring the best out of the ministers. He therefore advised all ministers to work as good managers, that the era of fasting and prayers only is gone. He reiterated that every good minister should be equipped with record keeping to record finance, attendance and even the growth of the numerical strength of the church. On Wednesday, 12th of February 2025, proceeding started exactly by 8:00am. Timing is very important to the organisers who kept to time judiciously except where it was altered by the work of Holy Spirit. Four important lectures were delivered by some resource persons viz;"The Kingdom of God explained" by Apostle Joseph Jacobson; "The Gospel of the Kingdom" by Pastor Osayi Okpere; "Kingdom Church" by Apostle Friday Inekhomon and "Kingdom matters" by Staff Pastor Elohor Eniwore. On Thursday the Conference started gathering momentum with the arrival of other delegates. Three lectures were delivered as follows; "Kingdom Stewardship and money" by Apostle Dr. Irerhievwie; "Andropause and Menupause" a health talk by Deaconness Lawani and"A true shepherd" by the Spiritul Leader. This brought the to an end the morning session. Friday, the fourth day of the conference was highly spiritual with the selection of the 'would be ministers'. Despite the tensed selection process, two powerful lectures were also delivered to round up the day. The first lecture was delivered by Apostle Dr. Ken Osanebi, "The Kingdom Agenda" and another motivating lecture by Apostle Issac Akugbo, "Mysteries of the Kingdom"
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