ANNUAL PROGRAMMES
- First Fruit Offering
- Rally/Crusade
- Redemption Thanksgiving
- Harvest/Bazaar Thanksgiving
- Camp Meeting
FIRST FRUIT PROGRAM
Amen community first fruits offering
First fruit program is one of the community’s cardinal programs held every year. This is held at the beginning of the year and is always the first program of the year. The program is in response to the Lord’s command as Exodus 23:19 puts it “The first of the firstfruit of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord…” Again, in Proverbs 3:9, the Bible says “Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruit of your increase”. Obedience to this command has without doubt opened the doors of the financial increase and exploits to the community members. Proverb 3:10 says “How good it is for us to obey this command so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine”. So far, God has been very faithful to His promises that is why the community has dedicated every last week of the month of January to teach on this subject which after, we all proceed to the church to offer our first fruit offering at the last Sunday of the same month. We hereby appeal that you join us in this exercise in the subsequent years and be part of the numerous blessings the Lord has promised.
Meanwhile, a first fruit is the initial gain or profit one derives from his ventures that increases him/her. The first of all your produce; therefore, we offer our first fruit in obedience to God’s command and to ensure a continuous flow of income for the expansion of the work of God; Also, to appreciate God for delivering us from the past wilderness of afflictions, lack and slavery. Again, we offer our first fruit to honor God as the maker and giver of wealth.
ANNUAL RALLY / CRUSADE
The Lord said in Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth”. By this great commission, the Holy Spirit has already been sent to us and we have received Him in fullness and manifest His gifts and fruits in our lives. However, we were saved to save others, empowered to power others and blessed to bless as many as are found within our reach.
Amen Community annual rally or crusade is one to be compared with none. Talking about the planning, the sponsoring and hosting, the uncountable crowd that attends it from both within and outside our jurisdiction, the manifestation of God’s glory, miracles, healings and testimonies that abounds, the seasoned ministers both locally and imported that are featured as well as the peaceful environment and many more, are the things that have made it to be unique. It is noteworthy to state here that people of divers religion and denomination have embrace this program and through it, many have been saved and many more renewed and revived.
The essence of this program is to witness for Jesus both in our families, communities, market places, Local Government Area, the State, the Nation and every other place we could reach. Our rally usually holds for five (5) days within the months of August and October.
Beloved, we beseech you to be part of this soul winning outreach to save the unsaved and reach the unreached. This is the heartbeat of God that all may repent and come to the knowledge of God. Jesus is Lord forever. Join us as we host this program annually.
REDEMPTION THANKSGIVING
This is yet another major thanksgiving program that takes place in the community annually. With heart full of praises, we sincerely adore the Lord who has bestowed profound wisdom upon the leadership of the community from the inception till date. Through this wisdom, God has given us insight and direction on how best to serve Him and achieve success in all ramifications of life. It takes a soul that was previously lost but later found; someone who was blind and dead before but is seeing now and is also full of life to understand a bit of redemption that Jesus brought to human race.
The fall of man through the sin of disobedience, banished man out of God’s presence and cut him off from the inheritance of Son ship. Man was sent into the wilderness of struggles, pain, sorrow, unfruitfulness and death. This hopeless state of man lasted for ages until the coming of Jesus the only begotten Son of God who came and redeemed us from our damnation. Redemption means repayment of the principal amount of a debt or security at or before maturity. The debt which we owned but could not pay, Jesus paid it for us and repurchased us back from the devil, set us free from the dominion of evil and sin and brought us back to the plan of God. The book of Eph 1:7-11 puts it thus “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace …… in Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will”
Redemption thanksgiving is usually held within the middle of the year depending on other programs of both the community and the Parish. Therefore we urge you to join us as we celebrate this our enviable redemption which we have in Christ Jesus. Remember, it is your duty to accept the gift of redemption Jesus brought to human race for God so loves the world that he gave us His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18
ANNUAL CAMP MEETING/ BETHEL ENCOUNTER
The quest for our spiritual growth cannot be emphasized. The second coming of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ is imminent; as such we should get ourselves ready and spotless to meet him. The book of Mark 6:30-32 recorded thus “Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them “come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” for there were many coming and going and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves”.
Looking at the busyness of life and its unavoidable challenges, one could say that stress has become one of the challenges we face even as Christians. That was what the disciples encountered such that they could not even have time to eat let alone refresh themselves spiritually. Even Jesus saw the need for retreat and spiritual refreshment and that is what we do as a community during our Bethel encounter.
Bethel encounter is an annual camping program that takes place every December. Prior to this program, a 21day fasting and prayers with other spiritual exercises are observed. The community goes as far as the Redemptorist Spirituality centre located at Agbara axis of Ogun State for this spiritual exercise. The venue is indeed a deserted area where members forgets the busy and stressful daily life and waits on the Lord for fresh outpouring. It used to be a weekend event which starts on Friday night and expires on Sunday morning with a Holy mass.
In Bethel Encounter, participants are expected to take stock of their lives for the year and discover the areas of amendments and improvements. Our anointing service as well as the declaration of the coming year’s theme and focus all takes place in the Bethel Encounter. Space will not permit us to record the testimonies and experiences of the previous years. But in all, we give God all the glory and ask you to be part of us both in this year’s Bethel Encounter and the subsequent ones. May God bless you as you keep the program with us in Jesus name. Amen