Taiwo Olanrewaju, Doyin Adeoye and Sopulu Amaechina report the Foursquare Gospel Church's women annual June rally held at the Foursquare Camp, Ajebo, Ogun State.THE women of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria launched their international annual June rally for the year, at the Foursquare City, Ajebo, Ogun State, on Wednesday, June 27th.Themed 'The God of all possibilities', the three day rally kicked off with different programmes on Wednesday, like prayer sessions, thanksgiving, praise and worship, and the likes.In the welcome address, Chairperson, Deaconess Gbemi Ajayi expressed her appreciation to God for making this year's rally a reality, 'Our God has been gracious to us in times past and He has dealt wonderfully with us on this great mountain. Our gathering this year shall record great and higher testimonies in Jesus name, Amen.'The wife of the General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev (Mrs)Meduoye in her speech, emphasised the challenges of parenting in the 21st century, 'Parents are facing great challenges because of increasing social, economic, and environmental situations in the world. But you and I with the help of God's words, the Holy Spirit and ceaseless prayers, can build strong relationships with our children that will help them towards a good relationship with God and have a fulfilled life'. She further highlighted that stability in marriage, consistent family altars, giving attention to the children, regular attendance at church services, among other factors, were the ingredients for good parenting.General Overseer of the church, Rev Felix Meduoye, also expressed his appreciation to God, 'I want to appreciate God for the glowing testimonies that have attended this event over the years and I'm really glad that the hand of the Almighty God is visible in our midst'. The theme of the rally, 'God of all possibilities', according to him, was timely, instructive and is very relevant, 'the present world is full of challenges, and in the midst of these negative trends, it is important for us as Christians to be reminded that we serve the God of all possibilities.'In his sermon, titled 'Spiritual cleansing that makes impossibilities to be possible', the G.O explained that it would not take God seconds to answer prayers, but just that God looked for the people that were ready for their prayers to be answered.' He further emphasised that sin was a stumbling block, adding,'If we want God to sprinkle clean waters or for the heavens to be opened, we must be ready to pray, to forgive, to reconcile and to restitute, for us to have a better relationship with God.'In an interview, Rev Ben Taiwo, the district overseer for the Foursquare Gospel Church, FESTAC District in Lagos, expressed that, 'The rally is to minister to women and to reach out to them for salvation, deliverance, healing, and miracles, and we thank God he has been doing great things in our midst, as it has always been testimonies galore' In a chat with the General Overseer's wife, on the second day of the rally, Thursday, 28th June, she shared the inspiration for the theme, 'the theme is based on faith, so that people's problem can be solved while they listen to the word for the restoration of their faith.' When asked how people had been transformed so far in the course of the rally, she said, 'Part of the transformation is for people to hear the word. When you hear the word of God, you submit to it, repent from your sins, and then transformation will take place. The Lord has always been with us as testimonies abound.'Led by the National Foursquare Women International President, Deaconess Ruth Ayeni, the women built a large dormitory which was commissioned by the General Overseer. In a chat with her, she expressed her emotions. 'I feel so very happy today for the success of this rally. What inspired the construction of this dormitory, is that anytime we come for the rally each year, we always face accommodation problems, and so we decided to use out of our little offerings and proceeds from the subsequent June rallies, to come up with something to ease the stress, and I feel great today, because the Lord moved with us.'However, the grand finale of the 2012 June rally of the Foursquare women was a tripartite programme which featured a thanksgiving service, an Alabaster service and a Holy Communion service.The special service, which kicked off at about 7 p.m featured over 100 women, who came to thank God for the gifts of their children and to dedicate them to Him.The women, drawn from the various districts of the church in Nigeria, came out to offer special thanks-offering to God; while some sang, some rolled on the floor while others shared the miraculous stories of their childbirth; all in appreciation of God's goodness to them.The women, who have been married between the space of one to 21 years had many tales to tell. Of course, it was a beautiful rendition of songs in various languages in Alto, Soprano, Bass and Treble voices to the glory of God.Of note however, is the fact that about 10 per cent of the thanksgiving women were praying for other women who had delay in conceiving when God answered their prayers for the women they prayed for and for themselves.The auditorium, which was filled to capacity with about 10,000 women in attendance from Nigeria, Cote D'Ivoire, Republic of Benin and Togo, roared in thunderous shouts of praise as each of the over 100 women gave their testimonies.In accordance with last year's theme, 'Divine Settlement,' the Lord settled divinely, a woman who had been married since 1991 and was eventually delivered of a baby in May this year. The woman was not in attendance but her sister-in-law, who had stood in the gap for her, shared the testimony.Also, a woman, whose husband stood in for her, and another, whose mother stood in for her at the 2011 June rally, got their miracle babies, while another woman, who named her baby David, said she actually delivered her baby dead, but the Lord revived him.Of importance were the cases of two women; one of who had experienced several miscarriages and bled from Thursday till Sunday before having her baby prematurely, the doctor, midwife and nurse who had fussed over her were not around when she delivered herself of her baby. 'It was the God of Foursquare who delivered me safe and sound,' she said. The other woman, Mrs Tonfa Victoria, a photographer from Abeokuta District, had had three children, but they all died one after the other. She, thus, prayed to God, requesting for triplets at 2011 June rally. The Lord granted her request and gave her heart desire ' two girls and a boy.During the children's dedication, the General Overseer of the church, Reverend Felix Meduoye, said the dedication of a child would not make the child a Christian, but that it was done in accordance to the Bible, so that God would care for the children.While the children were prayed for to remain in the Lord's path throughout their life times, the G.O requested that God would provide over 200 children for women in need of children next year, even as he emphasised multiple births.The Alabaster service was the peak of the programme and as one of the church's member from Alaka District explained to the Nigerian Tribune, it was a time to bring the special annual offering of women, district by district, into the presence of God in beautiful offering boxes tagged Alabaster.Each woman is taxed N1 per day, amounting to N365 or N366 per year, but which is rounded up to N400 per woman. So, the offering of a district is N400 multiplied by the number of women in the district.Packaged in white envelopes, the offering is neatly placed in the Alabasters, which came in the form of finely decorated bowls, fish, vases, crown, house and lots of beautifully designed works of art.The money, the Alaka District woman said, is used to beautify the church or construct a structure.Rather than allow the 62 Districts of the church to bring their Alabaster offering one by one as is the usual practice, the districts were grouped into regions to save time. So, the Mid-West, South East, South South, Middle Belt, Northern Region, Lagos Area, Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode, Ilorin and Oyo; Ilaro, Sango-Ota, Abeokuta; Akure, Okiti Pupa and Osogbo; the men in the church and the women from the neighbouring countries displayed their various Alabasters, unique songs and dance steps in honour of God while a woman played the talking drum with dexterity.Like David, some members joined each of the groups to dance from the entrance of the auditorium to the altar.Earlier, the chairman, 2012 June Rally, Mrs Ruth Ayeni, had through Sister Modupe Adams, raised some money. The women actually needed to raise N50 million for the building of a structure. Adams noted that raising the money amongst the Foursquare women, was an opportunity for them to do business with God and flourish in life.In her Alabaster message, Deaconess Olueze Charity, enjoined the women to allow Jesus to flow through them. Quoting from John chapter 12: verse 1'8, the Deaconess asked the women what God's opinion was about them.After the Holy Communion service, in which all present partook, the tripartite service was rounded off with prayers by the G.O at about 6.50 a.m.
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