“God sent you to this city with a key agenda. God sent you to bless this city because he is going to so bless you that the overflow of what He does to you will bring joy to the city.” – (Late) Pastor Ina.
Founded on 11th April 1993 in Abuja by Pastors Inalegwu and Sarah Omakwu, a young couple who had travelled to USA in 1984/1985 respectively for further studies in preparation for full time ministry. Before their return to Nigeria in September 1992, Pastor Ina who had always thought the ministry will be established in Kaduna, received instruction from God to start the Church in Abuja: the new state capital declared in 1976, but the movement of the seat of government from Lagos was declared in December 1991; although a well-planned city in comparison to her predecessor city, Lagos, she experienced an influx of people which led to considerably high cost of living.
The couple started off the ministry by organizing a marriage seminar in a 1000-capacity hall, Sheraton Hotel but about 20 people showed up. At the end of the seminar, it was announced that Church would begin on Sunday, 11th April 1993 and the first service had 47 members in attendance.
Undeterred, the couple continued to preach the gospel using the care group model they had experienced during their stay in USA, precisely while studying at Regent University. According to Pastor Sarah Omakwu, they had joined Rock Church, attended their Beginners Class for 13 weeks but were not known by the congregation. This became obvious when they were financially stranded and needed money to pay their electricity bills, but help wasn’t forthcoming from the Church; so, they were advised to go to a nearby Church – Kempsville Presbyterian Church (KPC).
“…when we needed money for electricity, they (Rock Church) couldn’t help us. Somebody told us to go to KPC where they helped us, they paid all our light bill, without us being members but just knowing that we were international students in Regent University.
The concept of caring began from the loneliness and seclusion we felt in Rock Church and the acceptance we felt in KPC: ‘two weeks of coming to the Church, the Pastor and his wife invited us to their house for dinner.’ That was amazing, we learnt to love people. The Pastor (of KPC) told Pastor Ina to start from care groups.”
This advice of care groups proved helpful in Abuja because most of the members were not used to that concept. In Pastor Sarah’s words: “They had never seen a church where the Pastor gave away money or helped people. They saw a young Church that was giving rather than asking.”
Within the span of 5 years, the 47-member Church had outgrown the hotel halls which led to the construction of her $10 million sanctuary in 1998 at Wuye, Abuja. The building was completed in 2002 and dedicated in May 2003. At the time of her dedication, it was then called the most beautiful church facility in Nigeria.
The Church’s vision is ‘to build a church where people will come together to worship God and demonstrate His transforming love to man in order to make him an agent of that love’ with a goal to nurture a Bible based church that will demystify complex Bible theories and discourage over dependence on the ‘Man of God’. With a strong focus to be a Jesus centered church that is Spirit filled, brimming with radical love, commitment, loyalty, dependability and companionship; Family Worship Centre is heavy on supporting widows, orphans, evangelism missions in Northern Nigeria while proffering practical solutions to life challenges.
Just like the grain of Mustard seed, Family Worship Centre has continued to grow and in 2012 other branches were planted in the suburban districts in Abuja, first in Nyanya while Kubwa, Lugbe, Gwagwalada, Karu were planted in subsequent years. As at 2017, the Church had 13,000 regular members within Abuja metropolis.
Sources: Family Worship Centre Documentary, Family Worship Centre’s Page, Oral Roberts University Spring 2004 Newsletter, WAFBEC 2017 Page, Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture
#FamilyWorshipCentre
#ChurchOfTheWeek
#ChurchGist
Join any of our Telegram Channels.
t.me/ChurchGist
t.me/CGWitness
Leave a comment Here OR any of these platforms:
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/therealchurchgist/
Twitter
https://twitter.com/therealchurchg1
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEcolEnQjmehziQQPOcHSeA/
YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD_X0B5RIRkgN5m05DS-8eg/
