Apapa Family’s Soulful Gift to LASUTH
Zik Zulu Okafor writes on how Apapa Family of the Redeemed Christian Church of God is touching the lives of people through the art of sacrificial giving
The Apapa Family of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), is sending a quiet but clear message to the world. In spiritual intercession and Christian social responsibility, the art of sacrificial giving.
Their huge strides, in the health, and spiritual cum political goals in June 2017 alone, are eloquent testimonies to this solemn statement. And while one happened in Nigeria, the other was enacted in London. Yes, Apapa Family has parishes in all the continents of the world including Africa, Europe, USA, Asia and Oceania, plus 1,500 parishes in Nigeria.
Let us start with the first event in Nigeria. This is the upgrading and equipping of an Intensive Care Unit, ICU, of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), by the Apapa Family, RCCG, which it donated free of charge to LASUTH on Sunday, June 4, 2017 as a climax to Excel 2017.
The state-of-the- art equipment which the Family brought the top class, corporate giant, General Electric, to supply include 5,000 ICU Beds, four Alpha-Active Mattresses, B-Braun Infusion Pumps, Syringe Pumps, Multi-Parameter Patient Monitors and Beside-Lockers.
For Apapa Family which marked 10 years of Excel, a programme that brings all its parishes together annually for prayers, and music ministration, the donation to LASUTH is a continuation of its fervent passion to support the cause of humanity. This they have done gallantly investing billions of naira in areas of health, poverty alleviation, education, and provision of social amenities.
Speaking after the inauguration of the ICU, named after Pastor Enoch Adeboye and his wife, Pastor Folu Adeboye, the Director, Clinical Services, Dr. Ayoade Adedokun, who represented the Chief Medical Director, Professor Adewale Oke, urged well-meaning Nigerians and corporate organisations to emulate the amazing gesture of Apapa Family.
The General Overseer, Pastor Adeboye, also present at the inauguration ceremony, visibly elated by this awesome humanitarian effort of his church, prayed for “the inauguration of this centre to be a turning point for the better not only in the hospital but all hospitals across the state and to the entire workforce of LASUTH.”
But while Apapa Family and Excel were busy showcasing excellence in spirit and in flesh through prayers and practical hope for mankind with the donation to LASUTH, on June 4, a parish of the Family, Jesus House, was also making strides in their core area of spirituality, praying for a nation and raising hope for peace and political stability in London in the same week.
The event that heralded these ecstatic rendezvous of prayer and teachings was the 21-day Pursuit of God Conference. The forerunner and precursor of the prayer to come was the Prime Minister of United Kingdom, the Right Honourable Theresa May, who paid a visit to this Apapa Family Parish, in Brent Cross, North London. It was one visit that arrested the focus of London and made a huge statement about the rising profile of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
Then on the 8th day of the annual programme, the event attained the peak of spiritual height in London as the highly revered Archbishop of Canterbury, the Senior Bishop and Principal Leader of the Church of England and symbolic Head of Anglican Communion, worldwide, The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, accompanied by his wife, visited and led a prayer session in Jesus House Parish of Apapa Family.
Indeed, Jesus House’s Pursuit of God Conference this year was linked with up with the Church of England’s Thy Kingdom Come global prayer initiative in which hundreds of thousands of churches in about 85 countries of the world are praying for the renewal of churches and restoration of countries. The first 10 days of the programme are focused on joining in intercession for the United Kingdom at a very critical and indeed perilous times in the history of the country following the recent vote to leave Europe, dubbed Brexit, the election that was to come (already taken place) and the barbarous terrorist attacks.
For the Head of Apapa Family, the compassionate and very much respected Pastor Idowu Iluyomade, the Family will continue relentlessly in its quest to feed the spiritual thirst of the nation, joining in intercession for the world while impacting on their environment materially through robust Christian social responsibility, CSR. As the highly successful lawyer and pastor put it, “The bible tells us in Hebrews 13:16, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. We are guided by this passage in Apapa Family,” he affirmed, his face an emblem of conviction.