Sequel to the meeting held on 1st day of August 1996, Rev Dr Emmanuel Olumide Kehinde, the then under-shepherd of the Church, shared with the body of Christ the importance of Home Church Fellowship. Among such advantages include getting closer of members to one another; easy identification of families; identifying areas of peoples’ needs and prompt actions to attend to such needs; discovery of talents and gifts and having sense of belonging with one another.
To the glory of God, the Home Church Fellowship began with fifteen centres. Fellowship assembly used to be on Thursday’s evening at various rotational designated locations or as the fellowship centres’ roster indicated. The cardinal points of the fellowship meetings were and still remain:
- Internal growth of members
- Community awareness and witnessing
- Listing of current resident members of each family
- Getting rapport with members who have not been punctual at fellowship or attending at all
- Zoning of fellowship centres
- Continuous monitoring and assessment of each fellowship centre by the Deaconate
The issue of COVID-19 pandemic saga with its attendant effects served as an eye opener to new development in the area of our Home Church Fellowship. On 25th June 2000, the Home Church fellowship replaced the combined evening worship service of the church. By then, the fellowship centres had grown to twenty –six (26). Therefore, the shifting of fellowship days from Thursdays to Sunday’s evening gave birth to Shiloh Day which scheduled on every first Sunday of the month. At Shiloh Day, both English and Yoruba worshippers assembled together with varieties of activities such as praise singing, prophetic prayers, Lord Supper, special choir rendition and Drama presentation. On January 2006, fellowship centres had grown to thirty-seven (37).
It is heartening to note that some fellowship centres merged to become full-fledged daughter churches. For instance, Rhema Baptist Church was born out of Technical Area Fellowship centres; New Covenant Baptist Church was born out of Ofatedo 1 and 2 fellowship centres; Rehoboth Baptist Church was born out of Ota-Efun/Biket fellowship centre; Pilgrim Baptist Church was born out of Agunbelewo/Ilobu Fellowship centre; Jubilee Baptist Church was calved out of Oroki/Express Road and Oke-Onitea fellowship centres to mark the Golden Jubilee of our noble Church.
At a particular time fellowship centres dropped to thirty two (32) due to merging of fellowship centres to a full-fledged church as well as relocation of members from rented to their residential apartments. There are cases of key officers of the fellowship relocating to other nations of the world. Age and aging problems of adult members have reduced their effective participation compared to their past active roles in fellowship. Presently, two new fellowships emerged making the fellowship centres to be thirty four (34). Blessed is the name of the Lord!