Testimony from Nigeria

Rev. Dr. Budi Hidajat

 

Pastor Budi Hidajat has just returned from his trip to Nigeria at the end of Mission Month. And we had a chance to interview him to find out the purpose of this special trip and some testimonies he brought back from Africa.

 

Earlier in March this year, Pastor Jimmy Oentoro invited Pastor Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Nigeria, to Indonesia as honorable guest during his 50^th birthday celebration. Pastor Idowu, or also known as Pastor ID - Senior Pastor of the City of David Church under RCCG, came along as well. Then this May, we received a special invitation from Pastor ID to attend his special birthday celebration in Nigeria. It also happened to be his 50^th birthday.

The City of David church which Pastor ID shepherds is a church under the covering of RCCG. This is indeed a very influential church in the nation where all of their pastors are very important & influential business people and government officials in Nigeria. They have done many great things for the city. Meanwhile, Pastor ID himself is a very well-known lawyer in Nigeria.

On the day of the birthday celebration, 14 May 2010, Pastor Budi was escorted to a late-morning service which started at 10 am and ended at 1 pm. A lunch followed and then after an afternoon rest, a black tie ball party for the birthday celebration was held at night. The Sunday after was the thanksgiving celebration of Pastor ID’s birthday, which started at 8 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon. “It was a celebration of love,” said Pastor Budi, “With 4000 congregation members, I could just feel and witness how much the pastors of this church love their people and vice versa. The tributes that the church members gave to Pastor ID and the respect that these people showed spoke for itself.”

 

“Also, I noticed that the Nigerian Christians are very happy people! They really enjoy the presence of God during service. It was such a lively service, where people and pastors literally danced to the praises of the Lord!”

In between Pastor Budi’s visits to Pastor ID’s birthday celebration and his church, he went to make his first-time visit to IFGF GISI Lagos. On the Saturday morning, Pastor Budi gathered the pastors in the Lagos area, and he shared the 5 Agenda of IFGF GISI for 2009 – 2013 with them. They were very excited to have the IFGF GISI President with them, encouraging them to do greater things for God in Nigeria.

Then after the thanksgiving celebration of Pastor ID’s birthday, Pastor Budi flew to Warri, another city in Nigeria about 45 minutes away by flight. Here in this city stands an IFGF GISI church. Pastors in the Warri area were gathered the next Monday, where once again Pastor Budi shared the vision, mission, and 5 Agenda of IFGF GISI. All were very encouraged, especially when he shared the testimony of our own church, which is based in Indonesia – a developing nation just like Africa. We also don’t have a lot of money, but we believe that when we do God’s work, He will provide for our needs. And this is why we now stand and have churches in 36 nations of the world without any sponsor from other nations. Pastor Budi motivated them to embrace the corporate vision of IFGF GISI so that the corporate anointing will come upon them.

 

Lagos city, where the City of David church is located, is in the majority-Christian South Nigeria. North Nigeria, on the other hand, is mainly populated by non-Christians. There have been many conflicts at the border between these two sides of Nigeria, one of the latest ones being in Jos where houses and churches were being burned down.“One thing I observe here is that even though South Nigeria is a Christian-populated part of the country, the majority of Christians there have not yet transformed the whole nation of Nigeria. The crime rate is still high and corruption is widespread.”

But, witnessing the influence that the City of David Church and RCCG Synod have on their city and nation, IFGF GISI is eager to secure a partnership with them in the ministry to expand this godly influence in Nigeria and worldwide. RCCG is the largest church in Africa with 7 million congregate members and Pastor Odeboye as Senior Pastor, who was once chosen as the 49^th most influential person in the world by Newsweek.

“You may never have heard of E. A. Adeboye, but the pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God is one of the most successful preachers in the world. He boasts that his church has outposts in 110 countries. He has 14,000 branches—claiming 5 million members—in his home country of Nigeria alone. There are 360 RCCG churches in Britain, and about the same number in U.S. cities like Chicago, Dallas, and Tallahassee, Fla. Adeboye says he has sent missionaries to China and such Islamic countries as Pakistan and Malaysia. His aspirations are outsize. He wants to save souls, and he wants to do so by planting churches the way Starbucks used to build coffee shops: everywhere. “In the developing world we say we want churches to be within five minutes' walk of every person," he tells NEWSWEEK. "In the developed world, we say five minutes of driving." Such a goal may seem outlandish, but Adeboye is a Pentecostal preacher: he believes in miracles. And Pentecostalism is the biggest, fastest-growing Christian movement since the Reformation.”(The Newsweek, 20 December 2008)

There are indeed still many things that the churches in IFGF GISI and RCCG can do together to change nations, whether through business, religion, or politics. “I could feel that God is doing something great between our church and their church, and even between our nation Indonesia and their nation. And I believe it was not by chance I had this opportunity to go to Nigeria, to be a part of Pastor ID’s birthday celebration and then to visit IFGF GISI Lagos and Warri,” testified Pastor Budi.