The theme of this year’s special meetings was, ‘The hour has come for A NEW YOU’ with reference to the conversation of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:23. The meeting started with a welcome message from brother Demola Adeyemi, which was followed by some songs in praise and worship unto God. Sis Vivian, one of our Belfast brethren then led us in the opening prayer session, committing the program into Gods hand and asking for the presence of the Holy Spirit for our cups to be filled to overflowing. She read from Romans 12:2, admonishing that there shall be mind-transformation and renewal at the end of the special meetings. 

The prelude included a violin duet, ‘O happy day’ by Precious and Debbie Adeyemi from the archives, and a hymn, ‘Trying to walk in the steps of the Saviour’.

Thereafter, Sister Nike spoke on the theme of the Special Meetings and purpose of the program. This was followed by a solo titled ‘Searching’ before the seminar opened with the first speaker of the night, Bro Solomon Akano, the leader of our Denmark group. 

Bro Solomon read from John 4:23 and highlighted his message with a developmental chat named CYCLE OF A NEW LIFE which helped us to understand that a new life has a cycle with a beginning, growth, benefits and an ending, that leads to eternity. Comparing this cycle with business development where there can be a decline in the cycle, he said in the new life there will be no decline as Jesus said it will be a well of water springing up into eternity. He rounded up with the book of Revelation 21:1-5, delving into what God has in store for us in eternity. He then requested everyone to check where they are in the cycle, and continually make progress in the cycle till the end for an extension of the new life to eternity. The special song for the event ‘Fill my cup Lord’ was sang to round up the session.

After the special song, Bro Funsho Ojo, a minister from our Oceanside New York branch, who was the second speaker of the day, spoke about the ‘New us’ as the beginning of better things. He referred to John 4:23 that Jesus made the Samaritan woman to realise why true worship is essential for a new beginning.  He said just as God called Abraham out for a new beginning, God wants us to make the same decision to retain our relationship with Him and avoid evil associations. Bro Funsho further referred to Daniel and his friends and how God honoured His words in their lives because the “spirit of Babylon” was not in them. He also used the example of Joseph to explain how God is ready to give the young people new visions, promote them and give them great ideas. He challenged the young people to be ready for the ‘New you’ and to ask God for wisdom. He then rounded up by leading a prayer session.

The second day was a Youth forum, organised specifically for our young people.  

After an opening prayer session, Presley opened the programme, welcoming everyone, following which two songs, ‘Our God is greater’ and ‘If creation sings your praises, so will I’, were sang by everyone. Some of the highlights of the day include a violin solo from Debbie, a vocal solo from Ruth – ‘He touched me’, and a Bible knowledge quiz session anchored by Austin and Mary. We also had an archive presentation of AFM UK youth choir, ‘You don’t have to worry’ and the special song for the program – ‘FILL MY CUP LORD.’ 

Bro Joshua Idowu, the Pastor of our Church in St Louis, Missouri, USA spoke on being ‘A New You’ in your spiritual life, using 2 Corinthians 5:17 to encourage the youths to seek to have a true salvation experience and to abstain from sin, as sin will be a hindrance to experiencing continuity in their new life. Victoria and Andrew anchored the second session which was conducted in an interview format with Sister Dupe Yalley. The interview centred on how young people could get into building their own businesses as a career. This was indeed an inspiration for the youths as they were inspired to re-invent themselves in the area of entrepreneurship by investing time in self-development. 

As the third speaker, Bro Tolu Ola-Odudu from our Bexley headquarters Church shared his academic and career development journey. This was again truly inspirational, as God spoke through him to challenge the youths to take their academics seriously, be careful of their associations and follow their dream to be successful. Discussions were concluded with questions from the audience directed at the three speakers.

On Sunday, we attended Western Europe centrally conducted virtually Sunday School at 10 am. Thereafter, the last session of the special meetings, an Evangelistic and Revival service started at 12pm with a short admonition by Bro Demola from the story of Jabez. He encouraged us to pray that God would give us the recipe for a new identity that would bring us into a better relationship with Him. A presentation of the special song for the weekend event, ‘FILL MY CUP LORD’ preceded congregational songs, ‘Give thanks with a grateful heart’ and ‘Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place’ followed by prayer and announcements by Bro Ezekiel Ogundipe. 

Bro Demola opened the testimony session by testifying about the grace of God that saved him from being a bad person even though he was born into a Christian home. He testified of God’s power to keep and provide in a miraculous way during this pandemic. Bro Tobe testified about God’s goodness in saving him from redundancy from his workplace. Sis Grace testified about how God answered all the prayer requests she brought to the last special meeting. Sis Nike testified about God’s safekeeping several times from covid-19 scare in her work environment. 

The song before the sermon was a duet ‘O yes He cares.’ Bro Solomon Akano preached on ‘GOD WILL DO A NEW THING’ with Bible texts taken from Isaiah 43:1-3 and 15-19. He also referred to Numbers 23:19, saying that God is not a man that He should lie; whatever He says He will do. He used examples of Abraham, Jabez and Saul that became Paul. He asked people to allow God into their lives and let Him reveal His glory as He will do many new things as we exercise faith and lay all on the altar. 

Following an altar call, everyone was encouraged to spend some time praying in their homes, after which the closing song ‘Blow ye the trumpet blow, the year of Jubilee is come’ was sung. 

Truly, we are in that season to keep blowing the trumpet as we walk into our year of Jubilee. Our prayer is that all the attendees that had an encounter with Jesus would grow in their relationship with Him and keep the blessings. For the three days of these special meetings, we had over 150 ZOOM connections with some of them having family members rallying round their connections. We had people connecting from many parts of Europe, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and the United States. 

We thank God greatly for His manifold blessings that filled our cups to overflowing, as we look forward to the 2021 edition, should the Lord tarry.