By: Nwanma Ogidi
The world will always have a culture that changes at times for better or worse and puts pressure on the church in various ways. Our task is to maintain the culture of Christ in the church, not in the world. And this is important because maintaining the culture of Christ in the church enables it to carry out its mission to every culture in every generation.
The RCCG Latter House Assembly believers took to different cultural dances and attires to celebrate the birthday of their pastor and members.
To celebrate Christ, Culture, and the Church any group or church can separate itself from culture and becomes its own “culture” with its own strengths and unity in Christ Jesus as RCCG, Latter House Assembly did in the month of October.
The best you can do is to freeze culture and tradition in some kind of time warp. In the end, the Christ, culture and the Church approach completely set you apart.
This is the case when the Latter House Assembly Area Headquarters, LP2 RCCG decided to celebrate with culture and tradition. You can have a very brief summary of some of the approaches used to deal with the effect that culture has on the church.
Pastor Ransom in his message, reviews the various ways that the church has dealt with the pressure of contemporary culture, and how Christians can maintain the culture of Christ as an ever-present response to the forces of cultural change in every generation.
The pastor and members of Latter House Assembly Area Headquarters, LP2 RCCG, Lagos, also used different tribes with their native songs and attires to mark their pastor and member’s birthday with Funfair.
Speaking with Waka About Africa, pastor Nweke said, the weekly traditional dressing and celebration aimed at building and uniting the nation.
The topic of my lesson today is how the church reacts to culture and the influence of culture on the body of Christ, he said.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect-Romans 12:1-2
This year’s birthday celebration according to pastor Nweke is like no other as members of the RCCG, Latter House Assembly Area Headquarters, LP2, and admirers came around to celebrate his birthday and other October celebrants.
Pastor Nweke said, he will like to do more in the body of Christ, according to him, wants to take the gospel to everyone around him, feed the hungry and lift the poor out of poverty for Christ. “I want to know God more, I want to find new opportunities to tell God thank you for all he has for me, if God stops at what He has done now, He has overdone all I need to do. Every day of my life is to find a simple way of telling God thank you, I appreciate all you have done for me” he said.
“ I want to give all the glory back to God, that we are alive is by the mercies of God and so it’s always exciting to discover you are alive not only just you are alive, that you are in Christ and we are celebrating in Christ and so I return all the glory back to God because several of my age mates those we were born same day several have gone but the mercy of God has kept me and has kept every one celebrated in the month of October so we are deeply grateful to the almighty God”.
According to him, he said, “The Bible said we should number our days and apply our hearts unto wisdom, every year is unique, according to the scripture God told the children of Israel that after forty-nine years they should declare a jubilee for their land, for me been forty-nine means me entering my year of Jubilee, and if anyone understands what Jubilee means, it’s a season of discovery, it’s a season of a new beginning, for the next one year for me I see it as a turning point in my life, though it may not look like a landmark age for me been forty-nine means I’m stepping into my Jubilee and in every day I leave and wake I see reasons to give God thanks and praise”.
On her part, Pastor Mrs. Jinatu Ransom told Waka About Africa and she feels so glad about it.
“It’s been an awesome moment and the truth of the matter is that the bible made me know that all things worketh together for good for them that believe God and this is his doing and it is marvelous in our sight. I am so overwhelmed on what is happing today and I know he that got to do a good thing will perfect it to his glory in the name of Jesus” Pastor Jinatu said.
“She stated that the difference in other month’s birthday celebrations, of course, is because we are in the month of satisfaction from above and I saw all around him that God has been merciful and faithful unto him, I think that’s just the difference between the other celebrations and this one, this is not yet a landmark but I want to appreciate God because his alive to witness today.
“What that implies is that since we got to know each other it has been a sweet and interesting moment and I have been of help for the past nineteen years and he as well has been of help to me and we’ve been growing together in the ministry and I know that at the end of time we will make heaven because heaven is our goal”, she said.
Mrs. Ransom prays for everyone, everyone here, they are my spiritual children and they are on my prayer list, I have been standing on guard for them and together we will make heaven when Jesus comes.
In his part, elder Ayalogu Eric, speaking on behalf of the church and the church elder’s forum, said Pastor Ransom of Latter House Assembly Area Headquarters, LP2 has been an interesting thing because the truth of the matter is that we have learned a lot spiritually from him, he thought us most thing that we need to know in this church, a lot of men, let me generalize it to men now, a lot of us don’t carry their wives in the place of the Lord but they stood their guard, he has watched over me as I grew, so to say his my teacher in things of the Lord”, he noted.
“He prayed to God to enrich pastor Nweke in wisdom, understanding and in his knowledge that is better than earthly things, they are mundane things of life”.
“Lord I pray concerning your son and the church that by the time we celebrate the next birthday, it will be something of remarkable. He said, “ I know Lord as he continues to pose on your podium with the right hand of righteousness he will not fail you, he will not falter he will not bring shame to the church of Christ that is my prayer for him”.
“He noted as they ended the month-long traditional celebration, today is the day for the southeast in our church they are celebrating the southeasterners that fellowship here, it’s a well-conceived idea of the pastorate that throughout the month of October being its independence we should celebrate the entire tribes that make up Nigeria.
“We first started with Southwest then after we moved to the Southsouth, last Sunday was for the north and today it’s for the southeast and on each of those occasions you are expected to turn out in the attire of the people from those areas, that is the reason I have turn out in the attire of Igbo people and coincidently this month of October happens to be the Pastors birthday.
“ We, all use the occasion to also celebrate him since he came, he has come with innovations a lot of innovations in growing this church and we have noticed appreciable growth both in membership and our presence within the locality, I want to wish our pastor and other birthday celebrants a very happy birthday, I wish him more years in good health and prosperity and I wish him more anointing upon his life, I pray that the almighty God will continue to bless him even as he increases his strength,” Elder Ayalogu said.
While the pastor’s two lovely children send birthday messages to their father, pastor Ransom Nweke.
Speaking to our reporter, his Twelve-year-old, Chinenye Ransom, said she loves her father and wants God to protect her father. Pastor Ransom’s first child who is in JSS3 praised her father and pray that God should bless her father more.
While 7-year-old son, Chukwuka Ransom promised to buy a car and house for his father. The primary 3 pupils, Prayed that God should bless his father with many things. ‘Happy Birthday to my dad and all the celebrants’, he prayed.
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