IBUKUNOLUWA PARISH OF CCC, EGBE 2, SETS AGODO AGOG WITH HARVEST FESTIVAL

Story by Toyo C. Ngem

It was a day of celebration for all faithful of the Celestial Church of Christ, Ibukunoluwa Parish, Egbe 2, when they hosted families and friends to their annual Elders' Harvest festival on Sunday. The Voices of Gospel, a segment in the Civics Weekly magazine which witnessed the event, reported that testimonials to the uniqueness of this year's event revealed the significance of the occasion.

Speaking to express his delight at the success of the event, the Chairman of the 'Parochial Committee', who appeared unarguably Leader of the Parish, Comerade Olanrewaju Oke, said the theme for the festival was more or less a "reunion of the members for a new mission to take the Parish to a greater height effective from this new year of the Church".

Speaking further to appreciate God for the team work that underscored the success he said: "I have to first of all thank the God Almighty for His mercies manifesting today. Few days back, we were under tension of how it would look like. But here we are today fully satisfied that we have achieved our mission. Having said that, I want to go further to thank everyone, every member of our Church for making today a success. They have all contributed in no small measure for us to be happy together today".

If the bigness of an event could be described by the number and size of butchered cows, then the Ibukunoluwa's Harvest programme of this Sunday must hold an ace card in rating with three big cows that went down outside the fringes of small group and family cooks. The worth of this was manifestly shown in the satisfaction of guests with feeding and drinks.

In her own joy of what the day meant to her, a woman elder in the Church, Omojere Tejere, said it was an event she always looked forward to every year. Holding the title of "Mother Celestial" to lead Women Council of the Church, Mrs Tejere said the Elders Harvest was a kind of Celestial Church's annual festival expected to be celebrated in a big way by every Parish:

She said: "It is done once in a year to mark our own festival in the family of Celestial Church all over the world. That is why my joy is full today that we are alive to celebrate this year's again. The second reason is that we are all blessed to be in high places. As for me, I stand as the head of Church Mothers here. And when a mother sees her children doing well and fine, she will surely be happy with that. That is why you could see me being highly elated since yesterday (Saturday) the preparation started.

"I am particularly grateful to all our Parish members who have made this occasion worth the joy of day for us. I want to be very grateful to the Parochial Committee members. They have done a great job as we can see. I'm particularly grateful to Baba Oke (the Chairman), Mama Oke (Iya Ijo) and the Falayes -- I mean family of the late Church Leader. Everyone has played a part in one way or the other to make us proud today". JOIN THEM AT THE BOUND STAND IN THIS VIDEO CLUE The event, which started with full preparations on Saturday, came to light about 11am, opening with the regular Church programmes. The Harvest time was marked with offering for bazzars -- sales of fruits and other items as means of fund raising for the Church developmental programmes to come ahead in the new year.

The Celestial Church of Christ, Ibukunoluwa Parish, Egbe II, is said to be about four decades old and acknowledged to have seen it's own ups and downs side of human organisation system. Blessed to be founded on about two plots of land, the Church now boast of amenities desirable to hold impressive outlook for worshippers.