Baptist Church Celebrates 108th Anniversary in Grand Style

By Jide Afolabi, Jos

The First Baptist Church, Jos, Plateau state on Sunday, celebrated its 108th Anniversary in grand style.

The Anniversary day tagged “Founders Day” witnessed a special combined worship service with worshippers, like angels, adorned in white attire.

In his Anniversary sermon titled, “Becoming A Hero of Christian Faith” with the text taken from Hebrews 11:23-27, the Church Pastor, Reverend Sunday Abolarinwa Fabunmi said that the essence of the Anniversary was to remind ourselves that whatever we do today would become history tomorrow.

He said that Moses never knew that we would be reading about him today warning the congregation to be careful of how they live their lives because they are writing history today saying that everyone must live to leave a good legacy behind.

He said, “We are doing this in order to leave a good legacy and to stir us up to play our part in Christian faith.”

Explaining a Biblical hero, Fabunmi said, they are “ordinary men and women who risked and sacrificed their lives for the faith”. He gave examples like Daniel, Shedrack, Meshack, and Abednego among others.

He queried, “Do we still have heroes in this Church, those that we can rely on?

The Pastor gave ways we can identify heroes. He said, “They live by faith; heroes of the Bible were risk-takers, they endangered their lives; they despised shame and reproach; they were men/women of great sacrifice, and giving their best to God even if it costs them their lives” among others.

While citing Moses as a case study of a hero in the Bible, he noted that, “Moses refused to be called as Pharaoh daughter’s son; he chose to suffer with his people; he regarded disgrace and accepted it for Christ sake, and he left the palace and Egypt and ran away among others.”

He urged members to live their lives to please and serve their maker so that people can remember their good legacies after they might have gone.

While speaking with CityMirrorNews correspondent, the President of the Youth Fellowship of the Church, Bro Olajide Afolabi on behalf of the Fellowship felicitated with the Church Pastor, Rev S.A.O Fabunmi, the Executive Council of the Church, the Deaconate, the Pastors, and all members of the Church on the occasion of the Church’s 108th Anniversary saying that the Church has been very effective in propagating the gospel.

He said: “First Baptist Chuch, Jos, is a great Church and apart from its rich history, it has been making disciples in the last 108 years of its existence.

“We commend our heroes and heroines who laboured hard to ensure that the gospel continues through this Church. We pray that the Church will continue to move forward”.

The Anniversay reached its climax as worshippers danced to the goodness of the Lord upon the Church and its members in the last 108 years.

The Founder’s Day is usually celebrated every second Sunday of October in commemoration of the founding fathers and those that have laboured to see the Church to its current status.

The Church was established in October 1911 and it is the first Baptist Church to be established in the present day Northern Nigeria.