First Baptist Church Jos Celebrates 111th Anniversary

By Our Reporter

It was celebration galore all through on Sunday, 16th October 2022 as the First Baptist Church, Jos celebrated her One Hundred and Eleven (111) years of existence.

The ancient church which is often called the mother of Baptist churches in the present-day Northern Nigeria was founded on 10th October 1911. The church auditorium was filled to the brim as members adorned themselves in beautiful white attires to commemorate the Founder’s Day.

It was a combined worship service which commenced at 9.00 am and ended at about 1pm at the church auditorium located on the popular Adebayo Street in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The special service was uniquely characterized with singing, dancing, prayers, and special anniversary message. Members were full of joy as they appreciated God for His faithfulness over the church in the last 111 years.

The guest preacher of the day was Reverend Professor S.O.Y. Baba, former Provost of ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja, Kwara State and currently the Director of Education at ECWA National Headquarters, Jos. Baba spoke on the topic, “Fear Not” with the Bible text taken from the Gospel according to St Luke 2:10.

In his sermon, he encouraged the congregants to put their trust in God and should not allow fear to hinder them from moving forward.

He said, “fear is a powerful tool used by the devil to hinder people from making progress. In the nation today, banditry, terrorism, economic hardship, inflation, and all manners of woes are sources of fear for the people, but Jesus has conquered fear and children of God should have no reason to be afraid again.” He concluded the message by praying for the church to continue to wax stronger.

The anniversary service also featured playlet and song rendition from the students of one of the Schools established by the Church, Baptist Science Grammar School, Jos. This was followed by the presentation of the mass choir of the Church who sang different songs on the goodness and faithfulness of God.

The Pastor of the Church, Reverend Sunday Abolarinwa Fabunmi spoke on the invaluable efforts of the founding fathers who laboured to bequeath the enduring legacy of the church. He encouraged the current generation of members to think about future generations and consciously play their parts in sustaining the good heritage of the forefathers.

As part of the commemoration, Fabunmi announced that the Church is preparing to plant a new church in Jos South Local Government area to further expand the work of evangelism. He asked members to be generous towards the work of the Lord.

The event of the day was crowned with a friendly football match organized by the Youth Fellowship of the Church with the Youth Fellowship of First Baptist Church, Bukuru, one of the way Churches founded by FBC-Jos. The football match took place at the football field of Baptist Science Grammar School from 4 pm to 6 pm. The First Baptist Church Jos Youth Fellowship President, Mr. Sheyi Mafolashire, thanked all the players and supporters who came out in their numbers to watch the game.

He said the football match aimed to celebrate the faithfulness of God over the Church and to also use the opportunity to pass the message of Christ’s love to the people.

First Baptist Church Jos was established by some traders who moved from Ogbomosho, southwest zone of Nigeria to the city of Jos in the early nineteenth century.

Since her establishment, the church has founded many Baptist churches across the northern region of Nigeria and is still striving forward in the work of mission and evangelism.