My husband and I started attending All Souls’ Church in 1973 after our wedding in December 1972. My husband was born and raised in the Anglican Church as the son of an Anglican Catechist, so it was natural for him to look for an Anglican Church where we could worship. Fortunately, All Souls’ Church was very close to where we were living and my parents worshipped there already. My father and a few others founded the church, and were meeting for service in the sitting room of late Chief Rotimi Williams before they moved to the present site.
My husband used to travel a lot in those days; so, any time he was out of town, I would take my daughter with me to worship at Orita Mefa Baptist Church, Total Garden, which was my church before l got married. Though I was born and brought up (to a point) in the Anglican Communion, my attendance at a Southern American Baptist Convention School in Lagos exposed me to the Baptist way of worship. This was where I met the Lord, became born again and started working for God. I found it difficult to flow with the Anglican Liturgy. So, I used to run back to the Baptist Church any time I had the opportunity.
One day, my husband asked me (as usual) after coming back from his trip if I went to church, and what church l attended. I gave him the answer he was used to hearing from me, “Orita Mefa Baptist Church”. He then said “Yombo, why don’t you look for something you can do in our church?” (referring to All Souls’). That was what led me to start a group for mentoring young secondary school and university girls. The Lord asked me to call them “The Lilies of the Valley”. About a year after, the boys in the church approached me that they wanted me to also start a group for them and mentor them as well. I asked them to form a group and let me know what they wanted to be called. They said they would be known as “The Sons of Zion“. I therefore requested Engr. Ife Akintunde to please work with them and he kindly consented. Shortly after that, the church appointed me the General Superintendent of the Sunday School. I was working in this ministry when we had a new Vicar, late Venerable J.O Ojo.
The Inauguration of the Youth Forum
Sometime in 1988, the Vicar, Canon (later Venerable) J.O Ojo called me and complained about the exodus of the young people out of the Anglican church with particular reference to our own church. I warned the Vicar that more would still leave because the children had not been fulfilled in the church as many of them were getting born again at programmes organised by the new generation churches and they had decided to stay there to be discipled. The Vicar then asked me for a solution which I did not have. I just asked him to give me time to pray about it and hear what God would say.
I believe that God had ordained that a new group would be started for the teen-age/young people at that time in the history of the Anglican Communion. He only required a vessel and a platform to use to actualise His plans in this regard. We thank God for the spirit of obedience and cooperation from the church. One day, God told me to merge the Lilies of the Valley with the Sons of Zion and call them “The Youth Forum“. I never thought about it or scouted for names. It just came as an instruction from God, so I had to obey. I thereafter discussed this with the Vicar who whole-heartedly and warmly accepted the idea. Thus, the Youth Forum, All Souls’ Church was birthed. As far as we know, that was the first Youth Forum in the Anglican Communion or in any church in lbadan and its environs. The Youth Forum, All Souls’ Church was inaugurated in August, 1988.
Vision and Mission
The vision of the Youth Forum is “the birth of the church of tomorrow where the power and presence of God will be manifested through vibrant and purposeful youth participation.”
The Mission:
- To encourage youths to see themselves as instruments of change in the hands of God.
- To motivate youths to be involved in the ministry of evangelism and missions.
- To encourage youths to see themselves as battle axes in the hands of God through the empowerment by the Holy Ghost.
- To equip youths to use their God-given potentials and talents to transform the church today into a vibrant and triumphant church in line with the vision of the Anglican Communion.
Pioneer Leaders of the Forum
Thus, I became, by the special grace of God, the first Youth Forum Coordinator. I must state again here that this was the first Youth Forum to be established in the then Anglican Diocese of Ibadan. We then went round to invite and encourage the young people who had left the Church to come back, and take their proper place in the Church. The age at which the young people were encouraged to join the Forum was 13 years (teen -age).
It appeared that was what the young people were waiting for. They went into action and elected an executive which they called “The Elders”. These were mostly older children in the universities and polytechnics, who were then attending the Scripture Pasture Church. The president was Segun lluyomade (now a Pastor in the USA). Others were Fidelis Olagundoye, (now a Youth leader and Evangelist in the Anglican Diocese of Ondo), Sola Orimogunje (now an Evangelist and a married woman), Busola Sojobi (now married and lives in the Uk) Bisi Sojobi (now a lawyer and married), Folasade Bolarinwa (now a doctor, married, and lives in Canada, Seyi Ademiju (now married and working in the UK) Toyin Adeyemo (now a lecturer in UI and married), Tunde Ademiju (now married and lives in the USA) and another young lady, Sola. I have just mentioned a few of them that I can easily remember. Those of them who are not Pastors are Captains of industries and actively working for the Lord in various capacities in their churches.
Meetings
The Youth Forum organised to have their weekly Bible Study on Mondays at 4pm and Intercession on Thursdays at 4pm in the Children’s Hall in the church, with the permission of the Vicar. As much as possible, I never interfered with their Bible study or intercessory meetings after I had attended the two activities a couple of times and had convinced myself that they were on the right track. The only thing I used to do was to go to church on Mondays and Thursdays around 6pm to ensure that they closed their meetings not later than 6:30pm and thereafter, disperse them to their various homes before dark. The Elders took turns to lead the Bible study and intercessory meetings. Of course, they did not have time for irrelevances in their fellowship meetings. The study of the Word and prayer were the key aspects of their fellowship meetings.
Our First Programme
A year later, Venerable Ojo was transferred to Ipetu and the new Vicar was Canon (now Venerable) E.L.A Akinola. A few months later, they approached me that they would like to organise programmes that would benefit the church and the society; I therefore suggested to them that they could start by having a monthly meal outreach to which they would invite people. The people would eat, hear the word of God and have the opportunity of giving their lives to Jesus Christ. They prayed about it and agreed with the suggestion. We then needed to obtain the Church clearance and permission to organise such programme. I then approached Mr. T. Fajemirokun (now retired Bishop of Ilesa South Diocese and who was the Church Assistant Choir Master. He was very close to the Vicar) to join me. He agreed and both of us contacted the Vicar, Canon (now Ven.) Akinola for permission to start the outreach programme.
We organised the first meeting as a “Breakfast Outreach” on a Saturday morning at 8:30am. We invited the PCC members (though not all attended), two members from each church society in the church and a few parents. The preparation of the breakfast cost two hundred Naira (N200). We served slices of bread, butter, eggs, sausages, bacon, tomatoes and tea or coffee. Our Guest speaker who gave the exhortation was the Chaplain of the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of lbadan, Revd. Dr (now Most Revd.) G.L Lasebikan. Arc (now Pastor) Ayodeji Olorunda raised the offering. At the end of the programme, we realised a total of N1,400 (one thousand and four hundred Naira) as donations and pledges. This was deposited in the church account and rolled over to prepare the subsequent monthly meals.
A few months later, Mr. Fajemirokun (now retired Bishop of ljesa South) had to leave the Forum because of other pressing commitments. For some time, I remained the only Coordinator of the Forum. Later in the year, late Mrs. Adeyemo, Mrs.Gbemi Akintorin and Mrs. Mubo Ayeni joined to assist in coordinating the monthly meal outreaches.
The outreaches turned out to be a source of blessings to the church as they brought in a crop of talented, spirit-filled Ministers who the Lord used to bring salvation messages and encouragement to the people. It is also pertinent to state that these men and women of God did not despise our humble beginning. Anytime we called on them, they gladly accepted to come and minister at our meetings. Some of the men are Revd. (now Bishop) Wale Oke, Revd. Dr Lekan Babatunde, late Dr I.K.U lbereme, Pastor Olubi Johnson, Arc. (now Pastor) Alex Adegboye, late Mr. Niyi Kolade, Mr. (now Bishop) Taiwo Adelakun, Engr. (now Pastor) Femi Emmanuel, Revd. Kure, Mrs. Nike Ali and many others. We also invited many people from the Full Gospel Business Men Fellowship International as testifiers. I remember Prof Aboaba of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Mr Togun, a retired Permanent Secretary, who had just withdrawn his membership from the Celestial Church. Many of these testifiers had wonderful stories to tell to encourage us.
Challenges
It was not all “smooth sailing” as we faced terrible persecution in the church from members who did not understand why we were doing what we were doing or how God could call and use young people for the work of evangelism. We were mistakenly viewed as running a parallel evangelical committee to the one established in the Church. The first problem encountered was with some members of these committees who felt I should have taken permission from them before embarking on our God-ordained programme. It was obvious that the meal outreach was an unknown innovation in the Anglican Communion and it attracted many people both from outside and within the Communion. God gave us the vision and we decided to run with it. It was obvious to everybody except of course, a few people in that committee that God was in the programme.
The Growth of the Youth Forum
The Lord used these young people in the forum to project the Church of God at All Souls’. A few months after the first meal outreach, Revd. Dr. (now Most Rev’d) Lasebikan sent a group of young people from the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of lbadan (where he was the Chaplain) to me, to assist them in starting the Youth Forum. We met a couple of times and finally, they started the Youth Forum in the Chapel. To the best of my knowledge, that was the second Youth Forum in lbadan at that time.
Our First Anniversary
I remember that during the first anniversary of the Youth Forum in All Souls Church, they expressed the desire to have a deliverance session as part of the programme. This had never happened before in the Anglican church. I was a bit reluctant to bring it up with the Vicar of the church. However, the Holy Spirit gave me the boldness and He went ahead to grant us favour with the Vicar, Canon (now Ven.) Akinola who gladly gave us the permission to include it in the week-long programme. I had to approach late Dr. I.K.U Ibeneme who was my colleague in the university during our student days. He gladly accepted our invitation and he came on a Friday. It was a glorious meeting as lots of manifestations were witnessed as people were set free from the powers of the devil. I remember that I got back to my house around 11:30pm that day as I had to wait until the last person finally came out of being slain in the Holy Spirit. That was the beginning of “‘deliverance sessions” at All Souls’ Church, Bodija and to the best of my knowledge, in the Anglican Communion.
I remember that during the planning of the anniversary, the children informed me that they would like to have a love feast during the week of the anniversary. I asked them what they wanted me to supply for the love feast, but they said they had settled that among themselves, but I should only help them to invite a guest speaker. I contacted Engr. (Pastor) Femi Emmanuel, who gladly accepted our invitation. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the number and calibre of young people invited for the love feast. Unknown to me, the members of the forum went to popular drinking joints around Bodija and invited the people who patronised the places to attend a party in the church premises. Thus, various shades of young people, from those with coloured hair to those with torn jeans attended the love feast. At the end of the meeting, a total of fifty-six young people gave their lives to Christ while some of them started attending All Souls’ Church, Bodija as members.
Meanwhile, we continued the meal outreach in the form of Breakfast, Luncheon or Dinner. Apart from salvation messages, there were a lot of divine healings and deliverances at our meeting. We used to sell the ticket to the meal outreach at five Naira each (N5:00). As time went on, societies in the church sponsored the meal outreaches and adopted them as part of the activities during their anniversaries. Individual members of the church also sponsored them during celebrations like birthdays, wedding anniversaries and retirement.
How God Used Us…
A few months after the 1st anniversary, the Lord used four of the Youth Forum members to minister divine healing to Gbenga who had been crippled for twenty-five years. His story was like that of the cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the temple as recorded in Acts chapter 3. Gbenga, a very pleasant and courteous young man had been begging by the gate of All Souls’ Church for up to ten years before he was visited by the Lord. These four members of the Youth Forum went to see him and challenged him that if he wanted to be healed, he should accept The Healer. They made a date with him for a Thursday that week. On Thursday, they first ministered salvation message to him. He accepted and confessed Jesus as Lord. Next, they ministered the Holy Spirit baptism to him. He became baptized with the evidence of speaking in tongues. The third thing they did was to command him to get up and walk in the name of Jesus Christ. After what looked like three attempts, Gbenga got up and started to take the first step: Praise the Lord!!! Bodija was agog with jubilation that evening as people saw him up on his weak legs for the first time. There was stampede as people chorused “Gbenga rin, o n rin” (Gbenga can walk, he is walking). The following Sunday, people saw Gbenga on television as the guest of the THP (The Happiest People) of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. It was at this programme that Gbenga told the world how Jesus Christ healed him through the prayers and ministrations of these four members of the Youth Forum.
The Lord continued to bless the ministry and use these wonderful children to propagate the Gospel of Christ. I continued with my work with them till 1992 when the church decided to establish a preaching station in Kongi, New Bodija, and they decided to use our home as the meeting place until the Church could be established at a permanent site. Thus, I had to leave the work of the Coordinator of the Youth Forum, All Souls’ in the hands of Mrs Akintorin and Mrs Ayeni. Unfortunately, the antagonism which the children and I had been experiencing must have become so much that these women of God could not continue as Coordinators.
Gradually, the zeal with which these young people (Elders) started had waned. Many of them who were labelled as “no good” progressed in life. Some gained admission to universities abroad while others simply relocated to various parts of the world. Members of the church were variously appointed as Coordinators.
It is pertinent to state that we had a lot of encouragement from the Church Authorities. To mention a few, Rt Revd. (now Rt Revd. Dr) G.I.O Olajide (now retired) had just been translated to the seat of Ibadan Diocese a year or so after we started the Forum. I recall that in his address during his installation at the Cathedral of St James, Oke Bola, Ibadan, the Bishop said that the Youths should be allowed to express themselves and be given the latitude to work for God because the future of the church belonged to them. It therefore did not come as a surprise that, being so physically close to the Bishop’s court, the young people were not prevented from praying in the Spirit and “groaning” during their intercessory meetings held in the children’s hall, which was next door to the Bishop’s court. The “noise” must have been reaching the Bishop but he never complained. God was also in the business of pleasantly surprising His children as Canon Dr (now Most Revd. Dr) Lasebikan was appointed as the Vicar of All Souls’ Church a few months later. We therefore enjoyed a lot of assistance and cooperation from the Church during his tenure as Vicar.
After leaving All Souls’ Church, I refused to interfere in any way with what was happening to the Youth Forum at All Souls’ Church. However, my love for young people led me to start the Youth Forum in the new church I was then attending, The Anglican Church of the Messiah.
Professor (Mrs) Yombo Bolarinwa,
Founding Co-ordinator of Youth Forum
18th August, 2018.