Brief History Of Manna Evangel Faith Assembly
THE GENESIS:In the year 1981 a handful of zealous Christian Youth Corpers serving the Nation in Gombe Township met regularly to have constant fellowship weekly at the residence of Brother Clement Anegbe (late) who was also on Youth Service with Nasara Motors then. On completion his compulsory one year youth service he took up an appointment with the Federal College of Education Technical Gombe as an instructor at the Technical Dept., of the college. That led to the continuity of the fellowship in his official residence. Over the years the fellowship grew numerically and there was need to have a means of identification, since it was non-denominational and unique in its outreach, therefore a name was coined for it in 1985, called Gombe Family Fellowship (GFF). The fellowship provided a good spiritual rendezvous for youthful Christians from various denominational background and doctrinal persuasion.
By the year 1986 the number grew steadily to the point that the living room the fellowship was held could no longer contain the eager growing population of seekers and worshippers. Over time a bigger hall of meeting was acquired on short tenancy basis and we were able to move the crowd in, under the able leadership of Brother Clement Anegbe and his Wife Julia we experienced tremendous from many of the ministers in town and some endorsed the unique forum provided for spiritual experience and growth because of the enriching content of the programs. Beyond having regular fellowship the dimension of reaching out in Open Air crusades and aggressive evangelism in street corners, brothels and hotels became the order of the day with the brethren in GFF.
Furthermore Ministerial Conferences were also organized in the then Capital, which was Bauchi in the Conference Halls of prestigious hotels like Zaranda and Awala. Some of those meetings were co-sponsored by Rev. Bankole Akinmola of world outreach Mission Int. Atlanta USA and Rev. Howard Pitman of the Gospel on Wheel fame, The GFF played host to them while they were here. In quick succession a second conference, Ministers Leadership Conference (MILE 1998) followed at Redeemed Peoples’ Mission church Bauchi. More Resources Person came along from USA came in to, lend a helping hand; among them was Rev. (Mrs.) Nancy Powella and her team.
Back at Gombe Deliverance meetings and Marriage Seminar teachings with renowned Guest Speakers brought in from across the country brought in to resource such programs. Those meetings coupled with several outreaches we had stirred up the body of Christ in Gombe greatly especially the Youth, students and honest seekers after the new wave of anointing sweeping across the country as at that time. With all these programs the number of converts increased and membership of the fellowship swell and it became obvious we need more space to take care of the growing population. Worthy of note were the converts that came in with no particular Church affiliation in Gombe and they need to be followed up and properly disciples to make them grounded and firmly established in the Gospel.
EVANGEL WAS BORN:
As the fellowship grew there was the need to provide a solid doctrinal base for the New converts and to avoid clashes with churches we started a regular Sunday service on the 24th February 1989. We got this conviction after long time of protected prayers and seeking God’s face for direction. With this development converts who needed enrichment and other spiritual nourishment that was not readily available else were or where they were no strong will on the part of the churches to provide needed leadership and going the extra length to established this converts we fully keyed in to church planting project.
The nucleus family and person that pioneered the work were: Late Clement and Julia Anegbe, Akanmu Abraham and family, Gbenga Oyeniran and Family, Femi Ogunrinde and family, Rose Akpe (Military officer then), Late Collins Okwona, Late Cordilia OLuigbo and Daughter, Oladayo Elijah Akinkunmi. Nene Ekpeyong, Kareem Haruna, Joseph Avwhuri and many others. As a young congregation Evangelism was our main focus, aggressive outreaches were embarked on from time to time to rescues the perishing. Our Effort in reaching out had a good measure of success, many souls were won and many joined the church.
LEADERSHIP OF THE YOUNG CHURCH:
The holy Spirit too absolute control the issue of Leadership was not difficult to determine, the crop of potential leaders were not ambitious persons but humble and willing hands ready to serve in whatever capacity the Holy Spirit position them. The following were the pioneer Leaders: • President: Late Rev, Clement Anegbe • Pastor: Akanmu Abraham • Gbenga Oyeniran • Late Julia Anegbe… Women co-ordinator’ • Late Elder Ignatius Agharanya………. Adviser. Member of Assemblies of God, Gombe.
JUBILEE:
Our annual flagship program held at that time was tagged JUBILEE. Therefore, Jubilee 1989, 1990 and 1991 were very unique in bringing down God’s glory to many lives in Gombe. At that time deliverance ministration and baptism of the Holy Spirit was novel to most of the Churches in Gombe. Notable among the great Evangelist and Preachers used of God that time ( just to mention a few) were: • Rev. Yemi Ayodel………. From Ibadan … now based in Huston Texas, USA. • Rev. Moses Aransiola………..From Ibadan… Gesthemene Prayer Ministry. • Evangelist Chidozie …..From Aba….He rose from the dead after few days.
WE ORDAINED ELDERS:
As the ministry work grows there was great demand to bring others on board the Ministry Leadership hence the first set of elders were ordained in April, 1990. They were: • Oladayo Elijah Akinkunmi • Micheal Adeniyi • Late Daniel Owolabi • Jonas Ogbuka And again in the year 1991 the following were ordained as Pastors: • Gambo Yusuf • Gbenga Oyeniran • Joseph Avwhuri Also, same year Late Rev, Clement was also ordained Reverend and was commissioned to go to relocate to Jos to start a fresh work tagged; Center for Life Long Education in Ministry (CLEM). Following his relocation the Pastor Akanmu Abraham assumed the full Leadership of the Gombe work.
VISION OF THE CHURCH:
Reaching the world with the whole word by being at the frontline of apostolic ministry, bringing the saints to be well equipped for the work of the Ministry and perfection.
MISSION: To actualize the vision the ministry has settled for a four prong approach through:
• Evangelism: To do contextual relevant Evangelism and win souls for the Lord.
• DISCIPLESHIP: Disciples making using apostolic pattern.
• ECCLESIA: Church and School planting and Market place Ministry.
• INTERCESSION: Prayer for revival of the Church of God and the Nation.
REGISTRATION:
The Ministry was officially registered with Corporate Affairs commission 16th January, 2009. As at the time of registration the following were the registered Trustee: Pastor Gambo; Avwhuri Joseph; Akinkunmi Oladayo Elijah, Nene Ekpeyong Bassey (Late) and Akanmu Olarewaju Abraham (Chairman and Presiding Pastor)
THIRTY FIVE YEARS DOWN THE LINE:
Over the past thirty five years of the Ministry God has been indeed very faithful! Though it has not been a smooth sail all the way, but a catalogue of milestone achievements as stated below gives us reason to release litany of praise to the glory of God.
1. TWENTY churches has been planted over the past thirty five years, but twelve of them are vibrant and standing to the glory of God.
2. Converts and disciples raised through outreaches, schools, student congresses and other programs that has blessed the community are innumerable. Many of such now runs ministries, NGOs while others who have moved on to other cities have been zealously involved in the work God with great impact.
3. Total of 55 Pastors and Ministers have been ordained over these past years, while some have been called to glory, some have moved on to other ministries or calling they received, others have continued on with the work in earnest.
4. CHILDREN OF “FALLEN HEROS” : Children of Pastors who died in the course of active service have not been neglected at all, scholarship to get them through first degree of their education has been faithfully sustained.
5. Evangel Group of Schools on two campuses comprising of 4 Departments; College, Primary, Accelerated Christian Education, Switch. On. School (SOS) with a total of 1200 students and pupils and about 150 academic and none /academic Staff.
6. Seven Free community based Schools established in villages and rural areas are running concurrently with the fees paying ones.
7. Building and landed property of the Ministry Nationwide will run into hundreds of millions when valued at the current market rate.
This is to mention just a few of the great things God has done in the past years through the instrumentality of many of his servants who have been committed fully to advance the kingdom of God in the ways the know best according to the pattern shown to best and the grace released on their lives to achieve all the above.