Salvation Army members from across Nigeria gathered in Benin City, Edo State last week to join a conference celebrating under the theme ‘Participation of all God’s People’. Attending the conference was the Salvation Army General, John Larsson, as well as Commissioner Freda Larsson.
Upon General Larsson’s arrival at the Edo State airport, large crowds of Salvationists were reported to have gathered to greet them, where they were taken immediately on a visit to the Governor of the State, followed by visiting the King of the Benin Kingdom.The Salvation Army reveal that about 2,000 Salvationists gathered the welcome meeting where their honorary guests were greeted in six different Nigerian languages.
Larsson testified that his dream was for the Salvation Army to become the heartbeat of the Christian Church. The General then went on to deliver a warmly received sermon where he challenged the members to keep Jesus pre-eminent.
Pointing to the surroundings of being gathered in a huge tent with open sides, the General then told how the Salvation Army also was like a great tent with many entrances, through which anyone can come to meet Christ.
The gathering later split into separate men’s, women’s and youth rallies, with half a night of prayer concluding the evening.Two sessions of officers’ councils were held over the weekend, running parallel with Bible studies as well as open-air evangelism in groups. This amazingly saw many non-Salvationists being brought to the event to join the evening’s festivities.
The gathering overall saw the General enrol 16 new soldiers and 61 senior soldiers. General Larsson urged the congregation to remove any stumbling blocks on their hearts, and to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn brightly within them.
A cultural music festival brought the hundreds of Salvationists together to praise God in music, dance and song, where the true diversity of the attendees was shown, as four different Nigerian languages were used.
As the historic meeting continued, a holiness meeting was held where various ecumenical and United Nations guests joined.
As a concluding message General Larsson gave an inspirational sermon in which he declared that those who hope in the Lord would always be protected and renewed by God.
