The Fund raising activities in the Wooden Chapel
The Church Harvest
The first Youth and Adult Harvest Ceremony of the All Souls Anglican Church, Lekki Peninsular were celebrated in 2004 and the chairman of the organising committee was Chief Sola Ijitimehin.
The mega theme for the year’s Harvests was “Harvest for Growth and Development” while the mega text was “And the Lord said to Moses: Speak unto the Children of Israel: To go forward.” The sub-text for the Youth Harvest was “O worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness” while that of the Adult Harvest was “Come over to Macedonia, and Help us.”
I. Youth Harvest
The Youth Harvest was celebrated on Sunday, 26th September, 2004.
The service was well attended and a beautiful sermon was delivered by the guest preacher, Rev. Canon S. Igein Isemede, Vicar of Church of the Resurrection, 1004 Flats, Victoria Island.
The target of the youth harvest was to raise the sum of N10 million for the pending needs of the church which included: completion of the Chapel, Equipment and Beatification; provision of Church Organ, choir pews, pulpit and lectern, chapel altar illumination, flooring & carpeting and painting (interior and exterior of the chapel).
Generous donations were made by the presiding Chairman of the Youth harvest, Mr. Macauley Atasie, his supporters, the Vicar, Parish Council Committee members and some members of the congregation to the glory of God.
Also at the ceremony, a beautiful painting was sold by American Auction. And at the end of the ceremony, approximately N1.7 million was realized.
II. Adult Harvest
On Sunday, November 21st, 2004, the Adult Harvest was celebrated. The Chairperson of the Adult Harvest was Dr (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, Director General, Nigerian Stock Exchange, and she was ably represented by Mr. Okafor, a Director in the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The Thanksgiving Service ceremony was very impressive and well attended. The sermon was delivered by Venerable J. Akin Odejide, Vicar of Our Saviour’s Church, TBS Lagos.
The target of its committee was to raise a sum of N20 million for the following purposes which include: understanding the All Souls Lekki master plan, construction of Reception Hood, paving of chapel grounds, provision of direction signs, construction of bell tower, production of master plan and models.
Generous donations were made by the Chairperson and her supporters, especially from the business community, the Vicar, Parish Council Committee (PCC) members and some members of the congregation to the glory of God.
A special donation of N750, 000 was made by the family of Admiral O. P. Fingesi (rtd) for the purpose of purchasing a befitting Pulpit and Lectern for our Church.
At the end of the Adult Harvest ceremony, an approximate sum of N7 million was realized.
E. Dream Complex
After the Adult thanksgiving ceremony, an 11-man committee was set up. The team comprised of Captain O. Abidoye, Mr. David Oguejiofor, Mr. Sam Nwakohu, Chief Kola Akinbami, Mrs. Roselyn Dafinone, Chief Lawrence Ogunleye, Mr. Wisdom Dafinone, Arc Tony Ayansi, Arc. Roti Delano, Tosin Odejimi as the secretary while the presiding Chairman was Chief Odunayo Oladunjoye.
Based on its findings, the committee recommended that a dream church complex be built which would comprise of a dream church, dream chapel and multipurpose church hall. It further recommended that the abandoned foundation of the small church, be extended and re-enforced to carry the proposed dream chapel.
I. Transition to Dream Church Complex
Consequently, upon these findings, the parish council decided to obtain the approval and acquiescence of the parishioners to this change: to make the Dream Chapel, the first concrete element of the transition from a dream church to a dream complex.
In an interactive session, in a sermon-clinic type of presentation, parishioners were shown, extensively, through a video presentation, the progress the church had made and what the proposed next phase would be. Fortunately, late Papa Adetiloye, the retired Primate, was in the audience for posterity and records. This really spurned parishioners to pledge their unflinching support and full endorsement to the proposed change.
II. The Dream Chapel:
Early in 2007, the church approved the plan to build a new chapel as the beginning of the development of a comprehensive dream church complex for All Souls Church, Lekki Peninsula; hoping that when the new Chapel is completed, the existing building will provide much needed facilities for Sunday school and other religious and parish activities of All Souls Church.
As 2007 wore on, all efforts were concentrated on the development of the chapel building.
After paying a sum of N700, 000 for planning approval, a contract worth over N47 million was awarded to FormWork in March, 2007. Work commenced the following month and was projected to finish in November but an axle was thrown in our wheel. The Lagos state Ministry of Physical Planning had ordered that work be stopped until church could proof that the plot of land was allocated to the Anglican diocese for the development of a church. Though it took some time to locate the allocation documents and evidence of payment, the Vicar personally took charge of this issue-process of obtaining the Certificate of Occupancy in the name of the Diocese- till it was resolved. This building project actually helped to protect the right of the Diocese to occupy the land.
Construction work resumed in September, 2007 after an unexpected two-month delay; it was now glaring that it was impossible to meet the set deadline. Not only that, it came at a time when the vital part of the project was going on; it therefore, took some time before the contractor could fully remobilise to continue work.
Completion was now re-projected to be March, 2008.
At this point, it is important emphasize the faithfulness of God throughout the duration of the building project. Every payment was made as at when due.
Prior to the completion of dream chapel, the Vicar normally led the church in procession to the dream chapel to pray on the uncompleted building.
Finally, the dream chapel was completed.
III. The Dream Church:
At a particular time because of the children, a decision was made to convert the existing foundation laid by St Paul’s Church, Breadfruit, to the Sunday school. But at that same time, there was a glaring fact that the wooden church was getting too small for the congregation and it wasn’t attractive enough for people living in the Lekki neighbourhood to desire to join the church. It was then proposed by the Church Building Committee (CBC) that this decision be reversed. It meant that the existing foundation was to be developed into a small dream chapel and the wooden chapel be converted to the Children/Youth church.
The Parish Council Committee approved this decision. The foundations were then re-designed and expanded; and structural engineers were brought in to look at it and confirm its possibility, which they did. This dream chapel was then built and the structure still stands today. But this was just phase I, the phase II- that is the dream Church- was yet to commence.
The proposal to start the dream church was delayed and the multipurpose church hall became the next project to embark on. It was that it would include the Sunday school and the administrative offices. The church proceeded to get approval from the Diocesan Building Planning committee which was a requirement in the Anglican diocese. On getting to the committee, it said that this was not the Bishop’s plan for now but that the main church should commence before any other project.
The Parish Council and the CBC had to go back to the drawing board with to re-strategise. Then, there came a pressing need to demolish the wooden chapel for the diocese to commence with its own building project. So, a temporary building was agreed on in order to relocate the Sunday school from the wooden chapel. Now, a temporary building was set up for the Sunday school with six classes and administrative offices though many people perceive it has permanent.
After this, the dream church project commenced. A foundation-laying committee was set up and they were successful with the task assigned to them. Then, the main construction kicked off immediately after it. A contract of N1.1 billion was awarded for a 1,200 seat capacity dream church inclusive of all church accessories- pews, upholstery, and others. Though the pipe organ is not part of the overall budget, additional provision has been made for it and it would be provided at the completion of the dream church building. The project timeline is estimated to be 72 weeks, or probably three years maximum.
First of all, the piling of the church was done and it is estimated to have cost about N54 million. The dream church structure is proposed to have a car park on the ground floor; then the next floor would be the main church and its gallery.