Like the biblical parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13, about 50 widows, last Saturday, gathered at the Rose of Sharon zonal headquarters of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, for their normal monthly Widows’ Fellowship to praise and worship God, listen to Word ministration, motivation, prayer, but were surprised with an un-announced empowerment programme.

The widows often gather second Saturday of every month to pray with a desire to get closer to the Husband of Widows to receive motivation and strength to navigate shattered lives and overcome untold pressure from in-laws and other relations over properties.

The 50 women, out of a 272-member Fellowship, without any premonition, went home that day with various items of empowerment to uplift their living standards as well as food items for the Easter celebration. At least, two sewing machines, 29 grinding machines, 200 5-litre of vegetable oil, different sizes of rice, 50 cartons of macaroni, 30 bags of semovita and a host of other food items amounting to about N4 million were distributed to those who attended the service.

The distribution was supervised by the wife of the Pastor-in-charge of Province 35, Pastor (Mrs.) Yinka Morgan and Pastor Collins Ekpenyong who represented the head of Apapa Family, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade who is a Regional pastor and the Special Assistant to the General Over-seer on Christian Social Responsibility, CSR. The ecstatic recipients literally rolled on the floor in tears of joy, expressing gratitude for the unexpected gesture. Sister Chukwuka, one of the recipients, who was particularly elated because the gesture came as a fitting birthday present to her.

Another widow was uncontrollable in her expression of joy, saying later amid tears that the grinding machine she received previously was sold to pay for the surgical operation of one her children. Many others, irrespective of age and ethnic background, shed tears of joy giving praise to God for the unusual way the Lord intervened in their lives just ahead of Easter 2019.

Addressing religious correspondents present at the occasion, Pastor-in-charge of Rose of Sharon zone in Ikeja GRA, Pastor Emeka Obiagwu and his wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Chichi Obiagwu averred that the gesture was in line with the vision of the General Overseer of the mission, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, pointing out that over eight million persons have benefited from the mission’s benevolence program-me. According to the twosome, RCCG as a mission, has committed over N2.8 billion on CSR and the Rose of Sharon has been involved in charity work on a quarterly basis for the widows but this time it chose to be silent about the programme.

“Before now, we would have announced that widows in the church should come to be empowered which would have attracted over 400 widows from all over the place. But, we decided to give out the empowerment as a surprise to those who came for our regular monthly service.

“There are about 50 of them at the meeting. Some will be empowered with grinding machines and sewing machines while those who have enjoyed such empowerment earlier would be given bags of rice, ground-nut oil and a host of other food items,” Pastor Obiagwu explained On her experience dealing with widows, Obiagwu who co-ordinates the Widows Fellowship, said, dealing with that class of believers has been a blessing to the church, noting that they come with multiple challenges which have been a source of concern for the church.

“We prayerfully thought of what we can do to empower them so they would not be coming for help every time. This time we choose to empower them with things they can use to make money.” While noting that the church has a list of 272 widows, two widowers, she said, “those who came this morning, were here to worship God and God has surprised them,” she noted.

Source: Vanguard