Our Mission and Vision
We are a holy spirit led, bible-based church dedicated to the mission of preaching God’s word to the world through fellowship. We purpose and are committed to fulfilling our mandate and vision.
History
The Church, even from when it was embedded within the Church of the Lord, has always been directed by the Holy Spirit, and the church has been obeying the voice of the Lord since. In 1986, the Lord gave the directive that her eminence, Most Revd. Dr. (Mrs.) E.O. Babayemi should move from the Church of The Lord No. 1 at Odundun Street, Dallimore Ado-Ekiti, to establish another church. Subsequently, in that same year, the first service was held at the present church site under a palm tree and it was conducted by the Primate and spiritual founder, named above.
On 19/3/88, the foundation of the present main church building was laid. On 18/3/89, the Lord made the pronouncement that the Church shall henceforth be named and called “Jerusalem Church of the Lord International (Home of Children)” or in Yoruba language, “Jerusalemu Ijo Oluwa fun gbogbo agbaye (Ile Ewe)”. Up until this time, the church was known as Church of the Lord No. 1B. In 1990, the church became incorporated as a registered church with the Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigeria.
The first ordination of the church took place in January 1990 with the ordination of now Venerable J.O.Adebayo as Reverend.
From inception till date, the church has been under the leadership of the Primate who is also the vessel through whom the church was founded, Dr Mrs E.O.Babayemi. Enabled by the Holy Spirit, she has proved that what a man can do, a woman can do just as well and even better. Having completely subjected herself to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, she has piloted the affairs of the church with excellent results and the church keeps growing at a steady pace. Her mien, gentleness and love of little children has become legendary. This has endeared the hearts of many within Ado-Ekiti and its environs to the church.
The church today has about thirty branches situated in Nigeria, Ghana, United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America. The Lord’s promise is that the church’s branches shall be all over the world and we completely believe in and work towards this promise.
Beliefs
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We believe that He came down to earth in flesh, to perform the work of redemption and reconciliation of mankind to God, which was accomplished through His Crucifixion and eventual Resurrection. As a result of Christ’s work of redemption on the Cross, we also believe that men are justified and therefore saved, through Grace, by faith in Jesus Christ. We also affirm that those who are led by the Spirit of God, are the children of God.
In addition, the church has in her doctrines a number of beliefs that are derived from the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible, as discussed below.
WHITE GARMENTS
It is our belief in Jerusalem Church of The Lord International (hereafter abbreviated to JCLI), that anybody who is free from the troubles of this world and earthly tribulations is supposed to wear white garments. White garments are not peculiar to JCLI, but our own source of inspiration for the white garment is the Holy Bible. A number of Biblical references are now quoted to support the earlier claims.
- At the tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ, an Angel in white apparel was seen guarding the entrance at the time of the Lord’s resurrection. Matthew 28 verses 2 and 3 states that after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down, from Heaven. The angel rolled back the stone on the entrance and sat down on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. If the dress of an angel is white, then we are justified for wearing white robes to worship God.
- In Revelation Chapter 3 verse 4, we read “…Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white for they are worthy. He who overcomes like them, shall be dressed in white. I will not blot out their names in the book of life”.
- Also in Revelations 7 verse 13, “then one of the elders asked me, these in white robes, who are they? And where did they come from? I answered sir, you know. And he said, these are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb…”
- In Daniel 7 verse 9, “as I looked, thrones were set in place and the Ancient of days took His seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool…”
- In a similar vein, in Mark 9 verse 3 “His robe was glittering, it was very white, there is no washer man on Earth who can wash to be as white as that…”
If all the above mentioned passages from the Bible refer to white robes, then we in JCLI are justified and consider it very appropriate to use white robes.
ADORATION
Adoration is the bowing down of one’s head to lift high (adore) the Almighty God in JCLI. The head is lowered down and made to touch the clean worship ground during prayers or worship. This is done 9 times at the beginning of service and three times at the close of service. It is God, our Father and our Creator that we worship by doing this. This is contrary to the practice of the Babylonians who worshipped the golden image, that image which Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego refused to bow down to because it was not God.
Now the second commandment of God in Exodus 20 verse 5 says”… Thou shalt worship thy God. Him alone shalt thou serve…” In Matthew 4 verse 10, Jesus said to Satan “Away From me Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only” In the book of Revelation 5 verse 14, “the four living creatures said, Amen and the elders fell down and worshipped Him”
Hence, if the Angels bow down to worship God, who then are we, not to bow down to worship God?
HOLY SPIRIT
After the death of Jesus Christ, many disciples met at the upper House to pray. This was the first time that a large number of disciples would get together for prayers.
As they were praying, the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven and these disciples started talking in various tongues. This is the confirmation of Christ’s promise that a Comforter will be sent when Jesus Christ ascends to Heaven.
In Acts 2 verse 4 we read, “…All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them”
To understand this, we take recourse to John chapter 14 verse 26 which says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
If the disciples, quite a large number of them at that, spoke in tongues with the power of the Holy Spirit, there is nothing strange if the Holy Spirit is manifested in JCLI through the tongue, to complete the uncompleted works of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
In JCLI, the Holy Spirit has done a lot of wonders. He has given children to the childless. He has cured all manners of incurable diseases (like asthma, goiter, diabetes, HIV AIDS etc). He has raised the dead to life. He has provisioned work for the jobless. He has reinstated those who lost their jobs. He has rescued people who were to be sentenced to jail, for God has no interest in the death of a sinner; instead he seeks his repentance and salvation.
