The Church of Pentecost, a leading global Pentecostal church, present in over 109 nations, has revealed its worldwide theme for the year 2022 in line with its overarching theme of ‘Possessing the Nations.’
The 2022 theme as unveiled by the Chairman of the church, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, during the official opening of the November Heads Meetings, is “Equipping The Church As An Army To Possess The Nations” (Hebrews 13:20-21 & Ephesians 4:11-2; 6:10-11.
According to the Chairman, “Possessing or taking nations” is an ancient military phrase, which means replacing the rule or reign of a nation with that of another through conquest.
Relating this term to the Great Commission, he said, “inspires the church to raise an army of Christians who, being filled with the Holy Spirit and fully equipped with the knowledge of God’s word, will engage and transform their societies with godly values and principles, wherever they are and in whatever they do, in order to win many for Christ and transform them into salt and light of the world.”
Apostle Eric Nyamekye indicated that the 2022 theme calls for a vigorous and intentional equipping of the church to get every single member to assume the posture of an army of the Lord to take the nations.
In doing this, he stated, “We intend to use the metaphor of the armour of God to get our members to understand from the lenses of scripture, the social, political and spiritual forces at work in the various spheres of society and to build their defences against their onslaught.”
He added: “As an army, Christians need to be equipped with the full armour of God so that they can withstand the tricks and schemes of the enemy. Wobbly Christians who have no firm foothold in Christ are easy prey for Satan. This armour is forged and furnished by God Himself, and He invites us to put them on. It must be worn night and day; we must walk, work and sleep in them.”
He asserted that an army of God must never relax their vigilance or else they are not true soldiers of Christ, saying, “They must fight till the kingdoms of the world become the Kingdom of our God.”
The Chairman called for a generational awareness of the power of God in correcting the wrongs of society, stressing that, every generation of Christians should be concerned with what values and standards are going to rule their world or determine their culture.
“And our generation should not disappoint God,” he pointed out.
To help delve into the theme well, the following topics have been selected to guide the teachings and activities of the church in the year 2022: “The Church as the equipping centre in carrying out the Great Commission; the possessing the nations agenda, Equipping the church with the Word of God, Mobilising the squads (the army) for effective impact in the world and Equipping the church to put on the belt of truth.”
Other thematic topics are: “The new creation and the possessing the nations agenda, Righteousness; the authority of the Kingdom, The power of Faith in Possessing the nations, The Power of the Gospel of salvation and The ministry of intercessory prayer.”
The overarching theme for the Vision 2023 agenda of the church which was launched in 2018 has been, “Possessing the Nations: Equipping the Church to Transform every Sphere of Society with the values and principles of the Kingdom of God.”
Each year, the leadership of the church sets goals to guide the church towards the results it intends to achieve. These anticipated results or goals are in turn translated into annual themes. The purpose of these annual themes is to provide a sense of direction to the church towards the realisation of the overall goal of the Vision 2023 agenda.
So far, three of such annual themes namely, “I Will Build my Church, A Glorious Church to Possess the Nations and A Glorious Church Revived to Possess the Nations,” have been dealt with.
From these themes, the church has been made to appreciate her dual responsibility and the call to build a glorious church; a church which is radiant and without stain or wrinkle; a church which is revived, holy and blameless; a church whose testimony will be credible before the watching world.
“These themes without doubt have drawn us many steps forward towards our overall goal,” said the Chairman.
PENTECOST NEWS.
