Pastor
Femi Wilhelm of House of Rest Church, Lagos speaks with Akomolafe Blog about The
Ministry, their programme "TRANSFORMED" and other Trending issues about Nigeria and the Economy.
- Can we meet you sir?
My name
is Femi Wilhelm, Lead Pastor, House of Rest church, Lagos.
- How did the name (House of Rest Church)
came through?
I told
the leaders at one of our retreats in
December, after I shared the vision of the church with them, that we should all
pray right there and ask God for the name of the church He was asking us to
start and after the prayer, they were going share whatever they received.But prior to that
time, I had a revelation where I got the name (let me not go into all the
details of the revelation). So at the retreat, the things the leaders received
and they shared that night were just confirmations of the name I had received
earlier. Although I didn't announce the name or tell them about the revelation.
I went further after the retreat to pray, presenting the
words the people had received from him to further confirm what we all received
and then, I got the scripture, Matt.11 vs 28 "come unto me, all ye who
labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." We believe the
essence Christ came to earth can be summed up to restoring man to the place of
God's Rest he lost in Genesis. And the place of rest signifies two things the
place of relationship with God, which brings absolute trust and total
dependency on God, and the place of authority in Christ, which makes us
exercise our dominion on earth. So, we have the name, "HOUSE OF REST".
- Thought you were based in Ibadan, why
coming Back to Lagos fully to start a Ministry?
I'm not
based in Ibadan, I only schooled there and the ministry started while I was an
undergraduate in University of Ibadan as a Para - church and afterward, God
said I should get down to Lagos and raise people for Him. For me, why should I
go down to Lagos for ministry, how do I survive? we have so many great
ministries already; of which some are even led by my mentors but He (God) made
me know that, Ministry is never competition but complementing; and unless I
begin to see that I have a unique and distinct calling which will complement
these great ministries, I may not make much impact and progress.
- Hope you’re still in with The
Foursquare Organization, especially the Youth Arm of the Organization?
I’m
still a Foursquarian, although with the church now, I can’t be an active member
anymore as such like that, but Foursquare is my home and family.
I
consider myself as an “Associate Foursquarian”.
- What is the Mission & Vision
statement of the “House of Rest Church”
"Our vision is to raise exemplary leader in every sphere".
"Our mission is empower you and me to know God, Love God, Love others, be committed to God and to others and serve God and others with our gifts and talents."
- What would you say about the Trending
issues of Christians going into Politics? Will you say it’s a good idea humanly
and Biblically?
I believe there's no system that is corrupt,
it is the individual that make up the so - called "corrupt system"
that are corrupt. A lot of people say politics is a dirty game, I do not agree.
Even a government student won't write that in an exam. Politics is not a dirty
a game, it is the people in the game that may be dirty. Pack genuine Christians
in politics then it will be a very good game.
So in
answering the question, I believe Christians should be in Politics has led.
Psalm 24 says the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof, the world and
everything in it. The hebrew word for "world" is cosmos, which talks
about the systems of the world. So all the systems of the world which includes
politics belongs to the Lord. And it is time for God to take control of it
which can only be done by having His people there.
In fact,
I believe our Lord Jesus Christ is a not a religious leader but a political
leader. The bible say "the GOVERNMENT shall be upon his shoulder" Why
should Christians not be in politics. The only way you can influence a system
is to be in the system and now is the time for us to.
- What’s your opinion about The Nation’s
Economic issues and other things happening in the country causing the Nation
one problem or the other.
People
say what is happening in the country is God's anger against the country; some
other says God is visiting the iniquities of forefathers and some other says
God is avenging for the innocent ones that are dead, well I do not agree with
these views. God does no evil and I believe he is not angry with the country. I
believe things are turning around for us as a nation though.
- Can you also enlighten us more about
your programme “Transformed” which is a monthly programme from you sir.
The
recurrent word in House of Rest Church is Transformation. We believe transformation
is a continuous process. So "transformed" programme is a programme
where we teach the word of God and lives are transformed. We run it every 3rd
Saturday of the month and it has been blessing lives.
- What is the brain behind “Transformed”?
God is
the brain behind whatever we do. Since we were looking at launching the church
on 31st December, 2017 which is watch night service and commence a full church
activities January, so transformed is basically designed as a prototype of our
Sunday service.
- What do people stand to benefit of from
this programme?
Every
spiritual benefit (laugh).
- Your word of encouragement to the young
generation out there who are serving God and those who wants to come into the
ministry to work and serve God?
Bible
encourages we should serve God in the days of our youth. My encouragement
particularly to those who are called into the ministry is to stay focus and be
at your work. You must know that calling into the ministry is an appointment;
an honorable appointment. So get to business and don't be lazy.
For More Information & Details, you can Follow House Of Rest Church on all Social Media Platforms Via ;- @horestchurch. OR CALL 08089893836.
"Raising exemplary leader in every sphere"