14th August, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The 30,000 capacity auditorium of the Deeper Life Bible Church’s headquarters, Gbagada, Lagos was filled to capacity. Those who could not gain entrance into the auditorium stayed outside. Worshippers and key leaders of the church from all walks of life were present.
The event was the 50th anniversary of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, established on 3 August, 1973. The celebration began with a week-long Strategy Congress of the church, which brought key leaders of the church from over 120 countries where the church has branches. The grand finale was the church service held on Sunday, 12 August, 2023 to celebrate the 50th year existence of Deeper Life. The theme of the anniversary is “God’s Faithfulness.”
Pastor William Kumuyi, General Superintendent of the Ministry was the cynosure of all eyes. He was the man at the centre of the stage, whom God used to set up the church, along with 14 others.
The celebration witnessed the best of music with instrumental accomplishments from children, youth and adult choir of the church.
With congregational songs, such as “To God be the Glory,” “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “Great is thy Faithfulness,” and “Faith of our Father,” the worshippers were lifted up in the spirit to worshipping and given God the praise for a successful and challenging journey of the Deeper Life in the last 50 years.
There was no dull moment all through the five hours the service lasted. The celebration was spiced with eulogies, official unveiling of the Deeper Life Bible as well as the unveiling of Deeper Life @ 50 logo, documentaries on how the church started; reliving the first Deeper Life Duet recording “You Love the World,” among others.
There were goodwill messages from the various sections of the church-children, youth, campus, young adults, women and men. Selected Deeper Life ministers representing all continents of the world also delivered goodwill messages, in which they praised God for using Kumuyi to pilot the affairs of the church in the last 50 years.
In his 50th anniversary message, “Marching Forward with Fresh Vision into the Future Destiny,” Pastor Kumuyi, stressed the need for the church to march forward in propagating the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with courage, using the right compass.
He said while praising God for what He had done for the church in the last 50 years, Deeper Life must wax stronger in marching forward with the great commission, sanctification and submission to the will of God.
He stressed the need for members of the church to possess great faith like the one Joshua had in the Bible when he commanded the Sun and moon to stand still and that of Caleb, when at 80 years, he still possessed the faith to conquer great obstacles before him.
The man of God called on the various sections of the church to be more spiritually inclined in their ministration, especially the choir. He gave instances of sinners getting converted several years ago just by listening to the choir singing.
One of the highlights of the day was the unveiling of the Deeper Life at 50 anniversary logo. The unveiling was championed by Pastor Philip Oluwi. The unveiling ushered in Kumuyi’s son John and his wife to the podium. They were united with their father and his wife, Esther.