We will build a bigger, better church," Pastor Oyakhilome boasts

Adedayo Osho

A live video shared from the location of Christ Embassy Church by one Augustine tweeting with his X (formerly Twitter) handle named Chief_Augustin1 reported a fire outbreak on the church's headquarters situated on Billings Way, Oregun area of Ikeja, Lagos in the early hours of Sunday 23rd of June 2024.

Augustine's update saw personnel of the Lagos Fire Service swinging into action, arriving at the scene of the incident at exactly 07:36 AM. Relentless efforts by firefighters prevented the entire building from being consumed, albeit some parts badly damaged.

Director of Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, when contacted by pressmen disclosed investigation is already ongoing to ascertain the causes of the inferno.

Reacting to the sudden outbreak, the President and Founder of Love World Incorporated, also known as Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, said the incident has only created an avenue for bigger and better things in his ministry. He was delighted no human casualty was recorded.

He stated that "Nothing happens in the life of a child of God by accident. During the 2001 Ikeja Cantonment bombing incident, the building vibrated so much and we thought it was going to collapse."

The pastor added that "I thought to myself that if it collapses, I was going to build a bigger, better one. At the end of the day, it didn’t collapse and we called the engineers to see if there was any need to bring it down and rebuild but it was still okay."

Pastor Oyakhilome assures that "Now that this has happened, we will build a bigger, better, and more glorious one, and the devil will lick his wound."

The Church, with its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, has since become a global network of churches, with congregations in many countries. As at 2019, the church already had 145 branches across five continents.