{"id":1879,"date":"2024-06-24T11:08:30","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T10:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=1879"},"modified":"2024-06-24T11:08:30","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T10:08:30","slug":"fire-guts-nigerian-megachurch-christ-embassy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=1879","title":{"rendered":"Fire guts Nigerian megachurch, Christ Embassy"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Christ Embassy on fire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The main auditorium of Loveworld Incorporated popularly called Christ Embassy, one of Nigeria\u2019s megachurches, has been gutted by fire.<\/p>\n

The church located in Ikeja, capital of Lagos State, the country\u2019s commercial centre, was engulfed by fire early Sunday morning hours before the service, destroying properties worth millions of naira.<\/p>\n

Vanguard newspaper quoted an eyewitness as saying that the fire started at about 8am but was curtailed by the Lagos Fire and Rescue Service and the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA).<\/p>\n

No life was lost.<\/p>\n

Members of the church who had gathered for Sunday service ran for safety at the outbreak of the fire.<\/p>\n

Margaret Adeseye, director of the Fire and Rescue Service, said the fire was doused by 10am.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is to inform Lagosians to be calm. The fire at Christ Embassy Church headquarters in Alausa, Ikeja is under control right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of the time of this report, no loss of life was recorded. We are on the ground ensuring the safety of lives and property.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fire is still on but under control. Let us remain calm as the rescue operation continues,\u201d Adeseye said.<\/p>\n

Church\u2019s President speaks<\/strong><\/p>\n

President and founder of the church, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, during a live service at the church\u2019s campground, Asese, said the fire outbreak was not an accident but an avenue for bigger and better things.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI thought to myself that if it collapsed I was going to build a bigger, better one. At the end of the day it didn\u2019t collapse and we called the engineers to see if there was any need to bring it down and rebuild but it was still okay.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that this has happened, we will build a bigger, better, and more glorious one and the devil will lick his wound,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Previous fire incidents<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2014 and 2018, there were fire incidents at the church\u2019s headquarters during which properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.<\/p>\n

Reports say the 2014 incident was caused by a power surge from one of the generating sets.\u00a0 Like the Sunday\u2019s fire outbreak, no life was lost.<\/p>\n

Four containers caught fire at the headquarters in 2018. The containers were filled with electrical appliances, pumping machines and pieces of furniture.<\/p>\n

About Church Embassy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christ Embassy started in Benin City, Edo State, South-South Nigeria after it was incorporated in 1987. Two years later, it moved to Lagos. It is one of the fastest growing churches in Nigeria with approximately five million members.<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s foundation traces back to a prayer group initiated by Pastor Oyakhilome while he was a student at the Ambrose Alli University where he studied architecture.<\/p>\n

Christ Embassy is today a global ministry with a vision for world evangelisation and emphasis on miracle services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The main auditorium of Loveworld Incorporated popularly called Christ Embassy, one of Nigeria\u2019s megachurches, has been gutted by fire. The church located in Ikeja, capital of Lagos State, the country\u2019s commercial centre, was engulfed by fire early Sunday morning hours before the service, destroying properties worth millions of naira. Vanguard newspaper quoted an eyewitness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ministry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1880,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions\/1880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}