Church Gist visits Champions Royal Assembly, City of Wonders, Chikakore, Kubwa, Abuja By Leke Beecroft

The first time we heard about Champions Royal Assembly was when it filtered in that there was a new mega cathedral in Nigeria which had a capacity of 80,000.

“……One of the areas Church Gist has chosen to address….. Far from the wild generalizations, the unreliable guestimates and the poorly correlated reports that normally flow out of Christian gatherings, Church Gist essentially provides the discerning reader ACTUAL, on the spot FIGURES and measures of whatever parameter is desired backed up with VERIFYING PICTURES’.

Nigeria easily has the largest church projects as well as largest Church buildings in the world. Asides the Phillipine Arena, a 55,000 capacity auditorium which was commissioned in 2014 thus becoming the largest church auditorium ahead of the 50,000 seat Faith Tabernacle in Ota, Nigeria, there are a number of larger capacity church projects going on presently in Nigeria. From the 70,000 capacity auditorium of Dunamis (expandable to 100,000) being erected at The Lord’s Garden in Abuja to the 75,000 seat Great Tabernacle, opposite Crawford University, Faith City, Igbesa in Ogun State being built by The Apostolic Faith Mission to the 90,000 capacity church of Salvation Ministries, Igwuruta, Port Harcourt in Rivers State and the Faith Theatre, a 100,000 capacity building being constructed by Living Faith Church Worldwide aka Winners’ Chapel International to the biggest of them all, the Deliverance Temple being raised by Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, a 500,000 capacity auditorium with about 847 large windows. All these churches have been visited severally so it came as a surprise to suddenly hear that one 80,000 capacity church had been built in Kubwa, Abuja!!! It was necessary to get a first hand taste.

On our way to the church that morning from Gwarinpa, we picked up three young men as we veered off the expressway into Kubwa, partly to act as ‘guide’ as we had stopped to take pictures thereby missing the luxury bus ahead of us and on her way to ‘Champion’. We stopped a few more times to take more photographs as we crossed beneath the railway bridge that led to the church along the long winding dusty road of Chikakore.
On approaching the church, I took one last picture of the large signboards. One of the ‘guides’ told me the white Venza vehicle that had just passed belonged to ‘Brother Joseph Iginla’, the Senior Pastor and Founder of Champions Royal Assembly. We soon drove past the luxury buses into the church compound and when my friend asked if we could take pictures of the church surroundings, he replied ‘’we are free here; you can snap, you can do anything. That seemed too good to be true. We would find out very soon…. My friend Ishaku, took me on this trip voluntarily, I was especially grateful to him. Our arrival time was 7:30am and we asked the guide what time the service would start and end as all searches on the internet the previous day proved futile. He replied, “8am to 6pm”. Huh!!! I wasn’t sure I heard that correctly. He gave a knowing smile and said, you will enjoy it, you won’t even realise that time has gone. Now I wasn’t sure anymore……10 hours in one service in a church I had never really tested. Once we were in church we noticed almost everybody adorning white and blue mufflers. Ishaku asked if we would be allowed to go into the church without it. A member who arrived behind us answered in the affirmative; my friend pushed it by asking for free mufflers for us….sarcastically. Ishaku has been a clown since I met him over 2 decades ago. His wife specially thanked me for taking him to Church after a very long while. The church member did not take the muffler request kindly. He asked us if the material to make the mufflers was given for free to the church.

As we approached the church main entrance, a woman in the ‘blue and white’ muffler stopped us and told us we looked familiar, she then asked if we are pastors; I also assumed she was a church worker so we waited to listen to what she had to say, ‘’please I am a missionary and I am here with my husband, we need at least N5, 000.00 to settle some bills. My friend nodded at me and she faced me. ‘Errr……I don’t have much cash on me I replied; you could give me your account number so I could send it to you’. She looked at me with a firm resolve ‘’the issue is very urgent and we need the money now’’ she said,’ I’m sorry, we can’t help right now’ I replied and gestured to my friend for us to leave.
Next moment, Ishaku alerted me and gestured….see the Pastor! ‘Yes he is’ was my response then I slowed down a bit, No! he is not. It dawned on us that most men around wore the hairstyle of the senior pastor here. My friend humorously remarked again, ‘Leke, from here, we are going to the barbers’. I laughed. A woman started shouting from upstairs. Thief! Thief! Thief! Security! We looked up the balcony of the first gallery and saw an elderly woman holding a young boy. Some young men ran up the stairs to apprehend the thief who had just been grabbed with a ladies handbag. Drifting away, we observed the environment. The auditorium is still under construction and the area was untarred and generally very dusty. It should be completed soon though. The church has a large area for cars and another for buses. It is a big church. From my estimates, this place would be a minimum of 40 acres and could be as large as 60 acres. There was a car park and a different park for the buses. Also, a number of men in uniform, soldiers, Civil Defence, Road Safety and policemen and women were all there in uniform. I later saw that they were given front seats in church. Interesting! I never saw that before. We took pictures of the signboards around. On one, we saw ‘Joshua Iginla, President and Leading Lecturer’ of the Bible College’. Service was to begin by 8.30am so we made use of the free 60 minutes. The signboards however showed that service was to have started by 6am. I guess that was the initial plan which got changed eventually. People were also queueing at a table under a canopy. As I observed, it occurred to me that they were registering their points of need that would be addressed during ministrations later in the service. This was beginning to look to me like the Synagogue Church. I would later find out that they had a lot in common.

It was time to go into the Church, we entered the magnificent building and first thing noticeable was the galleries. Three layers of galleries on the three floors and on each floor, there were four sets of galleries. Not very big but a nice view from the ground floor. We walked up to the first floor but we were stopped from sitting there, no one else was in any of the galleries and everybody, save for a few workers were all on the ground floor. There were white plastic chairs and users had to clean before use. The dusty arena didn’t really help. My ever ready hand towel came to the rescue.

Opening Prayer was said by 8.30am for about 23 minutes. There were pillars everywhere, it made me look for a clear and unobstructed view before I agreed to sit down….very close to the choir. It was time for my survey. I looked around and realised that this could possibly not be an 80,000 capacity auditorium by any means. Certainly not as large as the National Temple of TAC which took about 27 years to construct and seats 40,000. No, this could not be as large as the 50,000 capacity Faith Tabernacle. The ground floor was about 80% filled. I began to count the pillars and counted about 100 of them. The cone is about 65 metres here. The choir members also wore yellow blouse with blue skirts and about 60 of them were present by my rough estimate.

The stage was coloured blue and very beautiful. The Pastor leading the prayers was by now making some declarations and another pastor with a microphone kept responding ‘Yes Sir’. By 8.53am we were asked to shout ‘FIRE!’ 7 times and this ended the prayers. The choir moved on the stage for Praise and Worship and began unceremoniously.

*‘Great are you Lord’ (4x)
*You are Alpha and Omega, we worship you alone, you are worthy to be praised.
*You raised me up so I can stand on mountains (Josh Groban)
At that point, Ishaku looked at me and we both smiled.
*God is able to make….
As worship continued, I observed big standing fans everywhere. They did a good job because the church felt cool. Parts of the Church floor were still untarred and I sat in one of those areas in my white attire and black ‘Jesus sandals’. The building is actually still under construction. Six fans were attached to the altar alone.
*Salama, Nagode….. by Solomon Lange
Now I noticed that apart from the 65m cone, there were two lower twin cones on either side of the auditorium….about 60m each. Time was now 9.15am.
*Some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord.
A few people were still trooping in.
*Ibuchukwu Ibu din madu
(Na you be God-you no be man o)
*Holy Spirit you are welcome by Steve Crown (One of my most favourite songs)
The beats changed by 9.20am…
*Glory Glory Lord, we give you glory Lord
*Ime, Imela, Imela, Chineke Imela

My mind and eyes went round the auditorium now as standing gave me a much better view. At full capacity, the ground floor would take about 8,000 people at the most. I was being very generous. The galleries were not particularly big and each of the floors would take an additional 2,000 seats each. This was something close to a 14,000 capacity auditorium. Something close to the 15,000 capacity Cathedral of His Glory by TREM (The Redeemed Evangelical Mission) pastored by Bishop Mike and Peace Okonkwo at Gbagada in Lagos. In essence, Champion’s Royal Assembly Auditorium would take probably 15,000 at maximum capacity!
*Receive my Praise O Lord
*Onyenemema Imela Imela Imela Imela
The space behind the choristers was still empty. From my estimates, there would be about 8,000 to 10,000 people in church this morning. I took a mental note to also count the chairs and buses parked outside and estimate the calculation at full capacity of all the vehicles to get a number. Don’t ask me the name of the Church where I learnt all these.
*E ke e e e e, E ke Halleluyah, O ngbo adura mi
*Kabiyesi Oba gbogbo aiye, Baba ese gan
Everybody shout ‘ororo’ (ororo means oil in the Yoruba language)
*Baba Baba Baba Baba Baba mi loke-Baba
*I receive my ororo-I receive my fura (oil in Hausa)-I receive my mmanu (oil in Igbo)
*Chineke Idinma

The session ended by 9.43am and it was time for testimonies.
Testimony time-Overcomers time
Apologies were made to those who would not be called out as 5 names were called.
1. Sis Mercy Abbah
2. Sis Nnachukwu Uwanekezi
3. Bro Owoeye J.Y
4. Bro Bola Ojo
5. Sis Blessing Gomma
The pastor welcomed everyone again to the City of Wonders, Chikakore, Kubwa to see “What God has used our brother, Joshua Iginla to do in our lives”.
Champions shout Fire!
The first testifier ended his testimony after 2 minutes and it was translated in French. Shout Ororo! Shout Uzozo!
The seond person testified about how she took ‘miracle water’ for solution. The French translation ended by 9.51am.
The 5th testifier also used miracle water.
At this point, advert and sales of stickers and the bulletin by
workers (hawkers) dressed in suit was going on in the service. This was particular annoying. Why now? In all, from the testimonies I heard, I felt they were stretching it a bit. Testimonies ended by 10.02am. Someone else came to the altar and exhorted from 2 Kings 2:16. He was eulogised as one of the ‘sons’ pastor was raising.

He spoke on ‘Hidden Glory’. He defined ‘hidden glory’ as ‘Denied Glory’.
To every greatness in life, there is a river to cross.
Those who crossed their rivers-1. Jesus. 2. Joseph. 3. Ezekiel.
Time was now 10.10 am worshippers were still trickling in…remember service was going to be on till 6pm.

The exhortation soon ended and the next speaker told us to ask our neighbour-‘Neighbour, have you gotten your bulletin today? Those who bought were told to raise them up and they were prayed for. I bought mine too…I needed the information it carried.
Then the shocker-They announced that ‘Prayer Bracelets’ were still available. Now it was confirmed. I could tell where this church came from. Miracle water was also available for sale as well as ‘Oil of Wonders’. This is a T.B Joshua model Church.
The choristers once again walked up the Altar as announcements went on.
*Service holds every Saturday from 7am.
*Patronise Champion’s Restaurant and the Mini Mart.
*Details of the Champions Annual International Conference were also given.
*Information for those interested in getting married.
*Attendees for Bro Iginla’s Father’s burial were also given necessary information.
*First fruit announcements were also made.
*Warning-
Do not drop waste in the offering basket.
Do not squeeze money for offering.
After service-Vows should be taken to pastor at the altar and pastor will be there to receive it.
Do not charge phones in church during service.
Do not leave your valuables when going to drop offering in front.
Time was now 10.24am and the choir (Champion’s Prophetic Voices) were beckoned to minister.

By 10.35am I noticed Pastor Joseph Iginla on his seat. He wore a red suit.
The choir’s first song ended by 10.38am and the second began immediately.
‘The name of Jesus higher than other names by Sinach.
Pastor Iginla walked up the altar at 10.47am for his ministration. The choristers also walked down and I counted 47 of them-My earlier estimate was close. Pastor Iginla raised the song ‘Awesome God, Mighty God’.
It was 10:52am. ‘Lift up your two hands and wave it to Jesus’. Another song:
*I see your glory Lord coming down from Heaven by Panam Percy Paul
The song ended and the message started abruptly
1 Peter 3 vs 18-19 – Let’s read together as is our custom-sit down!
Brother Iginla mentioned the topic as BURIED BUT NOT DEAD
He then spoke to viewers on Facebook ‘Joshua Iginla Ministries’ as well as all others on social media – Twitter, Instagram etc
Say to your neighbour – ‘You are sitting next to a miracle’ (about 10 times)
It was not the spirit of death that kept Jesus in the tomb for 3 days
It was the mission work and the emergency to liberate spirits from the grave that held him in the belly of the earth.
In the belly of the earth, he was doing a mission work to liberate spirits from prison.
For 3 days in the earth, he was buried but not dead.
It is true that he died physically, however he was on transition to deliver spirits from prison.
Your career, business or ministry might look dead but you are not dead, you are coming out alive.
The Church in Nigeria is going through persecution; we might be buried but not dead.
Pastor Iginla launched into a series of prophetic declarations
He sat those standing down and my time-check was 11:10am
- A look at his resurrection
- Mark 16 vs 1-2

Further declarations…….
Thou prepared a table before me
- Powers in Nigeria, my God has prepared a table lift your legs and shout fire……..yayaya
Tell your neighbour buried but I’m still alive
My money/business/womb is still alive
God punish the devil!!!
Most worshippers stood up in response to the declarations and it seemed a bit frenzied.
At 11:16am , he asked them to sit down again.
Mark 16 vs 2
At the rising of the sun…
Your sun has risen up today
The sun has risen up on your business/career/life etc
11:21 – sit down
He spoke about the rolling the stone on the tomb.
The angel of this church has already rolled away the stone
Before you go for the contract, God would have rolled that Goliath away
Phil 4 vs 4:13 I can do all things through Christ
11:24am – Sit down!
When the stone was rolled away, the woman gained access
I see you gaining access
……Declarations….

I am not here to teach, I am here to preach
And the single ladies – Access to your husband!!!
Someone is gaining access.
You are entering where you have never entered before.
11:26am – Sit down!
Verse 4- They saw that the stone was rolled away.
At this point, the lady next to me gave me a napkin to clean my legs – ‘nice lady’ I thought. I was impressed. My legs were really dusty as you can see in the picture.

 The Message version says (as Pastor continued preaching) – Come and see where they laid him.
There is a level you are where you see where you are and where you have left
“I used to be in a boys quarter but I am no longer there”
…….The People in church were on their feet again…….
“When a miracle becomes a miracle, people will come and see”
I checked my wristwatch, it was now 11:30 am – we had been here for exactly 4 hours. I prodded Ishaku as we left for our next assignment.

PS: Once we got to the carpark. I told Ishaku that the cars at the park could not be more than 500. He argues that I couldn’t be so sure as they could be more. We decided to settle it and counted quickly…there were 250 cars. We then drove out to count the parked luxury buses. There were 16 of them.
In summary, 300 cars multiplied by 6 (per car) would give a figure of 1,800. Assuming there were 50 buses in all (in the event that 34 buses left-which isn’t likely) with each bus carrying 60 passengers, that would be another 3,000. Given the distance to the main road, not many would walk to the Church but we could add another 1,000 on foot. That would be a total of about 5,800. Rounded up to the nearest ten (for other figures not taken into cognisance) would give 10,000. This was impressive a number to be located at the back end of Kubwa for close to 10 hours every Sunday.

‘When next we come here, it would probably be filled up’ said Ishaku as a matter of factly as he drove us off in the dust.