commemoration of the 36th Anniversary of the Liberation Mandate. 2000 - till date PT-2

Special series in commemoration of the 36th Anniversary of the Liberation Mandate.
An abridged Timeline of the Liberation Mandate.

By Leke Beecroft

The often told story of the Liberation Mandate is repeated by Leke Beecroft with a detailed timeline of how the Liberation Commission has fared. Enjoy!!!

continuation...

 February 17, 2000
Project Hebron
An Advisory council on the take-off of Covenant University was set up.

2000*Family day amazingly attracted 80,000 people in Faith Tabernacle, first time the Church will witness such attendance in a Sunday service.

2001

MISSION TO THE WORLD, a project to plant churches outside Africa started in 2001, with the first branch in London, England.
Transportation: The little start: purchase of 20 mini-buses to convey worshippers to and from the church.

September 30, 2001
Transportation: And the little became great

Purchase of 87 comfortable six-wheeler luxury buses, with the capacity to ferry 6,090 worshippers at once.

December 30, 2001
Presidential Honor

The President, Federal Republic of Nigeria worshipped at Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota.

January 27, 2002
Covenant University: Ground breaking

The ground breaking of Covenant University took place at Canaanland.

February 12, 2002
Covenant University: Licensed

Covenant University was licensed by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

April 2002
Covenant University: Construction

Intensive construction of buildings and structures commenced fully at the Covenant University Permanent site in Canaanland.

October 21, 2002

Covenant University was dedicated in a grand service as she welcomed her 1500 strong pioneer students after about 7 months of construction.

January 13, 2003

Kingdom Heritage Model Schools : Where lives are nurtured
Kingdom Heritage Nursery and Primary School came to life.

June 2004

The Rebellion in Accra, Ghana. Another Regional headquarter immediately established.

June 16, 2004
Aircraft 2

Arrival of newer and bigger Aircraft 5N-PTL (Praise The Lord) to replace the former one-5N-WMA (World Mission Agency).

August 2004
Empowerment Summit : Africa

Empowerment Summits across Africa commenced

February 28, 2005
Covenant University: speedy accreditation

CU records unprecedented Accreditation of 16 academic programmes presented to NUC. Covenant Declared best private University in Nigeria for the first time in less than 4 years of establishment.

December 2006

During Shiloh, Church announces her 25 year vision to establish six more universities in Nigeria and other African countries. 3 more in Nigeria and 3 in other countries namely Kwara, Abuja, Cross-River, Ghana, Congo DR and Kenya. A total of 140 secondary schools and over 5,000 nursery/primary schools.

2007
Construction begins at second university-LANDMARK

June 2008

Another aircraft, a Challenger-600 Aircraft with marking-N664D was acquired by the church during the global recession.

January 17, 2009
2nd Service at Faith Tabernacle
2nd service commences at Faith Tabernacle

March 2009
3rd Service at Faith Tabernacle
3rd service kicks off at Faith Tabernacle

December 2009

With about 700 branches, Church begins aggressive planting of branches all over Nigeria and Africa.

September 2010

Commissioning of the drafting committee for the making of a constitution/operational manual for the Living Faith church Worldwide.

October 2, 2010
Goshen City : The Dedication

Dedication of New Church Campus. built on a 740-acre property named Goshen City, at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was dedicated with a 15,000-seat capacity sanctuary, primary and secondary schools, staff housing estate and more

Nov 2010
Church branches increase to 2,500

February 13, 2011
4th Service at Faith Tabernacle

Church acquires 5 acres of college facility in Greenwood, Kent near London, England and church facilities in New York costing millions of dollars.

March 7, 2011
Landmark University

The License to operate Landmark University was issued by the Federal Government of Nigeria at Abuja to the church

March 19, 2011
Landmark University: Breaking new Grounds

Landmark University, the second University, of the church located at Omu Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria (unlike her 5 contemporaries) resumed immediately after being licensed and received her 945 pioneer students drawn from across the nation and from 8 different nations of Africa. About $100m had been spent on constructions at inception and $3m on scholarships.

May 1, 2011
Workers Day

The Commission records over 30,000 staff on the 30th anniversary of the Liberation Mandate

November 2011
Church branches grow by over 2,000 all over the world in 2011

June 2012
Covenant University announces vision 1 in 10 of 10

September 7, 2012

Church Constitution: The MANDATE, operational manual of the church clearly spelling out doctrines and history of the church as well as administration and succession was commissioned. Constitution was silent on ordination of new Bishops.

Oct 2012
CU celebrates 10 years of existence

Dec 2012

Church lists over 5,000 branches in Nigeria alone and over 600 in foreign countries, totaling about 6,000

Jan 2013

At the end of annual January prayer and fasting, “Prayer-Reach”, a weekly outreach to spread the gospel and invitation by members is announced.

February 2013

Covenant University declared best university in Nigeria and 15th in Africa by webometrics.

April 20, 2013

Dedication of New Church Campus with Kenyan Vice President William Ruto present. Built on a 15 acre property named Wonderland, at Nairobi, Kenya in East Africa, the Church was dedicated with a 15,000-seat capacity sanctuary to become the largest church auditorium in East and Central Africa.

May 2013
About 60 churches planted in hinterland Lagos

June 2013
Renovation work on Faith Tabernacle began. Project budget was N3 billion ($18.75m). Other renovation and building projects for the year totaled N16 Billion ($100m)

July 28, 2013

As a result of “Prayer-Reach’, church experiences multiplications in attendance. About 50,000 increase in Canaanland alone. Church records 190,000 attendance during Sunday services

August 2013

Faith Tabernacle service schedule adjusted to make way for a 5th service on Sundays

2013

1. LIVING FAITH CHURCH COMMENCES CONSTRUCTION OF PRIVATE AIRSTRIP ON NEWLY ACQUIRED 3,000 ACRES OF LAND AT OTA.

2. ESTABLISHES MEGA-CONSTRUCTION COMPANY "BERACHAH" TO BECOME A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.

3. CHURCH GIVES MEMBERS N500 MILLION IN "EMPOWERMENT" SCHEME.

4. COMPLETES RENOVATION OF FAITH TABERNACLE AT LESS THAN N1 BILLION (30% LESS THAN INITIALLY BUDGETED N3 BILLION)

5. OVER 50,000 NEW CONVERTS ATTEND 'BELIEVERS FOUNDATION' CLASS BETWEEN JANUARY AND OCTOBER 2013.

6. RECORD 25,340 NEW MEMBERS ATTEND 'WORD OF FAITH BIBLE INSTITUTE' WITHIN SAME PERIOD WITH OVER 70% ON SCHOLARSHIP.

7. Acquires Helicopter 5N-BQY for local missionary trips

2013

*Economic benefits of the church as listed by the BBC in 2013.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announced that Ota experiences more sales on Sunday than the rest of the week (Mondays to Saturdays) joined together.
Independent estimates claim about $1 million is spent in Ota every Sunday service day on purchases, a large chunk of which takes place in the traffic. Currant drinks, bottled water, handkerchiefs, food from restaurants, souvenirs for cars and homes, jotters, pens, beef burger (gala), envelopes for offerings in church, bread, bean-cake (akara), calenders with inscriptions of the church logo and pictures of leaders of the church, and most especially transport services by buses and cabs.

By July 2013, the church was spending $120,000 (N18 million) each Sunday for payment of transport fare both ways for worshippers. Those who could afford it were encouraged to drop it in the offering basket and label it “transport seed”.
The cost of land in Ota shot up tremendously. Property was very cheap as at 1998 when the church first commenced construction; it went as low as N20,000 or $27 per plot. It began to go up gradually and by 2006, it had gone up to N1.5m. By 2013, price of a plot of landed property had gone up to about N3m to N10m around Canaanland.

December 2013-David Oluwamakinde Oyedepo ministers for the first time at Shiloh.

February 2015-President Goodluck Jonathan visits Faith Tabernacle.
March 2015-Morris Cerullo visits Canaanland.

May 2015-Church commences ‘Wonder Double’ Outreach phase based on prophecy.

July 2015-Church commences 5th service.

October 2015-Attendance on Sunday hits 400,000 for the first time.

December 2015-David Oyedepo Jnr becomes Resident Pastor at Faith Tabernacle.

January 2016-Overflow tents erected for 52,000 people outside Faith Tabernacle Auditorium.

November 2016-Air Conditioner installed in Faith Tabernacle.

December 2016-Sale of Canaancity Houses begin.

January 2017-Church commences construction of Canaancity and 100,000 capacity Faith Theatre.

May 2017-36th Anniversary of the Mandate and third visit of Kenneth Copeland to Canaanland.