FOLLOWING the recent ban by the Lagos and Ogun state governments on all religious meetings and gatherings of more than 50 worshippers in the states as part of the precautionary steps towards managing the further spread of the Corona virus disease, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN and the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG have adhered to the new measures in order to save the lives of Nigerians.

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, last night welcomed the precautionary measure to protect the lives of Nigerians from the plague of Corona virus. National President of PFN, Rev. Felix Omobude made this known via a telephone conversation monitored by a staff of National Daily, when he was asked to respond to the recent governments ban on the religious gatherings.

According to the PFN President ,“If this government is taking measures for the benefit of the people, I am for it. The health of Nigerians is paramount to everyone of us and we must endeavor to be supportive of any move in that direction,” he stated. In similar development, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, has also issued a new guideline for the ideal Sunday worship in the affected states through a memo sent by the Assistant General Overseer(Admin &Personel) Pastor Johnson Folorunso on March 18 2020 and addressed to the Pastors-in-charge of those regions and provinces. The memo titled: “Slight altercation in the mode of service for parishes in Lagos and Ogun states” outlined the changes.
According to the letter, Pastor Odesola said: “We refer to the directive from the Lagos and Ogun state governments placing a ban on all religious meetings and gatherings of more than 50 worshippers in Lagos, as part of the precautionary steps towards managing the further spread of the Corona virus disease.“In line with this directive from the government, the mission authority has instructed as follows:

1. Parishes that have an average of attendance of 50 members or less can hold their services without any                alteration or changes.

2 Parishes that have average attendance above 50 members are directed to make use of their House                      Fellowship centres to run simultaneous services with the main church.

3 Parishes that have the facility to run more than one service can also do so, under the strict directive that          worshippers won’t exceed 50 people per service.

4 One supervising minister and an usher could be seconded to each Centre for collation of necessary reports      (attendance, New converts, New comers, etc)

5.All centers are requested to connect to Dove Television to join the live broadcast from the General Overseer during the period.

Going on, Pastor Odesola informed the senior pastors that the arrangement will remain in operation for the next few weeks, based on the position of the Government. “You are therefore requested to convey the assurances of the continued prayer of the General Overseer to members, while also encouraging them not to panic in the face of ongoing crisis because God promised us victory over every battle at the start of this year,” the AGO in charge of Administration, assured.

Earlier on Wednesday, it was confirmed from a reliable source that the 32^nd anniversary of  an annual Power Conference of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) tagged ‘Emerge’, First Born Family (FBF) scheduled  to hold at the Tafawa Balewa Square on Sunday with Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye was the first casuality of the governmental ban.