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The men of the Full
Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International (FGBMFI) Nigeria paid a courtesy
call on Nevis with the sole purpose of reviving the work of the Fellowship in the
Caribbean.
Led by Dr. Azikiwe Ikeorha, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist the team included Chief Basorun Doja Adewolu and Warner Riviere originally from Nevis - but presently
residing in St. Croix. The team also plans to visit St. Kitts.
The purpose of their visit was to set up a Chapter of the FGBMFI each in St. Kitts
and Nevis and most importantly to revive the Fellowship in the Caribbean.
This visit was reported in the LEEWARDS TIMES of March 23, 2010. According to the
men, “the Caribbean nation has been sleeping; Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship
International which had its presence all over the Caribbean is almost dead.
In a brief synopsis of the organisation, they revealed that, FGBMFI was founded
in 1952 in Los Angeles by some twenty people led by Demos Shakarian, a Californian
dairy farmer of Armenian descent.
After a difficult start, it steadily grew, and
a few years’ later branches were
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set up in other countries.
FGBMFI is active in approximately 160 countries of the world but with more presence
in Nigeria. Attention is drawn towards the “Full Gospel”, a term often used as a
synonym for the gospel preached within the Pentecostal movement.
Emphasis is on faith-related personal experiences, showing that faith is much more
than just a culture and/or a set of rules. Doctrines that are not essential to the
very heart of the Gospel are kept out of discussion within FGBMFI. As a consequence,
there are basically no denominational restrictions to membership.
FGBMFI mainly operates in local groups, called “Chapters.” These chapters organise
meetings, usually once a month, in hotels, restaurants etc. In such meetings, one
or more members tell about their faith experiences.
It was said that such experiences
often have supernatural elements. Most Chapters start their meetings with a meal.
People can be prayed for and if they so wish. In addition to the local meetings,
regional and international conferences are held from time to time.
FGBMFI targets “business men” in the broadest possible sense. The meetings are open
to everybody. Membership, however, is reserved to those who agree with FGBMFI’s
doctrinal statement. Church leaders may become ordinary members, but are not accepted
as board members, so as to avoid any denominational bias.
The men have left their businesses behind to serve the Lord and have also funded
their own trip themselves. Asked why they do this at a time when the world was plunged
into recession, they said, “The recession mainly is what man talks about but as
far as God is concerned the more you give the more you get. “We put our trust in
Him”.
“The Full Gospel is not a church; it’s a training ground to make men go back to
God. When you draw their attention back to God and they catch the vision they will
then be empowered to go back to their various churches and be effective. The founder’s
intention is to move the gospel out of the church to meet men wherever they may
be.
A member of the team and a member of the Fellowship in St. Croix said, “God is using
ordinary people like us to do extra ordinary things.” He also noted that their first
visit was to St. Croix where they have established a Chapter and ministered to over
400 persons.
Some other team members he said visited Grenada, Tortola, St. Kitts, Barbados, Guadeloupe,
Trinidad, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas’. “The organisation is growing well; Nicaragua
which is the second poorest nation in Central America has about seven million people,
3.7 million of them have passed through Full Gospel.
Crime is now down in Nicaragua to the point where people are now removing the iron
bars from their windows and they are building larger churches. In Grenada, schools
that are known to be bad, where kids got to school with knives and guns, I was told
that is no longer happening. A lot of people are now coming to the Lord through
the FGBMFI,” he said. |
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