Pastor Paul Adefarasin has released a formal statement concerning the fire incident that happened last Sunday 25th June. The House on The Rock Church was said to have been gutted with fire resulting to quite a lot of damage. Pastor Paul took to Instagram to share a post as regards the incident.
He began by expressing how grateful he was to God for the fact that no life was lost. He then announced that some parts of the building were damaged but thanks to the fire services and members of the church who responded quickly to the situation and were eventually able control the fire. He then thanked every single individual who contributed to making sure that the fire was contained.
He went on to state that the necessary arrangements are currently being made with the relevant consultants and authorities to make corrections in the structure of the church, to figure out the cause of the fire and to also to make sure that such incident does not happen again.
He then announced that the weekly services will continue, being that the main building of the church was not affected.
Lastly, he gave a big shout out to all those who remained under the rain, trying their possible best to put out the fire. He appreciated those who have been sending forth prayers and moral support in every way and encouraged all the members of the church to stay calm and keep praying.
He concluded the post with the book of Romans 8:28 which states that “all things work together for good to them who love God.”
“A fire incident occurred at about 2 pm on Sunday 25th of June 2017 at the facilities used by the Abuja daughter church of the House On The Rock. Thankfully, this occurred in the afternoon after all those who attended the mid-year Thanksgiving Service in the morning had departed the premises.
We remain profusely grateful to the Sovereign and Almighty God that there were no human fatalities or casualties. While some parts of the complex were damaged by the fire, the swift co-ordinated response of NEMA, the Federal Fire Service in Abuja, NJI, the NNPC, Julius Berger, the House On The Rock staff and members, and several friends and well wishers of the house who all responded to the incident contributed in no small way to the containment and eventual extinguishing of the fire.
We commend the professionalism of all the first responders and thank them for the invaluable service they rendered.We are now working with the relevant authorities and consultants to ensure the structural integrity of the affected building, even as we seek to determine the root cause of the unfortunate incident.
The weekly services will continue as usual, as the presently used service sanctuary remains unaffected. The House On The Rock wishes to express her gratitude to all who inspite of the inconvenience of the torrential rainfall were available to render assistance, encouragement and moral support during the incident; your prayers, love and moral support expressed in various correspondences are truly and very deeply appreciated.
We enjoin all our members, friends and guests to remain calm as we solicit your continued prayers in this season. Let us all be comforted by the Scripture in Romans 8:28 which says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Thank you
- On the other hand, The Christian Association of Nigeria seems to think the fire outbreak was not ordinary but a sabotage. The National President, Youth Wing, CAN, Engr. David Kadzai, alleged that they suspect sabotage in connection with the fire incident at the House on the Rock church.
It was also reported that the property that was consumed was worth millions of naira. Engr. David came to this conclusion after assessing the extent of damage at the church.
“From what we have gathered so far, it is clear that renovation work was ongoing in the church but there was no work on the site on that Sunday when the incident occurred.
Also, there was no trace of any electrical fault before now. But suddenly people discovered the fire and they couldn’t tell what was the cause.”
The question we are asking now is, why the fire on a Sunday? Having assessed the situation, I am meant to say that we suspect some form of foul play because this incident happened on a Sunday when the saboteurs must have thought of unleashing a blow on the church members.
There are people who are sabotaging the efforts of the church in Nigeria. These persons are saboteurs and perhaps they may be ones who are culpable in this incident. There have been some orchestrated attacks on churches in Nigeria, whether it is this one or not.”
