“Then the Lord answered me and said: write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it” (Habakkuk 2:2).
The Conference President shared what the Lord laid upon his heart with the Conference. He presented the vision to the Executive Committee in his quest to lead the Conference to greater height through outreach ministry, Christian education, missionary organisations and human resource development. Rev. Dr. Emmanuel A. Awotunde explained that his goal is to see to the church planting, local and international mission work. He planned to network, synergise and partner local and foreign Christian organisations in achieving this focus. The Executive Committee thereafter appointed a committee to study with a view of presenting a recommendation. The Committee Chairman, Dn. Joseph Adebayo, presented an adjusted version which the Conference adopted as a corporate direction at the maiden Kingdom Life Assembly held at The Ajayi Dahunsi Memorial Baptist Church, Ilasamaja in August 2011.
The Conference was resolute to proclaim Kingdom message not minding the cost. The Strategy Committee was mandated to make use of same in tasking every unit of the Conference to pursue it. The summary of corporate direction of the Conference comprised the vision and slogan, mission and core values, goals and strategies for achieving the goals:
Vision: To be the foremost Conference in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.
Slogan: Kingdom People, Proclaim Kingdom Message!
Mission: To produce a community of disciples that represents Christ by proclaiming the gospel, disciplining others, caring for and developing member- churches to be involved in mission, evangelism and social ministry and collaborating with other Christian agencies.
Biblical Focus: The main focus is to proclaim the kingdom’s message within the immediate environment and the world at large, since the church is to give hope to the corrupt world and to comfort the world with the living Words of God. Revelation 12:10b “…Now salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come….” becomes the Scriptural passage and focus of the Conference. It presents the permanent and eternal solution that resides only in God, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and gives the urgency of the Kingdom Message which has come to give life in abundance (John 10:10b).
Commencement: The Conference officially took off on Monday, 4th October, 2010 after a Commencement Service. All Executive Committee members, associations’ representatives and pastors were in attendance. Rev. Noah Ademola Ayanlere used Psalm 23 in an expository message to charge Conference staff, pastors, Executive Committee members and the Baptist family on the need to work together for kingdom assignment.
Correspondences: The Post Office Box 1447, Marina, Lagos of the former Conference was adopted as one of the official means of receiving correspondences. In addition, an e-mail address:lagoseastbaptistconference@yahoo.com was created, while www.lagoseastbaptistconference.org.ng was developed as the official website, as another means of communication.
Logo: The Conference and its symbols are with messages. They are summarised thus:
- Circle that contains logo symbols represents corporate entity of the Conference that brought into fellowship with one another.
- Deep Royal Blue represents the dark world we dwell in.
- White represents the need to shine in the world full of sins.
- Purple represents purity and the need to live a Christ-like lifestyle.
- Red represents the blood of Jesus for the redemption of humanity.
- Cross represents the symbol of love to the undeserved and a message to proclaim.
- Bible is the true Word of God and we have resolved to teach it and preach it as a guide for human beings.
The logo does not represent the Conference’s corporate identity without the Proclaiming Kingdom Message underneath it.
Core Values: We desire to be
A Loving community of believers who are devoted to
Equipping believers for Master’s business with the aim of
Building believers to proclaim Kingdom message and live
a Christ-like lifestyle through our core values:
- Engaging believers to know more about God through the Word – BIBLE;
- Engaging believers to live and teach Christlikeness – SPIRITUAL INTEGRITY;
- Engaging believers to share the gospel and proclaim Kingdom message – EVANGELISM;
- Engaging believers to equip the saints – DISCIPLESHIP;
- Engaging believers to gather for spirituality – CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP and
- Engaging believers to give and involve in cross-cultural gospel – MISSION.
Goals: The Conference sets these goals for the local churches, associations, institutions and joint ventures.
For Local Churches: The underlisted are the goals set for the churches of the Conference:
- To help local churches recapture and follow the New Testament mode and standard of life, worship, teaching and training;
- To motivate local churches to make church planting and discipleship a mandatory priority;
- To create mission awareness in local churches and mobilise them to do missions.
- To assist local churches as at when time dictates.
For Local Churches and Associations: The associations of the Conference are expected to meet these goals:
- To identify church planters who are theologically trained and enlist them for mission and to be assisted;
- To promote annual Kingdom Life Assembly, Workers’ Seminar and organise Pre-Kingdom Life Assembly outreaches in the hosting associations;
- To promote intra and inter association pulpit exchange programmes during Kingdom Life Assembly in order to promote Conference mission exploits;
- To partner local churches in creating an enabling environment that may lead to planting new churches;
- To motivate local churches to network for church planting and engaging in mission trips;
- To nurture Treasure Baptist Church, Olorunda and Glory Baptist Church, Ipoyewa in Afurugbin Baptist Association to be self-propagating, self-governing and self-financing;
- To develop Godiya Baptist Church, Kosofe into a mega-church that will serve as a flagship of the Hausa ministry and discipleship coordinating centre for Muslim background believers in the Lagos East Baptist Conference.
For Theological Institutions: The Conference desires to work in meeting these goals for theological institutions:
- To support the Nigerian Baptist Convention theological institutions financially;
- To contribute to Baptist College of Theology, Lagos to pay staff salary and to give an annual subscription to Baptist College of Theology, Oyo;
- To contribute to the structural development of the Nigerian Baptist Convention theological institutions;
- To provide financial assistance for the training of pastors-in-training, in any of the Convention theological institutions, especially those from the Conference.
For Joint Mission Efforts: The Conference, in partnership with her sister conferences, desires to work in achieving these goals:
- To partner Lagos Central, Lagos West, mission agencies and other Baptist conferences in Nigeria to do national and international missions;
- To support Global Missions financially, materially and resourcefully.
- To engage in mission trip to home and international mission fields of the Convention annually.
Conference Secretariat: The Conference paid the defunct Lagos State Baptist Conference for the Secretariat Complex, which was transferred to us at the rate of Seventeen Million Naira (N16.5m). We bless the name of the Lord for the payment on installment basis. As a way of adding value to what was handed over to us, the Conference renovated the Secretariat building. The Conference changed the windows from louver blades to aluminums, while the entire building was repainted to suit her taste.
Generator: The Conference purchased a Mikano 40 KVA diesel engine generator to help in discharging effective services. This has eased the agony of the Conference workers and those who come for scheduled meetings.
Property Acquisition: The Conference increased her asset value by purchasing a property at 2, Akinsanya Street, off Shipeolu Street, Somolu, Lagos. The property was purchased at the rate of Twenty Million One Hundred Thousand Naira Only (N20.1m). The Conference took a loan of Fifteen Million Naira Only (N15m) from the Nigerian Baptist Convention to purchase this property. The property has a 4-bedroom duplex, one 2-bedroom flat and four shops. We have offset the loan. The property was renovated and is being occupied.
The Conference as well purchased four plots of land at Ipoyewa, Ikorodu at Three Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira Only (N3, 200, 000.00). Two plots will be for Glory Baptist Church, Ipoyewa auditorium, while the remaining two will be used for establishing nursery and primary school for the Conference.
Other Landed Properties: Besides the landed property in the Lagos metropolis, the Conference purchased two plots of land at Olorunda for Treasure Baptist Church, four plots of land at Ipoyewa, two plots for Glory Baptist Church (two each for the church and conference future educational purposes), two plots of land at Mojoda for Bethel Baptist Church, a plot of land at Kosofe for Conference Mission House and Godiya Baptist Church, while the old Afurugbin Baptist Association donated a parcel of land jointly purchased for mission project to the Conference. The formalisation of the land document is yet to be done by the leadership of the Afurugbin, Abundant Life (now Abundant Grace and Life) and Christ Love (now The Christ Love and Amazing Grace) associations.
Vehicles: Apart from the Hyundai Elantra Car with registration number DB 65 FST allocated to her by the former Conference, the Lagos Baptist Conferences Schools, one of the joint ventures of the Conference, donated Hyundai xli 35 with registration number SMK 600 BG and Hyundai SantaFe Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) with number plate SMK 600 FL to the Conference in 2013 and 2018.
Joint Ventures: The Conference was actively involved in the management of Board of Trustees, Lagos State Baptist Conference, Lagos Baptist Conferences Schools, Lagos Baptist Bookshop and Baptist College of Theology, Lagos. The chairmanship of these ventures are being rotated among the three conferences.
Board of Trustees: The Conference representatives joined members from our sister conferences to serve on the Board of Trustees of the defunct Lagos State Baptist Conference to oversee the properties jointly and equally owned by the three conferences in Lagos.
Lagos Baptist Conferences Schools: The Conference representatives to the Education Management Board of the schools continue to take active roles in the smooth running of the schools. The Board embarked on building projects and completed same in all the schools. The Board has turned the former Baptist College of Theology, Isolo, Lagos to a day Baptist Model High School. Likewise, the Lagos State Government has resolved to hand over the Lagos Baptist Grammar School, Agege to the Lagos Baptist Conferences.
Convention Hosting: The first task of the Conference was the joint hosting of the 98th session of the Nigerian Baptist Convention at Baptist Academy Compound, Obanikoro, Lagos in 2012. When we were about to jointly host the Convention-in-session in 2012, appeal was made to individuals, churches and associations for financial assistance. Those contacted gave beyond expectation. The money given was remarkable and amounted to Eleven Million Nine Hundred and Seventy-five Naira only.
The Conference played a prominent role in the hosting and provided human and financial resources for the hosting. Churches of the Conference contributed towards its success and we bless the name of the living Lord. The Coronavirus otherwise known as COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the joint efforts put in place to host the convention in 2020 for the second time. The Lagos conferences, however, successfully hosted the convention this year (2021).
Ecumenism: The Conference has been very active in Ecumenical meetings of the Bible Society of Nigeria, Christian Council of Nigeria and Christian Association of Nigeria. Our Conference pays her dues to these bodies in conjunction with our sister conferences and our secretariat remains the venue for hosting these bodies annually. The Conference President featured on Lagos State Government-organised meetings and programmes.