Venerable Oluwaseun Owoeye, Desk officer, DIVCCON 2020, says despite the initial hiccups faced by the Church in deciding to hold this year’s conference, over 7000 delegates have so far registered with many more expected to register offline as the conference begins.
Speaking to the DIVCCON media team, Owoeye recalled that due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the conference was to be put on hold but was later agreed to hold with some slight modifications.
“At the general Synod, it was initially agreed that instead of us gathering in a place, we should have a rethink of viewing centres. We thought of it and planned to have ten (10) viewing centres.
‘‘But when we came back, we reduced it to five namely- Cathedral Church of the Advent as the main venue, St Mathias House, Basilica of Grace, Apo, St Matthews Maitama and Cathedral Church of St Bartholomew Kubwa viewing centres .
‘‘But even at the general Synod, we started getting feedback that how people can travel all the way only to just come and watch TV in Abuja.
“We kept on going back and forth until Bishop Adeleye informed me of the Primate’s directive that the venue of DIVCCON 2020 should be changed to the National Christian Centre,’’ Venerable Owoeye said.
The Desk Officer narrated that before the general synod, his office had tentatively booked the National Christian Venue without payment for November 16 to 20, 2020.
‘‘By the time, the Church agreed that we were going to have viewing centres, we had to cancel the initial booking.
‘‘Again, when the directive came for us to ditch the viewing centres and go back to the National Christian Centre, Thursday, November 19, was no longer available.
‘‘We were now left with the option of Sunday, November 15, to Wednesday, November 18, 2020, that’s why this year’s DIVCCON is now starting on a Sunday, ’’ he explained.
Speaking further, Ven Owoeye disclosed that fears were heightened again as to whether the conference would hold when the website was opened on the 1st of June but recorded slow registration of less than 2000 delegates.
‘‘However, when the information about the use of the National Christian Centre went out, the numbers went up. People started showing interest and registering. We made a budget of five thousand delegates however currently those who have registered are close to seven thousand and more people will register offline starting from today Monday
‘‘God being our helper, we know that this year’s DIVCCON God being our helper is going to be a success,’’ he said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the cleric enjoined delegates to obey all safety protocols, including the use of face mask at all times, regular washing of hands and the use of sanitisers, provided at strategic points at the venue.
GOD IS MAKING A NEW REVELATION OF HIMSELF FOR US AND THE WORLD – MOST REVD. TUNDE ADELEYE
Despite the challenges associated with the year 2020 especially in the light of the COVID- 19 pandemic, the Bishop of Calabar and National Coordinator of DIVCCON, the Most Rev’d Tunde Adeleye has said that God is making a new revelation of Himself to the Anglican Communion and the World at large.
Archbishop Adeleye, who made the prophetic statement in a chat with the DIVCCON media team, called on all delegates to open their hearts and be attentive to all the bible teachings during the conference.
“The bible study is based on the theme ‘We are more than Conquerors’, tailored towards the challenges and battles we have as Christians.
‘‘Consequent upon this, we require victory in order to move on and we are looking at the theme to help us overcome these very apparent challenges.
“We want to encourage members to sit down and listen to the teachings. We have a lot of testimonies and we want members to learn.
‘‘We also have musical presentations and some of them have to do with the various talks. I want delegates to be attentive because God has a lot of packages for us.
‘‘Mark my words, the packages are all in one package which means its heavy, its lofty, its rich and a clear exclusive and God is making a new revelation of himself both in the world and for us as a Church,” he said.
The Bishop of Calabar thanked God for his grace which has been helpful in the preparations of the conference despite the uncertainties that came with the pandemic.
“As time went on, the Lord began to speak to us to let us know that He is the Lord of the Church. In this particular DIVCCON, we planned just a little but the response we have received is doubling by far of what we had planned it will be,’’ he said.
