BRIEF HISTORY OF HERMON CITY CHURCH
Hermon City Church was inaugurated on May 2nd, 2004. The inaugural service was held at the Ashbury Hall of the Mirage Hotel MCC Rd, Calabar.
The church was founded on the grounds of a strong burden the Lord had put in the heart of its Founding Pastor – Pastor Afolarin Ogunyinka, to start a church patterned after the church at Antioch in Acts 11. Its vision in summary is to raise Christ-Apostles who are peculiar, purpose-driven, promoting service and preserving the unity of His Church.
After resignation from the denomination he formerly pastored to the position of Zonal Pastor, prayer meetings began April 1st, 2004 with 5 brethren in attendance in the living room of his then residence (6, Itok Orok Street, off Ediba Road, Behind Marian Market). The prayer meetings grew to about 30 within that month. A test-run service was held on April 25, 2004 with 86 people in attendance including children.
On Jan 14th 2007, the church was generously given 1.1 hectares of land on prime property in the heart of Calabar (NNPC Depot road, Esuk Utan). The church started building and moved into the Teens Auditorium of its complex named Hermon City Int’l Worship Centre on
November 21st 2007.
On June 26 2011, by divine direction, a church was planted in Gwarimpa Abuja to serve as a “Mordecai” church positioned to disciple believers to influence and impact the political and social sphere of the nation.
Both Calabar and Abuja churches have gradually been growing numerically, spiritually, financially and socially since then to the glory of God despite the odds and challenges.
On April 27, 2014, the mandate to start Taking Every Nation (T.E.N) was both received and declared. Pretoria, South Africa was earmarked as the place where the first international church of this commission will be planted. In compliance to this divine mandate, the church had its inaugural service on November 2, 2014. Due to largely immigration challenges the church in Pretoria has suffered many challenges. It presently exists as a home church.
The T.E.N. Mandate has led to the planting of churches in Calabar South, Uyo, Lagos, Philadelphia USA (under the name HighPointe Church) and in May 2021, our first set of Missionaries (Pastor Osas Dele Ibude and Pastor Timothy Hermon Obi) were sent to start the Church in Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver, Surrey precisely. We are indeed just starting! God is at work!
WHAT WE BELIEVE
The purpose of this section is not to provide an exhaustive theological argument for the following beliefs. Rather, it is presented as a brief synopsis of fundamental aspects of our faith for the purpose of clarity and doctrinal unity.
ABOUT GOD…
There is one true God. He is the Creator and Ruler of everything, seen and unseen. He exists eternally as one Being revealed to us in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born to the virgin Mary. He came as God in the flesh. He lived a sinless life, offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins by His death on the cross, and rose from the grave three days later, showing His power over sin and death. He ascended to heaven and will return again someday to reign as King over all the earth.
After Jesus returned to His place in heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent to counsel, comfort, convict, and empower believers. When a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, the Holy Spirit begins to live in them. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an additional experience, available to every Christian, that further empowers them to live a holy life and serve more effectively.
ABOUT THE BIBLE…
We believe that God verbally inspired the writing of the Bible. The Holy Spirit directed the various authors to write God’s truth, working with and through their personalities and writing styles to produce one coherent and error-free work. We believe the canon of Scripture, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is the complete written revelation of God to man. It is from God’s Word that we draw all of our other beliefs.
ABOUT PEOPLE…
The pinnacle of God’s creation was mankind, handcrafted in His image, to reflect His glory, to live in fellowship with Him, and to care for His creation. Satan, the enemy of God and man, tempted the first humans to choose to follow their own way instead of God’s, and humanity, through a willful choice, decided to act against God. As a result, sin and evil entered creation, severing the perfect fellowship between God and man, between individual people, and between man and the rest of creation. Physical and spiritual death became the new reality. Each person has a broken relationship with God and is guilty of sin.
God, in His infinite love, did not abandon mankind in its brokenness. He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay for our sins by His own death. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross made a restored relationship with God available for every person. This salvation is not something that can be earned by trying to be a better person or by doing more good things, it is God’s free gift. When we recognize Jesus’ death as the payment for our sins and accept Him into our lives, we receive eternal life. From that point on, the Holy Spirit works in us to help us obey God’s commands and to become more like our Savior.