A Nigerian-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Outpour of Fragrances Initiative, has hosted a praise event for children in the United Kingdom.
According to the founder and president of the NGO, Dr Lola Ayo-Fashida, the event, which was recently held in Coventry City, UK, attracted children and young people, and their parents, from both those based in Nigeria and the UK.
Ayo-Fashida stated that the children praise and pray programme is one of the seven projects of the initiative.
She further noted that though this was the maiden edition of the UK children praise and pray programme, the Nigerian version held on the 3rd of August (the eighth edition), has been going on since 2017.
“Children Praise and Pray is an interdenominational forum, which is not restricted to any church, where we gather to praise God. This instruction was given to me in October 2016, and we started in Nigeria in 2017,” she said.
While appreciating their volunteers and partners, both Nigerians and non-Nigerians in the UK, who made the event a reality, she added, “It will be an annual event in the UK and I urge parents to allow their children to fully participate in it to make it bigger.”
Dr Emmanuel Odeyale, the anchor of the programme and a medical doctor based in the UK, said that the last time he was part of the programme in Nigeria was in 2018 before I relocated to the UK.
Odeyale stated that while the event is for children, everyone needs to understand that praise and prayer are important because they are the ways of communication and fellowship with God.
“You might have heard about the popular phrase ‘Prayer is the key’. It might not be the physical key you know, but it is the key that opens doors,” he said.
The teenager, who delivered the sermon, Ireayomide Oladele-Ojo, spoke on the essence of praising and singing to God. He said that God’s love, kindness, and faithfulness are the major reasons people, especially children and young people, should praise and worship him.
Ireayomide added that, by praising God, “We are celebrating his work and the things He Has done for us, and also proclaiming his salvation continuously.”
He also spoke on the benefits of singing to God, which he said included attracting the presence of God, finding comfort and guidance from him, as well as peace and joy capable of transforming sorrow into joy.
Ireayomide stressed that the right time and place to praise God is at all times and in all places. He added that whether things are going well or not, everyone should praise God for his faithfulness.
He used the Biblical Paul and Silas, as well as David and the book of Psalm, to emphasise the essence of worship and how it helps to build a strong relationship with God, adding, “That is why David was called the man after God’s heart.”
Ireayomide quoted many Bible verses and cited many examples of Biblical people who achieved great feats and found favour in God by singing and praising Him.
He concludes his sermon by urging children to, at all times, find reasons to worship God for His good works and blessings.
Dr Lola Ayo-Fashida, who was next after the sermon, told the children to make time to know Jesus more because He is always with them, wants to commune with them and be their friend.
Ayo-Fashida later spoke on the benefits of savings as a child or a young person through her children’s finance book titled ‘Bisola Visits Her Grandma’.
Some eight-year-old children read excerpts from the book as Ayo-Fashida explained the theme of the book to them.
She said that many children, even some adults, do not know the benefits of saving and budgeting which was why she wrote the book to provide basic information on the subjects to children through creative storytelling.
Ayo-Fashida added that the book teaches children how to “Save little from what they earn, and how to tell their money where to go rather than wondering where it went to.”
In the course of the event, the children prayed for their families, the church, and the country. There were singing, dancing, quizzes, Bible reading, birthday celebration, gift presentations, among other activities.
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