In what is considered a watershed in the short history of your darling magazine, the Central Executive Council of the Cherubim &Seraphim Unification Campus Fellowship represented by its Chairman and the Apostolate of the church, Apostle Joseph Arigbangba, as well as the 40th International Convention & Anniversary Committee led by Pastor Segun Adewunmi, have endorsed Adura International Magazine.
Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference to herald the 40th anniversary of the Cherubim &Seraphim Unification Church Campus Fellowship in Lagos on Sunday, February 16, the committee members expressed satisfaction at what your darling magazine is doing to project the image of the church.
The Apostolate/Chairman, Central Executive Council, C&S Unification Campus Fellowship, Apostle Joseph Arigbangba, led the other committee members in a solidarity move to endorse your darling publication and promised to continue to identify with it.
Others are the Chairman, 40th International Convention & Anniversary Committee, Pastor Segun Adewunmi; Elder Brother Segun Oladogba of the C& S Household of Goshen; Senior Lady Leader Tosin Otunaya, a lawyer and member of the media committee of the anniversary; Pastor O Michael, head of the media committee; and Apostle Leke Quadri, Chairman, Logistics and Transport sub-committee.
Adura International Magazine is the voice of the white garment churches in Nigeria and overseas.
The magazine debuted at the ‘Celebrate the Comforter’ 2019 mega crusade which held on Saturday, July 20th 2019 at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos. The magazine had earlier in February 2019 began its online publication via: https://adurainternational.com/
The epoch-making publication preaches the Gospel of Christ through the lens of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Celestial Church of Christ, and The Church of The Lord (Aladura), among others.
Adura Foundation International, the publisher of the magazine, considers the ‘Celebrate the Comforter’ mega crusade as the most auspicious time for the magazine to be released to the public in that several thousands of the members of the Cherubim & Seraphim and the Celestial Church of Christ gathered at the event convened by the irrepressible Rev Mother Esther Ajayi.
The first edition features interviews with Rev Mother Ajayi; the Supreme Head, Cherubim & Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria, Dr Prophet Solomon Alao; Dr Harold Olusegun Demuren, and the Deputy Baba Aladura of the Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, among other revival material.
Generically called white garment churches, the C&S, CCC and other variants have had to contend with a very serious, enduring negative perception among Nigerians, especially fellow Christians, some of whom erroneously believe that their members are not true children of God or that they serve a different God.
Of course, this perception may have been influenced by the activities of some bad eggs in the churches. However, relying on the action of a few to stereotype the entire members of the white garment congregations is not only unfair and biased, but it also amounts to injustice against the members of the churches. Besides, there are bad eggs in other churches and their actions to a larger extent have not been used as a basis to denigrate the entire congregations of those churches.
Movie producers in the Nigerian film industry, popularly known as Nollywood, who turn to white garment costumes whenever fake pastors and prophets are to be portrayed, have also, in no small measure, contributed to the negative perception of white garment churches in the country. Though adequate coverage by the mainstream media could have helped to remedy the situation and improve the public profiles of the white garment ministries, the opposite has been the case. With very abysmal media coverage, the white garment churches have continued to suffer poor public perception and there seems to be no respite in the horizon if nothing is done from within. Aside from this, the available articles on white garment churches on the Internet are laced with bias, hate speech, factual errors and unverifiable assertions because they were authored by people who are perhaps non-members of the churches or those who nurse ill-feelings against the churches.
There is a saying that until the lion learns how to write, every story about it will always glorify the hunter. In other words, until the white garment churches start telling their own stories, non-members with the propensity for biased and convoluted reports will continue to determine the narrative. The result will remain the same.
It was against the background that the Adura International Magazine, a specialised Christian magazine for white garment churches in Nigeria and overseas, was conceived, conceptualised and birthed. It is a mandate from the Almighty God with the mission to inform and enlighten the world about the white garment churches with the intention of changing the negative public perception about the churches while elevating their collective public profile by challenging and changing the stereotypes against them by other Christians in the country as well as in the diaspora.
This magazine was commissioned by God to propagate the gospel of Christ through the lens of the white garment churches while analysing their issues, promoting their interests and amplifying their voices to the world. It will also be unapologetically critical of activities, doctrines and actions that are not in sync with the Christian faith and the Bible. More importantly, the magazine will enlighten, entertain and spiritually uplift the fast-growing number of millennials and youths in the churches.
Adura International Magazine promises to continually offer for your reading delights revival materials, soul-lifting and biblical contents with the sole aim of repositioning our churches as 21st-century churches.
Didn’t the Bible say in Isaiah 60:1-3 that we should “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee?” Of course, our light has always been there but we have to continue to shine for the world to see. This is the time to not only shine but to deliberately project to the world our good deeds while driving the narrative about us rather than allow others to tell our stories in a manner filled with bias, hatred, half-truth and misrepresentation of facts.
Bible says in Mathew 5:14-16 that “ye are light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Men must see our good works and the good things God is doing in our midst and this has been the driving force and motivation for the magazine.
The Adura Foundation International, a faith-based Non-Governmental Organisation and Media Ministry, is the Special Purpose Vehicle saddled with the primary mission of publishing the Adura International Magazine (and other publications as it may become necessary over time) with a secondary purpose of using the proceeds from the sale of the magazine and other donations to impact millions of lives within and outside our denominations through coordinated humanitarian and empowerment programmes.
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