The Church Mission Society joined thousands of others recently in London’s Docklands recently at a Festival of Life. The Nigerian head of the world’s biggest Pentecostal Church led a night of prayer for the nation, and an estimated 17,000 people attended the Excel venue in London’s East End.

Prayers, testimonies and Pentecostal-style signs were shown at the event which was led by the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

Adeboye said, “Anglicans brought Christianity to us and now Africa is bringing revival back to Britain. We believe God wants us to come and bring about a major revival in Britain. People in Britain believe that they do not need God.”

George Kovoor, Queen’s Chaplain, who is the Principal of CMS training college Crowther Hall spoke on the main stage during the gathering last week, which was touted as ‘the biggest prayer gathering in Europe’.

Adeboye’s passion to bring about a revival is clearly evident, and he proudly reported, “In Nigeria, tobacco companies are closing down. Breweries say they make more money from soft drinks than from alcohol.”

During the night, CMS promoted its great workings in Northern Uganda, where £24,000 has been raised by London’s RCCG Pentecostals for a shelter for ‘night commuters’ in Kitgum. In particular the project looks to protect young vulnerable children from abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army in the region.

The Lagos-based church currently has grown to over 6,000 parishes in over 90 countries, and the great church movement began in truly humbling settings in the 1920’s when founder was baptised by CMS missionaries.

The Lagos Church will gather possibly the largest Christian assembly in the world, as up to 2 million people meet at ‘the Holy Ghost Congress’ outside Lagos in December to pray together and to seek God.