Continuing Church of God 2016 Feast of Tabernacles’ report: How Many Sites? How Many People Attended?
By Bob Thiel
2016 marked the fourth year that the Continuing Church of God held its own Feast of Tabernacles’ sites. This was also the fourth year that my wife, youngest child, and I divided our time between a site in the USA and another outside of the USA.
This time for the Feast, we went to Gouda, in the Netherlands and Aurora, Illinois in the USA.
But before heading to Gouda, we stopped off in Belgrade, Serbia, which later had a CCOG ‘Skype’ site in the Serbian language for ten people. We had never been to Serbia and were glad to be able to meet some of the brethren there (most of whom live far from Belgrade).
Here is a photograph from each of those three locations:
Belgrade, Serbia
Aurora, Illinois
Gouda, Netherlands
Based upon reports we received, we had festival sites in at least 14 locations with about 1900 attendees. (There is also a group in Nigeria that claims affiliation with the CCOG, but as we have not met them, we have not included their site or numbers in these figures. We also did not count others who may have watched our festival-related videos independently, but we did include visitors who attended who have not expressed CCOG affiliation.) In total, there are 2000 people (including children) who consider themselves part of the Continuing Church of God.
This article mainly includes reports from the leaders at the 14 festival sites in 2016.
Feast of Tabernacles in Ghana
We are two reports on the Feast of Tabernacles in Ghana, with the first addressed to me and the other to the brethren in Ghana:
Dear DR. BOB,Thank you for what you have done for continue Church of God in GHANA and i must say we have added the Continue to our name here. For me i am happy that the whole congregation here in GHANA have actually accepted our togetherness because since we got to know about continue church of God in American all festival we attend is unique and we know is God Who have given as Continue church of God in America so that GOD’S glory will be revealed.All good things that will uplift the Glory of God and Satan want to trample upon we will work with Continue church of in American to spread the Gospel in Africa to reveal God’s glory. i thank you once again i know General overseer have thank thank you but i would also want to thank you for your marvelous gift to us.Thank youOSEI BONSUBrethren, we hope to testify here and again that, when situation became very difficult for acquiring a place to keep the feast, because of the unbearable huge cost of facilities, the church had no option but to revert to an old place we had earlier been told never to come-seeking for their facility.
We made an approach, and to our amazement, the Roman Priest in-charge of the place having been touched by God decided we should be allowed to use their facility because he personally was interested the feast, wonderful!
This happened prior to the visit of our brothers from Kenya, talking about Pastor Evans Oching and Nimrod Odingo. After their request, we took them to the place which they actually commended. …
The first day of the feast as purposed was graced by the General overseer, Pastor Samuel Ofosu Gyeabour. His sermon dealt with the chosen theme where he highlightened on the significance of the feast of Tabernacle reading from (Numbers 9:15-23).
He said obedience to the Laws of God, dedication to our call and faithfulness to the Lord should be our hallmarks if we desire to feel the presence and power of God, (Deut 31:9-13). …
Mankind is in battle, and our spiritual warfare is none other, but against sin which chief architect is satan (Rev. 20:1-15; Rev. 22:1-27), and the result is death.
However, what will happen to satan and death is recorded and written in, (Isaiah 25:8-9; I Corinthians 15:25-34). …
BENEDICTION
I hereby with much gratitude acknowledge Pastor Bob Thiel and Pastor Evans Ochieng and all the brethren throughout the congregations of the Continuing Church of God (COG) for assisting us financially and also spiritually.
The brethren in Ghana and the entire Pastoral board are most grateful for every support.
God richly Bless you all!
Pastor Samuel Ofosu Gyeabour,
(General Overseer ) Ghana
It is great that matters went well in Ghana. There are about 500 in Ghana, most of whom seemed to be able to attend.
Feast of Tabernacles in Ndhiwa and Tanzania
Pastor Evans Ochieng sent in the following report:
Pastor Dr Bob,
Greetings from Kenya,
I stayed for long before I sent this report simply because I was
still waiting to hear from all feast sites in Africa. The last reports
I received yesterday were from our brethren in Tanzania and Ghana. I
am very happy to hear from our brethren in Tanzania that this is the
year that they enjoyed feast of tabernacles in the best way so far.
They were very happy to have their own feast site where by they cannot
rent. Even though the site is not complete but it helped our brethren
in Tanzania so much.I received calls from different people who were in
the feast in Tanzania when thanking and praising the standard of the
feast that they kept. I was also very happy to hear from them that
they enjoyed the feast. Martin wanga gave report that they were 32
brethren who kept the feast. Also I received a very long letter from
Samuel Efosu that was explaining many things concerning the feast of
this year. He also told me that the feast was very good.. I hope he
sent the report. Sosten also sent report long time.KENYA
In Kenya, the feast sites were four. Namely, Ndhiwa, Chilani
Transmara, Bomet and Mau.
There was a wonderful feast in Ndhiwa where 340 people attended. The
congregations that attended Ndhiwa were – Ndhiwa, Migori, Kihacha,
Nyakach, Mbani, Oriang, Kiseke, Eberege and Sengera. the camp was very
good and enjoyable.
So many things happened during the feast of Tabernacles. We baptized 9
people during the camp. The baby was born and they named him Evans
Ochieng.The lady who gave birth is from Nyakach congregation. We also
received two members who joined CCOG. So the camp was very good.
Other sites have already sent to you the report and I have copies from them.
Thank you very much for the assistance that you gave to the all
congregations in Africa. I got good reports from all congregations
that they enjoyed the feast.
Evans.
Here are two photographs Pastor Ochieng sent from Ndhiwa:
Feast of Tabernacles in Mau
We received the following report from two at the site in Mau, Kenya:
I greet you in the name of Jesus, hoping that you are all fine over there. We proceeded well through the feast of Tabernacles, it was so blessed and many groups from Mau attended the feast. We had 320 brethren who came from the following churches:-1. osotua church
2. kewet church
3. ngoben church
we thanked pastor Ochieng for allowing us to gather here(Mau) and supported this feast financially. Many people were converted, we had a very peacefull gathering with no difficulties neither shortage of food.
Do pray for us as we pray for you.
My God bless you abundantly, Stanley Kibet and Elder Joseah Kipngetich
The following photographs were also sent:
Deacon Richard Close sent in the following report about the Canadian site:
We enjoyed a fantastic Feast in New Brunswick.
Plus, Steve Dupuie sent the following photograph of the attendees in Canada:
St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada
We were able to meet the Canadian brethren last year.
Koang Deng sent the following from Ethiopia:
Dear Pastor
This is a day we finish the Feasts of this year.
Our GOD blessed us.
koang deng
He did not indicate if those from South Sudan were able to attend as they are also served by him.
Malawi and Mozambique Feast Reports
Sosten Libungwa sent the following report from Malawi:
Dear pastor Dr Bob,
Greetings after the feast of Tabernacle,in Malawi many came to
attend,the people from Mozambique arrived before the sun set of 16
October 2016 and the people from Zomba arrived at 2pm of the same
Saturday,we have also received brethren from Balaka district which
joined ccog before one month for the feast,we provide funds also for
them to come of which they did,they were ten of them,that is great,the
minibus you see are the people from Zomba district they came about 25
of them,the people from Mozambique came 33 of them,Migowi Church were
55 of them,Namangale Church were 40 of them,Mulomba were 45 of them
plus other interested groups,how good it was to keep this feast thank
you very much for the support,you can see the banner written Malawi
feast of Tabernacle in the front of pulpit ,other people put on
T-Shirts written feast of Tabernacle in the front and at the back
written Continuing Church of God Malawi,brother Tembo from Mzuzu came
and attend only for one day because his wife was not feeling well then
he went back to care his wife but I discovered that he is the pastor
of Church of God 7th day for more than 30 years.thank you very much.Sosten
We also received a report from Albert Tembo. Albert Tembo has been a subscriber to our magazine for some time and finally was able to meet Sosten Libungwa and others in the CCOG at the Feast of Tabernacles. He sent me the following:
Dear Dr. Bob Thiel
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It was really good to meet Brother Sosten Libungwe at Migowi in Phalombe here in Malawi. It was a long journey by bus from Mzuzu to Migowi. I was exceedingly happy to be with the brethren at the feast of Tabernacles. It was unfortunate that I could not complete the celebration with the brethren because of my wife’s sudden illness in Mzuzu.
My son who was very excited to hear about the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles at Migowi did not make it to the site due to illness that be fell him. He has, however read much about the Feasts of the Lord. …
May God richly bless you and the great work that you do.
Yours in Christ,
Albert Adamson Tembo
This was the first year that CCOG had a site in Malawi. Last year, Sosten Libungwa went to Kenya to observe his first Feast of Tabernacles as well as to learn how to try to conduct one in Africa.
Sosten Libungwa sent lots of photos. Here are three of them:
Baptism and Feast Report from New Zealand
John Hickey sent me the following report from New Zealand:
HI Bob
Good News!!! I am pleased to report God has added a new member to His Family. Our daughter Danielle Gestro was baptized on Sunday morning by her Grandad Solomona Leaana and myself.
We are all home safely once again from the Feast of Tabernacles. While you in the northern hemisphere were having a Fall Feast we here in the southern were enjoying our Springtime. The weather we had was great apart from a couple of days of showers. The sun was out to display all the blossoms on the trees and the springtime flowers, the view was beautiful and peaceful.
Our Feast of Tabernacles in NZ was a Spiritually wonderful time for us all, we appreciate all the Spiritual food our Father has inspired you our Leader and our Brethren to teach us, it has been a spiritually uplifting time. We enjoyed fellowship, discussing sermons and other biblical topics. We enjoyed participating in various activities together from seeing lions being fed to creative glass sculptures, sharing many meals together and listening to Sharon’s special music and praising God with psalms with Sharon’s provision of hymn music. Despite technical challenges with our sound system we still managed to hear all the Sermon messages. It has been a time of challenges, rejoicing, drawing closer to God and drawing closer together to be of one mind in unity.
We look forward to the fruition of God’s master plan showing His love, the establishment of His Kingdom on earth and an opportunity of salvation for all. What a blessed time it will be.
With Brotherly Love
John
Glad it basically went well there. We also had a baptism in Aurora, Illinois that I performed. As well as some technical difficulties in recording.
Here is a photo from New Zealand:
More Kenya Feast Reports
Ondigo Ochieng sent the following report from Kenya:
Dear Dr Bob,Glad to inform you that we enjoyed the wonderful FoT and the Last Great Day!Many people from outside of the CCOG were pleased to attend and some have received a calling from God through the uplifting sermons and sermonettes.May God richly bless you for the support and the materials like the BNP magazines.God bless pastor Evans for his outgoing concern and love he displayed during the feast!Best regardsOndigo Ochieng.
Received the following two reports about the CCOG Feast site in Bomet, Kenya:
We celebrated the feast well with the church members. 200 members attended the feast. …The church members were very grateful and waiting for another feast coming next year by God’s willing.
Thank you Dr. BOB THIEL for your support you gave us.
Erik Koech
Here is our one week feast of tabernacles at bomet,it began on sunday
16th octomber when we open out meeting with prayers.we had over 30
members who attendet on the first day.on monday more people attended
and we had morning and evening lesson .we continued doing the same
until 24th October, this year’s feast was actualy more different from
last years because of financial reason. thank you.Pastor Tomas Koskey.
We also received the following report from Rift Valley, Kenya:
I am greeting you in the Name of Messiah.We successfully did feast of Tabernacle in RiftValley and we were blessed.The feast was full of Congregation it was held on Chilani church In Trasnsmara it was more than 400 people attended and another one in Mau and Bomet Church also.
The Feast Held in Mau Church was the first one to be Held in the Area and the Congregation give thanks to Pastor Ochieng as they have been traveling the long distance to meet the Feast of Tabernacle.
The church in Chilani was the second to be held and the congregation was full. The villagers also attended the Feast, milk was the required commodity due to lactating mothers who attended the Feast because they don’t eat meat as others.We appreciate the presence of Pastor Ochieng who gave us money to buy a slaughtered bull. Due to large congregation the bull was of egual to a chicken’s meat.The season in Transmara is now a Sunny there is no vegetables and thanks to Christians who also Contribute their little they have to support the Feast.We had a lot of Visitors who came as far as Nakuru who make to Reach the wonderful occasion.We had the following local Churches;1. Takitech2.Motosiet3.Chebunyo4.kapolechong5.Chialni.All converge in one place the witness the Feast of Tabernacle.The hall we have not enough to accommodate all the brethren so we have to exclude youths. We therefore urge to build for us big hall in Chilani.God Bless YourJOSEAH KIPNGETICH
Here are a couple of photos from the Rift Valley site:
Many in Rift Valley were once part of a Church of God, Seventh Day group until becoming part of the Continuing Church of God in 2016.
Philippines Feast Update
Anthony Flavell sent in some clarification about the Feast in the Philippines. Because of travel problems, there were seven meeting in Cagayan De Oro and 11-12 meeting in in Silay City (Bacolod).
Here is a photo he sent of five people at Cagayan De Oro:
We did not receive an photographs from the larger site in Silay City.