In Abeokuta, with the gospel and by the Spirit. A church anchored in the apostles' teaching.
The work that became The Living Light Church started long before 2017. Pastor Opeyemi Akodu had been in ministry for years already, leading Victorious Youth Network in Ofa, Kwara State.
In 2015, the work moved to Abeokuta as Light of Life Fellowship. It was there, in those early Abeokuta years, that Pastor Opeyemi Akodu met and raised those who walk alongside him in the work today, among them Pastor Taiwo Oladokun, who pastors the Abeokuta congregation.
On 1 January 2017, Light of Life Fellowship formally became The Living Light Church. Sister Adesola Adejuwon was part of the founding gathering and continues to serve as a leader in the church today.
Light in Scripture is what shines into darkness, what reveals what was hidden, what gives life. Jesus called Himself the Light of the world (John 8:12). He told His followers, "Ye are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14).
"Living Light" is the conviction that this light is not a static idea, not a slogan on a wall, but a Person, Jesus Christ, alive in the believer, alive in the gathering of His Church.
The name is anchored in scripture. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). He said to His followers, "Ye are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). And John writes of Him: "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). The light is not a metaphor or a mood. It is a Person, Jesus Christ, alive in the believer, alive in the gathering of His Church. That is what "Living Light" means.
And we hold to Habakkuk 2:14 as our vision: "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." The light is going somewhere. We are part of how it gets there.
The mark in our logo is a flame, drawn in several colours. It is fire, and it is light. The Lord is light. The Spirit is fire. Scripture calls Him “a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29), and the gospel itself is the light that “shineth in darkness” (John 1:5).
The flame stands for zeal. To burn for the Lord and not burn out. To serve, to give, to teach, to live for Christ with the whole heart.
The flame also stands for revelation, the light of understanding that opens what was hidden, and the place where God calls a man. Like Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:2–10, where the bush burned with fire and was not consumed, and where God spoke from the flame and called him to deliver Israel. Like Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6:17, whose eyes were opened to see that “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha”. Like the two on the Emmaus road in Luke 24:32, who said, “did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?”. Like Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:18, that “the eyes of your understanding” would be enlightened, that is, flooded with light.
The different flame-colours speak of the many ways the one light reaches a room. The same gospel warms, teaches, convicts, comforts, and sends. That is the fire we want this church to carry, wherever a member of this body goes.
"With the gospel" means we are anchored in what the apostles preached, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of all who believe. We do not move from that.
"By the Spirit" means we give the Holy Ghost free course among us. We teach when He teaches.
The gospel is the message. The Spirit is the power. We hold both.
The dream is two-fold, and we hold both with equal seriousness.
To raise ministers who are full of the Word and full of the Spirit. Men and women who carry the apostolic gospel and operate with the gifts of the Holy Ghost wherever the Lord sends them.
To build strong local churches here, where believers are taught the Word and trained to flow with the Spirit. Not church as event. Church as a body where every believer comes into who they are in Christ.
We want every believer who walks through TLLC's doors to know who they are in Christ and to walk in the Spirit. We want the gospel preached here to reach further than Abeokuta. We want the next generation of TLLC to be more faithful, more Spirit-filled, and more in love with Jesus than the last.
The story is still being written. The best way to know TLLC is to come on a Sunday at 9:00am, hear the Word, see how the Spirit is given free course, and decide for yourself.