The Senior Pastor of all House on the Rock Churches, Paul Adefarasin, has spoken for the first time, after the fire outbreak that engulfed the Abuja branch of the church on Sunday.
The incident happened after the mid-year thanksgiving service and was eventually contained by men from the Fire Service.
In a statement made available to journalists, he thanked the public for their concern and those who responded to the fire incident. He also asked for calm over the incident
Read below his statement,
A fire incident occurred at about 2 pm on Sunday 25th of June 2017 at the facilities used by the Abuja daughter church of the #HouseOnTheRock.
Thankfully, this occurred in the afternoon after all those who attended the mid-year Thanksgiving Service in the morning had departed the premises. We remain profusely grateful to the Sovereign and Almighty God that there were no human fatalities or casualties.
While some parts of the complex were damaged by the fire, the swift co-ordinated response of NEMA, the Federal Fire Service in Abuja, NJI, the NNPC, Julius Berger, the House On The Rock staff and members, and several friends and well wishers of the house who all responded to the incident contributed in no small way to the containment and eventual extinguishing of the fire.
We commend the professionalism of all the first responders and thank them for the invaluable service they rendered.
We are now working with the relevant authorities and consultants to ensure the structural integrity of the affected building, even as we seek to determine the root cause of the unfortunate incident.
The weekly services will continue as usual, as the presently used service sanctuary remains unaffected.
The House On The Rock wishes to express her gratitude to all who inspite of the inconvenience of the torrential rainfall were available to render assistance, encouragement and moral support during the incident; your prayers, love and moral support expressed in various correspondences are truly and very deeply appreciated.
We enjoin all our members, friends and guests to remain calm as we solicit your continued prayers in this season.
Let us all be comforted by the Scripture in Romans 8:28 which says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”