On the 2 of March 1972, the foundation of the Great Tabernacle (240' X 150' with a basement and a gallery) was laid at Anthony Village, Lagos. With the commitment and enthusiasm of the children of God at the headquarters in Lagos, the saints from Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta and Cotonou, the building of this super-structure took only five months. th Through the help of God, the Great Tabernacle was first put to use on the 6 nd of August, 1972, being the opening of our 22 annual Camp meeting.
Only God can give the accurate number of souls that have been saved from sin and bodies healed of diverse diseases. Uncountable are the answered prayers, wonders and miracles God has performed in this tabernacle.
The finance of the Tabernacle came from the widows' mite of the children of God as their obligation to God. All the labour exerted in the building project came from the saints who voluntarily gave their time and talents with which God had endowed them for the work. The gigantic task of building the Great Tabernacle was accomplished without passing collection plates, levying pastoral dues, soliciting for a special building fund or oversees financial aid. But God supplied all our “need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
By human calculation, the amount expended on the building up to the time of its dedication (excluding the labour of members) was N2,265,386.50 (Two million, two hundred and sixty-five thousand, three hundred and eighty-six Naira, fifty kobo) and this was “an odour of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God” from all the members of the Apostolic Faith Church throughout Nigeria, “for the people had a mind to work”.
st The Great Tabernacle was dedicated on Sunday 1 of August, 1981 with 8,020 people in attendance to offer praises and thanksgiving to God realizing that, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it”.
Dedication prayers could be summed up as follows:
“LORD God, … there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart….That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day…. If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people,… which shall spread forth his hands toward this house: T h e n hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers” (I Kings 8: 23, 29, 37-40).
The mighty presence of God was felt as in the case of King Solomon's temple dedication.