History
The vision of The Carpenter’s Church (formerly known as Royal Evangel Church Ministry) was given to Pastor Charles Omofomah, with the purpose of achieving excellence through the message of power, direction and integrity to his generation and generations yet unborn.
This purpose is to be fulfilled through various arms of the ministry, one of which is the local assembly, The Carpenter’s Church. Other avenues of passing this message under the umbrella of the Ministry are Freshdew (TornVeil Television), Broken Wall Healing School, Body Life for Family Meetings, Generation Shift and the online church (tcchurch.online).
Ekklesia: School of Local Church is an arm of The Carpenter’s Ministry. It was established in January 2005, with the aim of preparing men and women who sense a call to full-time pastoral ministry in the local church.
The School formally began in January 2005 in an air-conditioned facility on the ministry grounds on Greenville. In 2013, the new school block was completed and dedicated on Sunday 24th March, in loving memory of God’s General, Pastor Charles Omofomah, the founding president who went home to be with the Lord on 27th February 2013.
At its inception, the vision of Ekklesia was a School for the “called out ones,” a School of Local Church, where someone who sensed a call into the full-time ministry could be trained; a school where 2 Timothy 2:2 could be fulfilled: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” At that time the focus was to equip men and women for full-time ministry (clergy) based in a local church.
The Vision Expands
At the end of the 2012/13 School Year, the Lord expanded the vision of Ekklesia to include programs that would give Christians who don’t have a call into full-time ministry the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of God and provide them with practical hands-on knowledge in certain aspects of Christian endeavour so that they could be effective Christians with results. In order to meet this need, the creation of a curriculum for laity was made. This led to a total restructuring of the curriculum of the school. Thus, Ekklesia now provides instruction on two paths as follows:
Clergy Path: It’s a sad sight to see so many sincere young men and women with a call of God upon their lives and yet without any knowledge of what to do next. They wander without purpose and direction because they were never really fully equipped or guided into the most honourable, most rewarding and yet most challenging “job” on earth!
Here, we train men and women for full time pastoral ministry based in a local church. The training is not just theoretical as students have the opportunity to have real practical training in a dynamic, growing, Bible based ministry and mission field. The opportunity to learn and receive impartation at the “feet” of a faculty of men and women of God who have proved their ministries in integrity, simplicity and sincerity over the years is one that the students cherish for a lifetime.
At the beginning of the 2019/2020 school year, the clergy program was spread over two years, with classes held in the evenings of some weekdays (Tuesdays and Fridays) and some Saturdays. This change became necessary in order to accommodate those who would want to be part of the clergy program but cannot afford to shut down their work in order to school on a full-time basis. With this adjustment, they can work and come to school on a part-time basis. It is our firm belief that with this change that conforms to the realities of our time, more people with a call to the ministry will enrol for the clergy program at Ekklesia.
Laity Path: Here, we equip believers with a deeper knowledge of the Word of God, and practical, hands on relevant knowledge in various aspects of Christian endeavour including service, leadership, music, and business. As Christians, we have “The Blessing advantage” and we are meant to excel in everything we set our hands to. Unfortunately, this is not always what we see. The courses of study on the laity path will equip students to excel and maximize their potential in their areas of interest. Only then can we truly shine as believers in the midst of a dark dying world.
In the 2023 school year, the school expands its modules to include online learning. The online option will transit gradually starting with some select programs, where students will have the option of onsite, online, or a hybrid of both in select programs.