It all started as a post on Instagram. “I have a strong leading in my Spirit to praise God by 12 midnight throughout the month of June, would you like to join me?”
The previous month there had been a “Tongues Challenge” where believers were encouraged to pray in tongues for an hour a day to build up their spirits and testimonies abounded. Yes they did. But this new challenge was different; be up by 12 midnight every day, not to pray or ask God for anything but just to praise Him. It was tagged “The Hallelujah Challenge”.
The vessel used by God was Nathaniel Bassey, the minstrel with the trumpet who said he was acting based on an instruction from God anchored on Acts 16 when Paul and Silas praised God in the prison at midnight and were delivered from jail. He invited all to join him and by the first of June it had kicked off. By 12 midnight, he would go live on Instagram, a social media platform, and people could tune in from the privacy of their homes and join in the praise festival. What was even more interesting was that Nathaniel was also in his home and the only cost to joining was the internet data that would be consumed.
By the second week, the worshippers had increased to 30,000 participants from across the world and the comment section enabled people to write their current thoughts, desires and prayers. Some comments were just enthusiastic and grateful to be part of it. In the course of a particular session by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, Bassey described God as “the one with the mighty outstretched hand”, derived from the Yoruba language. This name instantly went viral and was supported by #Olowogbogboro. Other hashtags included #Suddenly #Justlikethat #Godmadeithappen.
As with every move of God, it was strongly condemned by some supposedly “well-meaning” Nigerians who said it was another religious act by deluded Nigerians who thought that clapping their hands and singing praises to God would turn around the fortune of Nigeria. They suggested that the time be invested into “productive endeavours” like moving the nation forward through national discourse and strategic plans. But, rather than deter them, the hype around the event attracted more people such that by the third week, participants had grown to 70,000+ from across the world.
The data tariff in Nigeria is very expensive and Instagram is one of the sites that consumes much data as an individual could spend as much as N5,000 in a week just to browse but Nigerians were not discouraged. Some even offered to pay for people who were willing to join but could not because of insufficient data. There were other challenges; in Lagos one has to be up by 4 or 5am in order to beat traffic to get to the office on time. Also sometimes network and the weather conspired together to frustrate the effort yet people pushed on, praising God every night.
Bassey was determined to follow the leading of God and waited until he got that before he proceeded to make altar calls daily and even went a step further to pray for people to be baptised with the Holy Spirit from the screens of their gadgets. When he was unavoidably absent at the worship, he invited Victoria Orenze to handle that particular night for him – no day was unaccounted for.
It was heart-warming to see the youths of the country enthusiastically praise God nightly sacrificing sleep and data. There was no distinction whatsoever as even Nigerian celebrities joined in one accord, praising God. It spoke of the scripture in John 12:32 where Jesus said; “If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me”. It was clear before our eyes that this was not the doing of any man as indeed hearts were drawn to Christ and desires were kindled in the hearts of men for one thing – to know God. It was more than church or denomination but one God.
Then came the grand finale on the 28th of June at the Hallelujah festival in Lekki, Lagos where people gathered physically to praise God while others also connected virtually as usual. Minstrels were also present and they included Victoria Orenze, Pastor Chingtok Ishaku from Jos, Mario Ese and a young man whose song “Gashina” became the anthem for the month, Kaestrings from Jos.
The harvest from the Hallelujah Challenge must not be lost or the fire kindled in the hearts of the participants be allowed to die. For this is definitely not the end, but merely the beginning. Hallelujah!