Higher Ground Baptist Church (HGBC), City of Refuge is a product of prophecy and prayer by the will of God to be a church that will serve as a preparation and training ground for people as they navigate their lives and set course for their future endeavours. It has a mandate to help people birth their God-given purpose and shape men for destiny fulfilment.
Higher Ground Baptist Church has been consistently built with great emphasis on discipleship and sound biblical teaching leading to the transformation of lives. It has spent the vast majority of its resources building lives, creating strategies for achieving the vision and mission of the church, and investing in the spiritual growth of members alongside building the church facility.
Programs such as Photizo, Business and Investment Summit (BISUM), and Influencers Investment Club (IIC) were started in the church, which has helped a number of members to establish personal businesses and expand already established ones. The Lord has blessed the ministries of the church with several salvation decisions, rededication of lives, baptisms of members, and sending forth over 700 graduates into the larger society to represent Christ after their graduation from the university.
The Lord spoke through His servant, Rev’d Dr. Jide Abimbola, who planted University Baptist Church (UBC) alongside his wife (Rev’d Dr. Mrs. Doyin Abimbola), that a church will be planted. The name was given through divine inspiration to be Higher Ground Baptist Church. This set the pace for his successor, Rev’d Taiwo Opajobi, to look out for where God is working and join Him in bringing the prophecy to pass.
Pastor Remi Badru, being inspired and ready to labor in seeing this vision come to pass, worked assiduously with Rev’d Taiwo Opajobi, the church Pastor, in the planning to start the new church. To the glory of God, the Higher Ground Baptist Church was planted by the University Baptist Church on the 21st of January, 2007.
By the grace of God, the church has enjoyed the ministry of several pastors and the leadership of four pastors, all of whom were seminary students until 2013. On the 1st of June 2013, Pastor Adesina Ayodele Abegunde (now Revd. Dr.) was called by the mother church to immediately resume as the pastor of Higher Ground Baptist Church and was inducted on Sunday 8th June, 2014.
He was, by God's grace, the church pastor until the 28th of March 2023, after he was led by the Holy Spirit to be the pastor of another church. Under the leadership of the Holy Spirit and Revd. Dr. Adesina Abegunde, Pastor Samson Ayangoke was called to be the substantial pastor. He resumed on the 1st of April 2023, led the church until his graduation on June 1st, 2024, and became the full-time Pastor from July 1st, 2024, till date.
The church, which began in Amazing Delicacies building, moved to Shalom Executive Hostel Chapel. When the hall became too small, the church moved to 5 Star Hostel for Sunday services. Later on, as God increased His church, the church moved to an open field where they worshipped God with exuberant joy both under the sun and sometimes in heavy rainfall.
Eventually, by God's grace, the church moved into the property owned by Mafowurosere CICS. The church acquired a two-plot property which currently accommodates the church facility now under construction, thanks to God, the alumni, and the members of Higher Ground Baptist Church.
The membership is almost one hundred percent students, with other arms such as WMU, MMU, R.A, Lydia, G.A, Youth, and the Sunbeam all flourishing for the glory of God. By the grace of God, the church was organized on the 23rd of November 2020 by the mother church.
By the leading of the Holy Spirit, HGBC planted a baby church, Tehillah Baptist Church, on the 11th of July, 2021, at Pastor Bode Area, a connecting community in-between Under G. Area and Stadium Area of Ogbomoso. Higher Ground Baptist Church is making progress, and we look forward to greater days ahead in the name of Jesus.