Bishop (Dr.) Godswill Ogbonnaya Ngene

The Revelator & the First General Overseer of ABC

Bishop (Dr.) Godswill Ogbonnaya Ngene was born on 8th February, 1956 into the family of Mr. Ngene Ojia of Agbaenyim Okposi Okwu, Ohaazara Local Government Area of Ebonyi state, Nigeria. Bishop (Dr.) Ngene attended Presbyterian Primary School, Okposi Okwu(now Central School Okposi Okwu). He was a brilliant pupil but could not finished his studies due to his parent's ill health. He droppedout in standard four to attend to his father.
At tender age, Bishop Dr. Ngene joined Presbyterian Church, Okposi Okwu. This was where he got born again and developed strong passion for God. When he left Okposi at the age of fifteen (15) to fend for himself, due to the demise of his parents, he joined Christ Apostolic Church and went through a theological and ministerial training to become an Evangelist. He later joined Christ Ascension Church in the 70s as Evangelist/Teacher and on the 15th day of December 1984, at the age of 28, he established Assemblies of the Believers Church (ABC), following God's instruction to do so. He was the General Overseer of the ministry and occupied the position of the Apostle, the highest position in the church. In 1993, he established the Conference of Ministers of Growing Churches (CMGC), a body which creates an avenue for growing churches to share their ministerial experiences and help one another grow. On 24th April 2003, Faith Christian Fellowship International, a Christian organization based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A. appointed him as their coordinator in Nigeria, in charge of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, which includes Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo Staes. On 15th December 2001, he recieved an honorary award of Doctorate Degree from St. Thomas-A-Becket University, Canterbury England. The award was based on the assessment and recommendation of his first book, How to Interpret the Bible, which the university rated a theological masterpiece. On 13th April 2002, he was consecrated Bishop by St. Thomas-A-Becket Episcopal Synod, Canterbury, England. Following his consecration as bishop, however, he became the first bishop in the whole of old Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
He was a humorous man, a man who would crack jokes to sooth the depressed hearts of those who seek counsel from him. He was a great writer in his field (religion) and a good musical artiste. He wrote eight books and produced three musical albulms.
Bishop (Dr.) Ngene was a strong entrepreneur. His deepest passion, beside drawing souls closer to God, was in human capital development. His ministry, Assemblies of the Believers Church, at the time of his death, had fourty-eight(48) branches nationwide and provided means of livelihood to ninety-nine(99) full-time ministers and four(4) non-ministers. It may interest you to know that eighty percent(80%) of the staff and ministers are youth and seventy-five percent(75%) of them are Ebonyi indigenes, an indication that he believed that charity begins at home. Impressively, it is on record that none of the staff has ever complained of late payment of salary till the day of his death.
He was a man of exellent financial accountability and honesty. His financial accountability and good administrative qualities made the Institute of Internal Auditors of Nigeria on 3rd April, 1997 to nominate him for honorary FCIA award, World Figure of an Outstanding Leadership, Honesty and Humane Qualities (WFLHQ) award and Honorary Fellowship Certificate in Dynamic Business Leadership (FCDBL) award.
He was an apostle of humility. He was a man of extreme humility who freely mingled with people who were far below his class and had great respect for his friends. He had no shame in telling whoever cared to listen that God picked him up from nothing and made him somebody. He believed that a humble man can achieve in a minute what a warrior can never achieve in a life time. He did not only prctice humility, he taught his wife and children, as well as his ministers to be humble.
Bishop (Dr.) G.O.Ngene as an Evangelist, Teacher and a Preacher of the gospel, was a selfless servant of God. His selfless services to God and to the church made him live as a tenant for over twenty (20) years in his native land, not minding his positon as the General Overseer of a big denomination like A.B.C. Therefore, God in His infinite mercy rewarded his selflessness by giving him a Bishop's Court. And for the record, he built the first Bishop's Court in the entire Local Government Area.
The Bishop often said one prayer "God may I not live to see anything that will deprive me your kingdom." It is most likely that his prayer was answered at the early hours of 24th March, 2012. He has run his race, he has touched several lives even on his sick bed, and now he has gone to rest with the one who called him. We therefore say may honour and glory and power be to Jehova, the one who has called his servant to a place of rest, for ever and ever. Amen.