• ‘Heaven conference is the heartbeat of God’

The International Heaven and Fire Conference is a three-day conference hosted by Pastors Mike and Boma Nwanegbo. The event started on Thursday, October 29, and would end on Saturday, October 31, 2026. MIKE NWANEGBO is also the Regional Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Europe Region 6, and President, Harvest of Nations Global. In this interview with CHRIS IREKAMBA, he shares his thoughts about the event and why it is important for both Christians and none Christians.

How important is this programme to Christians and none Christians?

The heaven conference is the heartbeat of God. It is not the will of God that any one should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of God. This programme is to remind both Christians and none Christians that it is appointed unto man to die but once, after that judgment. It is either heaven or hell. Most people will prefer to go to heaven but the truth is that no one goes to heaven by accident, you must prepare for it. This conference is aimed at helping people to prepare for heaven through Christ and through the knowledge of the word of God.

What informed you to start heaven and fire conference and for how long now?

I had a revelation where Jesus told me that Christians are so focused on this earth that they are no longer preparing for heaven. He pointed out that many come to him for earthly provisions and few come to him with the hope of spending eternity with him in heaven. He gave me 1 Corinthians 15:19, as my anchor scripture. “If only on this world, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”The conference started seven years ago.

What are the main objectives of this programme and its impact to participants and the nation at large?

Our main objectiveis to shift people’s attention toheaven and help them prepare for eternal life through God’s word. It is alsoto make people understand that Christianity is not focused on this world, but on eternity. Jesus came that we may have eternal life in him and through him.

The impact has been significant by the grace of God. We have seen revival break out in several places after each programme.

Through this programme people had realised that they wasted all their time in church and not in Christ. They had wasted their time looking unto Jesus to provide their daily need and not looking unto him for eternal life, which is more useful.

We have been to over 10 nations with this programme. We partner with Steve Crown, Gabriel Eziashi and Chidi David Ani as our music ministers as we go around the world.

These ministers have sacrificed a lot as they sometimes pay their way to our conferences to minister to the people. In some nations, we have witnessed thousands of people coming to Christ.

How did you come about the theme,“preparing for eternity?”

It was more or less a command Jesus gave to me. He ordered me to go to the nations, warn them that He is coming soon and ensure that they prepare for him. Meeting Jesus is a time of judgment for all. Those who prepared through his word will shine like stars in heaven and those who never prepared will find themselves in great regrets. It is like the story of the ten virgins. You must be ready.

How do you ensure that those who surrender their lives to Christ during the programme, remain in the kingdom without going back to the world?

We usually partner with churches in any city, we go to and these churches help to follow up the new converts. We, then pray that God should keep them by his power.

There is this notion that the way Africans practice Christianity is not same over here in Europe. What is your take?

God is same everywhere and how people worship him sometimes depends on how they were introduced to him and the foundation laid. In Africa, most people seek God out of the need to meet the material needs of life. In the process they see God as a problem-solver and not as the sovereign God that needs to be worshipped. The build their faith so they can meet needs and sometimes ignore the real need, which is the soul. The devil takes advantage of this weakness and exploits the desperate people through prophecies and manifestation of the supernatural and not focusing on the fruit of the spirit. I agree that prophecies, signs and wonders are part of the gospel but if they take the place of fruit-bearing, then it becomes an error.

In Europe life is better in the sense that if you are ready to work hard, you will be able to afford the basic necessities of life. There is law and order, as people feel safe. The danger of this is that people do not look to God enough. They are so busy working to pay bills or they have enough that they don’t see the need for God. This affects their Christianity.

The Europeans truly worship God when they really give their lives to Christ. They could be very dedicated. My conclusion is that there is no difference between a true African born again Christian and a true European born again Christian but there is a great difference between the European church-goer and the African church-goer. Both are strongly influenced by the environment.