Nigeria @63: Where is the change agent role of the Church?

Today, Nigeria is marking her 63rd Independence Anniversary. However, the story is that many Nigerians are still bound in many ways. Religion, which Karl Marx described as the “opium of the masses” seems to be failing them. Many no longer find solace in religion.

The government is primarily saddled with the responsibilities of protecting lives and property of its citizenry. The consensus opinion however, is that government has failed on these fronts since Independence in 1960.

These have given the Church an added role outside its primary responsibility of taking care of the spiritual needs of its members.

Today, worshipers look endlessly to the Church for support amid economic challenges. And, in many places prayed to God for divine intervention on issues the government has been saddled to provide solutions.

However, amid the plethora of support rendered by the Church in Nigeria, many still considered the Church as a spiritual entity chasing after mammon on the back of the proliferation of churches in the country, which has also led many to ask the question; wither the change agent role of the Church?

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Many in this school of thought have argued that with the proliferation of churches, Nigeria and Nigerians have witnessed a dramatic rise in social vices that has called to question the essence of having the churches in the first place.

“From the look of things, many churches seem to have lost their first conviction of doing the work of God without minding whose ox is gored. They used to say it as it is and served only God, but it appears that that commitment has waned. The 2023 general election and its outcome really showed what the Church has become in Nigeria. Many of the churches we have today may be more interested in the mammon than the serving God,” Dare Ade, a Philosophy lecturer in one of the higher institutions, said.

Ade said that the modus operandi of many churches seem to suggest they are in competition with the world.

“I think civilization is having some negative influence on the Church. People now do anyhow in places where anything evil should not be seen or even mentioned. Some body language of some church leaders today and their utterances are sending wrong signals to the society. I am not very sure how the change-agent role of the church is still being sustained. There is nothing that is happening in the world today that is not happening in the Church. In fact, the Church has become very worldly. What I am seeing now is like what Jonathan Swift, Irish-born English writer, said that ‘We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.’ There is absence of love among Nigerian churches,” Abe said.

However, another school of thought has argued that with the proliferation of churches came the social safety nets offered to Nigerians to augment government failures on all fronts. This they said far outweighed some of the challenges being associated with the church in Nigeria.

Olusola Idowu, the Reverend in charge of the Ajayi Dahunsi Memorial Baptist Church, Ilasamaja, Lagos, said there are many sides to why it seems the Church in Nigeria is thriving while the nation is failing.

“First, remember that Nigeria is a secular state, and people of different religious beliefs and backgrounds are involved in the running of both the public and private sectors. The actions and deeds of all of us are mainly influenced by our belief system. Therefore, the orientation we bring to the public space will determine what we get,” Idowu said.

He further said that while the prevailing instruments of operation in the Church are faith and prayer, “this cannot be said of the state.”

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According to him, oftentimes, when people come to the national space, they are preoccupied with who does what.

At independence in 1960, Nigerian churches could be said to be within spiritual/religious reach of the orthodox churches and a few indigenous churches. However, the country started witnessing an exponential growth of the Church Movement in the 70s, 80s and early 90s with the coming of Pentecostal Movement.

With it came the proliferation of churches that has given rise to the acquisition of abandoned warehouses for church purposes, which made some observers conclude that Nigeria has more churches than factories.

“The religious diversity of our nation that should have been a blessing to us has become more of a curse because of unnecessary competition so much that when we pray together, we are usually not together,” he said.

Idowu said that while the focus in the Church is on God, the reverse is the case in the state as people often focus their attention (faith) on man.

“I also believe that this shows that there is still something that the Church in Nigeria is doing well that the state must be willing to learn from,” Idowu said.

He however, strongly believed that the fact that the Church in Nigeria is thriving means that there is still hope for Nigeria.

“This is because, in the Bible, as long as the Temple and the Ark of Covenant were intact, the nation of Israel was secured. So, I will say there is still hope for Nigeria.

“Therefore, more than ever before, the major players in the nation must sincerely approach the business of nation-building with faith in God, hope in God, love for God, and mankind as well as obedience to God,” he said.

Joseph Ojo, founder and presiding archbishop of Christ Kingdom Church (CKC) Lagos, said that referring to the activities of Nigerian Churches as “mammon-chasing” is borne out of ignorance as to the meaning of the word Church and its place and responsibility in the society.

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“What is chasing mammon? To go after money. Tell me is there any organisation that can fulfil its obligations without money? Why have people not recognised the contributions of the Church to the national growth and development of this nation,” Ojo said.

According to him, the Church is not and cannot be one of the problems of Nigeria, but the hope and solution to many of her challenges.

“The Church of God in Nigeria is employing a great percentage of the working population in their churches, schools, hospitals, farms, and other fields of human endeavour. The millions that are saved and are not part of the problems of this country as a result of the impact of the Church should be appreciated by well-meaning Nigerians,” he said.

However, on the occasion of the nation’s 63rd independence anniversary, Ojo called on the country’s political leaders to approach the Church to help find solutions to Nigeria’s ever-increasing economic problems.

According to him, the Church of God in Nigeria is serving God, while the politicians are after mammon. He further said that the Church would keep its role of praying for peace and progress of the nation at 63.

“I wish Nigeria ‘thoughtful not happy’ 63rd Independence Anniversary even though we are still depending on the people we claim to have gotten independence from. God bless the Church of God in Nigeria; God bless Nigeria,” Ojo said.