Kumuyi’s bold initiative to change society

Buried somewhere in the voluminous video vault of the Africa Independent Television, AIT, Lagos, Nigeria, is the recording of a rare live interview with Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, (DCLM). Hosted in the late 1990s by the popular Kaakaki early dawn programme, Kumuyi responded to a bouquet of questions that led to even more answers and views about his ministry, the Deeper Life Bible Church God used him to found, his outlook on life, and the controversy over genuine Christians watching the Television, among other vexatious narratives of the day.

Deep into the interactive session, the unexpected poser came from a caller: ‘’Sir, I have observed that you’ve not at all quoted from the Scriptures as you addressed some of the questions. I can’t also see that you have the Holy Bible with you. Now, Sir, that seems somehow strange for a great man of God, who is expected to tackle every issue by reaching into the Word of God and turning page after page. But you’re not doing all that. Doesn’t add up, Pastor!’’ (Please note that I’ve taken a literary licence to paraphrase and expand the question).

Although I can’t recall the cleric’s exact response, I perfectly understood his simple presentation, and I have since worked out a contextual extrapolation: the true believer in God and in His laws must be a thoroughly changed fellow such that, he’d no longer be perceived through skin-level religious prisms. He or she is in consistent walk with Heaven that transforms them from being seen as a Christian only when they are showy with the Bible. They are inured to God’s Word. The believers would be judged by their responsibilities to their circumstances and neighbours, hardly by their Biblical regurgitations void of accompanying ‘good’ deeds to those around. The believer’s salutary impact on the community would speak for his philosophy of godliness, not his ceremonial or sanctimonious posturing. In a word, the believer must be assessed by his impact on his neighbours, not by the exhibitionistic toga of his belief-paraphernalia. It is the pursuit of the spirit, not the letter, of his religion that matters. If submitting to that credo changed them, it would, ipso facto, move their neighbours to change, until you discover that, through one person’s intentional effort in relationships not influenced by traditional social cleavages, a change for good has imperceptibly come upon the whole society.

So, if Kumuyi or any other believer didn’t carry the Bible to a non-Church setting like the AIT studios, and he was still able to prove his transformation via his body language or communication, it demonstrates that we can reflect the positive transformation in us more by our deeds of selfless service than by mouthing our profession of religion and denigrating that of neighbours.

Nearly 30 years after that morning session on AIT, Pastor Kumuyi has convened an across-faith project, Change Makers International, CMI, to draw his compatriots into a campaign for change through love for fellow man. It’s a walk for change based, not on what you vociferously say of your religion, but how you heed God’s call to deliver sacrificial love to the man and woman next door. That’s the ultimate change demanded by our Creator. God expects it from both the led and the leader. Pastor Kumuyi believes that what can save humanity isn’t the religion that divides us but heeding the transcendent and express command of our Creator to love one another as ourselves. This is the goal of all religion, which has been recklessly rerouted to ruin humanity.

So, at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt, capital of Nigeria’s South-South Rivers State between August 15-20, 2024, Kumuyi brought together leaders of the country’s different faiths to preach this philosophy of change not driven by a divisive, deadly and destructive iron-clad hold on religion. During the 6-day MCI inaugural programme, Muslim clerics and scholars in their full regalia, along with their Christian compatriots from other denominations, took turns to speak as they honoured Kumuyi’s invitation. They all agreed with the pastor’s stand that Nigeria needs a break, a change, first among its grassroots constituents based on good neighbourliness as compelled by the Lord, before we can enjoy peace, progress and prosperity. He said the abiding change he’s calling for, is cast in the maximalist rule: love your neighbour as you love yourself.

He declared: “As a person, you don’t first want to know about the religion or tribe of your needy neighbor before helping them…They are the creatures of God, who must enjoy your love and compassion. You’d incur the wrath of God if you start looking for their ethnic or faith background and they die in the process.”

Kumuyi recounted a personal story. He said he learnt of a young girl thrown into the streets by her father. He asked the lass to be brought to him. The pastor said he didn’t ask to know if she was a Muslim or Christian. He took care of her education and upkeep through to the tertiary level, and right up to the point where she’s now happily married.

According to the respected clergyman, it is robes of communal and neighbourly love that unite us; ill-fitting religious garments tear asunder mercilessly from the attention and compassion of the Lord.

At a point during the programme, the Deeper Life Bible Church leader challenged his Muslim hearers to test him if he wouldn’t wear their cap if offered. The interfaith convergence witnessed the unfettered access to the high table by ministers across the faith divides, to establish the teaching that change surfaces as we dissolve our religious differences. To prove the all-inclusive profile of the Change Makers International project, Kumuyi made no altar call for converts as it is customary at such gatherings, lest suspicions should arise to taint and derail CMI’s altruistic intentions.

There were special panel parleys for both men and women that traced the problems of greed, hate, religious intolerance, selfishness, a competitive spirit etc. in society to the home. If we practise godly love and neighbourliness in the domestic plane, a change would come upon all society, because society is nothing but a coming together of family units.

But there’s a caveat: the change Kumuyi is talking about can’t be accessed without an encounter with God, through Jesus Christ Who Himself is Love. One must embrace His law: shun unrighteousness and hatred of your neighbour and society and its God-ordained rulers.

Observers have marked the grand success of the Change Makers International as a definitive turning point in our history, from which we can expect a silent but socially penetrating revolution in our norms in the years ahead, if government through a critical agency like the National Orientation Agency, NOA would partner with CMI to build on the enormous gains of the Port Harcourt conference. Our schools must also be made to harvest from the proceedings and lessons of this programme.

Many reasons have been offered for the spontaneous and universal acceptance of this daring project to unite our disparate faiths and usher in the much sought-for change in Nigeria. Three are outstanding. First, the time for change is Now. The people want something profoundly different from what they’ve been experiencing. They perceive it in CMI. Next, is the personality of the convener, Kumuyi. His integrity and relationship with society aren’t solely on account of sectarianism. That makes what he offers believable. Thirdly, it’s since been discovered that genuine change only comes after a personal deal is struck with the laws of God. It doesn’t come from officialdom’s decrees or irreverent religious pietism.

. Ojewale is an author and journalist at Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.