The church: Nigeria’s biggest problem?

Who does God hold responsible for the failure of our nation?”

“The church”

“Why? Shouldn’t the buck stop at the door of the political class, civil service, the military, etc?”

“The word ‘church’ simply means an assembly of ‘called out ones’ and it has its beginning way back at Creation, when God created Man not for heaven but to dominate the earth. His intention was for Man to be in His image (a replica of God in outlook) and operate in His likeness. A combination of both would enable Man have dominion on earth.

The first church was founded and shepherded by God Himself when He planted a garden in Eden as a training ground for Man to cultivate His likeness. Likeness, unlike image, cannot be created instantaneously. It can only be imparted. It is like taking a photograph. At the click of a button, a shutter is opened, light is let in; an image of the object in front of the camera is formed on a sensitive paper or device. But training a person to function, act and behave like God requires more than a click. It takes interaction, association, observation and practice. These were provided in The Garden. God would come in the cool of the day to fellowship with Adam. He gave him instructions to obey, work to do (and not money), taught him the power of words, and gave him the assignment of naming the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Adam was practically shown the essence of love: By being split into two—male and female—for, as Scripture defines, ‘it is not good for Man to be all-in-one’. Love is only expressed when there is an object of affection.

The plan was for Man to graduate and then replicate The Garden over the whole earth. But Adam missed the point, didn’t complete the training programme, broke Garden regulations and thus had to be expelled.

After Adam, God chose a man, Abram, who later became Abraham to work on, with and through to bring salvation to the whole world. He called him out of his father’s house: the beginning of another church. He promised to bless him, make him a great nation and a great name so that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12). The nation, Israel, was the result. Like Adam, they also missed it. Instead of being a kingdom of priests as God intended, they desired to and became ‘like other nations.’ Now that really beats me! How can a winning nation desire to be like its surrounding defeated nations? They misunderstood God’s plans and purposes for the whole world. They thought it was all about them. They acted and behaved like mere mortals.

Eventually when Jesus—the Saviour of the world—showed up, it was the same church concept that He adopted. He appointed the Twelve that they might be with Him (just like God and Adam in Eden) before sending them out to do likewise (Mark 3:14).

The church concept is God’s and the church should be the ground and pillar of truth (see 1Timothy 3:15): to teach God’s eternal plans and purposes, as revealed in His Instruction manual – the Bible; equip Believers for service in every sphere of human activity: education, religion, business, sport, media, entertainment, politics and governance and culture.

At His ascension, Jesus commanded (in

Matthew 28:18-20, NKJV): “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”

The church has turned the command to ‘go out and make disciples of nations’ into ‘come in and be entertained’. Proselytes are given new names at baptism—James, Peter, Gabriel, Ruth and such ‘Christian names’—and encouraged to give generously to church programmes—regardless of the source.

It defeats God’s eternal plan of spreading dominion over the whole earth when a ‘church’ is self-centred and becomes a show parade instead of an equipping centre. One should go to church to learn to do and then go out to do.

The church has changed the major index of measuring its performance from sending capacity—a measure of the effect on communal life—to seating capacity, or the size of its auditorium! Just imagine a hospital. I am not aware of any that takes pride in the number of patients on its beds. Rather, its boast is the number of treated patients doing well outside. Or do you know of any mechanic whose object of pride is to show off the number of broken-down vehicles in his garage!

The early church was accused of ‘turning the world upside down’; probably the most ‘damaging accusation’ against the modern church in Nigeria would be how fast and well the church can be like the world!

The mouth of the minister that should keep knowledge, and disseminate same now brags of mundane things: number of overseas trips undertaken, their brands of four-wheel drive, how much their multi-coloured neck tie cost in a shop in New York.”

adeWale Adefuye, dean of LifeClass, can be reached at dean@lifeclassonline.org or by sms at 070 3002 3002