Author: The Nation

By Awowale Ayomide

God has predetermined a man’s nationality, race, sex, and even the location of one’s birth. You are a wonderful gift for someone, somewhere, sometime, and someday. God has given everybody an assignment on this planet earth and that assignment cannot be fulfilled if you are not constantly communicating with God. Prayer is the only link you have with God. There will be times while working on your assignment when you feel completely cut off from the people you care about. You are the one on a mission and not your family members, and it requires the anointing of God to send you on your way.

A key component of many spiritual traditions in history has been the practice of prayerful isolation. The concept of prayer isolation involves separation from others, retreating from the outside world to find spiritual nourishment and a closer relationship with God. In Matthew 6: 5-8, Jesus taught his disciples to not be like the hypocrites who stand at the synagogues and the street corner to be seen by men. A believer’s access to an effective channel of communication that provides uninterrupted time with God is isolation prayer. In order to acquire the utmost level of connection with God, it is frequently necessary to withdraw from life’s distractions.

“And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed (Luke 5:16).”

Dear readers, there is no running away from the Lord. Being in solitude with God is when God reveals His presence, His purpose, His promises and his plans for your life. Christians should pray because it is effective in every situation and stage of life.

Isolating yourself to seek God’s face can be sometimes difficult because we are out in the sun bustling and hustling for daily bread, but Jesus has shown us that praying is important. Jesus Christ himself spent the night in prayer when he faced a difficult decision in selecting his disciples. In order not to be distracted in your periods of isolation, believers are advised to find a suitable location, set a schedule and use resources that will help focus more in God’s presence.

Seasons of prayerful isolation are periods of intentional, solitary prayer and reflection that can be a powerful way to deepen one’s relationship with God. On this note, I joyfully declare to you and your loved ones that ‘Isolation is not a death sentence’ but a potent channel of communication with God. While waiting on Him with a heart of faith and lips crying out in prayer, He will reach out and save you, just as He did for Peter.

The Founder, God Miracle Success Ministry Worldwide, Prophetess Oluwayemisi Ajiye has advised the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to love and treat Nigerians fairly, irrespective of their political affiliations, tribe,  and religion.

Ajiye gave this advice at Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, after an event organised to mark her 2023 birthday, said that it is imperative that the President-elect brings everybody on board in the quest for sustainable development in the country.

Maintaining that the President-elect should not say that his administration is only for APC members, “He should extend an olive branch to other party members outside APC and work with them to move the country forward.

“My advice to the President-elect is that he loves every Nigeria as a citizen, when he loves everyone as his people, God will definitely help and sees him through in his service to the nation”.

“Secondly, he should move closer to God. Whoever makes God his or her friend is the one that God establishes a relationship with and receives His help. If God works with him, everything will be okay during his time.

“Whenever things go wrong and he calls on God, He will show him the way out of the problems,” he said.

Ajiye who identified sins as the major source of problems facing Nigeria said, “I know whatever we see as a challenge in our country is not the making of any state governor or the president, it is just that God is not happy because of our sin.

“But if we ask God to forgive our sins, turn over a new leaf and move closer to God, I can assure you that the time of refreshing will come to our nation.”

While appreciating God, every member of the ministry worldwide, and her children for their support and for organizing the event, she said the celebration was special and unique compared to the ones held in the past.

She charged members of the ministry to move closer to God more than before and not to see their challenges as insurmountable but to know that God is greater than any problem.

“Always put your mind towards the last day on earth because marking a birthday is to appreciate and showcase God’s faithfulness. There are lessons to be learned on every man’s last day on earth; it shows that nothing lasts forever.”

During the event, awards of recognition were presented to Presenter, Mr. Babatunde Bamigboye (aka Omo Edema), journalist, Mr. Toyin Anisulowo Daily Post Newspapers, and a leader in the ministry, Mr. Akinlolu Adebowale for their support to the ministry.

The convener of the ‘Inspiring Change’ conference, Adesumbo Adeoye, in this interview with Adeola Ogunlade speaks on the 10th edition of the Inspiring Change conference, her experience in the past 10 years, the place of the Church in politics and what active participation entails for the Church in Nigeria

How symbolic is this year’s conference; Evolve?

This year’s theme is tagged ‘Evolve’. It is a reflection of what God intended for all creation. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:18(AMP): “But the path of the just (Righteous) is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until it reaches its full strength and glory on the perfect day.”

 God desires that we shine brighter in the midst of thick darkness and through the rough, irregular path that leads to our advancement. He urges us via the word to persevere despite what we face, and learn to overcome obstacles, trials and tribulations till we experience victory. So this year’s conference had with myself, Rev Funke Felix Adejumo, David Adeoye, Tara Durotoye, and other female speakers who have persevered against all odds and have weathered the storm, recorded groundbreaking results and evolved greatly, to come and share with our audience how they lose and how they choose. The steps they have had to take in the midst of the storm and what has helped them on the journey of life to record the several feats. This we believe had helped attendees draw strength and inspiration and develop the guts to face and fulfill their God-given purposes.

How did you arrive at the theme?

Apart from the first edition, the theme aligns with the Global International Women’s Day; the other editions have been inspired by divine leading to tackle the present-day needs of our vast growing global audience. We have had themes like: ‘Make it Happen,’  ‘Yes I can,’  ‘Run Forward,’  and  ‘There is More,’ to name a few and one of the most common feedback we have received from participants is the ‘Can do’ effect it has on them to desire to be more, and in turn, propels them to live purposefully as Christ intended.

What are the indicators of a woman who has evolved or is currently evolving?

Obvious transformation and disruption of old behavioural patterns and ideologies, socioeconomic development, and active participation in both public and private sectors are some of the key indicators that point to a woman who has evolved in today’s world. A woman who is evolving is however not scared of change; she’s constantly learning new habits and unlearning old ideologies, she prioritizes self-care, believes in herself, and feels very comfortable in her own skill, she seeks no approval from external influence but sees failure as a learning point and takes pride in her God-given abilities to move the world forward.

What challenges or barriers could there be to evolving?

 When you stop growing, you start dying. One of the many barriers that can hinder one from evolving is the feeling of complacency and the inability to learn or dare new things. Proverbs 19:27 warns us of this… “If you quit listening, dear child, and strike off on your own, you’ll soon be out of your depth.”

10 years down the line; how has the journey been?

The journey has been glorious but not without its challenges. Every time I get the opportunity to share the humbling privilege of hosting an event of this magnitude consistently for the past nine years, I am astonished at the faithfulness of God and the courage to dare to try.

I am glad for the many lives that have been transformed and several women have gained clarity from our many outreaches. From supporting entrepreneurial ideas through mentorship, advisory services and training to mentoring young female secondary school graduand through our Inspiring Change deliberately movement, the initiative has actively impacted lives through our mentor meets mentee and free skill acquisition programmes for young school leavers, the entrepreneurial advancement training of market women and the ongoing inspiring change school tour, it’s such a significant milestone. I’m particularly excited about the 10th edition of the Inspiring Change conference, the experience was mind-blowing as we celebrated our 10 years of Inspiring Change deliberately with a focus on Nation building.

‘Inspiring Change’, what did you set out to achieve at the start?

Having completed my entrepreneurial management training in 2011 as a Goldman Sachs scholar, I had this ceaseless desire to pay it forward by supporting entrepreneurial ideas through mentorship, advisory services and training. So, when the call came from the Enterprise Development Center instructing me to host a #IWD meeting where I could inspire women in commemoration of International Women’s Day, I took a bold step while trusting God and hosted it with all the strength and courage I had in me.

The aim at inception was to inspire change, and encourage women to dare to take up leadership positions competently in their various industries despite the obvious limiting factors and gender biases. And the conference has surpassed that vision by recording several ground-breaking results of women achieving and blazing the trails in their various industries dominated by men.

The Church has been directly/indirectly involved in the general elections; do you consider this good for the image of the Church?

The Church forms a large part of society and so we can’t be quiet about the obvious realities of our day-to-day living. So making known our expectations and demanding good governance is a welcomed development.

What would you advise the incoming administration to do differently for a new Nigeria?

An inclusive government that keeps people  (both men and women, young and old) informed, involved, and inspired.

Who is Adesunmbo Adeoye?

Adesunmbo Adeoye is an alumna of Lagos business school and a certificate-holding member of the Harvard Class of 2020. I am the host of the weekly virtual talk show tagged, #RiskToRewardSeries where we seek to impact and enhance the knowledge of business people deliberately.

I am an advisory board member of several companies with global vision and partner with global brands to help foster the growth of women and mothers in business, ministry, and career.

 As a youth ambassador and premium activator of the Transforming Nigerian Youth initiative, I recently partnered with MasterCard Foundation in collaboration with Enterprise Development Centre to empower 40,000 Nigerian youth between the age of 18-35 years to start, launch and grow their businesses. As a mentor to many, and a recipient of numerous awards for dedication and contribution toward progressive initiatives and humanity, in Nigeria. I was recently recognized as one of the 100 most inspiring and trailblazing women in Nigeria, by Leading Ladies Africa for #LLA100WOMEN2020. I am currently the CEO of Esobevents and the founder of Esob Heroes. A Cherie Blair Foundation brand ambassador and a Goldman Sachs scholar.

I am happily married to David Adeoye, an icon of greatness and the senior Pastor at Royalty Christian Centre where I serve as the First Lady, and together, we are blessed with great and intelligent children.

Adesunmbo Adeoye has authored several books and annually brings women who have been able to bridge the gender gap in their respective professions together with the women who aspire to be like them. These life-transforming meetings have produced outstanding women with amazing results in business, ministry, and career.

 I run the inspiring change initiative, a movement that deliberately enhances knowledge and educates women folks for an equal and purposeful future with a focus on Nation building. This mandate is expressed via the annual Inspiring Change conference, bi-annual “Mentor meets mentee”, Entrepreneurial Advancement Training for market women, the Inspiring change deliberately movement, and daily #inspiringchangewithSunmbo virtual movement that brings hope for a Fresh start with the aim to rebuild the ruins and be refurbished.

.

Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN), a Nigerian offshoot of the Church of the Brethren, marked its 100th year in existence on March 17.

Despite the gale of attacks, especially, from the Boko Haram insurgents and other challenges it had contended with, the denomination also thanked God that the very insurgency attacks resulted in expanding the church to new territories.

Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, being the English language translation of the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria, is the Nigerian community of the global Church of the Brethren which started in the United States of America, from where missionaries came to start activities in Nigeria about 100 years ago.

Garkida, a town in the northern part of Adamawa, which is 155 kilometres from the state capital, Yola, had the privilege of being the first to have a branch in Nigeria.

The first service was conducted by the foreign Brethren missionaries under a now legendary tamarind tree in Garkida, on March 17, 1923.

The Church had blossomed steadily first around the northern Adamawa zone where it remains the most subscribed denomination among Christians, and then branched out to neighboring Borno and Taraba states; to the rest of the North East, and further outwards to other parts of the North, very notably Plateau State where its headquarters moved temporarily to when the Kwarhi headquarters and main church buildings were destroyed by Boko Haram in 2014.

Today, EYN has more than 2,000 branch congregations across the country and elsewhere.

Giving a historical overview of the EYN with specific reference to how it has suffered in the hands of the Boko Haram elements, the President of the EYN, Rev Joel Billi, said, “At the peak of the insurgency, 36 of the then 50 EYN DCCs were completely displaced. Seven were partially closed, with only seven DCCs not directly affected by insurgency. Of the 456 local councils and 2,280 local church branches at that time, 278 LCC buildings and 1,390 LCB Church auditoriums were destroyed by the insurgents.”

The EYN President said that so many members of the church were killed or abducted, and that abduction of church members, especially, around Borno State continued up to date.

The EYN had said three years ago that it had lost about 8,370 members, including eight pastors, to the Boko Haram insurgents.

Billi, giving the statistics at a news conference in the Adamawa State capital Yola, said 25,000 members of the Church were taking refuge in neighbouring Cameroun while more than 700,000 were in internally displaced person camps in Nigeria.

Billi added that the activities of the terrorists had affected more than 1.5 million members and caused huge destruction to the denomination’s places of worship.

Around the time of its most deadly attacks in 2014 when Hong, being the local government area where the EYN headquarters was located, became one of the seven LGAs that Boko Haram took over and wreaked unprecedented destruction to properties and human lives, and the EYN headquarters had to be relocated to the Plateau State capital, Jos.

During his interaction with newsmen in Jos sometime after  EYN’s relocation there, the National President of the Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) at the time, Engr Daniel Kadzai, had said that out of the over 200 Chibok school girls who were kidnapped in April 2014, 170 were members of the EYN.

Kadzai had explained that EYN had incurred so much damage from Boko Haram because it had its dominance in the northeast where a majority of its members’ hail from.

EYN leader, Joel Billi, giving his latest account of the origin of the EYN, highlighted how a hundred years ago the first service of the church, led by two pioneering white Christian missionaries, took place in Garkida, the fondly recognized ancestral home of the church in the Gombi Local Government Area of northern Adamawa.

The first white missionaries were two: Reverends Stover Kulp and Albert Helser. Together, they planted the first EYN branch in Garkida and aided the further development of the church before other white missionaries and Nigerian leaders took over in subsequent years.

The EYN Centenary celebration earlier in the month turned out to be a huge celebration indeed despite the havoc that Boko Haram has inflicted on the church in recent years.

This was because the church has experienced growth in many directions even as it suffered losses in others.

The EYN president recalled at the March 16 press conference that many of those who had been displaced to distant parts had facilitated the establishment of branches in such places.

“All glory to God, because though the insurgency was orchestrated to uproot Christianity in its area of operation, God in his faithfulness used the insurgency to propagate the gospel and expand the frontiers of EYN in Nigeria and the Camerouns because those that were displaced carried their faith to wherever they went. Today, several EYN churches have sprung up in places where our members went to sojourn,” the EYN president said.

At the main Centenary anniversary event on March 17, many members and guests also spoke on how the church has fared in the past 100 years.

A retired justice and respected member of the church who was the Chairman of the event, Ibrahim Mahi, said the church had in the course of the past 100 years lifted many Nigerians from utter darkness to divine light.

He said, “Africa became the white man’s grave where the white missionaries came, died of diseases they were unused to, but saved us from strange gods. We are products of the dreams of the missionaries. It’s because we did not allow their dreams to die that we can gather to mark our church’s 100th year today.”

Although the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria is an offshoot of the global Church of the Brethren with roots in the United States, the Nigerian ‘baby’ has grown to be described as the biggest Church of the Brethren in the world.

Mr. Erick Miller, the Director of the Global Mission of the Church of the Brethren International, said the mother church (in the US) is proud of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria.

“The US church is proud of your resilience. You are an inspiration to us,” Erik Miller said, adding that the mother church had been happy to be a part of the sources of succour to the Nigerian church in its sufferings in hands of the Boko Haram insurgents.

Also at the main event of the EYN’s 100th Year celebration was the Catholic Bishop of Yola, Stephen Dami Mamza who is also the Adamawa State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Bishop Mamza who said he represented himself on the occasion as well as the famous Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Hassan Kukah, congratulated the EYN on its birthday, adding that the EYN’s achievements over the century had dwarfed its numerical strength.

“Boko Haram has had your area of concentrated strength as its area for destruction and you have produced many martyrs of the faith but you have expanded your boundaries and this is commendable,” he told the EYN.

Also in hand was the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN), Most Reverend Panti Filibus who is also the President of Lutheran Church Worldwide.

The foremost Lutheran leader said of the EYN, “You have a history of persecution due mostly to the brutal attacks by Boko Haram, but you have continued to grow in faith and in witnessing for God. You are a symbol of hope for the future church.”

The EYN as well as other church denominations with originating roots mostly in Northern Nigeria, including the LCCN and Plateau State-based mega church, the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), come under the umbrella of Tarayyar Ekklesiyoyin Kristi a Nijeria (TEKAN), rendered in English as Fellowship of Churches of Christ in Nigeria, and of which EYN’s Joel Billi is incidentally the president.

General Secretary of TEKAN, Rev Moses Ebuga, said the EYN had shown resilience worthy of emulation.

“The burning of your Churches and other forms of violence against you tested your resolve but you have held strongly to your conviction. Despite all the challenges, the EYN has remained an inspiration to others in the faith,” the TEKAN scribe said.