The Nation Newspaper

Category: Worship

  • Cleric bags NANS outstanding leadership award

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has conferred its outstanding leadership award on the general overseer of Faith Revival Apostolic Church (FRAC) Lagos, Apostle Paul Adenuga.

    The presentation, which held at the church’s headquarters along Idimu- Egbeda Lagos last Sunday, was attended by church members and executives of the students’ body.

    Explaining the choice of the cleric for the award, NANS president, Mr. Yinka Gbadebo said: “It is an honour that is well deserved by him. He has stood by NANS over the years to promote peace and quality education.

    “He has come around on several occasions to defend the average Nigerian students. He has been very philanthropic to many students to enable them acquire good education.”

    Gbadebo added: “He has on so many occasions helped the association to rise above board. During the last ASUU strike, there was a time many people did not even understand the reason behind the strike and at that moment, we needed somebody that would broker peace for us to have a way forward and he came up and played that role.

    “We intend to involve him more in the building of NANS because a lot of us do not have character and charisma anymore because we are all interested in our personal gains.’’

    Adenuga appreciated the students for counting him worthy to receive the award and dedicated it to God.

    He said: “I dedicate this award to the Almighty God.  I appreciate the students because they are the future of the country. They love the truth that is why they are appreciating men of God that are putting more effort to preach undiluted word of God.”

  • Rededicate yourselves to God, cleric charges

    The General Overseer of the Miracle Prayer Ministry Ile-Ife, Osun State, Reverend Emily Orubu, has called on men of God across the country to keep praying for the nations and her leaders.

    She made the call as part of activities to round off a week-long programme organised by the church to pray for the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Eneuch Adeboye, who recently marked his 72nd birthday.

    Citing the security challenges and increasing rate of corruption in the country, she said they are signs of desperation on the part of the people because of the failure of the nation’s political leaders, but urged Nigerians to continue to pray for God’s intervention.

    Maintaining that God truly loves Nigeria, she called on Nigerians to rededicate themselves to the service of God to benefit from His blessings.

  • Nigeria’s ills diagnosed at convention

    This is an outing that every public office holder in the country should attend. It is one that everyone who is at a loss for the cause of the various catastrophes in the land should witness. The main solution to our various problems is here.”

    This was the submission of Ogbonnaya Okike after listening to various sermons that held guests spellbound at the kick-off of a three-day national conference of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star (BCS), Christ Universal Spirited Children Fellowship (USCF).

    It held at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, with the theme: Unified universal theocracy on earth.

    From the soul-stirring renditions of members of the choirs who, like other members of the brotherhood, appeared angelic in all-white robes, to the priests, love was on the lips of everyone as the soul of human co-existence.

    To Pastor Sunny Ekanem, Lagos State leader’s representative and others who spoke at the gathering, unrepentant lovers of materialism are enemies of Christ.

    They said have no place in the kingdom of God, which the brotherhood represents.

    The mammoth crowd shook in awe-inspiring tumultuous ovation when the Chairman, BCS Executive Council, His Holiness Olumba Olumba Obu was ushered into the gathering by his pastors, led by the Chairman, Planning Committee of the convention, Anita Reginald Anyalor.

    After an outpouring of hearty songs by the various choirs and speeches that bordered on the need for love, righteousness and selflessness among humans, Obu blessed all and admonished the congregation never to depart from righteous ways.

    The brotherhood’s spokesman, Bishop Theophilus Idabre, debunked the seeming controversy surrounding the brotherhood.

    He said: “Brotherhood of the Cross is neither a cult nor a society; it is the kingdom of God on earth. It was established according to the prophesies of our Lord Jesus Christ.’’

  • ECWA Agbelekale celebrates 20

    •Elevates pastor

    It was triple celebrations for Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Agbelekale under Mushin District Church Council Lagos last Sunday.

    Members and well-wishers gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the church, dedication of the Walter Gowans Multi-purpose hall and elevation of the parish pastor, Femi Ikusagba, to a Reverend.

    Ikusagba said the assembly started as a prayer centre under ECWA Agege in January 1993 at one of the members’ residences in Ekoro area of Abule-Egba.

    ECWA General Secretary, Rev. Prof Samuel Kunhiyop, charged leaders to choose to be servants like Jesus did.

    According to him:”The rights and privileges of a leader diminish as his responsibilities increase”.

    He paid special tributes to pioneers of the assembly, saying their contributions and sacrifices made the church grow.

    Kunhiyop said every servant has rewards and charged the newly ordained to remain good ambassadors of Christ no matter where they find themselves.

    Former President of the church, Rev Anthony Farinto, advised the new reverend to stay clear of internal politics, saying it could overwhelm and cloud his ministry.

    Chairman of the anniversary committee, Elder Bamigbade, described Reverend Ikusagba as man filled with the Holy Spirit who has brought numerous achievements to ECWA Agbelekale.

    Ikusagba attributed his elevation to the hands of God, declaring that he remains a ready tool in the hands of God for propagation of the gospels.

  • Presbyterian Church wants total war against Boko Haram

    The Prelate and Moderator of the General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Prof. Emele Uka, has called for an onslaught against the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, to put to an end to its relentless orgy of indiscriminate and senseless killings of innocent Nigerians.

    The prelate condemned the latest spate of killings including the massacre of innocent school children at the Federal Government College, Bunu Yadi, Yobe State, which he described as senseless and barbaric.

    Uka, in a statement, said the total war should be fought at all fronts including the arrest and prosecution of all those who directly and indirectly support the terrorist group.

    He wondered why the attacks and wanton killings by the Islamic sect were on the increase despite the state-of-emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan and the military onslaught against the sect.

    “The country is in a state of war,” the prelate declared, “and it is only a total counter war that will save the nation from this spate of mindless plunder and destruction of lives and property and the palpable state of fear and insecurity that have engulfed the nation.

    “With the sophistication of the sect’s arms and strategies, the impunity with which they unleash mayhem and the seeming ubiquity in parts of the North East geographical zone, it is obvious that they enjoy a massive support.

    “I am surprised that till today, no arrests of their sponsors have been made even though the government has made claims to the effect that they know those who are sponsoring the Boko Haram terrorist group.

    “If the government knows them, they should expose them and cause them to face the wrath of the law.”

  • ‘God is the source of purpose’

    ‘God is the source of purpose’

    The senior pastor of His Purpose Church Lagos, Pastor Tony Olukorode, spoke with the Editor, Online and Special Publications, Lekan Otufodunrin, on the importance of discovery of purpose based on divine direction. Excerpts:

    What is purpose?

    Purpose is the essence of every action, the essence of every production, the essence of creativity and the essence of life. I think life is about purpose; simply the reason for a thing. The action behind a reaction, the cause that precedes an effect, that’s what purpose is.

    Why is purpose so crucial?

    Purpose is crucial because that is what defines success. That is what defines life. That is what defines eternity and is crucial. It is what makes our efforts to be meaningful and productive. So it is important.

    It is crucial such that what is purpose is clearly defined even when storms come up you know when there are challenges and all that but, because you know you are on purpose, then life becomes bearable and then the journey becomes easier .

    Why do most people miss their purpose in life?

    People miss it because of the parameters they use to define what success is. People are pursuing success with a wrong mindset. A lot of people today are trying to equate material accumulation of wealth as purpose, as being successful and in line with purpose. A successful person is the person who has discovered and is pursuing his purpose because it is the discovery of pursuit that brings fulfillment.

    What will be your advice for people to discover their purpose?

    The source of every product is to understand the reason why it was made. God is the source of purpose for this earth. So the first principle that man needs to embrace is to accept the fact that purpose is from God and then to be able to connect with God and God now connects us with purpose.

    There are people who don’t believe in God and they appear to be purposeful what do we call those people?

    What is success? You know success is not just limited to this world. Success must be viewed on broad spectrum on eternity. So if you just say you go to school, you get married, you just begin to have that and this and you feel you are successful, that is a misled priority. That is the problem of this nation, which is the problem of our generation.

    The problem that we have in this generation plus the government is that people are running off-track of purpose. If this nation should be on purpose and we clearly define our purpose and why God brought us together as a nation and we are pursuing it all, the vices coming in left and right in recent times will not be and there will be peace. Purpose is understanding the meaning of life. The meaning of life is found in purpose.

    The reason why people are mad at each other and why things are going wrong is because of the worldly laid down principles of success.

    Nigeria needs to go back to purpose. That’s when we have fulfillment in this nation and can only be done when individuals now take responsibility of discovering their personal purpose and responsibility.

    What are the ingredients of the purpose training programme you are running?

    The focus actually is to raise an on-purpose generation of people through creative training programme. We have a mission to serve as an on-purpose personal development school with the responsibility of training men and women to fully discover divine purpose in their lives and to position leaders for greater productivity in their endeavours, thereby fulfilling God’s kingdom here on earth.

    We have aims such as to inspire people to operate at the centre of God’s will. Everything you are going to do is to place you at the centre of His will. And this was one of the things that God told me many years back.

    The course is a Basic Discovery Course under the His Purpose Discovery Academy (HPDA) scheduled for March – April in Lagos. Week-end training starts March 1 to April 6th 2014 while the weekdays’ option is between March 24 and April 6.

    It offers a unique opportunity for individuals and organisations to properly understand the importance of purpose and how to take the right steps to fulfill it. Participants have shared testimonies of how what they learnt from the last edition has helped them in their daily living.

    There is a huge gap between most capacity building programmes around leadership but little attention is on followership to produce effective leadership. So, ours is to look at it from the other area and say how it has been. How can we attend to the root that bears the fruit? We try to see how we can help followers to follow effectively.

    We need to operate in the right atmosphere for effective and productive work place. We try to see people in government – how can we help them to work in leadership, how can we help them create an enabling environment such that the overall big picture concept of the nation and the organisation can be achieved?

  • Why insurgency persists, by Abidoye

    The Spiritual Head and Chairman of Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church Worldwide, Most Reverend Samuel Abidoye, has expressed concerns over the inability of government to curtail the Boko Haram insurgency in the north.

    Abidoye blamed the situation on the absence of quality leadership across the nation.

    According to him: “The continuous existence of the Boko Haram and the Niger-Delta crisis, among others, is because our leaders are not doing what they are supposed to do. Our government needs to be more careful.”

    He pointed out that “many people are afraid of the coming elections especially those in the north because the elections have never been successful.”

    He urged Nigerians to pray for the elections to be peaceful.

    Abidoye lamented that many modern Christians are after money, instead of God.

    “Nobody is behaving like a Christian. You find pastors caught in robbery and doing lots of bad things.

    “Christ is coming back very soon and all Christians must be prepared.”

  • Stop running after church leaders, cleric tells Jonathan

    The minister- in- charge of the Episcopal Church of Zion, Abuja branch, Rev. Babatunde Oguntimehin, has told President Goodluck Jonathan to stop chasing shadows by running after pastors and traditional rulers in his drive to win the 2015 presidential election.

    Speaking at the end of the delegates’ conference of the church in Abuja penultimate weekend, Oguntimehin advised Jonathan to concentrate on the masses and God, if he is interested in re-election.

    He kicked against some of the church leaders the president has been running after, saying many of them have been rejected by God.

    Many of them, Oguntimehin added, have compromised and are living in past glories.

    According to him: “There are still genuine pastors and prophets in the country. They are hardly heard because they are not political and populist in their messages.

    “The president should identify them and meet them to sit him down for genuine counselling. The president needs to hear from God if he wants to succeed this time.”

    Oguntimehin added: “God made President Jonathan’s election possible in 2011, not the pastors and the traditional rulers he is romancing.

    “The masses of this country are suffering. Their cries have gone up unto God. The wrath of God is now dangling on the heads of the evil and wicked functionaries of this government.’’

    He lamented that corruption had never been this worse in the country, stressing that “crude oil is being freely stolen in Niger Delta as if there is no government in place to the extent that the nation’s revenue generation has drastically reduced which has led to poor budget implementation.’’

  • ‘We often mistake positions for leadership’

    The registrar of Olivet Academy Festac Town, Lagos, Deaconess Joy Nwgwakwe, has decried the declining rate of leadership in churches.

    The decadence, she said, has permeated the society and especially marred spiritual leadership.

    Nwgwakwe, who spoke with reporters, noted that the inconsistency of religious leaders led to the establishment of the Olivet Academy since 2007.

    The academy sprang from the family of the Olivet Bible Church, the church, which began in 2005.

    The bible college has been licensed to train people, emphasising the core values such as oneness, love, integrity, virtuous living, excellence and team work.

    Although the registrar did not give the exact number of persons it has trained since then, the college has churned out 24 sets of students since inception.

    According to her, Olivet Academy believes that leadership can be improved through trainings.

    Nwgwakwe is also of the opinion that it is not all those who are in authority that have leadership qualities.

    This, Nwgwakwe noted, is the church’s contribution to national building.

  • ‘Adeogun remains head of CCC Worldwide’

    The National Coordinator, Nigeria Diocese of the Supreme Headquarters of Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), The Supreme Evangelist Maromipi Adeniyi, has challenged factions within the church to have respect for the rule of law and uphold the sanity of the CCC constitution.

    Speaking last week with newsmen in Lagos, Adeniyi said the leadership tussle has adversely affected the spiritual and economic wellbeing of the church.

    “The attendant effects of the crisis on the Celestial Church worldwide have made it rather a global problem as the crisis continues unabated on a daily basis,” he lamented.

    Adeniyi argued that Nigeria is one of the dioceses in the church worldwide and has no constitutional power to appoint, elect or select any pastor.

    Citing Section 111 of the Church’s constitution, he stated that only the Supreme Committee of the Celestial Church at the Supreme Headquarters in Port Novo, Benin Republic, has the authority to ratify any prediction or revelation made to any person on occupation of the pastor’s office.

    He said that all the elders parading themselves as pastors in Nigeria did not get the approval of the committee before ascending the positions.

    “All power in the Celestial Church of Christ Worldwide is vested in the Supreme Headquarters in Port Novo, Republic of Benin, formerly Dahomey, the birth place of the church,” Adeniyi added.

    He declared that the seat of the church’s pastor is not in Ketu, Eleko, Osoroko, Ijeshatedo, Iju, Ishaga, Imala or Ikorodu, dismissing anyone parading himself as Pastor of the CCC Worldwide as an impersonator.

    He stated that Bilehou Akike Adeogun remains the pastor of the church because “The Prophet Founder of the Celestial Church of Christ, Papa Joseph Oshoffa chose Rev. Bilehou David Agbaossi as his successor on May 5, 1984 in accordance with section 6 and 111 of the CCC constitution

    “He (Agbaossi) consequently handed over power to Bilehou Akike Adeogun after his demise on 13th April 2010 and he remains the head of the church.”