Category: Worship

Rev. Father Augustine Medaiyedu is the Parish Priest of St. Augustine Catholic Church, Ikorodu, Lagos. He spoke with Edozie Udeze on same-sex marriage, among other national issues. Excerpts:

What is your view on the child-marriage bill before the National Assembly?

Yeah. It is an unfortunate thing because the child bill is abnormal. Even in our other African countries, an abnormal thing becomes nothing in Nigeria. One of the senators, Yerima, to be precise, picked a little girl to Nigeria and I think he is building on that foundation. I think the law has to do with those in the North. Most often, their kids are given out in marriage at a tender age.

I happen to know one who was given out when she was barely three years old in Benue State. And when the lady grew to 18, her father promptly said to her ‘go and meet your husband.’ And the lady ran out of the family house.

Somehow, she was nursing another dream, not even in marriage. She was nursing to go into a religious life. And she eventually found herself in Owerri in a monastery. I think it took about two to three years before the family ever got to know she was in a monastery.

So, this started long ago and the climax is what we have now. Even though the Senate is trying to say they were misunderstood. Even Yerima said he was misunderstood; that is not what he was saying. I think it is something that is giving us another side of the Senate. It means there is no hope even for the girl-child in Nigeria and this is not as it should be. And the Church is totally against that.

Has the Catholic Church actually taken a stand on gay marriage?

The Church respects individuals; the Church respects the rights of individuals and that if someone comes out as a gay person, who proclaims to be gay, the Church respects his rights as a human being. He should not be marginalised.

Going by the biblical accounts we have, the Church says no to it. That is the stand of the Catholic Church because it is immoral and God descended hard on Sodom because of it.

That means the Church cannot wed them?

No, the Church cannot wed them because marriage, when we go by the book of Genesis, is clear. God started it. And so when we go biblical, marriage is between a man and a woman.

So, why is the Church not coming out to make a categorical statement on it?

Well, the stand of the Church… I think the Pope is taking his time. We are still waiting for him to simply make a comment. One thing is that the Pope does not just come out to make a statement. The Pope has what is called his own theologians, who are supposed to work with him on issues like this.

They will brainstorm on it before the Pope can come out to make a categorical statement on it. Before the advent of Pope Francis, I think people were actually waiting to see what the position of the Church will be. Before then Benedict the 16th had already said something. The stand of the Church remains what we have in the Bible.

Can the proposed amnesty solve the Boko Haram menace?

I want to speak as a person and not for the Church. I do not think amnesty is the best way to solve the problem. Judging even from the Niger Delta example, amnesty has not really solved the situation. Resorting to Amnesty is just begging the question. As I said sometime ago, and I stand to be corrected, we need a revolution in Nigeria. We are not getting it right at all in Nigeria. No, we are not.

Why are you asking for a pedestrian bridge at the bus stop close to your church?

Recently, we have just discovered that as a parish here, we have lost a lot of our members in the course of having to cross the road from the other side of Okeriya to the church. Most often, this is early in the morning from 5 o’clock or thereabout.

Some of the danfo drivers, because of the bad spots in Agric Bus stop, will not take their own route. They take the route going out of Ikorodu – driving one way. In the process, they obstruct a lot of things on the road. Some of them don’t even have headlamps and so they easily knock people down.

And we have just discovered that one of the primary functions of government is the preservation of lives. All our elected leaders swore by the constitution to save the life of the citizen. We discover that these are areas government can come in too. And we know that the government of Babatunde Fashola has a listening ear.

For us, it is right to have a pedestrian bridge on that spot to save more lives and property of the people who make use of that bus stop regularly.

It was a deluge of miracles and wonders last Sunday at the Lagos international headquarters of The Lord’s Chosen Church during the power-packed special service with the theme “God has the answers”.

The service attracted thousands of worshippers from within and outside Nigeria.

For hours, people testified to the works of God, eliciting thunderous applause and shouts of Halleluyah.

Prince Jude Ugochukwu spoke of his miraculous escape from suspected robbers during a trip from Port-Harcourt to Owerri.

According to him, armed robbers ran into the commercial vehicle he was in somewhere at Umuagwu junction.

Ugochukwu said: “They demanded we all come down and singled me out.

“They asked who I was and I said, ‘I am a Chosen, who are you?’

“My boldness angered them and they started shooting at me. Miraculously, the bullets did not penetrate, forcing them to run away.”

Mr. and Mrs. Eze brought their first baby to the altar after 16 years of marriage.

When the general overseer, Pastor Lazarus Muoka, called for dedication of new babies, hundreds of excited women trooped to the altar.

Ministering at the service, Muoka said only God has the solutions to all challenges and problems facing mankind.

He assured that God is always interested in stepping into human cases once He is trusted and called on.

He urged the congregation to shun sin and other ungodly vices that will make them unqualified for divine interventions.

Muoka said: “The only thing that can hinder the works of God is sin. Once your turn away from sin, God takes over.”

When the miracle prayers began, several received wondrous healing and deliverance.

They testified with great joy to the doings of God in their lives

Amiable and inspiring, Bishop Felix Adejumo is the general overseer of Agape Christian Ministries Inc, Akure Ondo State. He spoke with Sunday Oguntola on his ministerial orientations ahead of the 25th anniversary of the church. Excerpts:

How much of what is happening now did you see?

If you want me to rate it, I would say only five percent has materialised for now. I see whatever we have accomplished as just five percent of what lies ahead. The chunk of the vision lies in the future. We are just trying to establish this structure and put a system in place that can run on its own in case anybody takes his exit.

You mean the Church should be able to run with or without you?

I believe God just uses any founder as the starter. We are just to start and not to finish because God is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Any Church or organisation that will outlive their founders must be given to the public to run. Incidentally, the Church is not the property of anybody. It belongs to God. So, if God uses you, you must realise it is not your empire and you must never say at any time, ‘see what my hands have built’.

So, the credit must go to the vision owner. The vision belongs to God. He is just using you as a channel to bless the people. You must never take over the Church because it is not yours; it belongs to God and the people. Any wise builder only maintains a good foundation and instructs people to build a structure that will outlive everyone. Even children unborn will still be leaders in this ministry. I see that coming.

How far do you see Agape going without Bishop Felix Adejumo?

Bishop Felix Adejumo is just a servant of God out of the many in this Church. In terms of capacity, Felix Adejumo cannot compare with the latent potentials in the ministry. What I have done as the founder is nothing compared to what other people with greater potentials will do here. We never knew that Elisha can do more than what Elijah did. It was after the latter’s exit that we realised Elisha was a greater man of God because he did double.

It’s incredible to know you are one of the few founders who believe the Church should run after you. How did you come about thisinclination?

If you are a Bible student and study the pattern of Christ, you will discover He told his disciples they will do greater works than he did. That will be after His exit. He explained the future of the works lie with them. The pattern of Jesus is that He does not limit anything to Himself. Outside of that, it is not God.

Any Church that is built around founders cannot survive. They fizzle away once he or she is not there again. Those that will survive run without them.

Are there miracles that happened in this Church that remain ever fresh and keep convincing you God is here?

You know the outstanding, recurrent ones are the transformation of lives. We have recorded people being bought back to life here. Many barren have become fruitful and the sick have been healed. All kinds of things happen here. But the striking ones that have become recurring factor is the transformation of people who have come here.

People like someone whose family owed N6, 000 before he joined and he could not pay back. But when he came, God transformed his life and the family. We have resounding testimonies in the area of family life too. The rate of divorce in this ministry is near zero. People just enjoy their homes because of the examples they see and the teachings. So, these transformations make me glad beyond the signs and miracles. The salvation and transformations are more important to me than others.

What is the next level for the Church at 25?

Events will begin to unfold at the end of this 25th anniversary that will amaze us. God said to me, concerning His people, there would be an end to shame and reproach. Two, there would be a perfection of all that God has begun in His people. And then every insult shall be taken away.

In terms of the Church, we are now launching into the deep. One, we are restructuring the Church to be able to accommodate expansion and depth. We are going to move on to the Church growing faster than ever before. We’d also want to do more for the society and community. We have lands and want to offer qualitative education for primary and secondary students. We want it to be the best in Akure here and the nation. We also want to build human capacity for the personnel we need for the expansion.

People say you are bigger than your Church. Why have you been unwilling to spread?

The reason is that I don’t want us to spread too thin without quality. When you send an untrained, unqualified person to represent you, it bounces back. Even though we have men, I have always believed every man should be tested before entrusted. So, it is a period of testing for us. That is just it. I am just too conscious of quality. I don’t want to spread for the sake of it. I want to make sure anybody who represents us has the same culture as us.

How much of quality control do you bring into the few branches now?

The system has allowed us to see to that. Wherever we have branches, you will see the same culture and standard because we are not in a hurry to spread the tentacles of the Church. They all report at the end of the month to give accounts to the headquarters. They are autonomous but we insist they render accounts.

Does it not bother you that the system can function without you?

One thing I have been able to do is that I don’t allow the Church to have me.

How is that possible?

It is possible. All it takes is not to consider yourself as the owner but the caretaker of the work. The ownership can change anytime. If you give someone else your property to manage, you can always change the ownership if he or she misbehaves. The property manager must not die because the ownership has changed hands.

It does not affect me an inch if God gives me another assignment. I had wanted to leave before.

You mean to resign?

Oh, for someone else to take over. But God spoke to me that I should stay put. Movements, to me, are nothing because the Church is not in my heart. The people are more in my hearts than the property. It is not an empire that I must protect or see to. There are people here who will do a better job than me. If I am not here, they won’t miss me. Sometimes, I even feel being around is restricting them. That is why I am setting my retirement age at 70. I will still be around.

What else would you be doing then?

I have so many other things I can do. I will offer myself more to the body of Christ. I have other arms of the ministries that will still be running. A lot of other ministers consult with me that I will give more time and attention to. We have an orphanage and Old Peoples’ Home. We have Men on the Run and Women of Purpose ministries. We have other things that will make me even busier now. I have one or two business ventures I run. I am even trying to expand our poultry business.

For some, it is like asking them to throw up their lives…

(Cuts in) That is a planless life. I have planned my life. I have things I will do that will not make me bored or useless. I can never be out of what to do till Jesus comes.

What will be different with this year’s convention?

This one will be the convention that will redefine lives. It is a convention that will restructure the Church and move us from shame to the rest of God. I see God do authentic works. I expect people to look out for reactions after God would have visited them. One, people will be so amazed that they will join them to do emergency thanksgiving. Another reaction will be that they will be so envious of what God will do that they will not be able to do anything against it. They better rejoice because there is nothing they will do.

You have been walking with God for the past 35 years, what has kept you going?

First, it is the grace of God.Two, I fear God. I don’t want to hurt Him. He is my brother, friend, God, maker and creator. How do I face Him and say I mess up? Three, I live on the word. I run my life based on what I see in the Bible. I don’t want to be a Bible reader but practitioner. Once I see it in the Bible, I want to do it. Then, I have mentees and those looking up to me. I don’t want to crash and make them cry for me. I don’t want to mess up. So, I try to watch myself, knowing there are lives looking up to me.

What is up with Nigeria?

Sometimes when I think on Nigeria, I have mixed feelings. For now, it appears the country has no definite destination because of poor leadership. A nation that has been independent for over 50 years is still at this stage.

I believe in the future and destiny of this nation. I pray so much about Nigeria but the answer is for those in power to know that power is transient. Many of them don’t want to relinquish power to the oncoming generations. They want to die in office yet they have nothing to offer.

But a time will come when we’ll witness a revolution. There is no way we can avert that. We might not carry guns but the youths of this country will rise one day and fix this nation. I see a future for Nigeria but I wish it begins in my own time.