As the Deeper Life Bible Church holds its annual December Retreat and Global Crusade with Kumuyi (GCK) from December 20th to 25th, 2024, Pastor William Kumuyi, General Superintendent of the church, shares his thoughts on the transformative potential of the retreat, the role of Christians in politics, and his vision for a better Nigeria. In an engaging interview, Pastor Kumuyi underscores the importance of Christians actively participating in governance, drawing lessons from biblical figures and offering practical advice for balancing faith with public service.
Could you tell us about the significance of this December retreat and its connection to the GCK?
As you know, the December Retreat is an annual general meeting at the end of the year. It is a time for reflection on the past, contemplation of the present, and planning for the future. The retreat offers an opportunity for transformation in our lives, families, churches, and society at large. This year’s retreat is global. While we hold the main event here at our headquarters in Lagos, it is transmitted to numerous countries worldwide. Through this, we unite electronically and spiritually to partake in what God is doing.
The GCK is a crusade that takes place every evening during the retreat. Over the past three years, we have seen tremendous breakthroughs. We have discovered that in the equation of miracles, the God factor is constant, and our faith is the variable. As people connect with God through the GCK, He has proven Himself mighty, granting miracles, healings, and deliverances. This retreat is the climax of the year, and we believe it will be a time of great spiritual and physical blessings.
What are your expectations for this year’s retreat and crusade?
We expect significant transformations in lives and families. There will be healings, miracles, and deliverances as people connect with God. For those unfamiliar with prayer or receiving from God, I will guide them. Empowering individuals is also a major focus—not just spiritually but in other areas of their lives. The retreat is designed to impact every demographic: children, teenagers, young adults, adults, and seniors. Each group has tailored sessions to meet their specific needs.
As a church leader for over six decades, how do you sustain the fire of evangelism and address the challenges posed by false teachings and social media?
As Christ trained the disciples to become apostles, to become missionaries and they went into all the world virtually without necessarily keeping them down in a three-year course in a Bible school or a seminary or a theological university, then also, our GCK every month attracts ministers of various churches and professionals of various disciplines. We impact them. From that location, we are also impacting the rest of the world in those ministers’ professional conferences.
Also, I have told you about the impact we have on young people. It’s not just talking to them as believers. Yes, but as people who can invent and create and make waves and then to bring their world to the limelight for showing what we are doing to the rest of the world.
As for me, I have been in the Lord for 60 years. I have been in the ministry for more than 50 years. Now, it depends on, you know, people have different perspectives. Some people have the perspective of, okay, to retire and leave the stage so that another person can come in. Other people have the perspective that, okay, stay there, but now concentrate on raising people, which is what ‘am doing now by the grace of God.
I am working on it. I don’t know how many years remaining. This might be the midpoint of, you know, what is to be done.
I spent all this time and now you come to this midpoint and you say, in the next X years, what are you going to do? And the next X years would attract not just things of the past, repeating what we have done in the past, but now what we need to do to make sure that if Jesus’ tarry, the church is there strong, militant and triumphant as well.
Evangelism remains a priority, and we leverage modern technology to reach more people. False teachings are not new—they existed even in biblical times. Our focus is not on attacking them but on shining the light of truth. As we embrace technology like social media and AI, we counter misinformation by spreading the gospel effectively. By equipping believers with sound doctrine, we ensure they can discern truth from falsehood.
Should Christians participate in politics, and how can they balance faith with governance?
If you look at the situation of Africa, for example, some will say Christians are 35% and perhaps the same for the Muslims while you have others who are non-religious or animists. So, if the Christians don’t take part in politics, first of all, it means that this side alone without any Christians will determine the direction we go, will determine what the country becomes. And the Christians have no right to complain if they are not available to make things better. So, from that, we know that the Christians should take part in politics. That is, the leaders of communities and leaders of states and leaders of the nation. But, for the person now to do that, that’s where a decision comes. But, think about Joseph in the Old Testament.
He was not from Egypt. He came to Egypt and God worked everything out, but he didn’t know at that time. Eventually, he became the prime minister and things changed for that whole country.
And, as we come to the New Testament, we have Theophilus who had been in power before knowing the Christian faith, but eventually knew about the Christian faith. We have Aggripa who didn’t know about the Christian faith, but later as Paul the Apostle shared and all that, almost persuaded me to be a Christian. Paul said, I don’t want you to be almost but altogether a Christian without affecting his position as a king, king or governor.
So, I would say that, yes, Christians can and should, not only can, but should take part in politics. But, we must follow our calling. God calls us only teachers.
He calls him to be a teacher. He calls this to be a politician. He calls this to be an engineer. He calls this to be a doctor. And if we respond to God and we follow through on God’s calling, then the result of our being there in politics will show we have the calling. Like Joseph had the calling and he made an impact unforgettable in Egypt even until today.
What is your advice to the Nigerian government as we face significant national challenges?
We all see the condition of what is going on. And every section of the society, every section has expressed our expectations. In every section, the young people have expressed our expectations.
The women have expressed our expectations. And the young people too, they have expressed our expectations. And they might express it in a way that leadership does not appreciate.
But the point is, we should seek the real information they’re giving us from everything they’re doing. And our leaders are elected leaders. Whether we’re thinking of the local government, we’re thinking of the state, we are thinking of the whole nation, federal government, we are elected leaders.
And since we elected the leaders because we want this to happen in our country, the people are right to ask the leaders to listen to us. And the leaders have the responsibility to listen to what we’re all saying and to have a kind of a thorough plan so that we’ll be able to go forward. And the people who are going to make those changes may not be like the cabinet or whatever.
We have all the brains in the nation. So we should see how to get at them and get to them and make use of them so that our nation can be better in every way and in every section of governance.
