Bishop Dr. Priscilla Otuya, National President of the United Gospel Churches Association of Nigeria and Executive Vice President of KOGA Faith Foundation, speaks with ADEOLA OGUNLADE about socioeconomic challenges in the country, parenting in the digital age, the plight of female ministers, and why she chose to close down her church. Excerpts:
AWhat is your take on the socioeconomic challenges Nigeria is facing, as many have described the challenges as man made?
The world is going through a phase as it is written, and Nigeria is not isolated. As a preacher of the gospel, I know for a fact that there are many ‘factors’ that contribute to unfolding events in and around the world, God has his part, Satan has his part and humans have their part to play as well.
For example, God throws a pebble into a pond or river, the pebble causes a ripple, and Satan rides on the ripple, and in the physical, men see the ripple as a natural occurrence. Truth is that nothing happens without God’s knowledge or permission, and the conclusion is that the ‘gods’ have their parts to play, as man have their roles to play. End goal is the fulfillment of the end time agenda.
What can you say about parenting in a digital age and what practical tips can you give?
We are admonished in the word of God to train up a child in the way he should go, and he will not depart from it. Every human being born into this world comes with what is known in some quarters as soul script, and real education is to help children to discover their soul script and empower them to work according to the content of the soul script. Reason we read in Joshua chapter 1 regarding meditation as a means of having good success.
When a child is brought up with this knowledge and understanding, they can never be derailed in life, irrespective of the age we are. This is a good place to point out the fact that there is a difference between education and schooling, and the schooling system is one of the greatest challenges we have, for the fact that schooling is focused on the physical development and this ‘bias’ is what drives our children to look for knowledge when their spirit seeks expression. It really does not matter what age we are in, what matters is the foundation on which we build and that which we have built the future of our children on.
You often celebrate your husband publicly. What practical suggestions do you have for a peaceful union home?
If we follow the teachings and values of Christ that says the greatest should serve the not so great, then we won’t have most problems we have today in marriages. The husband is and remains the undisputed head of the family and if the husband sees himself as the servant as Christ admonished us, then we won’t have most marital issues we have today.
We also know that there are areas where women are more endowed than men spiritually and in intelligence and if the wife sees her strength and intelligence as a tool for service in the life of the husband, then marriage will be beautiful as God ordained it to be.
But why are we men and women competing against each other and creating an enabling environment for Satan and his coworkers to thrive? My practical suggestion is to adopt the teachings of Christ and live by it, bearing in mind that he did not come to establish a religion called Christianity, rather he came to seek and save the lost, and to reconcile men with God and with one another.
From your experience what obstacles do female ministers face and what is the way out?
The sad fact that women are seen as ‘brainless’ and lacking the capacity to make meaningful decisions no matter how anointed they are. The church that is supposed to protect women is guilty of abusing and oppressing them, and the signal that is sent from Christendom is that the purpose of Christ’s death and resurrection does not cover women.
The church is telling the world one thing and doing another thing. We preach and teach about women like Deborah but dwell on the curse of Genesis 3 verse 16. We teach and preach that all are equal before God, ‘No Jew, nor gentile, no male nor female’, but we relegate and oppress women, that is double standard and hypocrisy.
Take for instance, a woman has never led the main pastoral associations in the nation since their inception, why? Are there no women who God can use to lead these associations? There was an instance when the president of one of these associations could not continue his role as president and the constitution states that the vice president takes over as president, but this didn’t happen, the constitution was ‘suspended’ because the Vice President was then a woman. Intra religious persecution, oppression and subjugation is one of the main challenges women face in ministry.
Some feel you sometimes write as one who has been bruised by fellow ministers. Is this true?
So true! I come from a family where we were raised with so much love and freedom and saw our parents go out of their way to help family and friends sacrificially, selflessly and I took that from them, and we see others as we see ourselves.
I carried this mentality into my ministry and was driven by the zeal to help whether or not they asked for help. I just took responsibility to help and I was badly burnt.
Hatred, envy, betrayals, I must say without mincing words that it is in the ministry or vineyard that I began to experience wickedness firsthand. Tribalism and attempts made on my life and this use and dump thing is something else.
Can you give a background of your ministry, what led you to closing the church you reportedly used to operate?
There is this very wrong notion that everyone called by God should have a church or do ministry in certain ways. The body of Christ is one, just like the human body, but has many parts, and each with their unique roles in keeping the body functioning well. God ordained the fivefold ministries offices for the leadership of the church and other ministry gifts for the edification of the body on earth, and one cannot over emphasise the importance of each part taking their original position and playing their role well.
If I would sincerely define my role and place in the body of Christ according to my encounter with the Lord Himself and the assignment given, I would classify myself as a fivefold old apostle and apostles are not leaders of churches as we know it today. Apostles are God sent to leaders, and they speak the mind of God on every matter or situation, as against a church pastor whose job is to teach the people to know and follow God.
The Lord himself took me on a tour of the kingdom during my encounter with Him and said His servants are focusing on what they see and regard as more charismatic gifts and that I should look for the missing and neglected part of the body and restore them, depending on His word.
This assignment you will agree is not a denominational assignment. It is an assignment to God’s servants and leaders and my first letter headed paper read ‘Servant of Servants’. God instructed me from day one not to engage in organised church activities and I obeyed to a point, after which I caved in to pressure from friends and acquaintances.
My husband and I put up a church building in three months without raising funds from anyone and God watched me finish and launch the work and a year into the takeoff, He appeared to me in the spirit and said, ‘if you do not close that thing you call church, you will not see my glory’. While I was brooding over what I had seen or heard, my third son called from school to say he had seen the same vision from God and the instruction was to close down the church and I did straight away. My assignment is to God’s servants and leaders not to church building.
