- Church of the Lord Worldwide Primate Ositelu
In 1998, Dr. Rufus Olubiyi Ositelu, Primate of the Church of the Lord Worldwide, emerged the 4th spiritual head of the church. It was a baton handed over to him after a spiritual election at the annual church’s convention popularly known as Tabieorar. For a young Computer Consultant who was making waves in Germany, his election came as a shock because it never occurred to him that he could be called to abandon his profession to heed God’s call into divine ministry. He spoke with PAUL UKPABIO and BIODUN ADEYEWA on his transition from a computer expert to a spiritual leader, how he got to marry a German and the alleged conspiracy that prevented him from becoming the head of a Christian association in Nigeria.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Ogere (a town in Ogun State). I attended CMS Primary School, a church missionary school in those days.
Your family has been grounded in Aladura Church from generation to generation. What was it like growing up in a home with a church background?
Growing up was interesting. It was a large house, though we were not allowed to mingle with other children in the town. Our friends used to come to us. That is why we do not speak much of the language associated with this place, which is Ijebu Remo, except for my elder sister. We speak normal Yoruba language.
How about the Christian value?
That was the most important thing while we were growing up. I recall the peace that used to be at our home. There was no rancour. It was a prayerful family which we did not take for granted. We were daily called to morning prayers at 6 am when sleep was most interesting, and night prayers at night before we went to bed.
How did that influence your person?
To a large extent, my mum had a great influence on me. She was the one that noticed that I was prudent, because those days at the public school we attended, she used to give us pocket money, but somehow, I was always the only one that came back home with my money, which I used to return to her to keep for me. At the end of the year, she added some money to my share meant for Christmas shopping and that made me to get extra clothing at Christmas seasons. My dad influenced me in spiritual matters. But in practical life, prudence, faithfulness and godliness, my mother influenced me more.
Did you ever imagine that you would one day become the overseer of the Aladura Church Worldwide as your prayer fellowship is also called locally?
Never! Even as a young man, it didn’t occur to me. I was into a different profession. I was a computer consultant when I was called to lead the church. It was much later in life in 1991 that I started my pastoral studies abroad. Even then, it still didn’t cross my mind that I would one day return to Nigeria to lead the church. I didn’t plan to become a priest. I wanted to have the knowledge which I felt was necessary in order to be more grounded as a Christian to be able to assist with counselling whenever the need arises.
What prompted you to travel abroad?
It was studies. I was already working with the Nigerian Bottling Company before I decided to travel abroad. I had three disciplines in mind when I decided I was ready to go abroad: Medicine, Agricultural Science and Computer Science. Somehow, I chose different countries for each course—Medicine for USA, Agricultural Studies for the UK and Computer Science for Germany. As a child of God, I put it into prayers. My prayer to God was that the first institution to send me a letter of admission, should be the best for me to attend. Eventually, the first admission came from Germany, so I ended up studying Computer Science in Germany.
How did you make your way to the leadership of the church?
In 1991, I met Archbishop David Douglas from the UK. He came to fellowship with us in the African Church which I attended in Germany. I don’t know what he saw in me, but he advised me to start the pastoral studies class. However, at that time, because of my background, commitment and service to God which I learnt from home, I used to assist the pastors that worked in African congregations in some of the churches in Frankfurt. I took his advice seriously. Eventually after two years, he came back to Germany to anoint me a Reverend.
At that point, did you know that you would be coming back to Nigeria to lead this large church?
No way. I was just an ordinary reverend at that time. In our church, a reverend is a laity. Moreover, I was not in full time ministry; I was still working as a computer consultant. It didn’t even cross my mind.
When did the idea of marriage pop up?
I was a young man when I left Nigeria. I didn’t even have a girlfriend throughout school in Nigeria. Not even when I was working at Cocacola. Though my mates had girlfriends in school, it was later in Europe, during my studies, that I met a lady that attracted my attention.
Was she a Nigerian or a foreigner?
Not a Nigerian. She was a German.
How did that happen?
We initially just started out as friends. Actually, I was with another Nigerian friend of mine and course mate when we met her and her fellow German cousin. The two of us became friends to the two of them and started dating. The relationship between my partner and I developed to a serious affection while theirs remained at a platonic level.
When you met her, did you tell her that your family has a history of working in the Lord’s vineyard and that you could one day be working in that vineyard?
No, I didn’t. What I told her was that one day, I would return to Nigeria, and she loved the idea. She immediately went about picking information about Nigeria and so on. The only wish she made was that when she comes to Nigeria with me, she would not want to stay in Lagos or in a city. She wanted to stay in the village. I told her that was okay by me, because Ogere actually has that sort of country setting that she suggested. I was happy because she was unlike some other people who would prefer Lagos and all its noise.
From your experience, would advise a Nigerian to marry a foreigner?
Marriage is all about love. You have to get to know your partner very well. If you truly love her and the love is vice versa, then go ahead. Marriage is a thing of the heart, though you have to apply common sense.
Did your German wife also embrace Christian values and the Aladura concept?
Oh yes, she did. She is a Christian. She saw the Aladura life as being deeper than her Christian life. She loved it and we did everything together.
Does that mean she brought Germans into the fold?
Oh yes. But there were other Germans who came into our church without her influence. I remember a German lady came, and after church, we asked her how she got to know about our church. She said she read about it in the newspapers. Over there, information about church worship services are in the newspapers. It does not cost anything.
What have been the challenges in managing a large organisation like your church?
First, we have to thank God. Because there is no organisation without its problems. God has in a very miraculous way prepared me for this assignment. I have practically worked in every department of this church. I didn’t study journalism, for instance, but I can write press releases. Because while I was in Germany, I was the president of the foreigners parliament and I had a secretary working for the state who used to do press releases. If she faxed it to me, I worked on it, made corrections and sent it to journalists. I used that as an example because in like manner, I had loads of work in other departments of the church, not knowing that I would eventually head the church. So, God prepared me ahead.
What is the size of the church today?
The church has continued to grow. Last census of the church ten years ago said the church had 8.6 million members worldwide. It is not only in Nigeria; it is a big church in West Africa, one of the largest churches in Sierra Leone. We have it in Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Europe, America, New Zealand, Australia, and that is in line with our aspiration to take the gospel to all the crannies of the earth as commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ.
How do you coordinate these branches?
By the grace of God, we have ecclesiastical provinces in Ghana, Liberia and so on. In each of these provinces, there is a provincial administrator in charge. Under him are bishops and they report to me. So, administratively, this church is more organised than any of the Aladura churches who all look up to us. However, in a lovely way, we the Aladura churches work together and share advice among ourselves.
How has being highly educated impacted your church and its Aladura concept?
This church has been lucky and fortunate in that right from the founder who was my father to present day, leadership has been by educated men. My father was a catechist in the Anglican Church. After him came Adejobi who studied Theology in Europe. After him came my elder brother, Olusegun, who had a master’s degree in Agricultural Science. He studied for his first degree in UK and the second one in Canada. So it has always been educated leaders.
How do you marry that education with the African concept in Aladura?
Well, it depends on how you define Aladura concept. Because in the Church of the Lord, our liturgy though Aladura liturgy, is similar to the Methodist. Our spirituality and our administration is like that of the Catholic. If you travel to Europe and other parts of Africa, many people there do not know other Aladura churches. It is our church, the Church of the Lord, that is known. They don’t know Cherubim and Seraphim or Celestial Church of Christ even when these other churches have branches there too. However, these other two churches are very prominent in Nigeria. But why is that? It is mostly because of their atrocities. We have been affected because we are a white garment church too.
So what happened was that in 2004, God dropped it in my spirit to bring all the Aladura churches together so we can use such a forum to educate ourselves. By the grace of God, we have been working together and the name of the association is called United Aladura Churches. We are associates of the All African Congress of Churches. That is the first of its kind, because in all other ecumenical bodies all over the world, among the Aladuras, it is only The Church of the Lord that is there. Not that the others did not apply; they did but they were rejected. The application of the Celestial Church was rejected in Zimbabwe during the General Assembly of World Council of Churches in 1998. In 2006 in Brazil the application of Cherubim and Seraphim was rejected. So it is only the Church of the Lord that is found in any international ecumenical Christian body. But the same church of the Lord is less known in Nigeria among the Aladura churches because you hardly read of our atrocities in the newspapers in Nigeria.
How do you fund your foreign mission?
The foreign mission finances itself. Each country where our church is finances itself. We do not take money from one country to finance another, though they keep us informed and we guide them spiritually and administratively. Even if it is a building or musical instrument or whatever, they buy on their own.
What about the initial money spent to plant a church in a new country?
Initially, when we wanted to plant a church in the diaspora, most of the people we sent there would have already been members of the church in Nigeria.
A common practice with the Aladura church is to take a woman to the stream for spiritual birth. Is that biblical?
To answer that, I have to go to the basics, and that is when you read Timothy Chapter 3 verses 15 and 16, we are told that all scriptures are breathed and inspired by God, which means the old and the new testaments were inspired by God. Also Jesus Christ, the son of God, in Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 19, gave credence to the Old Testament. Having established that, one can say that any practice that is biblical is okay. Everything that we are not supposed to do is already said in Leviticus and in the New Testament. There is common understanding in philosophy which states that what is not forbidden is allowed. So there is nothing wrong in going to the stream to have a spiritual bath.
If you recall the military commandant who was told to go and wash at the stream; it is not that he did not want to go and have the spiritual bath, but he wondered why in a dirty water and not in the clean waters where the high and mighty were used to. But God used His servant to educate him. At the end of the day, he listened to his servant and got healed. So, stream bathing is not wrong.
Jesus never used the same method. One time he spat on the floor, made mud and rubbed a blind man’s eyes with it, and he got his sight. Another time, he said ‘your faith has healed you.’ So it is not all the time that it must be stream bath, except God reveals it to the prophet. We do such things in our church too. The difference however is that in our church, if it is a woman, it is a woman prophetess that will go with her, and if it is a man, it is a man that will go with him. Meanwhile, in some other Aladura churches, it is a man that will go with a woman. So all Aladura churches are not exactly the same. That is one of the reasons that we brought this United Aladura Churches so that we can come together and educate ourselves on some of these things that are wrong. They do it in Ghana too and in some other places. Pentecostal churches too practise it.
How has life been since you assumed office as primate?
I am totally at peace. It was my hobby which later turned to my profession. At a time while I was working, I was unofficially the assistant pastor of our church. People saw the trait in me that I love God and love the work of God. Whenever any of our pastors was engaged elsewhere, they put me in charge of the church. So it was my hobby.
Do you have any regret?
I am enjoying it, so there is absolutely no regret at all. If I were to be materialistic, perhaps I would have regretted it. But I am not.
What is your best food?
My best food is pasta. After that is our traditional iyan, which is pounded yam.