Developmental Christianity

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 2 Timothy 2: 2

My life and ministry since the age of 40 years has been geared towards leaving a place better than I met it. It’s about leaving an individual better than I met him or her. I have not done it all the time, but I will do it most of the time for the rest of my life.

Last week was very busy like it has always been. I had a leadership training for church leaders and workers of Bethesda Gospel Mission from Warri province. After that on the same day, I ran to Okuokoko to encourage my wife, who was supervising the decking of one of our classroom blocks. Then I dashed to Winners Chapel, Emevor, to speak on Marriage. I spoke on Marriage in a church on Saturday, and on Sunday, I concluded the lectures. I did the last one for the day at a Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Lessons of Life

1. We must transit from the church that is always blaming the devil and perceived enemies to a church that is ambassadorial—a church that is conscious of its role as reflectors and reflections of the Kingdom of heaven.
2. The church of the 21st Century must acknowledge the victories of the biblical era, learn from them, but must also acknowledge the challenges of this era and devise new strategies, structures, and sustainable ways to handle these challenges.
3. The church must realize that the Bible is a closed book with its sociology, spirituality, and traditions of the Jewish people; society is, however, dynamic but the purpose of God remains the same. Most importantly, our relationship with God is new every day and He still reveals His ways and will to us on a daily basis. Therefore, we must ask Him for new approaches towards achieving the same objective. The Gospel is simple—Jesus is the saviour of the world.
4. The gospel is simple, but living, marriage, academics, business, and managing resources is complex. More complex than just shouting amen and exercising faith. You can’t exercise faith to fly a jet, perform brain surgery, or manage a bank. You must learn how things work and what works and the complexity of modern society.

When you ask Christians how they managed to achieve an objective, they will hypocritically say, “Oh, it is God”. You mean you are useless? You mean you did not do anything? That’s being hypocritical and deceptive. There are pagans who use ethical and legal principles to achieve goals. You as a Christian can use these principles and get the same results. It’s called the law of cause and effect. As a spirit-filled Christian, prayer should help you do it better. Just look around you now and pick out anything of worth produced by a pastor or prayer warriors.

5. If you are entering any major city in developed countries where we go for holidays, medical treatment, and send our children to schools, it is the billboards of products and services that welcome you. Remember they are not fighting corruption. However, in Nigeria it is prayer camps and billboards of churches and programs, night vigils, etc. and the faces of general overseers and their wives that welcome you. Meanwhile, with all our prophetic prayers and prosperity preaching, more than 91 million people have fallen below the poverty line in Nigeria. We have one the lowest development indicators in Nigeria.

Before one might be tempted to argue blindly because of religious bigotry, 69% of bed spaces in Germany are owned by the Catholic Church. Cadbury, Barclays Bank, Caterpillar Inc. and several of the big companies in America and Europe were set up by Christians.

God Bless You.