THAT CHRISTIAN CONSULTATIVE FORUM COMMUNIQUE

For too long, we have been contented to sit by and watch while politicians, of all hues, toy with the destiny of our nation and the future of our youths. We have become like the clean-up specialists waiting in the wings to clear the mess made by politicians. Or like fire fighters after the act of arson is well under way. When they start sectarian violence, we rush in with words of comfort and relief materials for the victims. When they bastardize government universities, we fall over ourselves to build our own. When they rig elections, we sermonize on the need to move our nation forward.

And so, thanks to the so-called power vacuum crisis occasioned by President Umaru Yar’Adua’s current sojourn in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for medical reasons, Christian leaders finally rose from doctrine-induced slumber. Under the aegis of a new group known as the Christian Consultative Forum of Nigeria (CCFN), they met, comprehensively surveyed the horizon, and concluded that the Church has a critical role to play in the remaking the fatherland. The result was a communiqué which this writer considers something of a watershed. In my next few write-ups therefore, I shall try to highlight and review its contents, because, mercifully, the leaders, I understand, plan to formulate an action plan from the communiqué.

The process of arriving at an action plan promises to be interesting, and controversial, because the Church is not yet that close-knit body that the Lord Jesus birthed, and is coming to rapture. If anything, we are a body seemingly suffering from Parkinson’s, with many of the parts, at best, reluctant to receive communication from or cooperate with the head, and with each other. Recall that, that meeting did not have representation from the umbrella body of Christians in Nigeria, the Christian Association of Nigeria. And the fact that a body like CCFN was required, in the first place, may also be saying something about the inclination or disinclination of sections of the Church on the issues at hand. But we must not be discouraged. The presence of Dr Christopher Kolade who was an Anglican organist, Mr Gamaliel Onosode a Baptist deacon, Mr Felix Ohiwerei, an elder from the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Mr Femi Pedro, a catholic, among many others, is indicative of an emerging consensus.

Doctrinal issues will also come up, hopefully for discussion and resolution rather than with confrontational arrogance. In fact, the communiqué raised one such issue up-front, as it were; the issue of prosperity. It immediately caught the attention of one of the respected readers of this column who sent in a comment (see below). I‘ll come back to it presently. But it is important to find common grounds on the major doctrinal issue of whether the church, in fact, does have a role in how the world around us, the world which we are in, is governed. I believe that, for far too long, the Church has allowed the enemy to sell us the lie that, politics is politics and faith is faith, the twain never meet. It is the same dummy many of us also bought concerning business, such that we keep our faith out of the work place; different rules for each! Those of us who believe that the Church has roles and responsibilities to society, beyond praying for those in authority, and cleaning up their mess, need to prayerfully and lovingly get our brethren, who think otherwise, to see the need for change. Until they do however, we have to move full blast ahead with our conviction. That is why I am particularly elated by the birth of CCFN.
Readers of this column will recall that we discussed this issue, among others, in a serial, A Wake-Up Call to Church Leaders, in July/August 2007. I shall, of course, be quoting as necessary from that serial as this one continues, but interested readers can access it on this webblog.

For instance we wrote in the August 12, 2007 piece as follows: “..The time has come for the church in Nigeria to take its place as a crucial stakeholder in the affairs of our nation. For too long, we have been contented to sit by and watch while politicians, of all hues, toy with the destiny of our nation and the future of our youths. We have become like the clean-up specialists waiting in the wings to clear the mess made by politicians. Or like fire fighters after the act of arson is well under way. When they start sectarian violence, we rush in with words of comfort and relief materials for the victims. When they bastardize government universities, we fall over ourselves to build our own. When they rig elections, we sermonize on the need to move our nation forward. One wise man said politics is too important to be left for politicians; we say politics is to dirty to be played by ‘real Christians.’ The result is what we are seeing today – five of six governors accused of wrongdoing in office; one already convicted; one already singing canary-like and one almost certainly irredeemable – are Christians, nominal or not!”

The situation has not changed since we wrote those words two-and-a-half years ago. If anything, it has gone worse in many respects. It’s action time, church…it’s action time.

FROM MY INBOX

STOP TALKING, START ACTING

Thanks for the rich resources you usually share. Reading through this edition, I have a comment.

“The church must also teach and develop its members into leaders and must promote integrity and discipline, encourage austere living and generosity and discourage prosperity and materialism.”

The portion marked bold is what I will like to comment about. Austere living and prosperity, is any of the attendees lacking in the highlighted, does any of them live austere life? or better still poor? The message God gave me may be different from yours, what makes these men think the one preaching prosperity is worldly.
We should grow men and women of integrity in the church. It is almost better today to do business with a Muslim than one professing to be Christian or pastor. The church today lacks INTEGRITY; the heart of God is bleeding as a result of the politics in the church. Our church politics is hundred times more wicked than that of PDP or AC.

We who are not leading ministries but leaders in our rights are doing much more than most of our pulpit men/women. They should stop talking and start acting/living that we may see and know they are not just talking for talking sake.

ADENUSI, Patrick
Lagos, Nigeria