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| Adelaja at a ChurchShift event |
"Yet all we do is gather on Sundays in the no-longer-safe ambience of our sanctuaries and pray. We pray and assure ourselves that all will be well, and there is nothing wrong with that. But there’s a lot wrong with stopping there. We are the salt of the earth (see Matthew 5:13), say the scripture, but salt only savours, flavours and preserves when it engages with other substances. Ever had a delicacy called salt-a-la-carte for dinner?"
Pastor Sunday Adelaja, from whose book
I have been quoting extensively in this serial, had been praying. God’s
Embassy, the church he founded and still runs in Ukraine, was about to go
homeless, thanks to a government agency that was determined to muzzle the
gospel. Now when you realize that as a
former socialist soviet republic, Ukraine only had a semblance of rule of law.
Impunity was still alive and well, while freedom of worship was a novelty.
He couldn’t believe what he was
hearing in his spirit. He thought he heard God saying “the people are the
power;” and that it was time to take that power to the streets. He was shocked.
But once he became convinced that it was truly the voice of God that he heard,
he tok all the necessary steps to obey.
The result: “As I and the people in my
church began to grasp our kingdom calling, our fear melted away. We decided to
take the massive risk and march on city hall, even in the face of danger…Little
did we know that this act of obedience to a divine instruction from heaven,
though unconventional, would go a long way to shaping the history of our nation…”
It was that experience and the
principles that he learnt from it that led him to ChurchShift, the book, and
the international ministry that has evolved from it.
In concluding this serial, let’s read
a bit more from ChurchShift: “…The church is the primary vehicle God uses to train
people so they know how to find their promised land and rule in their nation.
Church is the headquarters, but battles are not fought at headquarters. They
are fought in the field.
“First Timothy 3:15 calls the church
the pillar and foundation of the truth. It upholds the kingdom by being the
school, the equipping place, and the place of support for world changers. But our
focus must remain outside, not inside. We are to go from the “school” into the
world and bring the powerful kingdom principles to bear on its problems.
“When Christians change the goal of
the church and make it a place of conservation and escape rather than equipping
and sending, we are working against the Great Commission. We are conserving
crowds, not sending them out. We are hoarding kingdom resources, namely, people
and their gifts. In many churches, God’s workers are in captivity. They are
like prisoners and the pastors are the wardens.
“We are not called to huddle inside
the church sanctuary but to restore the kingdom of God to the world. But some
Christians and preachers misinterpret the word ecclesia, the Greek word for “church,”
which means literally “called-out ones.” They mistakenly believe it means we
are to be “called away from the world.” This is a grave error. Jesus said in
John 17:15, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you
protect them from the evil one.”
“As a church we are “called out” from
the evil principles of this world, but we are still required to live here. We
are not built for monasteries. Our calling is to operate from a different and
superior set of principles than the world we live in. The church is to train us
to be Christlike, to embody Jesus and His principles, so that in everyday life
we may operate from a godly perspective. “That’s what the church is for. That’s
why we come on Sunday. That’s why we preach, teach, and worship together.
“God holds the church responsible for
societies. It is the most potent organization in the world because it was
started by Jesus and is His bride. No other entity in the world is as important
as the church, in spite of all its failures; it is the hope of God because through
it, and only it, the kingdom can come…”
In 2007, this column carried a
four-part serial, A Wake-Up Call to Church Leaders. In the third part published on August 12, I wrote: “…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 who 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 too 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!”
Today, five years later, the situation is not any better. Corruption still bestrides the land colossus-like, and Christians - nominal or not - still have the same dubious statistical advantage among its perpetrators and beneficiaries. The Church is still playing the emergency manager. In parts, the church has slipped from being passive by-standers and collateral victim to the perennial direct victims. The beat goes on, but the song has changed from the slightly melancholic to outright dirges.
“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 too 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!”
Today, five years later, the situation is not any better. Corruption still bestrides the land colossus-like, and Christians - nominal or not - still have the same dubious statistical advantage among its perpetrators and beneficiaries. The Church is still playing the emergency manager. In parts, the church has slipped from being passive by-standers and collateral victim to the perennial direct victims. The beat goes on, but the song has changed from the slightly melancholic to outright dirges.
Yet all we do is gather on Sundays in
the no-longer-safe ambience of our sanctuaries and pray. We pray and assure
ourselves that all will be well, and there is nothing wrong with that. But
there’s a lot wrong with stopping there. We are the salt of the earth (see
Matthew 5:13), say the scripture, but salt only savours, flavours and preserves
when it engages with other substances. Ever had a delicacy called salt-a-la-carte
for dinner? The Lord Jesus, who described Himself as the light of the world (see John 8:12; 9:5) says exactly the same
of the Church (see Matthew 5:14). Did anybody ever notice that He didn’t say we
are the light of the Church? So, what are we doing huddling behind closed
doors? What use is a 1000 watt bulb
street light on a bright tropical sun-lit afternoon? Think on these things. (CONCLUDED)
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