The spate of killings across Nigeria, targeting clerics and their members has continued to attract attention within and outside the country.
Many observers have wondered why the leadership of the church in Nigeria has kept sealed lips over the massacres.
While some say that the Nigerian church may have waxed cold in the face of societal decay, some others allege that the closeness of clerics to politicians nowadays may have led to compromise.
Critics lament that a time when the church should be vibrant, it is close to death; a situation they say is very dangerous to the health of the country.
The political system seems to have so poisoned the church that clerics these days no longer speak out or speak up.
They are being accused of compromise. The Christian bodies are being invaded and divided. They no longer speak with one voice.
It has become normal these days to hear news about invasion of worship centres across the country by terrorists. Church leaders and congregants are killed routinely, yet, leading and influential clerics are keeping quiet.
Ahead of the general election, many clerics are being alleged to yield their pulpit to politicians to advertise their wares. Respected Church leaders no longer call the politicians to order.
In fact, it is the other way round. Politicians now dictate what some clerics say on the pulpit. Observers are saying that respected clerics must defend God and defend the Church, and that silence is no more golden.
In the midst of continued attack on the Church and killing of Church leaders and members across the country, clerics have remained silent.
Hence, it was not surprising when a certain rhetorical statement by Isaac Omolehin, the founder of The Word Assembly Churches, posited that Nigeria’s Christian community lacks a unifying spiritual father, insisting that leading pastors are only heads of their denominations.
Omolehin rhetorically raised the question about having the likes of Adeboye, Kumuyi, Oyedepo, among others speak for the Nigerian Church.
While some critics took it a step further by asking if it is difficult for Adeboye, Kumuyi, Oyedepo, and others to address a joint press conference on the killings happening across Nigeria.
“I would hear fathers and I ask myself, which father? Nigerian Christianity has no father. Nigerian Christianity has no father,” Omolehin said in the church’s YouTube post.
While many, especially the umbrella body of the church, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) cautions Omolehin; it is noteworthy that the cleric himself was responding to issues raised by a concerned citizen.
According to Omolehin, “Right now, Christianity in Nigeria has no father. And that’s why nobody is coming up to say anything. We have denominational fathers. They are not fathers of all.
“A person that will be our father cannot be a denominational person. He has to derobe himself of denominational doggedness and denominational extremism.
“Our father must be the father of all — the father of those who are in Roman Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, Apostolic.”
The Christian Association of Nigeria in a rebuttal cautioned Omolehin, over the YouTube post in a statement.
CAN expressed concern over what it described as unwarranted and divisive comments made by the cleric, warning that such statements could undermine unity within the Christian community.
“We state, in the clearest possible terms: these allegations are entirely false, unfounded, and deliberately misleading,” Daniel Okoh, CAN President, said in the statement.
It stated that the umbrella body would not tolerate statements capable of undermining the unity of the church.
CAN further urged clerics across denominations to refrain from making inflammatory remarks about fellow ministers, stressing that the Christian faith thrives on love, unity, and cooperation.
However, other senior clerics weigh in on the matter positing that the Nigerian Church truly need a unifying face and voice.
Emmanuel Udofia, former primate of the African Church, said it was necessary for Church leaders to speak against evil in the society and to correct bad leadership.
“That is why the Bible says that the Church is the light of the world. And light is associated with everything that is right and just,” Udofia said.
According to him, Church remains the light, which is associated with everything that has to do with goodness; and is represented by Jesus Christ and the Church leaders.
“So, it is the right of the Church leaders to speak against anything evil in the society.
“That is why the Church is there. Because the Church protects the interests of everyone in society, whether you are Christian or non-Christian,” Udofia added.
On whether the likes of Kumuyi, Adeboye, Oyedepo should jointly speak for the Church, the former primate of the African Church said; “Well, on that I will reserve my comments.”
However, he further said that some of the Church leaders have used their platform to address societal issues and might not have to jointly speak on same issue since CAN has the mandate to speak for the Church.
“But I think if they want to speak, they will speak only through CAN. And apart from that, they can now individually, as organisational leaders, as denominational leaders, they can now speak individually condemning the evil in the society. Which I thank God that some of them are doing.”
Charles T.O Ighele, General Superintendent and presiding Bishop, Holy Spirit Mission (The Happy Family Nation), told BusinessDay that there are four categories of Church leaders as far as involvement in national affairs are concerned.
The bishop classified the Church leaders based on their level of involvement in national issues. “The first category is made up of Church leaders who do not know what is happening in their nation,” he said.
According to Ighele, these class of leaders are either completely ignorant or uninterested in socio-political matters. He said that they are completely apolitical, and like it that way. According to Ighele, they just want to do “church work.”
The second group of Church leaders according to him are those who do not want to be treated the way Herod treated John The Baptist by ordering his execution for fighting injustice.
“Some who belong to this group are either afraid or just being careful. They never tell those in government any day that they are wrong.
“There is the third group. Those in this group speak truth to power and I know that we have many of them in Nigeria. Archbishop Benson Idahosa of blessed memory belonged to this group,” Ighele said.
He however, added that today, men of God like Bishop David Oyedepo, Bishop Kukah, Pastor Tunde Bakare and many other notable voices speak out when things are going the wrong way.
According to Ighele, there is another group of Church leaders who prefer to meet people holding political power and advise them privately instead of through press conferences or from their pulpits.
“This is the pattern in many nations of the world. Ands for me, I would prefer that men of God should speak to those in authority when the nation is going the wrong way.
“We should not separate secular from spiritual. Men of God should fight that the will of God be done in their nations and on the whole earth as it is in heaven,” Ighele said.
When silence is a decision
A nation they say is built on decisions, decisions that either destroy or build it.
Every day, choices are being made. While some help the country grow, others quietly damage it; and sometimes, it’s not even bad decisions that hurt the most, but the silence of those who should speak but choose not to.
“The truth is, many Church leaders are not talking about the country’s problems because of a mix of fear, mindset, and pressure, not just because they don’t care,” Chidi Anthony, founder, Kings in Christ International, said.
He added that at the point where Nigeria is right now, it is dangerous to be silent. According to him, things are getting harder, with the rising cost-of-living crisis, system failure that has weird people out.
Anthony said this is no longer news, because it is now part of a daily life for an average Nigerian. “And in time like this, silence is not neutral. Silence is a decision. And the Church was never meant to be silent,” Anthony said.
He further said that if the Church should be the conscience of the country especially at a time when everything evil seems to be associated with the country, it has to play that role.
“If the people we read about in the Scripture kept quiet, things would have gone very wrong. Moses could have stayed comfortable while people suffered, but he spoke and acted.
“Nathan could have protected his position, but he still corrected the king. Esther could have minded her business, but she spoke and saved her people.
“John the Baptist could have avoided trouble, but he chose truth over safety,” Anthony said, adding that they made impact because they refused to keep quiet.
Breaking the silence of Church leaders
Speaking truth to power often comes with a cost.
It may not be comfortable but keeping quiet in the face of wrong is not being neutral, it is joining the wrong; and the cost of silence is even worse.
“Nigeria does not just need Churches that pray. It needs Churches that speak. Because when the right voices rise and refuse to be silent, things can still change,” Anthony said.
He said that Nigerians must understand that being spiritual does not mean staying out of real-life issues. According to him, the Gospel is not just for the Church, it is for life.
“Church leaders are meant to guide people, not only in prayer, but in truth. Church leaders must stand together; because it’s harder to silence many voices than one. Unity gives boldness,” he said.
Where are the Martin Luthers?
Drawing attention of church leaders to the leading role of Martin Luther, a German who forever changed Christianity when he nailed his ’95 Theses’ to a church door in 1517, sparking the Protestant Reformation, Austin Ogar, a psychologist, said that many of today’s church leaders who reference Luther cannot do the kind of exploits he did.
“When I hear some pastors reference Martin Luther, I wonder what is it for, when we cannot speak truth to power. The Church is dying in Nigeria and people are talking about denomination. One day, with what is going on, there will be no more denomination,’ Ogar said.
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