“The early Christians were a movement of the marginalized and under-privileged. They eventually came to power in the Roman Empire because their movement offered, culturally and politically, what was needed by the society.”

– Charles Davis

The above quote from Charles Davis is used in the opening of the part one of this teaching on the CASS series. This quote is critical in understanding what it means for the church to be an agent for developing a particular society. It is not about number. It is not about political power or viability. It is not about economic prowess. It is about doing the right thing.

Last week, I posted the part one of this teaching. In that part one I stated that the church has three mandates to fulfill as God’s agent for the development of the society. In Nigeria, the church must fulfill these three mandates. Where the church fails in fulfilling these mandates, the Nigerian society would not experience development. The three mandates are: The transformational mandate; the creational mandate; and the missional mandate. We treated the transformational mandate in the part one. We are treating the other two mandates in this part. 

B: THE CREATIONAL MANDATE

Part of the Church’s assignment as agent for developing the Nigerian society is to work toward creating a new system for the society. When you realize that a particular system is faulty and failing, then the wise thing to do is to create a new system that would be working and succeeding. 

Basically, what Jesus came to earth to do is the creation of a new system. First, as God whose creation (humans) went against Him, He came as human, lived among the failing human system, and created a new system that Apostle Paul calls “a new creation” (2Corinthians 5:17). Second, as one born into the Jewish religious-cultural system, He created a new system using few disciples, who later grew into many. The people of this new system created by Jesus were later branded “Christians” (Acts 11:26). 

Till today, this system is called Christianity in the world. So using Jesus as our Model, we can see that the best way to deal with a failing system is by creating a new one. That is what the Church must be committed to doing in order to ensure that the Nigerian society experience progressive development.

And in our commitment to fulfilling this creational mandate, we must learn to do it the way Jesus did. Jesus began with the individual person first, before the society at large. The individual person must be our starting point. Developing individual persons unequivocally leads to societal development. Till today, Jesus begins His creational work with one man. He creates a new spirit, new perspectives, new philosophy, etc. in one man, then He uses the man to create a new nation and a new world. Creating a new system would require the Church to commit herself to five agenda.

1- Raising People with Political Consciousness: 

We cannot separate societal development from the politics of the society. Hence, for the Church to ensure the progressive development of Nigeria, there is need to pay attention to the Nigerian politics. Matthew Michael opines that, “To be politically unconscious is to hang ourselves and our posterity.” In its reality, religion cannot be separated from politics. This is because humans are both religious and political beings. Luke Bretherton holds that: “Politics without piety is pitiless; piety without politics is pitiful.” Religion is the conscience of politics. Raising people with political consciousness enables the Church to play the role of giving the right guidance to the political activities of Nigeria.

2- Building a Sustainable Economy: 

Economy feeds on politics. The economy of a society is largely determined by the society’s political leaders, their policies and their activities. Nigeria is blessed with almost every tool needed for national development, namely: human resources, natural resources, mineral resources, good climatic condition for human habitation, fertile land for agricultural practices, and vast land for infrastructural development. Yet, we suffer fuel scarcity. Our electricity is very epileptic. Our roads are very bad. We have poor agricultural economy. Our human productivity is very low. There is no system to ensure sustainable economy. So far, government is trying in terms of economic empowerment; but nothing to ensure economic sustenance. For us to build sustainable economy, we must first get rid of our xenophilia, and begin to use what we have in order to make what we need. The Church needs to device a means of building good, viable and strong economy system for the Nigerian society.

3- Advancing the Cause of the Kingdom of God: 

The concept of the Kingdom of God is fundamental in the Christian faith. In Luke 11:3, Jesus teaches us to pray: “Your kingdom come”. Job Ayuba Shagaiya describes the Kingdom of God as “The manifest reign of God through justice and righteousness – it is a reign of peace and salvation.” Charles T. Matthewes argues: “The political language of the ‘kingdom’ arguably plays more profound and more compelling role in the Scripture than does the domestic language of ‘family’ or even of ‘marriage’”. All these bring home the need for us to advance the cause of the Kingdom of God. Apostle Paul tells us that the Kingdom of God is about “… righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17 – ESV). The concept of the Kingdom of God is not just religious; it is political also. It deals with the society. Therefore, the Church needs to be committed to advancing its cause in the Nigeria.

4- Upholding the Four Pillars for Peaceful and Secure Society: 

Going through the Old Testament, we see four social virtues that God kept referring the Israelites to, whenever He was talking to them about societal peace and security. These four social virtues are: righteousness, truth, justice and mercy. I have come to regard them as the four pillars for a peaceful and secure society. No society would ever experience peace and security if these social virtues are trampled upon in that society. Regardless of the religion of the society, or its political ideologies, or its system of government, or its race, as long as the government eschews these four social virtues, insecurity would not depart from that society. Of course, we know that peace is not the total absence of war. But a society can be considered peaceful and secure when there is a system put in place to effectively check and curtail insecurity problems. The Church needs to uphold these social virtues and advocates them in Nigeria.

5- Inculcating the Spirit of National Patriotism: 

Nigerians have always been polarized along tribal, ethnic, regional and religious dichotomies. This is not something that started in recent years. It has been an inherent part of this country right from the outset. The concept of national patriotism is foreign to most Nigerians. Our allegiance goes more to our regions, ethnic groups and religions, than to the nation as a whole. As a result, we have turned our multi-ethnic status and religious plurality into a curse instead of blessing. Human diversity is actually meant to be a blessing. But without appreciating the creative beauty of that diversity, and using it for the greater good, we cannot experience the blessedness of our diversity in ethnicity, region, and religion. Diversity should lead us to unity; not divisiveness. The Church should preach national patriotism to Christians in Nigeria.

C: MISSIONAL MANDATE

This is the third mandate the Church must commit herself to in order to ensure that Nigeria experience progressive development. Charles T. Matthewes posits that “Christianity just is a public religion. It is not a mystery cult, nor is it fundamentally esoteric; it lives in public.” The missional mandate enables the Church to carry the Christian faith to the public square. The Great Commission mandate commands us to “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). This missional mandate is carried out through the following agenda.

1- Witnessing: 

The Church needs to engage in the ministry of witnessing. This is done by simply sharing who Jesus is, and what He has done for humankind. Lives are usually blessed through this. This is done with the intention to see people receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord. This is the act of offering people the person of Jesus and His principles as well. People that have received God’s mercy, love and forgiveness easily give it out to others.

2- Discipleship: 

This is the art and process of teaching and training someone in the way of Christ Jesus. This is for those who have received Jesus as their Savior and Lord. This takes time, and it is usually gradual. It also needs to be a voluntary commitment on the part of both the disciple and the discipler. There is no compulsion in discipleship.

3- Social Ministry: 

This is the mercy ministry of the Church. It involves charity and philanthropic work. It is the act of reaching out to non-Christians with material things. Sometimes preaching is done, while sometimes it is not done. Relief materials can also be sent to those suffering the aftermath of wars and violent crises. It also involves raising camps for refugees of wars. 

In recent years, Nigeria has witnessed series of violent crises, and killings of innocent people by Boko Haram and Herdsmen militia groups. Many have been killed, while many have been rendered homeless. The Nigerian government has done very little or nothing in order to attend to the victims of these mayhems. While government plays dirty politics and try to be politically correct about these killings, the Church needs to see this as opportunity to practice the ministry of mercy to the victims of these killings. Churches can build camps for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and also send relief materials to them. 

There are individuals that have been committed to this aspect of the Church’s missional mandate. Pastor Gideon Agwom Mutum of the Governor’s Assembly is one of them. He has been operating a camp for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of the Southern Kaduna killings for over two years now. The former General Secretary of ECWA, Rev. Yunusa S. Nmadu Jr. is also another one of those people. When he was the Senior Minister of ECWA Gospel Church, Lemu Road in Kaduna, he was reaching out to the Muslims of the community with food stuffs and other material things. Pastor Timothy Audu of the New Life Assembly, through His House Ministry that he is running, is committed to medical outreaches. These are outreaches through which he and his team offer medical services to people in very remote rural areas. If non-Christians do these social services, then the Church should do even more. The current EMS Director of ECWA has a ministry that is committed to social ministry agenda. It is called Hedges of Mercy. On individual grounds Christine Ishanpepe Vihishima , Stephanie Augustine , and few other folks have been committed to this agenda in different ways and forms.

4- Reconciliation Ministry: 

The ministry of reconciliation is another aspect of the missional mandate handed over to the Church. Many people are living in Nigeria with deep hurts that have been caused by wars, violent crises and conflicts. The relationship between Christians and Muslims is becoming more strained, hostile and volatile. The Church needs to commit herself to the ministry of reconciliation among individuals and among ethnic, tribal and religious groups. The Church should create platforms for peace talks, and interfaith dialogues. There are Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are already doing that. Rev. Yunusa S. Nmadu has an NGO that is committed to this aspect of the Church’s missional mandate. Individual Christian leaders such as Rev. Joseph Hayab are also committed to this. The Church should not expect the government to do this. The government may not care about the plight of those who suffer from these hostilities and animosities. It is part of the missional mandate of the Church to be involved in the ministry of reconciliation.

5- Provision of Quality Education:

My sister Swanta Blessing Bonat has been deeply committed to this agenda for years. She has made several and enormous sacrifices to fulfill this agenda. Her motivation is one: every child deserves quality education, regardless of their location. With this drive, she has abandoned better opportunities so as to provide quality education to children in rural areas. 

This is something I believe the church should be committed to. Decades back when most of the secondary schools in Nigeria were owned and run by Christian mission organizations, the standard of education in Nigeria was very good. But since General Yakubu Gowon and his administration took over these mission schools and handed them to the government, our educational system began to go on a downward spiral. 

Providing quality education does our nation a lot of good, more than we can fully understand. Each child that is trained well in school offers thousands of hope for the future of our country. With the way most schools are run today, we are simply educating Nigerian children in the ways of cheating, discrimination, ostentation, examination malpractices, etc. And if our children are trained to pass examination through exam malpractice, then we can rest assure that the same would go to any length to win elections through election malpractices. If our children are educated to value only jobs that require sitting in the office, the same would grow up to look down on other honest and noble jobs like being a driver, being a security man, being a messenger, etc. The church needs to be committed to the agenda of providing quality education in our society.

CONCLUSION

When Prof. Kingsley Moghalu contested for the presidency in 2019, he had brilliant aspirations and great manifesto for the Nigerian nation. However, I have fear with regards to his aspiration. My fear was that he might win the election but end up losing his personality after becoming the president. I still nurse that fear for any good political candidate contesting for the presidential office in Nigeria.

Why do I have this fear? It is because I believe the Nigerian system is not ripe yet for any kind of good political leadership. And since this is a democratic society, any good political candidate that wins presidential election might end up being the only person running with the kind of vision he has for the country. This reiterates in me the urgent need for the Church to really commit herself to creating a new system for Nigeria. 

For the Nigerian society to really thrive, then we need a new economic system that places more value on domestic products and services than on foreign ones; a new political system that gives consideration to our diverse ethnic groups; a new socio-cultural system that allows for true freedom of religious expression; and a new educational system that enables application of knowledge acquired in real everyday life. We need a new system that will offer Nigerians one dream to pursue despite our political, ethnic and religious differences. We need a new system that will give us a philosophy we can together call “The Nigerian Dream”. And it is in the hands of the Church to create that new system; for the Church exists to make the society better.