ICC Note:
According to Pastor Julius Oladiran Ogunkola, the Church is a critical institution to keeping the country of Nigeria peaceful and unified. Faced with and Islamic insurgency seeking to establish a separate Islamic state in Nigeria’s northern region and a corrupt government, the Church is critical to advocating peace in unity in Nigeria. Please pray for continued strenght for the Church in Nigeria. 
1/12/2014 Nigeria (Tribune) – Pastor Julius Oladiran Ogunkola is the General Overseer of Grace Bible Mission, Osogbo, Osun State. He speaks with EMMANUEL ADENIYI on the state of churches in the country and roles of churches in ensuring the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria. Excerpts:
The name of your church suggests that it has a mission, what is the mission?
Our mission is to reach the unreached at all costs. We are concerned about evangelism.  We plant churches and reach out to people for their salvation. We also reach out to families, because many families are in disarray, and it is the will of God that broken homes be restored.
How have you been going about the mission? Would you say it is challenging?
There is no work that is as challenging as the work of a pastor, and no work is as interesting as running a ministry for God. It is challenging because we face a lot of opposition. Satan, who is the enemy, doesn’t want people to get out of his hands or to be delivered from his torment. So, he puts a lot of brick walls on the path of any person or ministry that tries to win souls for God and get people delivered from his kingdom. The interesting aspect of it is that when souls are won to the kingdom of God, the heaven rejoices over those souls. When you work for God and carry out His heartbeat, you are happy and God also becomes happy.
Can you recollect any particular experience where you were physically opposed or challenged while doing the work of God?
Of course, there are many experiences, though I wouldn’t like to disclose them now because of the church and the people involved. Most of the people involved have been transformed and now serve God. It’s not as if one is afraid, but just to let sleeping dogs lie and allow brotherly love to continue. However, we faced so many challenges, but God saw us through them all. He is very faithful.
…but the financial remuneration one receives as a church leader could overshadow the challenges?
Financial remuneration? If one is truly called by God, financial remuneration is completely out of it. God calls people to come and help propagate His gospel, to set many at liberty and save them from their sins. He doesn’t call people into ministry to come and amass wealth.
There is wealth in the church and the easiness with which it is amassed encourages many, especially youths, to explore the avenue…
Becoming a pastor or cleric because of money is a wrong motive. If your decision to serve God is to make money, the motive behind that decision is totally ungodly. What I know is that if God calls you, He would stay by you and ensure that all your needs are supplied. You may not have worldly riches, but you would be rich in the love and grace of God. The basis for ministry is to represent Jesus Christ on earth and what He did on the cross of Calvary, which is to save people and extend this salvation to as many as possible. He is very faithful and always stands by those who serve Him faithfully. What I know is that those who start ministries to make money would eventually end up disappointed, except they change from their evil ways.
We have so many churches and clerics who claim to represent Christ around us, considering your interaction with other men of God and what we hear around us, would you say the church has been living up to expectation?
The church generally is not living up to expectation of Christ; we need to do more. The major work of the church is to go out and make disciples, that is, after a soul has been saved, you follow up such a vessel so that the person could become a good follower of Christ and also a good citizen, but the church is not doing this, because many pastors have failed to preach the good news of Christ and disseminate the full gospel of Jesus Christ. Also, not all the people in the church are there because they want to be saved. Some are in church because their parents are Christians; therefore they don’t imbibe the teachings of Christ. The fact is that, if the church preaches the good news the way Jesus Christ wants it preached and people in the church imbibe and walk in the light of the word, I believe that Nigeria or the whole would have been changed.
Are you saying the church has failed in its responsibilities to God and the society?
We have not failed. I wouldn’t call it failure, but we are not where we ought to be. So, we need to work more.
…but happenings in the universal church are somewhat disheartening, judging by the way pastors and some Christians act the script of Satan?
Wherever God decides to build a tent, the devil would want to build a mansion there. Where the gospel is thriving, the devil would want to plant his seeds there, but I want to assure you that there are many individuals who still serve God faithfully. This corruption didn’t start now. It also happened during the time of Jesus Christ, because there was a Judas Iscariot, a corrupt person. In the assembly of God’s children, Satan would always want to rear his ugly head there, but the truth would always prevail.
Could poverty have played a role in the way many come out claiming to have been called by God?
Yes. Poverty is calling many people into ministry, not God, because they think the work of God brings quick money. In fact, many are already quitting the ministry because their expectations are not met.
What about mushrooming of churches without any consequential drop in societal permissiveness and immoralities?
If you say churches are mushrooming, it is my prayer that this would not stop but would rather increase. We are in the end times, and the Bible has already prophesied that all these things will happen. So, these are the sings of end times. They are the fulfillment of biblical prophecies. As church multiplies, by the grace of God, we have seen people who were terrible persons before but got saved and have become useful for God. If the church doesn’t multiply, the work would not spread as we want. As I said earlier, as the work of God spreads, the devil would attempt spreading his work too.
You don’t think that the mushrooming poses a lot of nuisance to the society, especially in residential areas where churches use loud speakers at night meetings and disturb the sleep and peace of the neighbourhood?
It is not only the church that is responsible for this; you have the mosque, record shops, musicians, and those who advertise their wares. I think it should be the responsibility of the government to regulate noise. In our church here, we don’t have loud speakers outside, but indoors, because we don’t want to disturb the peace of the community. However, those who have loud speakers outside have their own reasons as well.
What could be their reasons?
There are some people who are not aware of the gospel who would be attracted to it when they hear it.
Even at night when people are sleeping after a hectic day?
Yes.
You don’t see it as an infringement on the rights of other people who are not interested?
As I said earlier, it is not the fault of the church or those doing it. The government ought to regulate this. If the government comes up with regulations, I’m sure that churches would comply.
Church is supposed to be an agent of change in the society, why has it become a part of the problem by deliberately making a nuisance of itself?
To some people it is a nuisance, but to some it is a help. When there is a vigil, there are some people who want to pray and join in their homes. I have heard the testimony of someone who said he became a prayer giant because he was always woken up at night by a church nearby his house. There are those who may be disturbed, there are others who are also helped as well. We are not a nuisance at all; we are still an agent of change.
Nigeria is 100 years. What roles have the church played to ensure the unity and indivisibility of the country?
It is evangelism. The church has helped to preach Jesus Christ and this has enabled Christ to transform the lives of many in the country. Second, church brought schools and hospitals to the country. As the church came in, civilization also came in because many people became educated and had their lives changed for better. So, the church has played a lot of roles in the country.
Are there things it ought to do that it didn’t do or has not done to help reposition the country?
I know that the church has tried in many ways to make things right in Nigeria and I agree with you that things are not actually right with Nigeria, but we cannot isolate the country. Things are not right with many nations as well. We are at the end times; the probability of evils spreading is there. What the church can do is to preach the gospel and pray to reduce the evils. I’m not being pessimistic; the problems would persist until Jesus Christ comes to take over the governance of the world. It’s there in the Bible. The problems are prevalent all over the world.
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