Let’s Go Back to the Original Mission We Have Lost – Apstl Tony Olukoyede

 

Apostle Tony Olukoyede is a transformational leader, entrepreneur, and prolific author whose work spans leadership development, organisational transformation, and personal growth.

He is the President of Purpose Power International and PurposeLife Centre, Ogun State. Also, the Convener of the 4 Streams of Income Seminar, and the Int’l President, Koinonia Ministerial Network (KOMNET).

In this interview with Gracious Akintayo, he shared his opinion on the present state of the Church and society with other issues. Excerpt:

What is your opinion on some recent controversial issues in Christendom, and what does it portray to the Church? 

I’d rather not comment on specific actions or inactions, but what’s crucial is for the body of Christ to rediscover its mission. The Church needs to refocus on its foundational purpose, as Psalm 11:3 states, “If the foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do?” When the foundation is flawed, the entire structure is affected.

One of the things we need to do in the body of Christ, that God is doing now, is recapturing and discovering the Church’s original mission. The church is a representation of God’s government called the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and this kingdom of heaven is run by the kingdom of God.

While the kingdom of heaven is a place, the kingdom of God is a system. This system is a superposition of the kingdom of heaven, which becomes the primary assignment of the church, to disciple the nations after the order of God’s kingdom and original plan.

When Jesus Christ came, He came to speak about the gospel of the kingdom, the Good News of the kingdom, and God’s antidote for solving challenges is bringing us back to the foundation, to go back to where we missed it.

The church has gone to the level of revelation and understanding of its mission. But, there is a lot to do in understanding the mission, the meaning of the church, the kingdom, and to reproduce after that order, and respond to the new dispensation of greater works.

The church has done well in doing the works of Jesus. But the church also has overstayed as it retreated over the works of Jesus, and we come with the gospel of prosperity. A misconception that has given birth to all the happenings in Christendom today.

The way forward is to go back to recapture the Great Commission. He has called us and given us the ministry of discipling. Making disciples of nations, and teaching them to observe things.

But today, we have left that assignment, discipleship, we are looking for a crowd, and building empires as opposed to working to advance the kingdom.

As a result of this, people have redefined what success in ministry and life is. Thinking that we are called to come and live for things. That’s why people are running after things, and begin to follow the way of the world. Most prayers we pray, things we do, the kind of programme and activities we do, are not kingdom-oriented.

Daniel declares in Daniel 4: 26, by this you will know that the heavens rule in the affairs of men, because we are made in the image of God, and the divine nature of God is in us. But our theology taught us different things.

Our case was that God created the earth for us and sent us in His image to come and rule over the earth – to colonise, to govern, and to rule over the earth. The difference between God’s system and the earthly system is the fact that the earth is given to us in Psalm 115: 16, “the heavens, even the heavens are the Lord’s, and the earth has been given to the sons of men”.

God didn’t create us to be in trouble, to do rescue operations. It was when the devil stepped into the affairs of God that God had to find a way to restore us through Christ Jesus.

We were created for an eternal purpose, and eternal purpose informed eternal life. What gives life, light and everything is a purpose. Because the Bible talks about eternal purpose, it implies that we require eternal life to pursue and fulfil eternal purpose. If our purpose is eternal, our life has to be eternal. That means a life that cannot be stolen anymore.

The church needs to understand our true identity and true mission. Once our true identity is missing, chances are that our true mission may also be missing. Once these two are not in place, whatever we do it’s another religion, and the church has been turned into a religion.

A religion has been built from the church. Man attempts to reach God by himself, and religion is the empire he builds, trying to reach God. The Tower of Babel was an empire – man’s attempt to touch heaven. We want to reach God, and any time man attempts to reach God by his own humanity, it goes into error, it goes into trouble, and builds an empire. God has not called it an empire-building but kingdom building.

What is the way forward? 

God says we should not ask Him for crumbs but should ask Him for the nations as our inheritance. But we are asking and running after crumbs. After the same thing, the Gentiles are running after.

We need to understand that all the works Jesus Christ did were not the end in themselves. The end is found in greater works, and greater works are rooted in the works that were already created in Christ Jesus. That means for good works, which were before ordained that we should work in them.

Greater works is a work that is synonymous with our original plan, – to worship and to believe.

How can this be passed to the younger generation? 

That’s what we have to do, and why we’re having a conference, reaching out to leaders who are willing to participate, who know that something is wrong and we need to be restored to the pathway of His purpose.

There’s nothing God responds to more than His purpose, and all things work together for us when we work according to His purpose. The church needs to get back on track with His purpose.

The discipleship we are doing is biased because the spirit of denominationalism, – empire building, has been created because we don’t have a broad spectrum template for the same disciples.

One thing we have to understand is that, in every generation, God raises intercessors, and they’re oftentimes raised when there’s a dispositional transition. When God is moving mankind from one disposition to another, He raises a Enoch, a Noah, an Abraham, a Moses, David, Joseph, and a Gideon. Almost all the people mentioned are intercessors who had a special conversation with God.

How do we help the present generation to go back into the original plan? 

By the Holy Spirit. But Zion has to know who they are, and He will teach us. That’s why the world is our classroom, and the world is about to start, don’t be afraid. No one should be afraid.

Let’s not focus on those things, let’s focus on the reason. Those things will be taken care of. Let’s go back to the original mission we have lost, and have deviated from. The present generation will be impacted and those things will be taken care of.

What is your opinion on spiritual fatherhood in the kingdom, in the church?

That’s part of the system. Once the foundation is sorted, we’ll look at the surface to resolve foundational issues.

We have to recalibrate, to go back to the foundation to re-engineer, reconfigure, and revamp the heart of God, which is restoration, and recapturing of the original mission for the church.

During the COVID-19, I was pained because the global church did not give the kind of leadership it was supposed to. It was a good opportunity, but we largely missed it.

The world is supposed to move towards the church as a leader. If we stand on our territorial occupancy, power and influence, the world will still come to us.

He said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things will be added. His righteousness is standing at the center of His will. Saying align yourself with the kingdom mindset, the kingdom government, the kingdom focus, and the kingdom mission. Then things will be falling in places.

Do you agreed that the church has not impacted the society enough? 

The impact of the church on society cannot be underrated, and the church to a large extent has impacted positively on the society.

When the church goes back to the discovery of its true identity, that’s when the kingdom is built. We can’t build a kingdom on the wrong foundation.

It is important for us to understand that, once we recapture who we are and our mission. The nation has no choice but to consult with us.

With churches multiple services within a few hours, is there enough time for impactful teaching and discipling?

It is one of those things we have picked for the world. Leaving the Spirits behind and the Spirit can only emphasize its authority to the extent which we permit it.

If the church has left the spirits and has done their things, they are copying the world to build, and the world is building an empire.

People don’t have time for God who created them, and you are a member of his cabinet. How can you be a representative? The problem of humanity is that they don’t have time. Because the humanity in us will make us move from following him, and it’s a rebellious spirit.

That’s why they call them Friendly churches to make it friendly. You have to introduce, and keep God within their terms. That’s why today’s Gospel is fashioned after my, me, my, and I, everything is self-centered.

We have to go back to discipleship and into intercession. These are the two key things that we need to do, immediately.

When you are talking to some people, they think that they are listening. They are not, they are listening to reply you, and not listening to learn.

What is your opinion on the present state of the country, and the government?

The present state of the country and government requires us to be concerned, and we need to bring the kingdom of God to bear in our nation. It is the government here on earth.

The challenges we are going through now, let you know that where things are balanced, grace is much more balanced there. Our nation will be rescued, we have the solution to the natural problem we have in Nigeria.

If you are a Christian in Nigeria, you cannot close your eyes against the territory where you are. Because it’s expected of you to bring the kingdom of God to bear, to influence things positively.

Nigeria is a nation permitted by God, and we need to revisit our foundation and recapture our purpose. What we have in most nations of the world today is a foundational problem,

The repeated leadership failure we have in Nigeria over the years is as a result of structural failure. Once there is a structural failure, there will be repeated leadership failure, and the solution reorientation. To give a new orientation to the nation, which is discipleship – making the nation to become on purpose, and recapturing that is void of religious embellishment.

Kingdom principles are universal principles. But the correlation with religion will make a lot of people not be able to access those principles.

Our nation is for us to become the United States of Purpose. Activating the On Purpose mindset, by raising the generation of On Purpose leaders into power to create value.

Once every leader is trained in that way, it will be easy for the nation to be taught dignity, integrity, prosperity, and collective leadership.

Kindly shed more light on the upcoming conference:

The conference is organized by the Koinonia Ministerial Network (KOMNET). A body of ministers that develops a path for the Kingdom, and we’ve been on for over 20 years.

The conference was themed, “Greater Works”, is an attempt to capture the mission of the Jehovah Church and restore God’s original plan.

Lives must be restored, and we continue to move forward to the end, and the end is for us to be restored back to God’s original plan.