The Church Needs Cleansing, PFN leader says …calls for strategic evangelism

The chairman of Itamaga Province of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Ikorodu Local Government area of Lagos state, Apostle (Dr.) Moses Olugbaro has reacted that, there are many acclaimed bible believing churches that are not teaching the Bible and many crowd pulling churches that are not discipleship church. Apostle Olugbaro made this statement during a day ministerial excellence conference, “Growing a Healthy Church” organized by PFN Odogunyan East chapter of Ikorodu in Lagos.

He declared, “true ministry is not jumping from one conference or programme to the other or getting acquainted with an established man of God. True ministry is been in the presence of God to fellowship, study, pray, listen and receive divine instruction, then walk and work according to the divine instruction received”.

Olugbaro warned, “men of God should not allow activities, excitement, breakthrough and popularity of the ministry take them away from the presence of God”. And further said, “it is not a crime to start small, but, it is a crime to remain small”.

Speaking with Providence, Olugbaro emphasized that, the church has power to grow beyond limit and the only principle the church has to follow is the principles of our Lord Jesus Christ, the owner of the church, to run the church according to His principles. Then, the church will grow naturally beyond boundaries. But, when we think we can do it by our own strength and the mindset of, it is my property or my church, that is where the problem comes in. “The church has the ability to grow because, Jesus, the owner of the church has sacrifice for the church and He still nurturing the church through the Holy Spirit to continue guiding the church until His second coming. If we continue following the principles of Jesus Christ as revealed in the scripture, the church will continue to grow”, he said.

“As vessels, God has given us the opportunity to take care of the church. We must be prayerful, live a holy life, do according to the will of God and in doing that, we must understand that, church growth is in phases in and does not grow in a day. But as we persevere and follow His will, God begins to take the church from one level to another for His own glory”, he said.

Speaking on impact of the church on the society, Olugbaro said, “generally, the church is making great impact on the society and one of the major goals of the PFN as a bloc of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is to positively affect the society spiritually and impact humans’ life. The time of solo ministry is gone. No matter how graces, anointed or successful a minister may claimed to be, he alone cannot impact the society, he needs support and encouragement of others. This is why PFN is a voice, a platform and movement that operate in unity. And the more Pentecostal ministers and churches come together to identify with PFN, there will more society impact”.

It is unfortunate, many have not really understand the importance of fellowship and association as better positioned to inform, enlighten, sharpen and strengthen her members”.

While congratulating the new national president and executives of PFN, Apostle Olugbaro commended the choice and election of Bishop Wale Oke as the president. Stating that, the new PFN president is great man of God, highly respected man with experience and exposure who have impacted lives. We believe he has the ability to stand and speak for the church, also to do great things for the Lord. Our expectation and prayers is to see more unity, cooperation and impact in the body of Christ”, he said.
In his comment, the chairman of Odogunyan East chapter of PFN, Pastor Emmanuel Atunnise said, we came for a refreshing time in the presence of God and by His grace, we understand some challenges the church is facing today.

Many strange things are happening and have crept into the church in the name of ministry work with all manners of people without background, but strange doctrines and diversity of teachings have found their way into the church. At present, we need a healthy church and the type of healthy church, God expected us to grow is the church that will prepare people for rapture and through that, they can be blessed.

When a church is not healthy, that is when you see all manners of evil demonstration and manifestation receiving undue prominence and attention with some claiming to be servant of God, but are into occultic practices and going to herbalists for power. That is demonic gospel and not of Christ. But, when the church is healthy, the people, not the structure or edifice will be positively impacted, touched, raised and beautify. “No matter the level of church proliferation, if the wrong people infiltrated it, it will not be healthy. Healthy church builds healthy people, healthy community and healthy society”, Atunnise said.
Lamenting on the state of the nation, Pastor Atunnise said, Nigeria is potentially great, and not until the church take the stand to build a healthy people, the nation and the society will not be more affected. “There are many traditional Christian by name and church who are not manifesting the salvation of God, they are everywhere, including in the government. They are part of people causing economic crisis and chaos in the country, they fraudulently embezzle our patrimony, corrupt the system and destroys the future”.

Atunnise challenged the church to wake up, “this the right time for the church to intensify and restrategise on missionary and evangelical work. We complain of the Fulani’s invading our land, when, formerly, we send missionaries to their remote villages and farmland to meet them. Now that they are here with us, makes mission and evangelism easier. We don’t need to send missionary to them”. Our missionaries and the church should strategise to win their souls for Christ. When their soul is won, they will have a change of mind, become Christ ambassador and will not think of killing, burning and destruction.

The well attended conference with participants from across Pentecostal churches in the area, also had in attendance, the Province Secretary, Pastor (Prof.) I. Abiodun, Province DOT, Apstl. Elijah Edison and Pastor David Umoh, whose church host the conference.