There Are Many Fashionable Christians without Fellowship with God – Rev. (Mrs.) Christie Fagbamiye

Rev. Prof. (Mrs.) Christie Modupe Fagbamiye is a 74-year-old Electrical Engineer turned theologian, mentor, educationist, and trainer. A prolific writer, conference speaker, marriage counsellor, bible teacher and pastor. She is the General Overseer, Redemption Faith Mission Int’l, Satellite Town, Lagos. She recently celebrated the 30 years of her ministry with the theme, “God our Ebenezer” and shared insight to some related issues and faithfulness of God with Providence News. Excerpt;

Briefly describe your journey in the ministry?

As a woman in the ministry for 30 years, it has been God and I don’t know how I can measure His goodness. He’s been a good God to me despite challenges, He has not abandoned me, but saw me through and I overcame.

One of the things I am grateful to God for is the grace to minister to the barren. People that have no child, but are trusting God. Some are nearly 60 years old and God turned them around to be mothers. Some, out of frustration and shame, planned to go back to the village since they couldn’t have a child, and I will encourage them not to do that, but to continue waiting on God. We will fast and pray, assuring them, there’s nothing God cannot do or situation He cannot turn around. To the glory of God, we have children born in this ministry who are graduates and doing well in their chosen careers.

It is not by might nor by power, but the grace of total submission and humility to God. When you are here for the first time, you may not know who is the senior pastor, because I am free with people and do not lord over them as a shepherd.

How do you handle the challenges of life in the ministry?

When you know my story or hear my testimony, they will marvel at you. There are things I encountered in life that I can’t run away from, but they kept me strong and going. It’s like, you are in a class, and don’t go through a test, if you don’t pass the test, you cannot be promoted. All the challenges were stepping stones to my kingdom elevation and spiritual exaltation that led to spiritual maturity.

I am standing because the devil has failed. At the time I answered God’s call, the devil didn’t know he was late and in trouble. The devil cannot hinder, stop or kill me. My life is not in the hand of the devil, it is in the hand of God who called me.

When I was supervising a building project in the civil service, one day, the minister for work and housing, Mallam Mamman Kotangora came to the site and said, I’ve not seen a woman working like this, let’s look for a bigger job for her. I turned it down and said, I’m sorry sir, I don’t want any job. I already have a burden. I need to sort it out with God. He was surprised to hear that. Meanwhile, the burden I was talking about was, that because I didn’t answer God’s call on time, I had accidents and other problems. So, I rejected the offer, or why should I allow God to kill me because I want to make money?

As a Christian, compare material acquisition in your days to what is happening now.

There’s a lot of difference. Till now, some people still see me as a local and uncivilised woman. But the Christ in me is greater than what they see. The word of God has been watered down, twisted, and turned shredded to suit their desire and choice. That’s why there are more fashionable Christians without spirit of fellowship; motivated Christians without knowledge of the Bible and material Christians without mentoring. Go to many places of worship, you will find more goat Christians who wear and do whatever they like without caution. We need sheep Christians who want to and can be disciplined, mentored and tutored. Some behaviours need to be tamed and corrected.

What can you say about the 30 years of your ministry?

Through these 30 years of Redemption Faith Mission International, God has been the one leading, teaching, and directing the affairs of the church, He has shown Himself strong and did not let me fall from His grip. The church is marching on, and the gate of hell cannot prevail against it.

What do you think of the 30th-anniversary celebration of your ministry?

God being God of our Ebenezer, people’s needs were met, and there was healing, salvation, and spiritual revival with manifestation of God’s presence. The kingdom and the power of God massively came to its people through the messages of God delivered by the two guest speakers, a renowned theologian and Bible School proprietor, Archbishop Charles Olu-Odus and Archbishop Mike Akinyoade. There was no way people could hold on to the kingdom of God without reaching out to people and giving them the assurance in Christ.

Through the power of His word, the Lord rescued John from the Island of Patmos, where reptiles did not kill him. Whatever the challenges in our lives and our country today, God will deliver us when we acknowledge His authority.

What other activities took place during the anniversary?

Apart from the two prolific men of God as guest ministers, there was a medical outreach for the general public with qualified medical personnel on ground to share the grace of God through Christ. People had free medical examinations, lectures, counsel and checked their blood pressure, sugar level, and temperature, and were given some free medication.

In addition to the medical outreach, we helped point them to God as the great healer who will heal them.

What are the things that make you happy? 

Things that mostly make me happy are lives that are being transformed from darkness into the light of Christ, spiritual revival of people and testimonies of God’s faithfulness and redemption of people.

The glory of my happiness belongs to God. Even if you say, Mummy thank you, I will say, let us thank God, Whatever happens is by His grace. There are people who started the ministry like me, but for one reason or the other, they are no longer in the ministry. Some are dead and some have deviated. Many things have happened to me, but God, by His mercy, has kept me going. My ability is by His grace and sufficiency.

What advice do you have for the younger generation of ministers? 

My candid advice to the younger generations is that they should be patient and pass through the process of training, mentoring and discipline to develop and grow. They should be humble, ready to listen, learn and relearn. Have a teachable spirit, a mentoring heart and a development drive. They should identify with those who have been there before.

There’s no short road to success in the ministry, every other road is death. The end of every other way that seems right to a man is death. The younger generation of ministers should not first pursue success in the ministry, but desire to sacrifice, then success would easily pursue them. They should not be carried away by title, fame, glamour, ego and material things but the constant study of the word, fellowship with the Holy Spirit and building relationship with God are what should be of more importance. They should not be so ambitious and be using the name of God to perpetuate evil, deceiving, misleading and manipulating people for their selfish gain or glory. They should get it right and rightly hold on to God without allowing distractions take away their vision.

It is better to stay with God and make it than to go outside of God and become a failure. Though the vision may tarry, it shall surely speak.

Unfortunately, the younger generation wants to succeed like the older generation, but they are not ready to make the sacrifice and pay the price like the older generation whose sacrificial efforts are still standing and functioning in the ministry many years after.