We Don’t Tell our Stories, We Take a Lot for Granted – Ben Chiadika

 

Ben Chiadika is a household name in Nigeria’s Nollywood. He is an acknowledged filmmaker, movie director, acting coach, scriptwriter, actor, inspirational speaker, and a pastor. He is the team lead at The Pater’s Heritage Mission and recently celebrated his 60 years birthday with the launching of his three books. In this interview, he spoke with Gracious Akintayo on his career, family and ministry. Excerpt:

How do you feel being 60? 

I feel grateful to God for how I’ve spent my life. I look around me and I see a lot of things, a lot of people I started with, I’ve met along the way, that are not there anymore, so I’m very grateful for that. Being 60, I feel there is much to be done and I should be more in a hurry to get things done. But at the same time, I don’t feel old, I just feel there is so much to be done.

I feel energized to do much more for the kingdom, and that’s part of the reason I’m doing what I’m doing and determined to do much more than that. I have something I’m working on, that I’ve called my 60 lessons I’ve learnt.

I look back and see that I’ve learnt a lot and I want to pass it on. I’ve always been a believer in the fact that we don’t tell our stories in Africa, we take a lot of things for granted. We take knowledge and go to the grave with it and I don’t want to go to the grave with my knowledge and lessons I’ve learnt. I want to put them out there, and I don’t want to give them to a few people around me but many around the world who’ll stumble on the material line to bless their lives. I want to be able to take the things I’ve learnt over time, that have helped me, and where I’ve made mistakes also, and pass it across to the next generation. Some I’ve developed along the way, some I’ve learnt as I became a Christian and gave my life to Christ.

What has been your guiding principle?

God first. Because if God cannot open a door for you and do something for you, nobody can do it. Have the fear of God, and do unto others as you have them do unto you. Love people and God first, that has been my principle.

I have some friends who are not spiritual in the sense of it but I’ve also learnt from their lives, one of the key things that have helped them is that they do unto others as they have others do unto them. And you find out that they seem to be doing fine. Not because they are the most intelligent, but because they’ve learnt to be sincere and do to people as they have others.

There are principles God has put in place, if you walk by them, you will experience His favour. If a Christian jumps from a three-storey building, he’ll fall and if a Muslim jumps from a three-storey building, he’ll fall. The law of gravity does not respect your religion. If you don’t want to harm yourself from that, you take precautions. If you take precautions as a Christian, you’ll succeed. Everyday is a lesson.

How would you describe your Christian background? 

I gave my life to Christ when I was about 22. Before that time, I didn’t know much about Christianity. I didn’t know about Jesus, I knew there was a church, a Catholic church my siblings go to, and I had a few friends who went to the church too. But their lifestyle was not encouraging at that time. And we didn’t have a Christianity that looked attractive at that particular time.

Until my immediate younger brother came and preached Christ to us, to me. And then, I gave my life to Christ, and then I started growing in the faith. Ended up in Christ Chapel, and later Glory Christians Ministries. Now, with Elevation. And it’s been like that.

It’s been a journey, but I think the most interesting thing is that God has always surrounded me with people that are serious with their faiths. Those are the kind of people I encountered in the early stage of my Christian life. When I first gave my life to Christ, reading the Bible was like a normal thing. Every day you’re reading the scriptures, you’re going out to know God, to do evangelism. It looked like that’s the thing to do at that particular time and it helped us to grow in faith. We’re eager, constantly praying and all of that to grow. And then, by that time from my young age, I knew what I wanted to be, I was into drama ministry and that helped a lot because I was clear of what I wanted to do. Then, I became the resident pastor at Glory Christian Ministries headquarters for about 10 years. After a while, I stepped down and journeyed to my present place of worship and service.

How do you assess Christianity today, compared to when you gave your life to Christ? 

Well, there’s a lot to be said about Christianity. We probably won’t be able to finish that in one day. Things have changed and the world is changing around us and the dynamics are changing. I think more people are into Christianity for what they can get and I don’t want to join issues with people over this because we have to ask ourselves first, what have we been saying to these people? The people who stand and talk about that are more into what they can get. Do you blame them? What kind of average message do you hear from the pulpits these days? What are the things we talk about? You feed your ground with carrots, and you’re expecting to see apples. It doesn’t happen.

There was a time when people were heavenly conscious that they were not earthly relevant and suddenly we’re so earthly conscious that I don’t know if we’re still heavenly relevant. There’s this desire about what I can get, and it’s pushing a lot of people to go into things they shouldn’t have gone into because people have been misinformed, even pastors are speaking languages they should speak to matured people, to babies in the Lord. Most of the people in the church are babies.

When a pastor stand on the pulpit and preach a message that will not affect a mature Christian, because he understands how to balance out everything, and he preached it to a baby in the Lord, he goes out of his way so that he can make money and prosper, because he believes the only thing that qualifies him as a Christian is money or things and he has to succeed at all costs, not minding whatever he does to prosper.

There are people who are obviously not preaching the sound word of God and some want to do a Bible school. Some of the things we’re teaching in the Bible school are things we should be teaching on Sundays in our regular church services but in our regular church services we just speak on the surface, we don’t take time to teach, because there’s no time to teach. We tell people how they can make it, and don’t take time out to teach what the Bible says about prosperity.

I understand the system, and it’s good that we teach all of those things. But we should also know that some of the people we’re teaching are coming from a place where they have not been grounded in the Word of God. When you begin to teach them this, all they can see is the wealth, the money, the making it, the success, and forget about any other thing.

Christians are busy on the side complaining. Maybe as I am now, ranting and talking about it, but what are we doing about it? Because there are people I have influence over. What am I doing to them? There are places where I have influence, what am I doing? How am I engaging with these people to make them understand that this is the way? You say you are a Jew, but you live like a Gentile. How come now you’re not respecting the Gentiles? There’s a need for us to know that it is allowed that sometimes we speak to authoritative figures when they err. Because we’re all in the process of growth.

Nobody talks to authoritative figures, nobody can challenge, and once you do that, you’re seen to be a rebel and those who do that, unfortunately because they’ve not been taught on how to do it, go on to insult people.

How do you combine working as a movie producer with pastoring a church? 

One is to walk and one is a lifestyle. One is to work for a living, to put food on my table so I’m not a burden to anyone at any time in my life. I don’t want a situation where I have to say a particular thing or preach a particular message because the person that pays my bills is in the congregation, it’s not just because of that. I love what I do.

What I also do is a ministry. Being in the film industry is a massive ministry that I know I am not there by chance, I’m there because God wants me to be there. Being in the film industry has been an encouragement to a lot of people, I’ve helped to build a lot of faith and with all of my heart, I’m one of those who will never tell you that I’m a Christian filmmaker, I’m a Christian who makes films. I’m not a Christian first and foremost, I’m a Christian, that is my faith.

What is your impact on the younger generation of actors and actresses?

We are increasing on a daily basis. We’re growing and teaching young people, telling them you can win and live right in this industry. You don’t have to bend the rules doing this or do that. Your faith can speak for you in the film industry. It’s one of the errors I believe, and I may be wrong, but stand to be corrected, that was made by Christianity in America. That’s why Hollywood is what it is, they are now fighting to get back into it. There are Christians who are determined to get back and be in that space. I will tell you, I won’t do this because I’m a Christian. We need to realize that we can tell a great lot of stories without some kind of sense that is based on it.

As a renowned thespian, tell us about some of your work? 

I’m still a director and my works are online. I do a lot of MNET-related jobs and am still a director on Tinsel, the longest-serving soap in the whole of Africa, no soap has run that long. It’s still running and going on.

I’ve directed award-winning MNET soap projects, there’s Glasshouse, Chetan-M, Wura, Dust, and others. Those are among some of the few of the projects I have done and still work on other projects outside of MNET. I’ve done a couple of movies here and there and I’m still working on them, it’s what I do.

How do you balance your time as a movie director with pastoring and keeping your home? 

My wife was with me here, she left a while ago before you came in. I have two children who are now adults and I try my best to be available as a father and husband as much as I can. I don’t get it right all the time, but the word of God is my guide. When I go back to God, I ask for mercy. I’m a Christian, a work in progress. I avoid things that would keep me out of my home for too long because I don’t want to be away from my house for too long. Once I’m in Lagos, unless it’s impossible to get home, I stay wherever because sometimes as a director, you’re lodged in a hotel or somewhere because of this. I make sure that if I have that kind of project going on, I come home every weekend as much as I see my family because I also know that the life I live, what I live is not about what I say but where I live. My children are watching more than what I say, they’re watching what I’m doing.

Any future political interest and ambition? 

At all. I am a Christian, I believe in serving people genuinely.

It hurts, when people say in the name of God and do the contrary, but it doesn’t hurt me when someone says I don’t believe in God and do anything they want to do. I can understand that, but when in the name of God we do the contrary, it’s painful. Maybe for that reason I would like to make a difference but I have no political ambition, I believe we should serve. Jesus said, he that must be the leader must be the servant. It’s painful that leadership is not about service anymore. Our leaders tell those who are church workers to serve, but they are not serving. There’s a need for us to serve, nothing wrong in serving.

If the opportunity comes to serve, I will serve. But I won’t go and seek the opportunity to serve, because of power. Already, there are many opportunities around me to serve, in my little way, I do what I can. That’s why people felt I had served and organised something for me on my birthday. Obviously, my friends planned something for me, the point I’m making is because they felt I had impacted their lives, they decided to do that. I didn’t orchestrate it, I didn’t organize it, it was their choice and plan which I appreciate.