Oba Akiolu’s Utterances- How does it affect the Church?

I read the threat.
I had a singular feeling- disgust!

Orubebe came to mind. And I kept thinking, ‘Leadership ain’t for the emotionally extravagant’

That’s not the crux of this note.

I’m concerned about the faith I profess. I am concerned about The church of God in Nigeria!

I’ve seen the reactions of people who I have always held in high esteem and whom I’ve always believed have successfully eliminated the tribal sentiment from their faith. I’ve been proven wrong! Disappointingly so!

My alarm stems from the bitter revelational truths that emanated from some believers’ reactions at the words that spewed from the mouth of one man. As regards the present Church in Nigeria, it would seem some unfortunate anomalies are inherent in the minds of the standard Nigerian believer.

Here are my thoughts:

1.Tribe supersedes faith: I saw ‘Yoruba Christians’ and ‘Igbo Christians’ engaged in a war of words over the utterances of a traditional ruler. I used to think once you are a Christian, you belong in the same guild with other believers! I observed painfully that that didn’t seem so. Faith seemed to be shoved aside over tribal prejudice, and it became a matter of tribal defence! I kept asking myself, ‘don’t all believers belong in the commonwealth of Israel’?

2.Believers have not learnt that we are called to be mediators! It would seem to me that those who were supposed to douse the fire of this outrage even poured more venom into the minds of their ‘followers’. I listened and tried reasoning with a number of believers and what I found out was, there are too few ‘Pastors’ in this country, and too many ‘Ecclesiastical Actors’

3.The church has become a social gathering: I say this with all sense of responsibility! It would seem that the impact the church has on the lifestyle and belief of most of her members is purely superficial. We’re building edifices, but the shallow-ness of the pew is monumental. A recipe for spiritual disaster.

4.It is easy to divide the church: All you need is to introduce the tribal divide. The bigoted tribal ‘Pastors’ will implement the destruction, free of charge. The last few days is proof enough.

5.Racism lives in us! The black race is quick to point accusing fingers at the white folks when an injustice is ‘perceived’. The last few days enlightened my understanding wider, and my suspicions were confirmed. The highest level of racism is within us! As long as we continue to feed the notion of ‘This one is mine, nobody else should partake of it’; as long as we continue to engage the feelings of being the victim, we will continue to be our own enemies. Whatever happened to, ‘The earth is the Lord’s’, whatever happened to the biblical principle of giving oneself to his neighbors, whatever happened to loving without discrimination?

6.‘Believers’ react like ‘Unbelievers’: A traditional ruler made a statement, Christians respond by antagonizing even those who are of the same faith as themselves. We forget that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We forget that the weapons of our warfare are not canal? We forget that we are called to a ministry of reconciliation. We forget we are not moved by what we see or hear. We allow a man’s words to rile us and divide us. We forget to ask ourselves, ‘What would Jesus do?’

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the church has not built enough character in her people to see us through trying moments. If this was a mock test for our Christian unity, then I dare say so far, we are walking the lines of failure.
My confidence in the man sitting beside me in the pews just took a painful dent. I feel I’m all alone in this struggle for unity. I dare think if my help is designed to emanate from a man who is not from my tribe, he may just choose to withhold it from me, even though we attend the same church!
Will I go to church on Sunday? Between you and I, I’m still thinking about it!

©David Babalola, 2015