Does It Mean Christians in Nigeria are Fatherless? -By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi

Absolutely not! Fathers abound; Pa Isaac Omolehin is only wishing for a grandfather or great-grandfather for some reasons only he can better explain. Methinks that if the Founder of The Word Assembly Churches, Rev. Isaac Omolehin, had limited his comments to the absence of a father in Nigerian Christendom and the need for same, he wouldn’t have been embroiled in the controversy that came with him dragging the names of respectable Christian leaders into the fray.

He must have meant well, having the desire for a unifying paternal figure in the Christian community. But we can’t help but ask this question: should he get his wish, would Rev Omolehin be willing to submit himself and his ministry to the said father? Your guess is as good as mine, considering that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has come out to “issue a firm and final caution” against man’s excesses.

In a statement released on Wednesday by its President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, CAN expressed “deep trouble that these baseless claims were publicly propagated by Rev. Isaac Omolehin, founder of Word Assembly Ministry, Ilorin, without evidence and without regard for the potential consequences on national cohesion and the unity of the Church. We also note, with concern, the unwarranted references to respected Christian leaders; Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo, and Pastor William Kumuyi, in a manner capable of misleading the faithful and inflaming unnecessary tensions.”

Suffice to say that one of the Senior Men of God that Omolehin called out has struggled with ridding himself of partisan allegations because he acted as a man under authority by obeying a CAN leadership directive for its members to troop out and protest against a previous government. If the Body of Christ had a father who would issue such a directive against the incumbent civil authority, how many pastors and churches would defy the implications to kowtow? Be that as it may, let’s bring you up to speed with the core issue.

In a video that has since gone viral on social media, Omolehin could be heard saying: “One young man was speaking so intensely recently about our fathers and mentioning that our fathers should speak out. That Baba Adeboye should speak out. He was mentioning fathers. And I was asking myself, are these fathers of Christianity in Nigeria? Without sounding disrespectful? These are denominational leaders. Christianity in Nigeria has no father.”

According to Omolehin, for MFM’s general overseer, Olukoya not to know what is happening to a certain brother that is in the Seventh-Day Adventist disqualifies him from being a Christian father. Ditto for Kumuyi, who is all about his Deeper Life ministry and wouldn’t know what is happening to a person who is in Jehovah’s Witnesses. If those are the criteria, then Pa Omolehin should just say he is seeking a re-enactment of the all-seeing and all-knowing Big Brother in the Body of Christ in Nigeria.

The Ilorin-based cleric concluded his argument by stressing that “Who will be our father must be the father of those who are in Roman Catholic. Be the father of those who are in Methodist. Be the father of those who are in Anglican. Be the father of those who are in Apostolic. Be the father of everybody because we are going to the same heaven.”

While there are aspects of his comment that are uncharacteristic which is why they weren’t reproduced here, there’s no denying the absence of a rallying father figure for Christians in Nigeria. If you carefully read the CAN statement, you will find that those mentioned weren’t called fathers but Christian leaders. Anyone expecting a central patriarchal persona for the Nigerian Christian community is under an illusion of grandiose proportions.

Even the Almighty, who is God of the entire universe, is not the Father of the whole world. He only fathers those who come to Him based on the finished work of Christ on Calvary. So, if God, though the Lord of all flesh, isn’t the Father of all, why should we expect all Christians in Nigeria to defer to one mortal man because he is interested in what happens in all denominations in the country and the spiritual growth of their members?

Does Omolehin know what an onerous responsibility that would be? Isn’t living up to the demands of their respective ministries enough of a herculean task? In any case, it is not in the place of Rev Omolehin to give these God’s Generals their assignments but the One they serve. So, let him hold his peace.

As a man of God himself, he should understand that most of his colleagues are highly protective of their pulpits, so they are careful of whatever message would emanate from there. They are equally mindful of the residue that gets deposited on their altar by invited ministers.

However, if the Nigerian Christian community is ever in need of a father, then it should be like the one they had in the legendary Archbishop Benson Idahosa. Besides standing up for the Christian faith and Christians, his impact on the men of God he groomed is still felt today.

Most of the Christian heavyweights, including those named by Pa Omolehim, passed through his tutelage with so much to show. In fact, there were times when the only stamp of legitimacy for any ministry was if it had a connection with that of the late Archbishop. That perhaps is what a father figure for the body of Christ in Nigeria should look like. Unfortunately, our new breed of rancorous and cantankerous preachers didn’t have the privilege of encountering an Idahosa. If they did, perhaps that would have tempered their mannerisms and approach to the Gospel.

Granted that the Lord Jesus prayed in John 17:21 that they all may be one, we don’t need a central earthly father to achieve this. A more weighty matter is for all of these Churches and “denominational leaders” to come to a common ground about salvation, the Word, and Doctrine. That way, the one who attended a Roman Catholic mass will feel just like the one who worshipped in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

As per the core concern about who would speak for Nigerian Christians when the need arises, that shouldn’t be a problem because the Spirit of God can put the right word in the mouth of any of the faithful. When that happens, let’s hope that our assumed Father won’t, in a fit of hubris, act like Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, by going up to land a dirty slap on our Prophet Micaiah, demanding to know, “Which way did the spirit from the LORD go from me to speak to you?” (2 Chronicles 18:23)!

VIS Ugochukwu is a Sage, Narrative Architect and Branding Strategist who responds to feedback via X @sylvesugwuanyi