Assemblies of God’s Crisis technically over —Gen. Treasurer

Reverend Vincent Alaje is the General Treasurer of the Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria. In this interview with KELVIN BAJO and WANDE SHOKUNBI, he speaks on the crisis affecting the church, among other issues. Excerpts:

It has been three years now since the crisis has been on. How challenging has it been for the church?

Honestly, it has been very challenging in the sense that Assemblies of God Nigeria is a frontline Pentecostal church; other denominations got their bearing from Assemblies of God, and the church has served, over the years, as a measure of standard for other denominations. As a leader in Oyo State, I have helped some other Pentecostal organisations with establishing and running efficient Pentecostal organisations. So, how come the teacher now becomes a crisis-ridden denomination? That is how challenging it has been so far.

The recent division in the church is an event you’ll wish didn’t occur. How bad do you think it has affected the Christian community?

I wouldn’t call it division so to say; it’s more of rebellion. This is because someone just woke up and wriggled himself through the hierarchy of the church and thinks he can change the system of the church – a structure which has existed since 1934. It wasn’t easy as he was not a sub-leader; he was occupying the highest position in the church. Regardless, Assemblies of God, no matter your position or connection, if you flout the Bible or the constitution, you won’t be spared. The peculiarity of the Assemblies of God is that, as the mother of other Pentecostal churches, rather than affect the Christian community negatively, sent a positive signal to the Christian community. The message to the Christian community was that nobody is infallible; nobody is above God. That there is still a denomination that could look into the eyes of its leader and say ‘you are wrong;’ as the church belongs to no human, but to Jesus Christ, was an eye opener to the Christian community, and to make leaders of other denominations careful in the way they operate.

Do you think the crisis is over?

I would like to say that the crisis is technically over. The reason is, the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, has made a statement. There is no other court to go to; there is no judge that would subject the matter to trial in any other court. People may try, but we have come to the end of it, there is no way again. What we have are pockets of reaction; there will be tranquillity, and peace will reign.

The church secretariat that was invaded is said to have been recovered. What measure was taken and how did it go?

Thanks be to God. After the judgement on the 24th of February, the first thing we did was to send bulk SMS to all our constituents – ‘remain calm, we believe in the rule of law, we will follow due process.’ We went back to the Supreme Court, got an enrolment order, with a bailiff to serve it, along with the case file to the Appeal Court. The Appeal court stamped the order to the High Court. The High Court endorsed it and gave a bailiff. The bailiff from the Supreme Court, with that from the High Court, went to the Commissioner of Police with the order. The commissioner has no option but to obey the law of the land. The police provided security, opened the place, pasted the judgement of the Supreme Court. That’s how we accessed the secretariat, and operations of the church are being carried out.

What is the current position of the dissident group leader and his followers?

Some of them (followers) are returning, but he (group leader) is not prepared to yield. He is still very adamant, and still wants to project to the public that he is a General Superintendent. As I have said to people, no matter what you claim to be, you will always get followers. There is nothing new about it.

Is the Assemblies of God willing to accept the dissident group leader and his followers?

Yes. Despite all that has happened, the church has declared a time of forgiveness. We have extended what we call general olive branch to everybody. No matter what you have done, there is a window created; just come, you will be accepted. I just heard, almost a section in Jos, Plateau State, our first church in Abuja came back. People have been coming back. There will be forgiveness, our language has not changed. If we truly are Christians, then we should be ready to forgive. I say this authoritatively: if he comes back today to say ‘I am sorry,’ you will hear a beautiful story tomorrow.

What are the expectations of the church now?

Well, the expectation of the church today is that other upcoming church leaders will learn from our experiences. When something happens to you, it gives you a benefit to look back and see where there are loopholes for you to tidy up. The benefit of hindsight makes us to know that there are areas in administration that are dynamic – areas that we need to perfect.

If the dissident group decides not to return, can they operate under the name ‘Assemblies of God’?

No. That’s not allowed in law because Assemblies of God is a corporate body registered under CAC. They can’t keep the name. There are two things they cannot do – they can’t keep the name; they can’t use Assemblies of God property. Every property that was bought under the name ‘Assemblies of God’ cannot be taken over by anybody. They can’t do it. It is not allowed. Any dissident group operating under the name ‘Assemblies of God,’ any person attending such church is committing a crime. As it stands today, after the expiration of the general olive branch extended to everybody, the church will now have the liberty of arresting anybody holding our property or using our name in any part of Nigeria.

Does Assemblies of God Church as a whole regret appointing the former General Superintendent?

We must follow the scriptures; God allows certain leaders to emerge at any given time. No leader emerges without God. God created us a free moral agency; we have a choice to make.

So, there was no regret whatsoever. The unfortunate thing is that instead of maximising his potentials, he decided to bring in a foreign policy altogether, a style of administration that was alien to the church. That was very unfortunate. In fact, of all the leaders of Assemblies of God, he was the luckiest. He had experienced persons, tested men, retired leaders around him. He had a bank of experience to draw from for any challenge at any given time. He had the best opportunity anyone could think of, but he just blew it in barely three years.

An office he could have been in for 16 or more years. Well, no regrets. We won’t say it was a mistake, he had all the opportunity. The fact still remains, along the line, he left God out of the programme. At that moment he became on his own, and ultimately, such person will crash-land.

The church has learnt some obvious unique experiences. What are they?

We have learnt that over and over again, human beings can change. Two, growth has its inherent problems. As lofty and good as growth is, and desired, it has its challenges. This should serve as a lesson to other denominations with branches. Assemblies of God has over 14,000 branches, pastors in their thousands. There is no way you can have such a crowd, without serious mechanism in place to periodically measure the loyalty, support and commitment of those ministers, that this kind of thing will not happen. This is a lesson to other denominations. Growth is a good thing, it is desired, but it comes with a baggage of trouble.

Is Assemblies of God looking at the option of amending its constitution to avert future occurrence?

Oh, in fact, we have just reviewed the constitution, and because it is a dynamic document and the organisation is dynamic, they will still be need to review it periodically. From time to time, we would go through it again and look at areas that have not been perfected, to make changes. This is to have effective control over the system.

What message do you have for members, nationwide and worldwide?

I would like to say to all God’s people, the end is nearer than before. Some of the things that we see in the body of Christ today are pointers that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is at hand. That is why anyone who says ‘I am a child of God’ has to be very careful. God is no respecter of any person. If you are a child of God, live a Christian life; a life that indeed portrays that Christ is the one ruling in your life, and let him be the author and finisher of your life. Let us engage, more than ever before, in the expansion of God’s kingdom, building the church, raising Christians and raising disciplined people.

I am an apostle of discipleship, I believe that one of the things that people must do seriously is teaching Christians to observe all things that Jesus has commanded. It is not just about crowd, it is about establishing them in faith, teaching them about the Lord Jesus Christ, showing them the Christian example, helping them to know what it is to be a Christian and how to live a Christian life. This is exactly what the body of Christ should engage in.

There are lots of bickering in the body of Christ that are unnecessary. Sometimes we fight for positions. Position has nothing to do; what is important is the ministry that God has given to us.

Finally, whoever and wherever there is commitment to the ministry of the gospel, expansion of the kingdom of God, God will confirm His word with signs that will follow it, and we will see tremendous things in our generation.