Christians must show good examples —Pitan

MD/CEO of the Bank of Industry (BoI) and Senior Pastor, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Kayode Pitan, has urged Christians in the workplace to preach the gospel of Christ with their lifestyle and with what they do.

Pitan, who was the guest speaker at the commissioning of 20 chaplains of the Perazim School of Chaplaincy, held recently at the Redemption Camp, said actions speak louder than words in spreading the gospel.

“Being a Christian in a secular workplace will demand a lot from you but you must maintain your stand like Daniel. Christians in the workplace face a lot of pressure. Your boss or colleagues may not like you because you’re trying to do the right thing but this is not new; do your work diligently and be exemplary in words and deeds. You may think that the only way to get ahead in your business/career is to be close to the owner but this may not always favour you in the end.

“You must fight greed and weaknesses of the flesh because that is what leads to the downfall of many. Many leaders have failed because people discovered their weaknesses, used it against them and they fell for it because of weakness of the flesh. Integrity is not cheap. You›re going to have storms in life but they don›t last forever. As a Christian in the workplace, always preach the gospel with your character, integrity, competence and fairness,” he added.

The cleric also prayed for the ordained chaplains, saying, “The good Lord who called them will help and empower them in the journey to the heavenly race.”

Highlighting some of the work of Perazim at the Ibafo Medical Centre, Marshall Adeniyi said the clinic has been in existence for 38 years but was poorly run, neglected and badly maintained before they stepped in to revive it. He added that they started rebuilding and re-kitting it for the general public but need help from concerned Nigerians to finish the structure.

General Marshal, Perazim Chaplains International Organisation and CEO, Perazim School of Chaplaincy, Pastor Olufunke Adegunwa, said 20 chaplains were commissioned onsite, noting that other chaplains in other countries would be decorated at the annual conference in the U.S. in November.

Adegunwa said Perazim seeks to train laymen and pastors into becoming chaplains, as they want to see chaplains in every walk of life, home and abroad, adding, “We want to get the message out to everybody and spread the gospel through our way of life even before we preach the gospel to anyone. Our work at the health centre in Ibafo speaks for itself and it is through the efforts of ordinary people made extraordinary by God. This is our little contribution and we’ve never had external help from anyone till now that we made it open for others to hold our hands.

“I would plead with Nigerians to allow us introduce chaplaincy to them and work with the churches, CEOs and other spaces. Every organisation should have a chaplain as they would act as a bridge between staff and the executives; guiding you to the right path as ministers of peace that we are.”