Church capacity, followers don’t guarantee any cleric’s success —Nwajiri

Monday Okoronkwo Nwajiri is the visionary of the World Conquerors Evangelical Ministry, FESTAC, Lagos State. In this interview with SEYI SOKOYA, the Abia State-born cleric speaks about his life as an unbeliever and his encounter with Jesus Christ, among other issues.

How did your pastoral journey start?

I’m not a saint from the beginning. In fact, I lived a very rough and stubborn life. I gave my mother numerous reasons to cry out in pain because I was troublesome. I terrorised a whole community, but I never stole anything. I had an unforgettable encounter with God on a fateful day, precisely, February 1997. As a result of that, I received Christ and worshipped at Assemblies of God Church in my home town where I was nurtured into maturity in Christ and I later received the call of God into full-time ministry. My family members thought it was a joke when I gave my life to Christ, because my grandfather married 12 wives and I am the first cleric. When it became obvious that it was real, they supported me, especially my mother.

What are your challenges as a pastor?

One of my greatest challenges is to convince some individuals that all churches and pastors are not the same, because I once had an encounter with a young man who has been used by some pastors to fake being lame, blind, deaf at crusade grounds and churches in order to make people believe they have power. He extended his evil work organising people for pastors to fake miracle. This young man vowed not to enter any church again, because of his experience in the hand of fake clerics. Again, it has also been so difficult to convince some individuals that there are still genuine churches and pastors in Nigeria.

Don’t you think you are creating more enemies for yourself, even among clerics around you with some of your comments?

I am neither creating enemies nor friends. I stand purely on truth and soon, all will understand. The work of God is not about profit making. If you genuinely serve God and do His works diligently, you will not lack any good thing.

What do you think are the right steps towards running a successful ministry in Nigeria, especially Lagos?

It is very difficult to run a church successfully in Nigeria and even in some other parts of the world without scandals whether big or small. Personally, what I do is I believe and practice open administrative ministry and that has helped me a lot. In fact, my assistant pastor is the head of the church’s administration, which is made up of church elders, deacons and deaconess and that has given me more time and grace to focus on other areas in the ministry. Again, contentment in ministry is very important. I learnt that as a child, I lived a life of contentment and it has contributed a lot to running a successful ministry, so if you want to run and have a successful ministry, you must be contented with what you have. It is also important that people need should know that church is not a family affair, but a spiritual affair.

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Cases of clerics involved in criminal activities have become worrisome for the body of Christ. What do you think is responsible for this?

Some of the reasons many clerics among us get into trouble and crimes cases are as a result of greed, lack of self discipline, lack of self control and competition syndrome. We clerics shouldn’t be in competition with anybody. So, I think if we can take care of these four things as clerics, we would not be involved in any scandal. For any cleric whose ministry is presently struggling to rise, I want to advise them to remain focused and never imitate anyone. They should remain in God’s original plan for their lives and they should know that God did not call everyone to control crowd, because the number of members you have and the capacity of one’s church don’t guarantee the success of anyone. Heaven is the ultimate goal for any man. So, we must always have it in mind that the church is not money making ventures.

What is the role of the church in nation building?

The church has a lot to contribute to nation building. The first thing is to build people morally, because if every individual in this country is morally sound, there will be less crime. People will know that they are meant to contribute to the development of the country and not to squander the resources of the nation. Their role is to act as Nehemiah, Ezra, Deborah, Esther, and even Mordecai in the Bible, to pray, work and build until of bribery and corruption is completely eradicated and justice is enthroned.

What is your take on the present state of the economy?

The truth is that every nation in the continent is currently facing economic meltdown, but Nigeria’s situation is worse. Our economy is nothing to write home about. There is hunger in the land and the leadership is not providing solution. The Federal Government needs to get things right before they gets out of hand. If basic needs are provided, the country will experience peace. The present state of the economy in reality is favouring the rich, while the masses are getting poorer and this has led to untimely deaths.

What is your advice for President Muhammadu Buhari?

He should improve on road infrastructure and connectivity. The whole Lagos is jam-packed. If you visit the South-East, the whole federal roads are in a sorry state. People spend close to seven hours because of bad road network, same as South-South and other parts of the country. It is imperative for the government to improve on road infrastructure and the power sector. We have not made any progress in these areas. Without power, the economy will not grow. Also we need to look into the judicial system. Any country without appropriate rule of law is dead. A government that obeys courts judgments will give the people confidence.

Nigerian Tribune