Why clerics hardly criticise govt —Archbishop Lasebikan

Archbishop of Ondo Province, consisting of Ondo and Ekiti states, also Bishop of Ondo Diocese, who recently became the Dean, of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, The Most Reverend (Dr) George Latunji Lasebikan, speaks with Rita Okonoboh on his 19-year experience as a bishop, why he thinks church leaders are not doing enough to tackle government cover the people’s welfare, and his take on women bishops. Excerpts:

YOU have been the bishop of Ondo Diocese since 1998, and elected archbishop in 2012. How would you describe your nearly 20-years experience as a bishop?

When God chooses you for a task, what choice do you have? You go and do it. The people, who gave Christianity to us went through hell and their choice of serving and loving God didn’t depend on whether they loved God or not. In fact, they were happier to suffer for Christ. However, in our generation, we look for power, position, and that is why we are ineffective as a Christian community in our generation. It is a sad reality. So, coming here, for me, was to work, whatever the cost. That is the example Christ offered for us to follow. I don’t attack churches, but I’m sorry to say that many of the churches described as the Pentecostal movement are handing over something that is definitely not part of the church. The syndrome for prosperity is akin to demonic influence. It has gone beyond what it should be. It doesn’t matter how you become a millionaire or multimillionaire today. The church is no longer the centre of correction in society. In fact, the church has contributed to the mess today. However, being who I believe I should be has helped me as bishop and to preach the gospel as it should be, whether one agrees or not. There are challenges. Ondo Diocese doesn’t have much money, but God is working. People are amazed at some of the things we have done in the diocese. I’m grateful to God for the accomplishments and testimonies we have achieved as diocese. It is God who has been our strength and stay in the 19 years of my ministry as the Bishop of Ondo Diocese.

To take it up from your comments on Pentecostalism, some persons would say we have, possibly, the largest number of churches worldwide, yet things don’t seem to be working out as expected. How would you advise the Christian community on getting things right?

In Nigeria, every other person is a pastor and almost every other building is a church. Even in one building, there are different churches. I don’t want to criticise anybody but, we have done more harm to the church with the way we have done things. It is unfortunate that the more the churches, the more the iniquities in Nigeria, which means that our faith isn’t skin-deep. We are only large in number, but the depth of our faith isn’t commemorative with the population. Clerics should ask themselves, ‘how much are we affecting our congregation?’ We need to examine ourselves if we are really in the faith. Some churches today have become business centres. The Bible states, ‘if then you are risen with Christ, set your eyes on things above, where Christ is seated, not on things below.’ However, in the church today, people are made to concentrate on things below. Christians should be more heavenly-thinking than earthly-pursuing and the church seems to be saying ‘pursue the things of the earth,’ and that is where we are beginning to miss the mark. I hope the church will not help many people to discover hell. We twist scripture now for self-purposes and it is unfortunate. The church needs to rethink, if we want to prepare the world for Christ. How can there be so many churches in Nigeria and Nigeria is like this? You hardly hear church leaders criticise government. When the politicians splash them with money, it then becomes difficult to say the truth. Where was the church when Nigeria began to go down this way that we are now? It will take only the power of God to take us back. The teeming population of Nigerians without jobs now may rise up one day against the people. Yet, some persons steal billions of dollars that will be useless to them. The money being stolen is the type they cannot spend. You hear of money discovered in tanks, bushes and it is because even those that stole them do not know what to do with them and the population is dying in abject poverty. Something is wrong. Clerics must begin to speak out more. We need a miracle in politics that will change the minds of the people for good. We have focused too much on prosperity that nobody knows where to stop and where to start.

You will clock 70 next year, and as such, you automatically have to retire from active service, according to the rules of the Anglican Communion. What is your take on the recent furore that greeted the proposal by government for church leaders on retirement age and tenured leadership positions?

The church played into the hands of government. It’s unfortunate. It’s a picture that the church is in a mess. What is the business of government telling church leaders when to retire? That is the difference between the orthodox churches  especially as they have standards and rules and regulations guiding the church – and new generation churches. There is no way that rule would have ever affected the Anglican Communion, Church of Nigeria. Don’t forget that the people in government are also the people in the church. Don’t be surprised if the motivation came from some disgruntled elements in the church. It is those churches affected that need to look at what goes on in their churches and find a way to resolve the situation. Unless they have a way of modulating church proliferation, they will give government reasons to interfere where it doesn’t concern them. See the case where churches are asked to pay tax. The church is more like an NGO. However, when some of these clerics parade affluence, with their style which empowers the leader at the top to become very very rich, who can blame such calls? However, in the Anglican Church, for instance, even the bishop, archbishop, submits his accounts to the synod. The accounts are scrutinised and he must be accountable. Any Christian who doesn’t think of accountability is not serious, because believe it or not, at the end of everything, we shall give account to God.

Activities for the synod

The theme of the synod is Gift: Its Use and Abuse. The synod is co-hosted by Odigbo and Ore Archdeaconries in Ondo Province. The opening service will hold at Our Saviour’s Church, Odigbo on Thursday, April 27; the presidential address will be delivered at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 28 at Our Saviour’s Church, Odigbo; closing service will hold at St. Mark’s Church, Ore, on Sunday, April 30. The synod will also feature Bible study, lectures and we will also look at the church accounts. Bishop Abel Ajibodu of Ile-Oluji will preach at the opening service, while Bishop (Dr) Babatunde Ogunbanwo of Ijebu South-West Diocese will preach at the closing service. Our talks on spiritual gifts will be delivered by Venerable Segun Kuti, a retired archdeacon of Lagos Mainland Diocese.

You are a scholar of religious studies. Do you think women should be bishops?

Not in Nigeria now. This is because in the Anglican Church, the question of women ordination failed many times. However, in the recent 10 or 15 years, we agreed to do what we referred to as temporary diaconate. We sent out questionnaires to the members to tell us their opinion on the issue. Interestingly, when the questionnaires were returned, the people didn’t accept. We were shocked, and more profoundly so, that the greater part of the negative responses came from women. That was how we dropped it. We can’t force things on people. In fact, you should know that the issue of women bishop as available in Western countries is not born out of Christian conviction, but of women liberation theology. We have to be careful with human rights issues. That is what has also led to the gay movement. When God created man and woman, he created them distinctly. There are more serious cultural issues as it affects women that we need to address as a church. In some places in the South-West, when a woman loses her husband, she is degraded and humiliated and sometimes asked to sleep on the floor. It is worse in some places in the South-East. There are more issues to fight for women. Our women need a lot of attention. In fact, I preach at weddings that a man should be present when a woman is in labour. The church must be involved in teaching men to value women as the image of God as themselves.

Out of curiosity, why is there no ‘O’ as is the usual in the names ‘Latunji’ and ‘Lasebikan’?

Well, it’s a long story. In my family, that’s the way it’s adopted. My father was Ladokun. For whatever it was that they did it in those days, we just took it over and I don’t have any business changing anything.