It will be a double tragedy for any Nigerian to end up in hell —Pirisola

The new Bishop of Diocese on the Coast (Anglican Communion), Right Reverend Oluseyi Pirisola, speaks with YOMI AYELESO about his spiritual journey in life and governance in Nigeria. Excerpts:

Did you have the premonition that you will become a bishop?

Honestly, it never occurred to me that I will become a bishop when I joined the Anglican communion over two decades ago. All my steps to where I am today were clearly ordered by God.  From 1995 to 2007, I was a reverend for 11 years. I was not preferred until 2011 as a canon and later, I was made an archdeacon. When you have over 10,000 priests in the church of Nigeria, becoming bishop never occurred to me. It was not even part of our prayer points, but we believe that what God will do is what He will do. It was a surprise when I received a call on August 21 around 11:30 p.m. and the person at the other end addressed me as ‘My Lord.’ I thought he was calling a wrong number and he said I had been elected as the Bishop of the Diocese on the Coast.

Now that you are bishop, what are the programmes people of the diocese should be expecting from you?

When I settle down, I will begin to see things in their proper perspectives. I cannot say I am not aware of the happenings in the diocese. To me, I believe in consultation. I will consult widely to discuss and also assess all the churches in my jurisdiction. Since my enthronement, I have been going round the diocese to see things for myself, listening to people’s opinions. I was told somewhere that some people are no longer coming to church.  What I have in mind is to bring everybody back to church for the work of God. Evangelism will be brought back to the diocese. I keep telling people that going to hell is not an option for us. If you go back to the scripture at creation, God created man in His own image and He loves us so much that He will want to share fellowship with us. Whether we believe it or not, there is life after death, where you will spend eternity with God. It is not going to end here. There is eternity and hell. If you look at it, for a Nigerian to go to hell, it is going to be a double tragedy. Look at our community for about 10 years, no light, look at our roads, hospitals, you can see the sufferings are there already, not to talk of hell.

Youths in Anglican are said to be leaving for Pentecostal churches.  What do you think can be done to address this?

I am aware some youths of the diocese are leaving and part of what I said during my enthronement service was to have what I call mission values.  We are going to meet those who believe in our mission to come over so that we can collectively empower our youths. I don’t think we can bring back everybody, but those who can make impact, we will work on them and they will come back. We want to encourage them, because we believe youths that are not fully engaged will want to exercise their energy elsewhere. We have mapped out plans to engage our youths in various ways and we believe that God will engage their hearts

What is your vision for the diocese?

As I said earlier, I will have discussion with all the priests where I will share ideas and deliberate on the way forward. The diocese will not be about every Sunday service. We will not be comfortable about that, even if they say people are not coming. You don’t have to start with everybody. When we have Bible studies for youths, elders and the rest, they will be ready to come to the church. It is going to be leadership by example, especially teaching of the word. That is the primary assignment. It is going to be about aggressive evangelism and radical preaching of the word of God.

What are the challenges you faced as a priest before you became a bishop?

It is like any other person or profession. It is not that smooth, but we believe that God is able. For many years, I was not preferred as a priest.  Preferment belongs to the office of the bishop and it is like a promotion. It is at the discretion of the bishop to move you from one level to the other. As a reverend, he has the prerogative to move you to a canon, to move you to an archdeacon, but he cannot move you to a bishop. The House of Bishops in the country will sit to elect you a bishop. So, it was actually a tough one.

Was there any opposition to your choice as bishop?

None, whatsoever. I was elected by the mandatory two-thirds of the House of Bishops in the country. After my election, a letter was sent to me whether I will accept or reject the choice. After that, another letter was sent to the diocese whether it would accept me or not and to the glory of God, the people joyfully embraced me. The last leg was the confirmation of my election by the primate, followed by the canonical mandate which was read to the people to confirm the appointment during my installation ceremony at the Ebenezer Anglican Church Cathedral, Ilutitun, Ondo State, on October 19.

The state and the church are linked. How will you handle your views about activities of the government?

The church and the state function together. We were coming from the Church of England where the head of the church at that time was the Queen. There is no way we can separate the church from the government. The state has its responsibilities and also the church. We will not fail in our responsibilities to tell the state what it should do because the community constitutes the state. If the community is suffering, that means the state might be failing in its responsibilities. If the church is not telling the government the truth, we will be failing too. We will continue to tell them as long as we will not go to the state house to be begging for crumbs. We will tell them where they are not getting it right.

The level of insecurity in the society is worrisome. What will be your advice to the government in addressing the issue?

The issue of insecurity has been with us for many years and we will not condemn the government entirely, but I think they can improve on what they are doing. Looking at the issue of kidnapping and I want to believe these young ones are not fully engaged. That could be a factor propelling them to go into crime, though that’s no excuse for them. There are no job opportunities and I want to encourage the government to improve on what they are doing in terms of job creation. The young ones need to be productively engaged.  Look at this community, there is no electricity. People can hide under that to commit crime. Our elite also need to check the way they display their wealth. Let the state provide employment for the young ones, which I believe will go a long way in reducing the level of insecurity in our country. Also, people in authority should talk less and let people see action. Political leaders are not keeping to their promises, that is the big problem. As a church, we will continue to pray for the people in government for God to arrest their hearts and do the needful to the people.