‘Leadership is about influence’, Pastor Owoeye reflects on discipline, ministry, family

In a generation where titles often overshadow responsibility, Pastor Sola Owoeye stands out as a youth leader who sees leadership not as dominance but as a call to serve, guide, and inspire.

As the National Youth Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), he brings a refreshing perspective to ministry, one grounded in humility, empathy, and strategic impact.

With a firm belief that leadership is about influence, not manipulation or force, Pastor Owoeye continues to shape young lives across the country through his faith-driven, people-centred leadership approach.

In this exclusive interview, Pastor Owoeye delves deep into his leadership philosophy, ministry experiences, and the delicate balance between Church responsibility and family life. Drawing from scriptural analogies and personal encounters, he explains why leaders must connect with their followers, understand their struggles, and walk with them, both spiritually and emotionally.

What’s your philosophy on leadership?

You know, leadership is not to lord things over. It’s not to be a master. Leadership is about influence. And leadership is not about manipulating people, not coercing, but to make people see the need to do things and enjoy doing it. Making them do what they want to do and enjoy doing it. And leadership is not lording it over. It’s not by manipulation.

It’s not by taking undue advantage of a subordinate, but rather adding value to them for them to be the best. Helping them achieve what God has ordained them to be, being like a grandfather to them, seeing ahead of them, thinking ahead of them, going ahead of them to be able to bring them up to the level they want to be in life. Adding value to people. You know, helping them to see what they don’t see, and making them do what they don’t want to do, for them to become what they could not become.

And so, leadership is about influence, which is generally known. It’s not about taking advantage of the follower, but it’s about helping them to enter where they cannot enter. Helping them to navigate and bringing them up to the level they ought to be in life. That’s leadership.

So, how do you balance leadership role in the Church and family life?

The number one thing you must realise is that leadership in the Church is by privilege. It’s not right. Many people are far, far better than you who could have been called to do what you are doing. And, you know, there are things you do at Church that you may not be able to bring up in the public space. Take, for instance, leadership in the Church is about different people with different kinds of orientation. With different upbringings who are brought under your leadership.

Now, I would say we don’t have a high priest who doesn’t share the feelings of our infirmities. Now, it’s not by assuming. It’s not by assumption. It’s by making time or trying to come to their level to be able to feel the way they are feeling. So, I help you to know how to relate to them better. But if you don’t come to their level, you can’t understand. Sometimes, someone will tell you that a pastor you can’t understand. You will never understand. You won’t understand until you have come to their level to feel what they are feeling.

Just like Jesus Christ, who had to leave his glory to come down, to come and live in this world of sin with us. That’s why God says we don’t have a high priest who doesn’t share the feelings of our infirmities. He has been tempted in all ways. He knows what it takes to be hungry, He knows what it takes to be naked, He knows what it takes to be homeless, He knows what it takes to be tired. When he was carrying his cross, he was tired.

So, God had to help him carry. So, he knows what it takes. He has been hungry before. So, not that a king of kings cannot be hungry. He’s a spirit, but he has to come in the flesh. So, when he sees someone who is hungry, he knows what it takes. In the Church, it’s not just sitting afar off and being in command. You have to come to their level. To be able to bring them to the level they ought to be.

Once you identify with their need and identify with what they are going through, you will be able to know the best way to intercede for them on the altar of prayer. So, take, for instance, two Sundays ago, I left the altar, and I came to sit outside. And because of my sitting outside, God helped me to resolve many issues that if I sat on the altar, I might not have been able to see or solve. Sometimes, I would leave the altar and go and sit in the congregation. To see, as if I’m also a member of the Church, or a floor member of the Church. To see things out.

So, what I’m trying to say is that you can’t be separate from the people you are asked to lead. And be able to lead them well. When you create a gap, that’s one of the major challenges we are having. There is a huge gap between the leader and those who are to be led. It is a shock that this office I’m sitting in, this, today, that we are doing this interview, will be my sixth time sitting in this office since I resumed on September 1, 2024. So, for many months of my resumption, I’ve not been sitting in the office. I operate from the auditorium. I sit down in the Church.

You can’t see me sitting down in the office like this. This, today, will be the fifth time since September 2024 that I have resumed in this office. And today is 24 of June 2025. But many a time, when you don’t get close, you just can’t say, I know my flock, I know my sheep, and my sheep knows me. So leadership is about engaging the subordinate, engaging the followers, to be able to lead them well, to be able to actually meet their needs. And that is it.

It is the same way with my family, my children, I try to come down to their level. I try to understand my children. I try to give them leadership. Let me give an instance. When I gave birth to my firstborn, he was very hyperactive, very restless. I had to go and research how to raise a boy who is hyperactive. In the course of my research, I got to know that if you bully a hyperactive child, you will kill his potential. So what do I do? In the course of my research, I got to know, instead of bullying that kind of a child, look for something that will engage him, that will make him stop jumping up and down.

It could be toys, it could be something that will interest him, that will keep him calm in a particular spot, rather than bullying him. When you bully a hyperactive child, you will kill his potential. Try to understand. Many people don’t understand. When you become a father, you think your child should behave exactly the way you behave. Have you forgotten that you were once a child, too? If you have a child who is not jumping up and down, it should be a thing of concern to you. But they are born to burn energy. So understanding them and dealing with the understanding you have gotten will help you to relate better. Why? Because understanding enhances effective human relations.

What have been your challenges?

My major challenge, ever since I assumed this office, is in the area of ignorance. Not all the team I am leading see what I am seeing. Take, for instance, we have a way of running, before I came on board, most of our activity is in the area of organising programmes. And when I came on board, I envisioned raising total youth for maximum exploitation.

Total youth in the sense that a youth who will be spiritually grounded, a youth who will be academically sound, professionally okay, career-wise, excelling, not a youth who will be speaking in tongues, and write exams and fail. Not a youth who will be speaking in tongues, and go for an interview and fail. Not a youth that will be speaking in tongues, and be in the same class with a non-believer, and a non-believer will outshine him or her.

In any area you are excelling, it will be easier for you to exploit. When someone can solve a particular mathematical problem, before you know it, everybody will be around that person, because they know that he has been able to solve a problem others could not solve. Meaning that, if he has the energy to introduce them to, in terms of accepting Jesus, before you know it, he will be making an impact. He will be doing exploits. Why? Because he is excelling. Now, raising the total youth, for maximum impact, was what I came up with. A youth who will excel in every aspect of life.

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