Rev. Abiade Adeniji is the Vicar of Archbishop Timothy Olufosoye Memorial Anglican Church (ATOMAC), Ogba, Lagos. Recently, the church dedicated an edifice to the Lord. He spoke to GBENGA AKINFENWA on dedication of the building, why he left his lucrative job with Chevron, his ministry and problems facing churches in Nigeria, among other issues.

Significance of the dedication

IT is to consecrate the lectern, pulpit, baptismal font and other items, which are for specific purposes. Besides, we are not supposed to put all these items into use until they are dedicated. It was the vision that was borne out of the crusade that was held in Ogba in 2003. After the crusade, members were gathering for service in one of our parishioners’ house. They were spurred to look for a piece of land. We saw one, bought it and moved in 2009; but we began constructing the building in July 2011. The vision inspired us to put all resources together to complete it within 22 months of laying the foundation, and it is indeed a record in the annals of the Diocese of Lagos West.

Lessons from the construction

Yes, one of which is, we can’t do anything on our own. I won’t forget in a hurry what happened one Sunday, when one of the contractors handling the project came for his money and we couldn’t pay him. At that period, a song, Raise Help For Me Lord, came to my mind. I sang it repeatedly and in the evening of it, a cousin of mine credited the church’s account with N750, 000. That same evening, one of my aunts issued a cheque of N600, 000 to the church. Two days later, another cousin of mine in the UK sent me N400, 000. Though, we needed about N1.2m, we ended up having about N1.7m within 72 hours from three individuals. That confirms that it is the Lord, who builds. The building is the demonstration of God’s faithfulness because we lacked the capacity to put it up.

Leaving Chevron for the ministry

That’s a million dollar question, but do you know, I ran for three years, when the Lord called me? As the Community Relations Adviser to Chevron, I was always traveling, but one day, my late uncle, who was with the Anglican Communion, may be having heard from God, said to me: ‘Abiade, you are running away from serving God because of your secular job. What would happen if the Lord takes the job from you this evening?’ I asked why he was speaking that way and he said, ‘the Lord called you over two years ago, but you have refused to yield.’ That conversation made me go to the Anglican Seminary, Emmanuel College of Theology, Ibadan. When I left the job, in fact, many of my colleagues thought I was mad because I had access to a lot of good things. I could take my family to anywhere in the world on vacation. The day I told my General Manager of my leaving was the day I was supposed to resume in Warri on transfer. I remember, a friend discouraged me from retiring; he advised, I should collect the transfer allowance, go on the transfer and six months after I should put in my resignation. I turned the advice down, on the grounds that it would cast aspersion on the name of Jesus Christ. Then, the fear of what would life be for me and my family came upon me; I had three of my three children in the university; one was doing her PhD in the UK and the tuition alone was £22,000. In this situation, I called on God and He drew my attention to a portion of the scripture that talks about birds of the air not sowing or reaping, yet they feed. I got the message and dedicated myself for His service. Since I left my job in April 2008, the Lord has been supplying my needs; I never lacked anything.

Did your duties as a priest not conflict with your job?

There was no conflict, whatsoever, because I signed to work with Chevron, and when I became a priest, I started to dress to the office in my clerical suit. I was allowed to do that. Initially some of my colleagues said, ‘Abe, why should you dress like this? This is not a church.’ I went to the General Manager, Public Affairs to clarify that, and he said, the MD said there was nothing wrong with that, as long as the dressing is smart. And of course, on many occasions when we had to gather, I was called to lead prayers. There was no conflict, whatsoever, with my role as an employee of Chevron and my role as a priest in the church of God. In fact, being a priest really added value to my work, especially when I was working in the Niger Delta area. On many occasions, the community people would say openly at meetings, ‘Reverend, we are agreeing to do this because we know you will not tell us lie as a man of God.’ So, there was no conflict whatsoever with my work.

What motivates you?

The spread of the Gospel is my goal. There are seven billion people all over the world and statistics has it that over one billion of them are yet to hear about Christ. I am much more interested in nurturing people. What we have dedicated today is just an edifice; we must build people to be wonderful ambassadors of Jesus Christ. It’s not just worshiping in a Cathedral or in a good place that adds to the glory of God, but the people’s quality of life. I would be delighted to pastor a church of 20 people, who are sure of making heaven than a large congregation of 500 where not even five of them are sure of heaven. My priority is to teach people about the way of the Lord; make disciple of them, so that, they can in turn go out and make disciples in all the nations of the world.

Highpoint as a priest

My focus is to please God; I don’t want to miss heaven because there is so much suffering in this part of the world. Dedication can only bring people, but teaching the undiluted word of God and being a worthy example for people to emulate increases the church. There are so many non-Christians masquerading as Christians, today, than we had five years ago. So, we need to teach the people to know why they are in the church and to truly worship God.

Proliferation of churches

There are many business concerns that are hiding under the canopy of churches. The word of God said by their fruits we shall know them. But we still thank God for many of the churches that are still doing well; had they not been there, you would imagine what would have happened out there. To say the truth, there are many churches today that are not doing the will of God. I am not here to judge anybody, but all I know is that we would all give account of what we do here on earth, whether it is good or bad, and our reward would start right from this earth.

Nigeria

There is a greater hope for Nigeria, if only we would come together and cry to the Lord; repent of our unrighteousness and truly please God. We are experiencing some challenges because the fear of the Lord is not yet in the heart of many people, not only out there, but also in the church.