 |
| President of CAC Nigeria and Overseas, Pastor Samuel O. Oladele |
By Oluwagbenga Bankole
Contrary to the common practice in the ministry today, the President of Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria and Overseas, Pastor Samuel O. Oladele has urged ministers of God to complement each other rather than compete with one another so that the Church as an entity may be complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:11).
Pastor Oladele made this statement while delivering the presidential address at the CAC Anosike Region Ministers' Conference 2024, which was recently held at the Christian Conference Centre in Swanwick, UK.
Citing Ephesians 4:11-13, the President said "every member of the Church of Jesus Christ is both a recipient of His grace as well as His vessel through which other believers may be blessed. We are gifted and empowered to be of service to the body of Christ, which is the Church. We are not meant to compete with one another but to complement one another so that the Church as an entity may be complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power."
In order to fulfill our divine mandate, Pastor Oladele told the ministers that they must go back to their first love and let the Lord take His rightful place in their hearts and the Church.
He added that:"rather than abusing our God-given privileges as ministers to intimidate, exploit and cause embarrassment to the Church, we should allow the power of God to catalyse our gifts to profit His kingdom. Anything else is a violation of the original intention of God."
According to him, the body of Christ is the Church which he established, for which he died and which he promised to sustain and make flourish.
Quoting Matthew 16:18, the Clergyman stated that the Bible passage confirms that the gates of hell shall contend against the Church but they shall not prevail against her, we are assured of resounding victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He, however, said that the Church is not just an organisation but a living organism which exhibits all the characteristics of living things including growth, it is for the purpose of growth that the Church was endowed with spiritual gifts and powers.
Pastor Oladele also noted that it is a poor show of wisdom (foolishness) for any Christian to think that he or she can do the work of ministry without the power of the Holy Spirit, adding that;"the Bible makes it abundantly clear that without the Holy Spirit we cannot please God in anyway."
He concluded that;"we must desire and continually depend upon the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth so that in all things God may be glorified (Luke 11:13, John 16:13-14). We must endeavour to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the edification (not intimidation), exhortation (not exploitation) and comfort (not terrorism) of the Church which is the Body of Christ (Acts 2:4 cf. Ephesians 4:11-16). In all we must remember always that all that we are and have are given to us by God. Therefore, we should be thankful and purpose to use those resources for His glory, being mindful that someday soon we shall stand to give account of our stewardship to Him. May we be justified/commended and not condemned, in Jesus’ name."