Churches shouldn’t just preach the word, they should touch lives too —Pastor Oluyombo

What   is the philisophy behind this  Moment of Grace, a programme you have introduced at your parish for some months now?The moment of Grace is a programme that I actually received from God and I started it in the year 2003. So we have been having  Moment of Grace for 11 years now. And when […]

What   is the philisophy behind this  Moment of Grace, a programme you have introduced at your parish for some months now?
The moment of Grace is a programme that I actually received from God and I started it in the year 2003. So we have been having  Moment of Grace for 11 years now. And when I found myself at this parish, The Master’s Place, we have been having it here too. The Moment of Grace  is a moment that is not common.
There is a moment  of relief when God takes it upon Himself to intervene in the affairs of men. And on account of that there could be divine interruption. During the moment of grace any good thing can happen, sinners obtain the grace of God and God receives sinners and reconcile them to Himself. Uncomon miracles do happen at the mercy of God. When God’s mercy is upon a man, his life will not be the same again.
We have this moment to transform lives and it is a monthly progarmme. Occasionally, we have guest speakers, I cannot do it alone and for this month, we are going to have a guest minister in person of Pastor Femi Ipinlaye, a pastor in the Redeemed Chuch of Christ.

For this month you chose the theme laughter, could you explain that?
Yes there is an appointed time, there is a set time when sorrows will turn to joy  and there would be that moment of relief that brings about laughter. I received the theme laughter because it is the time those who are in sorrow, for those who are in suffering but it is now time to laugh.

The Master’s Place has been on ground for the past four years now, what will you say it has done for the communities around here and what spiritual impact have you made around Utako?     
By the grace of God, the presence of the church has brought light to the communities. Our immediate community has offices, hotels, residential houses and of course the village, where we minister regularly. We minister to the village not just by word but also materially. We also make sure we keep a clean environment, at least to be responsible in our community. We are actually planning something big and it will come up very soon in kpana, the village around here. Our own corporate social responsibility  is not just about preaching but it is also to touch lives by identifying their needs and meeting them.
Many people have come to us and some  are now born again. The church is not just about preaching the word; it is also about meeting the needs of the people. Even our Lord Jesus Christ ministered to the needs of people when he was here. He was concerned about those who were naked, about those who were hungry, about those who were hopeless, about those who were in prison.
So we have to take it from there, following the footsteps of our master. We are not limited to this neighbourhood, we have gone out to far places, Zuba, and some other places. In fact, God places the same value on the soul in Maitama and on the soul in Kaduna road.

The year is coming to an end and there are lot of expectations from Nigerians, some set a target for themselves, what do you tell them?
We need to thank God to start with. The raging deadly virus Ebola; the Holy spirit consumed Ebola, not only through medical means. It could have been very terrible but for God’s own intervention; with our population and with so many people living careless lives. Nigerians are great travellers and it would have been disasterous but God manifested his power and now it is a different story.
Concerning Boko Haram, the God that consumed Ebola will consume Boko Haram. Very soon it will be history in Nigeria. I just want our people to believe in God and then, government alone cannot do everything. We should all bee responsible at our areas of influence; let us be responsible.
Let the father be responsible in the house, let the mother be responsible and the children will take cue from there. But when a father or mother is bribing a teacher for their child to pass examination in school, the child will grow up thinking that is the right way to do things and will not see corruption as evil. If you bribe for your child to pass examination, then you also have to bribe for the child to get employement, and when the child is employed, it won’t be a big deal for the child to steal. It starts from the family.
Also we should not sell our votes. We should vote according to our conscience. Let’s vote for the right people. If you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to complain. People should come closer to God. No matter how good we may be, we still need God. Jesus says, “you can do nothing without me”.
The Bible also says, “if the Lord does not build the house, they labour in vain that built it.” So we cannot do anything successfully without God so we should involve God. And no religion should force another religion to accept its teachings. You cannot fight for God, let God fight for himself. I come from a muslim background. I was born a muslim but nobody compelled me to convert to christianity. I still have cousins that are muslims. When you see the light, it is by choice so nobody should force anyone. We are not compelling anyone to be a christian and no one should compel us to practice another religion.

The christian community in Nigeria has come under heavy criticisms following the seizure of $9.3 million by South African authorities in a private jet belonging to CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. As a man of God, what advice do you have for christians at this trying moment?
Christians must be persecuted. In any case, I am not Pastor Oritsejafor but I can speak on the issue. It is in the public domain that he owns the jet and he came out and said, for economic reasons, his ministry gave him the jet, but he is not a business man so he could not maintain the jet. He had to lease it out.
Any time he needs it, he can call for it. So the man has spoken that he wouldn’t know who was using it and for what purpose. I think we should just leave this for the government to investigate. I think the devil is just having an opportunity to test the church but we will get over that. It is not Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that is purchasing arms; it would have been something else if it were CAN that was purchasing arms.
CAN does not have an army, it is the government of Nigeria that is buying arms, using a private jet to go make its purchase so I think any reasonable man will understand that. Nobody should play politics with this so that we do not tear the fabric of this nation. A religious war is not something anyone can handle.