By Sam Eyoboka & Olayinka Latona
GENERAL Overseer of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adejare
Adeboye has charged all members of the church to
help themselves by being obedient to every divine
pronouncement.
Warning members on the dangers of not paying
their tithes and vows, he maintained that there are
two houses—one is built on the Rock and the
other is built on sand—both look alright and
beautiful until there is a storm.
According to the man of God, at a time such as this
when government find if difficult to pay workers’
salaries, God has a way of defending His own
people. “Go back and tell your members to stop
robbing God. Tell them not to fail in the payment of
their tithes and vows.
Pastor Enoch Adeboye
“The reason you must pay your tithes and vows,”
he stressed, “is that nobody knows when trouble
will come. When trouble comes, God has a defence
for His people, but such defence cannot be
extended to those who are disobedient to His
Word.”
He therefore urged the pastors to ensure the
message is delivered undiluted to the members of
the church stressing that “God loves a cheerful
giver and that they should make sure they do not
owe or rob God.”
Drawing inspiration from several biblical passages,
Pastor Adeboye said: “Not only must they give to
God cheerfully, they must at all time honour Him.”
According to him, members of the church must be
reminded that Jesus Christ said His Father is greater
than him and therefore no one can take His
children from Me, emphasising that the father who
protects the child of God can Himself tear the
disobedient children away as a consequence of disobedience.
To stress the importance of his earlier warning
during the Ministers Conference that preceded the
convention, Pastor Adeboye re-emphasised that
anyone who introduces tribalism into the mission
will die a sudden, violent and premature death.
According to him, the church belongs to God and
the moment one is born again, one automatically
becomes a native of the Kingdom of God, noting
that upon that realization, he has never asked
anybody of his/her state of origin.
He therefore re-echoed the warning which was first
announced during the ministers conference, that
anyone who introduces ethnicity into the church
will die a sudden and premature death irrespective
of the status of the person “because I have already
prayed earnestly to God concerning the matter.
“Tell all your friends that I’ve prayed a prayer that
anyone, whoever, tries to introduce tribalism into
RCCG shall die like Ananias and Sapphira died
suddenly and prematurely; anyone including the
G.O. himself,” Pastor Adeboye reiterated.
For the benefit of those who did not attend the
ministers conference, Daddy G.O. repeated the
announcement of the promotions and the
additional eight provinces that have just been
created. Ekiti is now a Region of its own.
On the new 3 kilometre by 3 kilometre auditorium
currently under construction, he declared that God
will build for all those who have in one way or the
other contributed to the construction, urging the
pastors to tell all those who have not done so, that
God will not forget.
He also announced that ministers, including pastors
and their spouses, must from now make a habit of
attending house fellowships and all workers’
meetings.
Raffles to raise money for any church activity is
prohibited, he stated, just as he told the pastors that
incessant levies on members for unworthy
enterprises are hereby prohibited. “If we want to
build and members can see what you want to build,
you can go ahead; but levies for other personal activities must be channeled through the G.O.’s
office.
In addition to that decree which also attracted
much acclaim of those present, the cleric also urged
his pastors to always refrain from inviting guest
ministers to their programmes, stressing the need
to encourage and develop talents within the
church.
According to him, the church has reached an
advanced stage of raising a12,000-man mass choir,
saying that any church that has not contributed to
the endeavour, should do so.
Without particular reference to the recently retired
ministers, Pastor Adeboye said the General Council
of the church has approved some retirement
benefits for part time pastors as well as burial
entitlements.
On transfer of pastors, he said there will be minimal
transfers this year to avoid pastor’s capitalising on
that as excuse for not meeting the church mandate
of doubling membership every six months. “Our
purpose is to win souls. Aggressive evangelism is
the reason we are where we are today. So, if you don’t double your membership every six months,
your pastor will be in trouble,” he said matter of
factly.
Acknowledging that soul winning is not an easy
endeavour, he noted that members of the church
must strive to equip themselves spiritually for the
onerous task, narrating what it took him to win a
very difficult man like his former Head of
Department at University of Lagos, late Prof. Chike Obi.
He expressed dismay that some workers within the
church cannot speak in tongues, arguing, “how
can you win souls for Christ if you have not
received power to do so?”
Speaking on a very contentious issue of personal
ministries within the church, Adeboye decreed that
such will no longer be tolerated in the church,
saying that individuals are at liberty to leave the
church “so that when next we meet them we shall
greet them as General Overseers.”
The ministry currently known as Youth Church has
been renamed as Young Adults and Youth Church
to accommodate young members who are married
but are still young at heart.
Adeboye also insisted that pastors should ensure
that hymns are part of their service at all times, just
as he stressed the need for serious cleanliness
within the church and in individual homes.
The man of God also warned ministers in the
church not to bring strange practices into the
church, stressing that RCCG does not involve in
praying on water or burn candles. We do pray on
oil or handkerchief.
“Let your church be thoroughly clean at all times,”
he stated, adding “in the Redeemed Christian
Church of God we do not pray on water and we do
not burn candles.”
As a result of his busy schedules, he told the
crowds of pastors that his Special Assistants and
the Assistant General Overseers will now be
saddled with the responsibility of dedicating new
churches in the mission.
In conclusion, he urged all members of the church
to take prison ministry much more seriously from
now by visiting the nearest prison to your church,
pray for the inmates and do things as part of your
corporate social responsibilty.
According to him, RCCG has rebuilt the chapel in the
Kirikiri Prisons, Kirikiri Town and has also
established an outpost of the National Open
University of Nigeria, NOUN, in the premises or
benefit of inmates in addition to giving inmates
foods every Sunday.
He maintained that the church made it a habit to
give them a plate of rice and chicken every Sunday
it was discovered that the chicken does not get to
the inmates. “So the church decided to give the
inmates fish instead,” he noted
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