The End of David Abioye and Church Government

The End of David Abioye and Church Government

By: Deji Yesufu

I met David Abioye once – through what you may call a very unlikely situation. The year would have been either 1990 or 1991. I was living in Zaria then and I had developed religious fervour. I learnt that the then young Bishop, known everywhere as a protégé of David Oyedepo, was visiting Zaria, as guest of David Bakare – pastor of a church known all over Samaru (Zaria) then as “JAWOM”. My parent were out of the country then and my brothers and I were left to the care of a family – a story for another day. The woman of the house had told me that I was not permitted to go for that program at JAWOM. She was a Muslim and cared very little for a visiting minister from Kaduna. I thought otherwise. I went for the program – “a revival” as we used to call it. What I remember about David Abioye’s visit to Zaria is faint now, but I remember that there was a lot of razzmatazz around the visit. It was as if Oyedepo himself was in Zaria that day. The church was filled to the brim. He arrived late – like pastors of his status tend to do in Pentecostal meetings. There was a lot of fanfare; David Bakare was grinning from ear to ear – it was as if he was welcoming the head of state to the church. A large entourage followed Abioye into the church. He preached a very short message – not more than half an hour, and in no time, he was gone again. What I remember most about that night were two things: there was no revival that day in that church and I returned home to the chagrin of my Muslim guardian. I would not have been more than thirteen years old.

This article is based on the recent announcement by the Living Faith group of churches, led by David Oyedepo, that David Abioye is to retire from his position as a leading pastor at the Living Faith. Abioye has long been known as Oyedepo’s right-hand man, and where you see Abioye – you have effectively seen Oyedepo. Abioye’s favourite story in the Bible, which I believe he recounted when he visited Zaria that day in the early 1990s, is the story of how Elisha faithfully served Elijah until it pleased God to take Elijah away. The trouble with that analogy, today, however, is that rather than Abioye inheriting a double portion of Oyedepo’s anointing, he is being let go of the church system both of them laboriously built together; and therefore, ending up getting nothing.

Close watchers of happenings in the Living Faith churches knew something like this was about to happen when two phenomena began to emerge. A few year ago, David Oyedepo announced to the congregation that anyone who had served in leadership positions in the church was now free to go and start off their own churches. He made it clear he was willing to pay them off. This arose because there were certain talks regarding what would happen to long-standing ministers in the church. The organization they had all helped nurture, had grown way beyond their dreams. Was there some kind of inheritance being set up for them? This was the question in the minds of these men. These questions began to arise when it became obvious that Oyedepo’s two sons, David and Isaac, were now mature men in their own right, and their father had placed them in strategic positions in the organization. Talks began to make the rounds that “Papa”, as Oyedepo is known among his devotees, was not likely to pass the baton to anyone else but his sons. Many eventually took advantage of Oyedepo’s offer and went on to start their own organizations. Bishop Mike Afolabi, before his death, had left his position as the substantive Bishop in the Ibadan chapter, to go on and plant his own church in the Akobo area of the city – where I used to live. Somehow, and perhaps, due to some loyalty, Abioye did not go with that particular purge. No one knows the exact relationship between Abioye and Oyedepo. Someone even told me that Oyedepo had once proposed handing over the organization to Abioye, while Abioye dutifully declined the offer; making it clear that he was called to serve the Oyedepo, and never the other way around. Whether the story is true or not, the recent announcement of his retirement from the Living Faith organization does not support this narrative.

My concern in this essay is not to rue the situation with Abioye. I am very sure that his retirement package will take care of any need he could ever have. My real concern is with what a biblical church government should be. To be able to explain this, I must tell another story. Rev. Bayo Famonure is a close relative of mine. He is the older brother of my mother-in-law. When Famonure concluded his National Youth Service in the mid-1970s, he felt the call to go into full-time Christian missionary work. He and a few others, who bought into the vision, started an organization called “Calvary Ministries” – mostly known as CAPRO. It is an organization mainly concerned with evangelizing northern Nigeria. With support from Christian friends abroad, CAPRO grew to become the number one missionary group in Nigeria. Then the need arose for a chairman to be elected for the organization. It was taken for granted that Famonure would be given the position. Unfortunately, he lost that election – resulting in a bitter split; with the man of God going off to start another organization. It is said that those people who eased out Famonure themselves are no longer in that organization today. Now, the CAPRO story got to the ears of the likes of Oyedepo and other Christian organizations, and everyone began to shield their investments. The question that arises is this: how do you lead a Christian organization in a way that on one hand it does not become a personal fiefdom, and on the other hand it does not fail to reward the initial persons that made the effort at planting the church or organization? It is at this point I would like to take a cursory look at the matter of the government of Christian organizations.

Christian missions, anywhere in the world, usually begin with one man preaching the gospel to a community. Often, God is pleased to open the heart of that community to the message and the mission grows. As the number of people under the mission increase, so does the name, prestige, and resources of the man at the helm. It is when the matter of money comes into question, that the real nature of the people involved in the organization begins to show. My experience tells me that most missionary endeavours in Nigeria never started with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Most of these people are themselves false apostles, preaching a false gospel, and raising a herd of goats under them. The implication is that rather than the Holy Spirit dictating the direction the organization will go, it is men’s ingenuity that direct them. What this leads to is that like any investment or company in the land, these so-called Christian organizations grow to become bigger than what those who initiated them ever thought they would be. The challenge is not with the growth; the challenge is that the people growing these organizations did not grow with them. If the Spirit of Jesus was involved in the planting of these organizations, he would direct its growth – sending men and women to the organization, who themselves will serve the organization, find their reward in service, and most of all look towards heaven for the greatest reward. The challenge, however, is that when churches become big business, the attitude you see in the “founders” is that of investment and owndership. And those who invest look forward to not just a profit, but to succession. And the people they hope will succeed them would usually not be the people they started the work with; but their own children.

I am beginning to feel the weight of church life upon having only sought to plant a local church here in Ibadan for a year plus. First, there are the individuals who come to church to get positions. They believe that if they serve in the local church, then a kind of agreement must be reached, prior, that will ascertain what their future will be in the organization because of the likelihood of growth and success. They fear that if the church becomes suddenly successful, they will have no space in the investment. There are others who think that the church is a place where they should get help, and the moment they find it, they leave. All kinds of warped ideas with regard to how the church must be run can be found in the minds of people. What I have learnt so far is that it is the Holy Spirit that builds a local assembly – we must beware of building a church by our own effort. When the Spirit is at work in a church, he sends people to that church to build it. Hopefully, everyone will give their best to the organization, and the Lord, not the organization alone, must reward every effort. Our prize is in heaven – it should never be on earth. Where, however, you have not taught your people to look to the glories of heaven; where you have taught your people to seek prosperity on earth – by all means; these people will begin to look for their inheritance in the church and not in heaven. And when they cannot find the inheritance in the church, they are retired from a service they have worked very hard at building.

There are hundreds of church governments in the world today. The important thing is that whatever is agreed upon in a local church, should be a decision that is reached by all the people in the local assembly. A church cannot overlook the place of a working constitution. As churches grow, so also the resources of the church increase. Members of the church should be involved in making salient decisions with regard to how money is spent, what money is spent for, and what structures are put in place. A minister leading the organization should never fear a coup. It is not that it does not happen, but if the local church is planted by the Spirit of Christ, the minister would be preserved. If the coup succeeds, and the minister is removed, it should never be a problem. The person with the original idea simply goes somewhere and starts something similar. In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas split over an issue. What we saw was two brothers divided over an issue; what the Holy Spirit was doing was planting two missions to reach the nations with the gospel. Where the Holy Spirit is working, Christian missions edify and build a society. Where the Spirit is absent, there are endless talks on succession; there are all kinds of evil outwitting of each other, along with selfish ambition. I leave the readers to reach whatever conclusion they wish on what is happening in the Living Faith group of churches.

Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY.

Postscript: Somebody who works in CAPRO, who I have known for a long time, and whose judgement I trust, has explained to me that Bro. Bayo Famonure was not actually eased out of CAPRO as my report indicates. Famonure led CAPRO for close to ten years as executive secretary. At some point, it became obvious that there was a need to have a change in leadership, as the constitution of the organization stated. A new executive secretary was elected, and Famonure was offered the office of a chairman of the organization. Bro. Famonure declined this offer, and subsequently left CAPRO. In about three years of publishing this blog, this is the first time I am writing a postscript. I have therefore used my editorial judgment to leave the two accounts of what happened in CAPRO here in the report. I believe that a careful reader will understand what really happened by examining the two claims.