MY EXPERIENCE IN CHURCHES TODAY
I am on a business trip to an African country since last week. Immediately I came here, I asked my host to take me to any Nigerian canteen, and it has been wonderful, thanks to Mr Emeka, the owner of the canteen. It’s not easy to part away with your local taste you grow up with. Last night I decided to eat foreign food at a restaurant, I couldn’t enjoy the food, because it was strange to my taste, it wasn’t like delicious Fufu, Semo, fried rice and others lol. So for the rest of my days here, I will not joke with Mr Emeka’s canteen, though far from my hotel.

The same thing I decided to apply with fellowshipping with a church this morning, I went straight to a Deeper Life Bible church where I am familiar with the taste. On getting there, it was a powerful message from the General Overseer in one of his crusade messages in Bauchi state in Nigeria, what a blessed and wonderful message! It has been a long time.

After the whole things, the pastor in the church called for new comer, I stood up and I was prayed for, thereafter I was given a slip to fill. At the end of the service, I was expecting a worker to come to talk to me as promised by the pastor, I waited and waited, nobody came to me. Everybody was busy talking with one another, then I stood up to meet the usher who gave me the slip, at least to collect the slip back, he was busy talking that I had to stood beside him to finish his conversation with a brother, but I had to excuse him to attend to me, and when I gave the slip back to him, looking at him I recognized his face, he was my co-coordinator in the media department at Deeper Life Campus fellowship in Ilorin, Nigeria, 15 years ago. He couldn’t recognize me but when I told him my name “Bro. Gideon” he remembered, and was happy to see me. We shared together and exchanged phone numbers.

I actually wanted to see the pastor, who is also a Nigerian, and share with him my mission of coming to the country, but he was busy that he didn’t have the time to meet the new comer. I was surprised at their attitude, like, is this the best way a church of less than 50 adults in a country of about 90% Muslims of population can welcome a new comer? They didn’t care to know if I am an unbeliever, if I’m living close by or a foreigner. In my mind, I laughed and felt, “These our brethren, everywhere you go, same attitude.”

Since the service at the church finished early, I went to the church of my host whose church started not too early in the morning. Getting there, the church was so filled to outside that I had to sit outside, but the usher recognized that I was a new comer, she provided seat for me inside the church and asked me to come inside, though I was comfortable with other people sitting outside, but for me not to commit sin of disobedience to the Usher, I followed her inside the church. It was a wonderful time with a different style of service from the first church I attended – praise and worship and dancing. And when it was the time of message, the assistant GO of the church preached, it was a powerful message of repentance and I was highly blessed. Though the church was full in and out, I was welcomed by the brethren there, greetings from different people. Before then I had already met their GO, they were all concerned about my purpose of coming to the country and ready to assist in anyway. The GO of the church is also a Nigerian.

So today, I went to 2 churches, with same Bible messages, but with different welcoming and hospitality attitudes and far different numbers of members; the former showed little care for the new comer, but the later showed more care, but both preached powerful messages.

The Lesson I Learn
Messages of Holiness doesn’t scare people away from a church, it is the attitude of the people in the church that does. You see, many churches who preach holiness and righteousness today with standstill or declining numbers of their membership usually give excuse that because they preach holiness and stand against worldliness is the reason why they are not increasing in numbers. Such conclusion is wrong and un-bibical. The early church preached and practiced holiness and yet they were added every day as many who were being saved. So if your church is not increasing in numbers of saved souls, it is either you with your church are weak in your responsibility of evangelism or you people lack genuine love and care, or both. It is not messages of truth and holiness that prevent the increase in number of a church, it’s lack of practical love, care and evangelism.

Purity without practical love is hypocrisy, and love without purity is lust. True purity means pure love in action or practical love of God. When a church is not increasing in number as a result of lack of effective evangelism or lack of genuine love, many of those who remain in such church will begin to decay.

I pray the Lord will revive every church where practical love and effective evangelism are lost and I pray the Lord will renew every church where worldliness and lust has occupied. I pray for revival of holiness, love, evangelism and brotherly care in every church in every part of the world and every heart of believer in Jesus name!

Lord, let there be this revival. Amen

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