(1 Tim. 4: 12)
The triumph of evil over good is that good men do nothing. The youth is the strength of any social facet, be it the home, church or nation. As youth in the church and society at large, we cannot deny the glaring dangers threatening the peaceful existence of the church and the nation in recent times.
In view of the various challenges, here are some suggestions on ACTION POINTS for the church? In a world full of chaos and evil, only the church can stand in the gap and decree redemption and in-depth revival, only the church can effect the desired positive change. If the church fails, then doom for mankind is inevitable.
I would like to bring to our minds for consideration,"7 Things the church should Do Now” because It is time to wake up. Whenever I make mention or reference to the church I am mostly being youth-targeted.
1. NATIONAL REPENTANCE
On the 15th day of September, 2013, a Professor claimed God spoke to Him that “if care is not taken, in 30 – 40 years, Nigeria will be like Turkey”. If the claim is true, then the warning carries some ominous messages with it. For example: It would mean that the Nigerian church has an ultimatum of 30 years to take corrective measures or else it will be completely overrun by Islam. This further means that:
i. We may be the last Christians in Nigeria, and
ii. We may not hand over Christianity to our children. (To these, I say God forbid!)
He further said that According to the assessment of heaven, the Nigerian church has become “irresponsible". The church, however, has done nothing corporately to respond to the verdict. This kind of attitude can best be described as what I call the “Eli syndrome”; and after the “Eli syndrome” comes Ichabod. We must not treat this warning with levity or indifference.
Therefore, may I humbly suggest that we set a day apart as a day of NATIONAL REPENTANCE/NATIONAL RE-DEDICATION? A day where every Christian assembly in Nigeria, as well as in the Diaspora, pray prayers of repentance on behalf of the church and the nation. There are many things to repent of among which are: Worship of mammon in the church and in the nation, blood guiltiness, idolatry, adultery and immorality, corruption, hypocrisy in the church, ritual killing and cultism, neglect of evangelism, indifference to the Great Commission, drug addiction, neglect of widows, orphans and the fatherless, oppression and injustice, disobedience and carnality in the church, etc. Since we have the assurance of receiving forgiveness, we should corporately, humbly, go before God as youth, as Christians, as a church, a state and as a nation and ask.
2. DECLARING STATE OF EMERGENCY IN THE CHURCH
Drastic situations, they say, require drastic actions. The Nigerian government realized that a war has been declared against the nation and she declared a state of emergency in the land. Should not the church, which is the main target of this war, also declare a state of emergency in the church?
In 2012, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, said:
“This war is not political. It is religious. It is between Muslims and unbelievers. It will stop when Islamic religion is the determinant in governance in Nigeria or, in the alternative, when all fighters are annihilated and no one is left to continue the fight. I warn all Muslims at this juncture, that any Muslim who assists an unbeliever in this war should consider himself dead.”
This statement is a declaration of war against the nation and against the Church. The nation has responded by declaring a state of emergency. What is the church doing?
An eminent Christian leader counselled that a state of emergency be declared in the church, that all activities in the church should be suspended and focus must be on militant and intercessory prayers until normalcy returns to the church and to the land. He further said "Suspend all activities and focus on prayers! While the enemies of the church mobilize with carnal weapons, let the church mobilize its spiritual weapons and contend with the foes at the gate. Every fellowship of Christians should henceforth give precedence and prominence to warfare and intercessory prayers against the hordes of hell that have risen against the purpose of God in Nigeria. Sunday worship, Bible Study, Vigils and meetings must be turned into prayer meetings". Every platform that terrorism is standing upon in Nigeria must be prayerfully dismantled; (Jer. 10: 11) states thus: the gods that did not create the heavens and the earth must perish from the earth and from under these heavens. Brethren! We have just two options. We either go on our knees, or we go to war.
3. EVANGELISM RELOADED
It is good to learn from the mistakes of others so that errors from the past do not destroy the future. The entire North Africa was Christianity friendly until Islam overran it. What happened? The early “church fathers” were busy arguing doctrines with each other and busied themselves expounding Biblical exegesis. The youth on the other hand neglected evangelism, So the day Islam arrived, there was no one to defend Christianity.
Before the Nigerian church falls into the same error, we need to re-focus every Christian immediately on evangelism. And who better to do this than the youth?
However, knowing full well that evangelism strikes terror and panic into the hearts of many Christians, here is a simple suggestion on how it could be done effectively:
Although most youth would embrace the short-cut of social media and similar platform evangelism, let us not under-estimate the basic crude form which yields better results. Take a partner, and together select a street in your town/city. The street you have selected becomes your adopted vineyard before the Lord. Select a time of the week that is convenient for the two of you to spend at least one hour in a week on evangelism. I'll advise again, do not go alone, utilize the wisdom of the Lord, as in the book of (Luke 10: 1)
Over an agreed period of time, go to the chosen street every week and do prayer walk. Intercede for every soul living on that street and pray for their salvation. Take authority over every satanic power and influence that hinders people from seeing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ as stated in (2 Cor. 4: 4).
After the lapse of the agreed time of the prayer walk, begin to go from house to house with the message of the kingdom of God. If you prayed diligently for your “street”, when you commence evangelism, every soul will be quiet, while you will be filled with boldness to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. Your prayers should not be restricted to the prayer walk. Continue to pray at your prayer altar at home.
Consider this: If a congregation of 50 youth adopts this, it means they will cover 25 streets in one outing. Now! Imagine what we can achieve in 3 months. Let the revival begin!
4. FOR EVERY MUSLIM THERE IS CHRIST
Rom 12: 21 states- Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
This suggestion is very delicate but with the right approach it can achieve way over what we can imagine. Before I emphasize on this, please permit me to ask 2 questions:
i. Which one is better, that God should kill the leader of Boko Haram or that he should become the modern day apostle Paul?
ii. Which one will give God more glory, that the leader of Islam in Nigeria should succeed in getting amnesty for terrorists or that he should become a Deacon/Priest in your local assembly?
So, what are we waiting for? Let us pray all of them into the kingdom of God, for it is not the will of GOD that anyone should perish. Let every Christian group or fellowship pick one “troublesome” leader of Islam, the more radical, the better, and concentrate prayers of salvation and divine visitation upon him. Pray until Jesus Christ appears to him or her. Let’s not forget that the last prayer of Stephen turned Saul from being the leader of Boko Haram in his days to Apostle Paul, the champion of Christianity. God can do it again and again if we would pray.
Do not be intimidated by the radicalism of any Muslim. There is no one that Christ cannot save. We should remember the prophesy of the conversion of the Middle East in the book of Isaiah 19: 18-24. Let us recover what originally belongs to the church – that is the vision of “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea”
5. DOCTRINAL SHIFT
A missionary was on board a flight and he found himself seated beside a Lebanese Muslim. As he introduced himself as a Christian, the Lebanese picked interest in conversing with him. “I contemplated becoming a Christian some time ago”, declared the Lebanese Muslim. "In order to know more about Christianity, I started listening to Christian preachers on cable TV, after a few months of Christian diet; I decided to remain a Muslim". Why? Asked the missionary, “Aha”, proclaimed the Lebanese Muslim triumphantly and said, “While Islam teaches you to make heaven, Christianity teaches you how to get the best in this life.”
Sadly so, this has become somewhat true. There has been a great perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Word of God makes it clear in 1 Cor. 15: 19: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable"
Unbelievers come to church and they think Christianity is only about prosperity and abundance. Meanwhile, it is only faith in Jesus Christ that guarantees eternal life. The book of Acts 4: 12 clearly states: "There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved".
Therefore, there must be an immediate shift of doctrine in the church. The sole preaching of 'money gospel' must cease and the church must return to the original message of the cross, the message of the good news of the kingdom of God; the message of repentance from sin leading to eternal life. Furthermore, the clarion call in the church now must be “discipleship”. I make bold to say that in the past 20 years, the 'Nigerian church' has not been raising disciples. Rather, it has focused on raising millionaires. There must be a deliberate doctrinal shift in the church. Mammon must be dethroned in the church while Christ must be enthroned in His rightful position as the Lord of all.
We have a role to play in checking pastors who insist on preaching the prosperity message only. The emphases of the church must be on raising disciples particularly among the youth, Or else, if we succeed in halting the aggression of Islam and terrorism, we may still lose the next generation to entertainment, drugs and internet. The Christian children and the Christian youth must be taught and trained to understand why they are Christians and why they must remain Christians.
6. SUPPORT FOR THE PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
Have you ever heard of Invercargill? It is a city in New Zealand called the “end of the earth”. Invercargill is the farthest distance on earth from Jerusalem. For that purpose, it is called the “end of the earth.” From Invercargill, Christians came to visit and support persecuted Christians in northern Nigeria. They went to Gombe and Jos among other northern states. Meanwhile, where are the Nigerian Christians?
It is embarrassing that God had to go outside Nigeria to get foreign Christians to support and sustain our persecuted brethren. Many of us refused to leave our comfort zones. It is time to repent. Every Christian in Nigeria should join in reinforcing and sustaining Christianity in the North and other places we have persecution of brethren.
7. MOBILIZE POLITICAL AWARENESS
It is imperative that churches commence mobilization of Christians to register and ensure that they vote during the elections. Not only that, Christians must be trained to ensure that they vote for candidates and parties that will protect the interest of Christianity in the nation. Let us commence deliberate training of Christians to be politically intelligent and discerning. If the church does not use its numerical size to put righteous people in governance, the instrument of the state shall be used against the church. Whenever unrighteous people come into power, they use their influence to undermine the church. Christians must be politically discerning. When the righteous rule, the people rejoice.
Finally, in all of these points aforementioned, it should be strictly noted that as Youths, we are saddled with the primary responsibility of effecting the desired positive change, in our homes, environment, church and off course the nation. They say the Youth are the leaders of tomorrow. I say we cannot wait for tomorrow, the future is now and we are taking it. In a society where the youth are under-estimated and relegated to the background by a few 'old heads', in an era where there is so much moral decadence and evil has eaten deep into the fabrics of our minds, I admonish us to boldly say: "I am for Christ!!!, I am a Youth but useful".
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