“Thy diligence to come shortly unto me :For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world “.–2Timothy 4-9
The above scripture which are the word of Apostle Paul dealing with the issue of loyalty and disloyalty of some certain preachers further asserted that the subject of loyalty have been a public discourse right from days of the early Christians and either we like it or not it will be a recurring issue till the coming of Christ.
In view of these, as a sequel to the previous piece, the Redeemed Christian Church of God will be the focus in this article. Interestingly selecting the ministers to use as a case study from an array of dedicated men of God, some of which have spent over 40years in faithful stewardship to God and the Ministry is definitely going to be a difficult task. But nevertheless I will be examining the ministry of two prominent men of God in this denomination.
1.Pastor J.T. Kalejaiye
Kalejaiye was led to the Redeemed Christian Church of God over 30years ago when a false allegation was made against him in his place of work, and he needed divine intervention to exonerate himself . Luckily for him he had an encounter with God through Pastor E.A Adeboye, and he was eventually given a clean bill of health Since then he has been unrepentant in his loyalty as well as stewardship to the authorities of Redeemed Christian Church of God as well as in his pursuit of Kingdom goals.
Today, apart from the General Overseer, Pastor E.A Adeboye, Pastor J.T Kalejaiye is arguably the most renowned Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God Circle . He is a man God has used to liberate thousands from the oppression of the devil through his anointing services, which has run for over 20 years. The Ilaje- born fisherman-turned accountant is a now a fisher of Men and an unrepentant soul winner who was said to have set a target of winning tens of thousands souls for Christ every month and has always surpassed his target. To meet up with this target he sometimes minsters in four to five different locations in a day.
This evangelist of international repute cannot be forgotten in the demonstration of the supernatural power of God through his anointing service, a programme through which God has worked many miracles and did amazing things for people. The anointing services which started from trying to counsel warring parties in a dispute over 20years ago now holds in over 5 centers in Lagos and in about 14 other states as well as in the United States. And myriads of testimonies have been recorded of how God has used him to liberate thousands from the oppression of the devil. He is neither a General Overseer nor a member of a Church Governing Council, but his impact, influence, popularity is better felt than a good number of General Overseers in Nigeria.
Despite all these exploits, Pastor Kalejaiye has never failed to demonstrate his loyalty to the leadership of Redeemed Christian church of God. It is also on records that offerings raised through his anointing programmes are always allocated to the host church. According to him “If I had been collecting their offerings, by now I would have been one of the richest pastors in the world. But it’s not about finance but about revelation”
Pastor Johnson Oluwatomisin Kalejaiye has held the post of Regional Evangelist, Special Assistant to the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) on Evangelism and he is currently the Special Assistant to the General Overseer (SATGO) Evangelism
2.Pastor Agu Irukwu
At a period when quite a good number of Nigerian pastors sees redeployment abroad as a good avenue to fleece with the flocks and establish their independent ministry, this Warwick trained lawyer has seized the opportunity to further expand the frontier of the kingdom.
This man of God had no intention of living permanently in the UK, and had no ambitions of serving in full-time ministry, but upon completion of his law degree, at Warwick University, he left for Nigeria and had the opportunity of worshiping in a Model Parish of the RCCG in Lagos. A lot of events transpired afterwards, and he was ordained an RCCG Pastor in April 1994 and sent to London as a shepherd of a young ministry of about 30 people, whilst the home church sought for a substantive pastor. But as things will turn out, over 25years after, he is heading the fastest growing Christian denomination in the UK and leading the revival to attract White Britons to its black majority congregations.
It is on record that the UK version of the Holy Ghost Congress, known as the Festival of Life he initiated in 1996 has grown to become the largest gathering of Christians in the United Kingdom, regularly attracting over 50,000 people. Among the prominent people that have graced the programme are Prince Charles, Prime Ministers Theresa May and Donald Cameron as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Jesus House for all the Nations, London, a parish of the RCCG he heads, is one of the fastest-growing black majority churches in England, with about 4000 people attending its several services on Sundays at a time attendance in other UK Churches are declining. Also, under his pastorate, RCCG has grown from about three churches to over 800 Parishes in UK.
Pastor Irukwu influence in the UK has grown in leaps and bounds over the years reflecting in his election as Pentecostal President of Churches Together in England (CTE) and beating the likes of then US president, Barack Obama; former South African leader, Nelson Mandela, and US human rights activist, Martin Luther King in a poll to determine Britain Most Inspirational Black Person in 2012. All these are enough to rush to start his own church, as it is often the case, but he is more concerned with planting RCCG parishes in every corners of England,Scotland,Wales,Ireland and Northern Ireland with his “reverse mission”, a radical movement designed to re-evangelize the Britons.
Currently,Pastor Agu Irukwu is a Special Assistant to the RCCG General Overseer and a member of RCCG World Advisory Council. He is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Executive Council of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in the United Kingdom (UK) and serves as Chairman of the RCCG UK Regional Board.
Source- Opera News
