MESSAGE TO THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH NIGERIA by Olabanji Joel

The Apostolic Church is the church which I was born into and I still attends this church till date. I remain a proud member of the church. The glory of the church is imputed to the presence of God in the church and all glory is to God and not any individual. Truly, God's unending presence cannot be over emphasized in his church.

While I celebrate the presence of God in TACN, I will like to pinpoint some things which I believe has brought a set back to the church, this includes  the administrative and financial aspects of the church.

The Apostolic Church is believed to be one of the poor churches in Nigeria because many of her members are believed to be poor, many of the church buildings remain uncompleted and many of the pastors are financially handicapped.

Question: Are the members and pastors of the church suppose to live in penury?

Growing up, I saw how my parents and people around me paid offerings and tithes religiously, how people paid money which is constantly being levied within the church, ranging from building of LAWNA Convention Ground, Church Institutions(University, Seminaries, Bible College, Secondary school),  Metropolitan, Areas and Districts, Assemblies) Also I have seen how money is constantly been collected for conventions, bus levy, instrument levy, pastor's travel, programs etc. I have never seen a program done by my church without imposing levy on the church members. Also, I have never seen a Sunday go by without the congregation contributing for monthly returns or money needed either at the district, area or LAWNA level.

Despite the offerings and the tithes paid and monies collected for almost all the programs done by the church at large, it is painful that our pastors are still amongst the least paid servants of God. Yes! we know they are working for God but they are humans and deserve a better life also, their burdens most times becomes the burden of the church and at developing branches becomes too heavy for the church to bear. We have many TACN branches' members striving daily to feed themselves and the family, these are the same people the pastors look up to for survival. On many occasions we have seen poor church members in need of money for medical care dying due to lack of money and the fqct that no one is willing to help, not even the church they have been attending for years.

I heard student pastors in TACN earn as low as ₦3000 and #5000 at the Area level and LAWNA level respectively and many of them even go months without getting paid due to the inability of the church they are pastoring to pay some money being raised (won ti fi owo pastor di).

Question: How are these student pastors expected to survive if not by depending on the church to bear their burdens?

In TACN, many men of God who are being ordained as pastors receive as low as ₦10,000 monthly and these are men of God with wife and children, but I think the authority of the church want them to beg from their local church, if not, how will they survive? DON'T TACN PASTORS DESERVE A BETTER LIFE?

As a young child growing up in TACN, I have seen church members living in poverty, I have seen Pastors with their household living in poverty, they sometimes are unable to send their children to good schools, many of them end up dying early due to lack of money to access good health facility.

WHAT IS TACN MONEY BEING USED FOR?

I am sure this same question would have been lingering on so many person's heart, any individual denying this has just been religious over the years or being hypocritical.

When I was very young, I remembered when my local church needed money to get a piece of land beside our church to be used as the mission house, the church couldn't raise the money so they went to the District/Area to with the fund, the Area Superintendent then didn't release the fund, so the chance of purchasing the land for as low as #150,000 was forfeited. The land presently worth over ₦2,000,000. The assembly is currently striving hard to build the mission house together with the church building.

Many assemblies when they need fund to finance a program or project don't get help from the District/Area but when the burden of the District/Area arises, money is being put on the assemblies which benefits nothing from them.

IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH NIGERIA, Money goes up but never comes down. The trend has always been from THE ASSEMBLIES TO THE DISTRICT TO THE AREA AND THEN LAWNA but nothing comes down from the LAWNA back to the assemblies and the pastors are not well paid so what is the money generated by the church being used for?

At the church seminaries, the student pastors being paid as low as ₦3000 pay for so many things, they have to pay and do so many things till the day they graduate, they even have to buy things for their lecturers during graduation, all these they can't refuse. If the student pastors are being paid very low, where are they expected to get the money needed to pay all school bills? Many of them end up starting their ministry journey in frustration.

IS TACN POOR AS IT HAS BEEN PRESENTED?

TACN is not poor and the church is never poor, their are great people attending the church, the poor persons in the church religiously pay offerings and tithes, the monthly return is also being paid by all assemblies to the district to the Area and then the LAWNA, therefore what are these monies being used for if the church can't have good buildings, facilities, sound systems, studios etc.

GLORIOUS VISION UNIVERSITY

I could remember when the university was to be built and how all members of the church were told to pay for the development of the school. The church members paid with ecstacy at first but the joy diminished after the school was established and many members couldn't afford the school fees.

"I could remember when I couldn't secure admission in the government owned tertiary institutions, my dad and mum suggested to me to go to the church owned university which was then called Samuel Adegboyega University, the fee for this school scared us away and it was the time someone from the University came to my area to tell us about the university, I could remember I asked him why the church members couldn't afford the school which we contributed to build, he responded by telling me the school was cheap if compared to other private schools, he further said we should be grateful. Within me, I said "should we be grateful for contributing to build a school we couldn't afford to be sent to?!"

WHY DO WE HAVE SO MANY POOR PERSONS IN TACN?

The Apostolic Church Nigeria is not poor but many members within the church are poor, they often don't get help from the church but keeps on giving to the church, there are many graduates in the church without good jobs and there are many skilled worker without patronage but the church has never shown interest in lifting the poor, it has always been about what the members have to offer and little or nothing about the welfare of the members. WELFARISM AND FININACIAL EMPOWERMENT IS ZERO IN OUR CHURCH, other churches in the country are thriving due to their pattern of welfarism and the support they give to their members.

WAIT, WILL THE CHURCH THAT DOESN'T SUPPORT THE ASPIRING PASTORS SUPPORT THEIR MEMBERS?!

TACN is losing youths, losing anointed ministers and gradually going down due to so many reasons which include too much of money request from members, lack of support for members, unavailability of support for pastors, unavailability of support for assemblies, bad welfarism, unavailability of youth support programs such as scholarships and empowerment.

FOR PROBLEMS WHICH SHOULD BE SOLVED WITH MONEY, THE CHURCH PRAYS ABOUT IT, PRAYER IS GOOD BUT THE SOLUTION HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY GOD, WHY HOARDING IT? PROPEL THE GOSPEL WITH ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES, THE WORLD IS GAINING SOULS WITH MONEY, THE CHURCH HAS THE MONEY AND SHOULD GAIN SOULS WITH IT FOR CHRIST'S KINGDOM.

OUR PASTORS DESERVE GOOD RENUMERATION, THE COST OF LIVING IN THE COUNTRY IS GETTING TOO HIGH, THE CHURCH MEMBERS ARE GROANING, THE PASTORS ARE HUNGRY IN SILENCE, PLEASE PAY OUR PASTORS WELL. ALSO, SUPPORT THE GROWTH OF ALL THE SMALLER CHURCHES AND ASSEMBLIES, ASSIST WITH BUILDINGS AND INSTRUMENTS, PROMOTE THE TALENTS IN THE CHURCH, SUPPORT THE GIFTED IN THE CHURCH. LET THE WORLD RUN BACK TO THE CHUCH TO SEE GOD AND STOP ALLOWING THE WORLD TAKEOVER THE CHURCH DUE TO HUNGER.

Thank you.

Written by Olabanji Joel Orolugbagbe

A Nurse, Writer and Socialist.