NIGERIAN PENTECOSTAL/CHARISMATIC THEOLOGY OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

An Evaluative Paper

by

Rev Sunday Bobai Agang, PhD Provost, ECWA Theological Seminary Kagoro (ETSK) Senior Lecturer in Christian Ethics and Public TheologyA Research Fellow, Langham Partnership International UK &

Ireland; and Nigerian Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Center Jos, Plateau State Nigeria

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April 2014

Abstracts

That religion has been embedded in the historical narrative of Nigeria is not in doubt. What are however in doubt are its social, moral, economic and political impacts in the public sphere. The question that Nigerians and the rest of the global community are asking is: how can Nigerian Christians translate their religious tenacity and resiliency to a social, economic, political and religious problem-solving mechanism?

This question is necessitated by the fact that since the foundingof Nigeria as a nation, Christianity and Islam are the two major foreign religions that have taken deep roots in the country. These two so-called foreign religions plus the African Traditional Religions have made Nigeria one of the religiously conscious nations of the world. And to some extent, in Christian communities across the country, both small and big entrepreneurially minded persons, name their business corporations after one of the Godhead, e.g. ‘Water of God Computer Business.’ With such vibrant religious context, one would expect religion to not only permeate all aspects of national life but have concrete influence on its social, moral, economic and political life.

It is on this basis that this paper examines Nigerian Pentecostaland Charismatic denominations, with a particular attention to therole they have played and are still playing in the public sphere.The paper recognizes that the basic obligation of Christians, according to Jesus, is to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and with all our mind, and to love our neighbor as

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ourselves (Matt. 22:37-39). But what do loving God and neighbor really entail? To love God is to commit ourselves to the fulfillment of God’s intentions for creation, in which love of neighbor is central.1 Many a Christian denomination in Nigeria tend not to realize that the implication of this intention includes a preferential option for the poor, the marginalized, and the voiceless members of society. And that it includes a commitment to a long-term promotion and support of economic justice, support for human rights, social justice, compassionate love and charity. The paper suggests that Nigeria’s religious communities must pay attention to the role of religious communities in the public sphere because God is a personal God but not a private God; and furthermore, because ‘Religion is the royal road to the heart of a civilization, the clearest indicatorof its hopes and terrors, the surest index of how it is changing.’2

To evaluate Nigerian Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations’ proactive or tangible social engagement in the public space, the paper begins with an introduction, a review of Pentecostal and Charismatic social involvement, an overview of Pentecostals’ political self-understanding and core values, an examination of the character of Pentecostal political engagement in the Nigerianpublic space and conclusion.

Introduction

The time has come that Christian denominations in Nigeria and Africa at large must ask, ‘What is the mission of the Church in Africa?’ The Cape Town Commitment reveals the grimy context whichnecessitates this question. It shows that we live in a world

1 Robert L. Strivers, Christine E. Gudorf, Alice Frazer Evans and RobertA. Evans, eds., Christian Ethics: A Case Method Approach, (New York: Orbis Books, 2000), 77.2 Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and he Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1995), 11.

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where ‘The living God is denied in aggressive atheism. The one true God is replaced or distorted in the practice of world religions. Our Lord Jesus Christ is abused and misrepresented in some popular cultures. And the face of the God of biblical revelation is obscured by Christian nominalism, syncretism and hypocrisy.’3

The primary intention of this paper is to challenge the church toits moral obligation to society by demanding an awareness of how religious orientations in the past have often determined culturalviews of work, city life, technology, cosmopolitan values, law, and political culture.4 The time Nigerian Christians came close to this awareness was in the 1970s. But they missed it by a one-sided emphasis. For example, “I Found It”, was both a political and religious statement that characterized the 1970s. That revolutionary phrase became the impetus of the current wave and growth of Pentecostalism and Charismaticism5; it is no longer news to say that since the 1970s Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have remained the fastest growing religious movements inthe world. Scholars have argued that in Africa, Nigeria is one of

3 Doug Birdsall and Lindsay Brown, Foreword, The Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and a Call to Action, The Third Lausanne Congress (Bodmin, UK: Printbridge, 2011), 11.4 Max L. Stackhouse, Dennis P. McCann, and Shirley J. Roels, eds., On Moral Business: Classical and Contemporary Resources for Ethics in Economic Life (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), 12.5 Richard Burgess, Nigeria’s Christian Revolution: The Civil War Revival and Its Pentecostal Progeny (1967-2006), (Oxford, UK: Regnum Books, 2008), 162. Richard Burgess draws our attention to the need to recognize the connection of this phenomenon as the direct result of the aftermath of the Civil War in Nigeria. He argues that the growth of Pentecostalism in Nigeria is the offshoot of the Igbo revivals of the 1970s: ‘The Biafran crisis exposed the deficiencies of existing religious options and created a favourable environment for a revival which was evangelical in its origins due to its Scripture Union roots, but quickly acquired a Pentecostal spirituality. The revival flourished because it adapted successively to new and challenging contexts. It resacralized the landscape in Christian terms by bringing renewal to existing churches, generating new theological emphases ‘from below’, and precipitating fresh mission initiatives’ (p.162).

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the countries where majority of the world’s Pentecostals and Charismatics live. Indeed, Pentecostalism is the heartbeat of contemporary religious quest in Nigeria and Africa at large. Speaking of the extraordinary and revolutionary significance of the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria, Ruth Marshall states, ‘Nigeria has been the site of Pentecostalism’s greatest explosionon the African continent, and the movement’s extraordinary growthshows no signs of slowing.’6

The church historiographer, Ogbu Kalu, has a different and positive opinion about the impact of Pentecostalism. He went on to state that Pentecostalism in Africa ‘is simultaneously intense, pervasive, and multidirectional... African religious expression is a very alive universe in which all religious forms are exploding in numerical strength and have gained a voice in the public space.’7 The purpose of this paper is not to refute these claims, but to collate, examine, evaluate, determine and document the character of Pentecostal and Charismatic theology ofpublic engagement vis-à-vis how such involvement can translate tosocial, political, religious and economic problem-solving dynamites. The paper recognizes that Pentecostalism has gained and is still gaining a voice in public life; it is seen by its practitioners as a mighty force from heaven which has come to help ordinary humans take back their land from demonic agents whoare holding it captive. We assume that the vision of total transformation—spiritual and physical—of the Nigerian society is potent in the Pentecostal and Charismatic worldviews; but its practicability in public life may be complicated and ambiguous than we may perceive. It is this lack of recognizing this dilemmathat led Matthew A. Ojo to conclude, ‘generally, leaders of Pentecostal and charismatic movements have largely responded to

6 Ruth Marshall, Political Spiritualities: The Pentecostal Revolution in Nigeria, (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2009), 13.7 Ogbu Kalu, African Pentecostalism: An Introduction, (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 193.

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political events, and have not formulated any critical opinion about governance.’8 He went on to explicate some of the contributions Pentecostals and Charismatics have made, particularly, in the three fundamental debates that have charged the polity in Nigeria from the late 1970s to the 1990s. Such debates centered on Nigeria’s political status (secularism), Shari’a criminal law, and Nigeria’s illegal membership in the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC).9 All three issues centered on what Lamin Sanneh has characterized as the Muslim conviction that ‘Islam should not be gambled with in the cause ofnational sovereignty.’10 The Pentecostals and Charismatic also have played an active role in confronting sectarian Islam, particularly during Sheik Gumi’s led Shiite radicalism. They alsospoke against the injustice of religious discrimination, especially against non-Muslim minorities in Northern Nigeria.11 Ojo went on to assert that ‘Other than in immediate crisis situations, Pentecostal and Charismatic have been concerned about

8 Matthew A. Ojo, “Pentecostal Public Accountability,” Ogbomosho Journal of Theology, Vol. XIII (1) 2008, 112. Apparently, there is overwhelming evidence that the Pentecostals and Charismatics have made some landmark contributions to the stability of the country. But how concrete and sustainable have such contributions been? Can they say with Job I have lived in a country of corruption and violence, ‘Yet my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure?’ Is the vision and mission of transforming society limited to the church leadership or trickled down to the grassroots? These questions are raised because of our recognitionthat to bring shalom transformation in a society requires a more robust way of doing Christian discipleship whose primary aims will include raising Christians with a vibrant personal faith in Christ who will always and intentionally reflect their Christian values and virtues in public life. 9 Toyin Falola, Violence in Nigeria: The Crisis of Religious Politics and Secular Ideologies (Rochester: University of Rochester, 1998), 47.10 Lamin Sanneh, ‘Shariah sanctions as secular grace? A Nigerian Islamicdebate and intellectual response’, Transformation, vol. 20, no. 4, October 2003, 236 cited by Ebenezer Obadare, “In search of a public sphere: the fundamentalist challenge to civil society in Nigeria” Patterns of Prejudice, Vo. 38, No. 2, 2004, 181.11 Ojo, “Pentecostal Public Accountability,” p.120.

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the socio-political and economic situations of the country; [and some to extent] they have sought to intervene.’12

In spite of the above mentioned views, this paper’s idea of public life is not limited to the political sphere. Rather it encompasses all of human endeavors which need to be brought underthe reign of God and the service of humanity and the entire creation. In a socially and economically corrupt society, the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in Nigeria need a concrete grasp of what Christian theology and Christology entail. When mention is made of our interaction or union with God, we need to remember that it means holiness must be the bond. A clear grasp of this bond can inspire ‘the love of righteousness [and justice]to which we are by no means naturally incline.’13 According to thepioneer of modern democracy, John Calvin, that implies that ‘if the Lord adopts us for his sons [and daughters] on the condition that our life be a representation of Christ, the bond of our adoption,—then, unless we dedicate and devote ourselves to righteousness, we not only, with the utmost perfidy, revolt from our Creator, but also abjure the Savior himself.’14

Because of Christ’s salvific work on the cross, God has claimed us as his sons and daughters. By implication ‘God exhibited himself to us as a Father.’ It is therefore appropriate for us asChristians to equally reciprocate God’s gesture to us by exhibiting ourselves as his children not only in private life butalso in our public life.15 To use the language of Walter Wink,

12 Ojo, “Pentecostal Public Accountability,” p.121. He recognizes that Pentecostals and Charismatic are still captive to “the linkage of the secular and the sacred.,” p.123.13 John Calvin, “The moral Law and the Christian Life” On Moral Business: Classical and Contemporary Resources for Ethics in Economic Life, edited by Max L. Stackhouse, Denniss P. McCann, and Shirley J. Roels, with Preston N. Williams (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), 182.14 Calvin, “The moral Law and the Christian Life” On Moral Business, 182.15 Calvin, “The moral Law and the Christian Life” On Moral Business, 182.

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public space includes both the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ reality of life. It is about consciously, concretely and tangibly engaging the powers that be in society as a whole. 16 It begins with the church ability to find its place in society as it obeys the biblical injunction, ‘Go and make disciples of all [or all spheres of] nations…’ (Matthew 28:19-20).

A Review of Pentecostal and Charismatic Social Involvement in Nigeria

When one looks at some of the realities of the Nigerian society, one can easily give up on the role of Pentecostal and Charismaticdenominations in public life. But there is something that resamples ‘a cloud as small as a man’s hand ….’ (1 Kings 18:44) emanating from the Pentecostal and Charismatic apparent public engagement. It is presently insignificant because it is one-sided. This one-sided approach is rooted in the assumption that “by replacing one wet-fingered politician with another, we can change our society.”17 But one of the important lessons we can glean from the practitioners of tangible social change, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, is ‘they knew that youdon’t change a society by merely replacing one wet-fingered politician with another. You change a society by changing the wind.’18 They also knew that you do not change a society by focusing on humanitarian activities or charity, which tends to perpetuate the culture of dependency.

Generally, what Pentecostal and Charismatic churches do in Nigeria stops at the level of charity and humanitarian actions. But as we shall explain in this paper, charity is only one aspect

16 Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 3. Here Wink argues, ‘The powers possess outer, physical manifestation (buildings, portfolios, personnel, trucks,fax machines) and an inner spiritual, or corporate culture, or collective personality…. The powers, properly speaking, are not just thespirituality of institutions, but their outer manifestations as well.’17 Jim Wallis, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It: A New Vision for Faith and Politics in America (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 22.18 Wallis, God’s Politics, 22.

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of public engagement. If any Christian denomination must make enduring and tangible impacts in the Nigerian society, issues bordering on public policies, understanding, confronting and dismantling systemic structures of social and economic injustices, and grasping issues of Christian love and just-peacemaking and so on, are equally public matters that it cannot afford to ignore.

In 2011, the Nigerian Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Center, Jos, Plateau State, undertook a survey of the presence and activities of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches across thecountry. The study focused on three basic areas: Pentecostal and Charismatic profile, phenomenon and socio-economic and socio-political involvement in society. The writer of this paper participated in the group that focused on Pentecostal and Charismatic socioeconomic and sociopolitical involvements. In thecourse of carrying out the survey, the group gathered that there were basically two different strands of Pentecostals and Charismatics—conservative and liberals (progressives)—in Nigeria.Some of the conservative Pentecostals and Charismatics are still apolitical while some of the progressives show some signs of public awareness and social activism.

The Apostolic Church of Nigeria is a typical example of a conservative Pentecostal church. On 28/07/2011, my team visited the Territory Headquarters at Lawna International Convention Ground, Olurunda-Ketu, Ebute-Meta, Lagos. One of the apostles of the church was interviewed. He told the team that the headquarterchurch was founded in 1972. The church does not encourage its members to participate in politics. The reason is that politics is ‘a dirty game.’ Thus the church sanctions and disciplines any ordained pastor who ventures into politics. In term of politics, the much the church can do is to encourage her members to vote. The argument use against political involvement is that the Bible says, ‘We are in the world but not of the world.’ The church doesnot believe in modern medicine. Rather, she believes in divine healing. And therefore she does not encourage members to take modern medicine or to set up hospitals. But the church is

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involved in other forms of social services such as sending funds to orphanages and other charitable organizations in Nigeria.19

A review of some of the current theological climate of Pentecostal and Charismatic social practices below demonstrate some remarkable signs of hope. But because of their emphasis on an aspect of the gospel that tends to place premium on ‘prosperity,’ these moves are still in their embryo. Furthermore,the size of the Nigerian society makes their social efforts insignificant and fuzzy. Therefore, at this junction suffice it to ask: What specifically do ‘Progressive-Pentecostals and Charismatics’ do that show a shift in their social and political discourses?

(1) Progressive-Pentecostalism/Charismaticism is injecting a newway of viewing the Christian life.

Apparently, there are deliberate and intentional moves to engage in public discourse. For example, in an interview with Rev. Dr. William Okoye, the pastor and founder of All Christian FellowshipMission (ACFM) Abuja, on 01/08/2011, our team learned how he and his church spearheaded research that unraveled the secrecy of Islamic Banking in Nigeria and thereby provided helpful information about the real issue at stake in Islamic Banking. Theresult of their research came after the national house of representative ignorantly endorsed the idea of Islamic Banking without carefully debating it and understanding the issues and implications involved. However, with their findings, the issue was brought back to the table for debate. This put ACFM on the frontline of attacks. Consequently, the Islamic sect, Boko Haram,attacked one of his churches in Suleja in April 2011.20 The willingness and courage of some Pentecostal churches to pay the price for political involvement shows a shift in political thinking. (2) Collaboration with governmentSome Pentecostal churches are doing what other churches and communities usually ignore on the pretext that it is the

19 Personal interview 28/07/2011 with Pastor Jacob Akiyemi Akintola, whowas on transfer to one of the districts based in Ibadan. 20 Personal interview conducted on 01/08/2011 with Rev. Dr. William Okoye of All Christian Fellowship Mission, Abuja.

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government’s responsibility to ensure the availability of basic social amenities to the citizenry. In our team’s interview with Bishop John Praise Best of Dominion Chapel, Abuja, he told the team that his local church single- handedly constructed and tarred a road and also sank a borehole in the community to provide water free of charge. The church is doing these out of the realization that she is supposed to collaborate with the government in providing social services to the community. These acts of service is also seen as a wonderful expression of their love to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and their neighbors.21

(3) Conversion is no longer seen as a private decision and practice without public implications.

Some neo-Pentecostal churches and organizations in Nigeria are no longer satisfied with converting and preparing members only for the world to come, but also for this life. This shift in thinking has necessitated the collapsing of the dichotomy betweenthe secular and the sacred. Essien A. Offiong (1999:39) observes,‘These new churches and organizations have had far-reaching effect on the religious and social life of Nigeria. Pentecostalism has, through its beliefs, teachings, practices andattitude influenced other institutions of life in the country…. Pentecostalism acts as agent of social change.’ Their major motivation is the fact that the Great Commission enjoined Christians to disciple nations. Therefore, individuals are saved for the transformation of whole nations.

(4) Pentecostal churches’ Specific involvement in the social life of the community

As our team embarked on research on Pentecostal involvement in social life, we discovered a shining light of hope. For instance,in the team interview with the founder of Guiding Light Assembly Lagos, Parkview Estate Laki, Ikoyi, Lagos, on 29/09/011, Pastor Wale Adefarasin, a businessman turned pastor, told the team that his local church has realized that “government cannot do it all. The church must participate with God in providing social servicesto humanity.” It is this realization that has led the church to social action. The church has identified a community in Lagos andis doing several things to transform it. Obalande community in

21 Personal Interview on 31/07/2011 with Apostle John Praise Best of Dominion Chapel, Garki Area One, Abuja.

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Lagos is a community of small businesses, tailoring and yan suya (those selling barbeque meats), harlotry, and so on. The church provides feeding, boreholes, garbage containers, renovation of dilapidated school buildings in the community, sending the children to school, providing food to the aged and medical services to the community. The church does not discriminate in its distribution of essential materials. Food distribution is both raw and cooked. It is done street by street and house by house. Beneficiaries are documented. He further observed that because ‘the church is the engine of change, the light needs to expunge the darkness.’ To do this, ‘We [Christians] need to encourage the members to go into politics.” He sees danger comingif the church does not get it right: ‘The loss of sound biblical values will destroy our country.’22

Furthermore, his engagement in socio-political issues was not outof ignorant. He is aware of this fact: The political terrain in Nigeria is very corrupt and has no room for godliness.23 This realization has caused the church to step up its effort toward preparing members to be agents of transformation in society, resulting in the church actively training members for political activism. In helping government to fight corruption, the church is not justconcerned about those who are in politics but all those who find themselves in public life in general. ‘The church is God’s agent of transformation. Therefore, the church should encourage her members to carry God to the market, business, politics or any human endeavor….’24 To inject biblical vision and virtue into themindset of the members, the pastor explained how his church oftenorganized seminars and workshops. For example, one was titled: ‘Church for change: Good governance.’ Five hundred leaders both within and outside the church attended the seminar. These leaders

22 Personal interview on 29/09/2011 with Pastor Wale Adefarasin of Guiding Light Assembly Lagos, Parkview Estate Laki, Ikoyi, Lagos.23 Personal interview on 29/09/2011 with Pastor Wale Adefarasin of Guiding Light Assembly Lagos, Parkview Estate Laki, Ikoyi, Lagos.24 Personal interview on 29/09/2011 with Pastor Wale Adefarasin of Guiding Light Assembly Lagos, Parkview Estate Laki, Ikoyi, Lagos.

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were trained on what to expect in public life.25 The above case studies underscore specific things some of the Pentecostal churches interviewed are doing to change the sociopolitical landscape of Nigeria.

Pentecostals’ and Charismatics’ Contribution to the Development of Democracy in NigeriaFrom the above review, it seems appropriate to conclude that Pentecostalism and Charismaticism are apparently all encompassing. Taking the above reports at their face value, the movements affect every facet of the Nigerian economy. It has gained access to the religious and political sphere of the nation. It seems its self-understanding as a ‘God-sent’ agent of change and of ‘meeting human basic needs’ has enabled it to politically influence society on a deeper level. In his article ‘Evangelicals and Politics in the Third World”26 Paul Freston writes: ‘The training needed for the third-world church now is not so much the conventional pastoral and evangelistic training but the formation of people who can interface with society in various areas of expertise.’27 Freston is suggesting a sort of discipleship training of members in local congregations which canhelp them effectively engage and transform the public space of the Nigerian society. Danladi Musa states, ‘It is now generally accepted that one of the main ways that Christians can positivelyinfluence the society and make a difference is to get involved inpolitics, business and social action. By so doing, Christians will truly become the light and salt of the society.’28 This begs the question, how democratic is the Pentecostal pastors’ political involvement?

25 Personal interview on 29/09/2011 with Pastor Wale Adefarasin of Guiding Light Assembly Lagos, Parkview Estate Laki, Ikoyi, Lagos.26 Moses Olatunde Oladeji, Understanding the Pentecostal Movement, (Ibadan: Bounty Press Ltd, 2005), 25.27 David P. Gushee, ed., Christians and Politics Beyond Cultures of War, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000), 105.28 Danladi Musa, Christians in Politics: How can they Be Effective? (Bukuru, Plateau State: African Christian Textbook [ACTS], 2009), 35.

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Progressive Pentecostal pastors believe that evangelism and mission go hand in glove with social involvement.29 The team interviewed the General Oversea of Ever Increasing Anointing Ministry International, Olabisi Olaitan Street Omolade Bus Stop Off Lasu Isheri Expressway Egan Lagos on 28/07/2011. Pastor TaiyeEmmanuel Olayemi told the team that his ministry has existed for 16 years. The church is involved in the following social actions:supply of borehole water which the neighborhood has free access to and grading of the access road leading to the church and community. In terms of political involvement, he said that he encourages his members to go into politics because “when the righteous rule the people rejoice” and that Christians are the salt of the world, and finally, it is only when Christians participate in voting that they can freely talk to the elected officials.30

The founder of Gospel Light Redemption Church Garki Abuja, Rev.

Oriakhia Isaac said that the political terrain in Nigeria has no

platform of godliness. Yet leaving it in the hands of unbelievers

will make matters worse. As a result of the pastor’s

encouragement, the Church has a serving senator in the present

administration of President Jonathan. Isaac told the team that he

encouraged his members to vote for Jonathan. The Church is also

teaching the members biblical values in our Churches. Pastor Ben

Nkonya Arabo, Beacon of Light Assembly Church, Garki Abuja

encourages his members to exercise their civic responsibility by

voting into power credible Nigerians. Over the years, he has

discovered that the problem most members face when it comes to

29 Miller E. Donald and Tetsumao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement, (Berkeley, Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2007), 125.30 Personal interview on 28/07/2011 with Pastor Taiye Emmanuel Olayemi of Ever Increasing Anointing Ministry International Olabisi Olaitan Street Omolade Bus Stop Off Lasu Isheri Expressway Egan Lagos.

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election is they hardly know the issues. He believes that

teaching people sound biblical principles will help them to know

what questions to ask when it comes to electing credible members

of society to elective positions. He said, ‘We need to teach

people how to demonstrate God’s kingdom values on earth—love,

justice, mercy, compassion, and so on.’ These core values, when

adhered to, will transform the Nigerian society which is always

characterized by “self-interest and the desire and will for

power.’31

Theological Motivation for Pentecostals’ and Charismatics’ Political InvolvementIt was Oliver O’Donovan who said that ‘the church in each age, lacking a political conceptuality that is native to it, simply deploys those current concepts which fit best its present tasks of worship, ministry and proclamation.’32 In view of such similar problem in the Pentecostals and Charismatics’ current situation, the big question we must answer is, why do some Pentecostals and Charismatics who at first were apolitical suddenly became interest in politics? Undoubtedly, Charismatics and Pentecostals’core values of evangelism, mission and social involvement have together resulted in its explosive growth beyond the shores of Nigeria. The Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in Nigeria apparently pay attention to ‘a holistic vision of ministry.’ However, some of them seem to assume that if they are engaged in humanitarian activities or telling members to participate in politics or vote in an election, that is enough evidence of social and public activism.

For Nigerian Pentecostals and Charismatics to be effective in public life, beyond charity and telling people to vote, they must

31 Niebuhr, Children of Light, 9.32 Oliver O’Donovan, The Desire of the Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 15.

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realize the inexhaustible power of Christianity. Luke account of Jesus’ resurrection has it that ‘after his suffering…. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.’ (Acts 1:3) For Jesus Christ, what is at stake isthe rule or reign of God in this broken and decaying world. To bring about the workings of the Kingdom of God requires a power that is more than flesh and blood: The Holy Spirit. Luke characteristically stresses the Holy Spirit’s work and enabling power (Acts 1:8; 2:4, 17; 4:8,31; 6:3,5; 7:55; 8:16; 9:17, 31; 10:44; 13:2, 4; 15:28; 16:6; 19:2,6). By combining the subject ofthe Kingdom of God and the need to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3-5), Luke draws our attention to the fact that God gave the Church the Holy Spirit not just for leading unbelievers to faith in Christ and raising an alternative community—the redeemed community—but also for the transformation of systemic structures of social injustices. As her master, the Church needs to talk about the kingdom of God—the rule and reign of God in all spheres of creation. God’s rule and reign is both in the church and in the world. The idea of the Kingdom of God gives the Church a profound public perspective: God is the ultimate Governor. That is:

God is the ultimate source of the principles of all good government for the well-being of society.

To know God enables us to understand and influence our society.

We must pray, rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and work with God for a better society.

If we harmonize with His principles, God will bless our nation with peace and prosperity, but if we do not, God willjudge our nation.33

The spirit of public engagement is the spirit that knows the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit. He is given to enable Christians not only to lead unbelievers to Christ but to make such redeemed individuals agents of social change not only in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria but also ‘to the end of the earth.’ It means ‘to grasp the principles by which God rules the nations of the world—in blessing and in judgment;’ It also means, ‘That

33 Tokunboh Adeyemo, ed., Christian Leaders in Society: Making a Difference, (Kenya: Association of Evangelicals in Africa, 1997), 5.

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more Christians will bring the whole of their lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ—to pray and work for the principles God wants in our society.’34 That realization starts with recognizing that all human beings deeply value a present life that holds hopefor a pain-free future. Human hope is generally rooted in the ability to meaningfully participate in the affairs of ones’ society and generation as a dignified human being. Vernon E. Light writes, ‘Humans sense that they must have purpose in life, a purpose that includes playing a part in restoring the world towards its intended purpose and design. Christianity through its‘Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate,’ godly living and eschatology, offers such a life-purpose…. It would be difficult to find a more significant, purposeful, meaningful and hopeful life than the redeemed, God-centered life offered in true Christianity.’35 He summarized the inexhaustible power of Christianity thus: ‘Christianity provides the key to understanding the realities and mysteries of life and the universe.’36 This key is embedded in the Bible. Light went on to explain, ‘The story-line of the Bible is about morally transforming individuals and through them society.’37 If truly inner and divine transformation has taken place in a human’s lifeit must bear fruit horizontally and vertically (upward and outward).

Some students of the Charismatic and Pentecostal phenomena in Nigeria have argued that the Charismatic and Pentecostals’ idea of a second divine touch or inspiration is emanating from their re-reading of Scripture.38 For example, the Nigerian born Bishop Sunday Adelaja of Ukraine believes that God’s intention in this world is the transformation of individual lives who will in turn

34 Adeyemo, Christian Leaders in Society, 3.35 Vernon E. Light, Transforming The Church in Africa: A New Contextually-Relevant Discipleship Model, (South Africa: South African Theological Seminary Press, 2012), 26.36 Light, Transforming The Church in Africa, 27.37 Light, Transforming The Church in Africa, 24.38 See Chima J. Korieh and G. Ugo Nwokeji, eds., Religion, History, and Politics inNigeria: Essays in Honor of Ogbu U. Kalu, (Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Oxford: University Press of America, Inc, 2005), J. Rodman Williams, Renewal Theology: Systematic Theology from a Charismatic Perspective, Three Volume in One, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996);

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transform whole nations. Adelaja states, “As believers, our firstcalling is to be part of the master’s plan. National transformation is at the heart of the Great commission. It is theprimary calling of everyone who follows Christ.”39 Conceivably, itis this self-understanding of the church’s mission that has helped Adelaja to transform Ukraine and to influence world politics. In view of Adelaja’s foregoing argument, certain key principles drive the political vision of Pentecostals:

(1) The Great Commission happens outside the church. Ministry is what you do to bring your life and sphere of influence under kingdom rule.40

(2) God holds the church responsible for societies.41

(3) The church is responsible to train us to be Christ-like, to embody Jesus and His principles, so that in every life we may operate from a godly perspective. That’s what the church is for. That’s why we come to church on Sunday. That’s why we preach, teach, and worship together.42

Adelaja’s starting point is the Great Commission. In it, he rediscovered the fact that God cares about nations, not just the individuals in it. His reflection on Matthew 28:19-20 gives him athick understanding of the Great Commission. He writes, “The Bible is very clear: God wants to redeem nations. His redemptive work on the cross is for nations and individuals. That’s why he said to go preach the gospel to all nations and to disciple nations. God eagerly awaits the redemption of nations.”43 Adelaja’s emphasis on the kingdom of God has been impacting some Nigerian Pentecostal pastors. For example, Pastor Yinka Ojo sees the concept of the kingdom of God as a strategy for society transformation: the church transforming every sphere of society, including the market place. Ojo writes, ‘God wants to invade the market place with His kingdom through His children. The market places of this world are the avenues, locations and positions

39 Sunday Adelaja, Church Shift: Revolutionizing Your Faith Church and Life for the 21st Century, (Florida: Charisma House, a Strange company, 2008), xxvii.40 Adelaja, Church Shift, 10.41 Adelaja, Church Shift, 11.42 Adelaja, Church Shift, 11.43 Adelaja, Church Shift, 17.

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where the people in their public life meet to interact and do business. This terrain is certainly outside of the four walls of our local church assemblies.’44

Another motivation is the belief in the anointing of the Holy Spirit and what such anointing can do to a society. ‘The anointing is…not an emblem; it is an instrument for triumph,’ says David Oyedepo.45 In other words, it is meant to enable Christians to accomplish things that ordinary people cannot accomplish. Oyedepo states:

The time has come for the Spirit to dwell in us so much thatwe live perpetually under the influence of His anointing. Then shall we begin to do things that will make people wonder at us. Our results will be so staggering that men will be confounded. God desires that you and I become amazement to our world, just as it was with Jesus, who afterthe Holy Ghost descended on Him, the eyes of all men were fixed on Him. The eyes of all men will be fixed on us because of the exploits we will be doing. Men will come to recognize our new power and status....46

The idea of doing exploits in the world motivates the Pentecostals to participate in affairs of their nation. Oyedepo’sdefinition is not limited to the four walls of the church but to every sphere of human endeavor, and that includes politics. Although the political impact of the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches is not yet felt in Nigeria as it is in Ukraine, the Nigerian Pentecostals and Charismatics believe that they are attempting great things for God in a corrupt and decaying society. For example, (1) Some of them continue to influence whathappens at the grassroots of the Nigeria economy through proactive social involvement in their communities. (2) The political class patronizes their faith-prayer houses. For example, some Christian governors in Nigeria go to Throneroom International Ministry, Inc, Kafanchan at the end of the month to

44 Ojo, The Kingdom and the Market Place, 13.45 David Oyedepo, Anointing for Exploits, (Lagos: Dominion Publishing House, 2005), 559.46 Oyedepo, Anointing for Exploits, 560-1.

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be prayed for. In spite of all these positive things, I agree with some scholars who honestly believe that given their size andinfluence in Nigeria, the potential of the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches for grassroots political mobilization is notyet realized.47 There is still some persistent ambiguity in their theology of public morality.

The Persistent Ambiguity of Public Morality

The problem of ambiguity is not only true in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches but a general cancer across denominations. Public discourses are often obscured by ambiguous and paradoxicalperception of morality. Compartmentalization of morality has led to unnecessary hair splitting. Consequently David Hollenback points out that ‘the beginning of the twenty-first century confronts all religious communities with a fundamental challenge:how to relate their distinctive visions of the good human life with the growing awareness that all persons are linked in a web of global interdependence.’48 This situation, described by David Hollenback, requires Christians to be very clear about their moral and ethical obligation to the world. However, given that, like their Western Christian counterparts, many Nigerian Christians have been deeply influenced by the Greco-Roman dualistic and general perspective on morality (the platonic unnecessary separation of body from soul, matter from spirit, thesecular from the sacred), their perception of public life has largely remained obscured and ambiguous.

This ambiguity is informed by the fact that there is a significant tension between private and public morality. To resolve this tension is not impossible but it is difficult. This difficulty has led to varying conclusions. John A. Ryan has noted

47 Samuel Waje Kunhiyop, African Christian Ethics, (Nairobi Kenya: HippoBooks, 2008), 157-160,48 David Hollenback, The Global Face of Public Faith: Politics, Human Rights, and Christian Ethics, (Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 20003), 3.

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that evangelical Christians tend to argue that ‘the church is notmerely nor mainly a social reform organization, nor is it her primary mission to reorganize society, or to realize the Kingdom of God upon earth. [Rather] her primary sphere is the individual soul; her primary object is to save souls, that is, to fit them for the Kingdom of God in heaven.’49 A corollary conclusion is that ‘politics is a dirty game.’ Dennis F. Thompson observed thatin its classic formulation in the thought of Machiavelli, the problem of ‘dirty hands’ poses a conflict between two moralities—one suited for ordinary life, the other for political life. On the question of whether this conflict can be resolved, Machiavelli is ambiguous in a way that foreshadows the subsequentdispute about the problem of dirty hands. Thompson goes on to saythat sometimes Machiavelli suggests that political morality not only differs from, but in its sphere completely replaces, ordinary morality.50 He argues that the good of the state (and thevirtue of the prince) calls for ‘something resembling vice,’ while ‘something resembling virtue’ may bring about its ruin. On this view, political morality fully justifies the (apparent) immorality of the means necessary to secure the ends of the state. ‘When the act accuses, the result excuses.’51 Thompson therefore concluded that when a politician faces a conflict between ordinary and political morality in any particular case, he can resolve it completely by applying the appropriate principles of political morality.52 In this mood, Machiavelli shares with many modern moral philosophers what may be called a coherency view of the problem. That is, the recognition that there is no ultimate conflict between principles. Either one coherent morality applies to both private and public life, or oneapplies exclusively to private and the other exclusively to

49 John A. Ryan, “The Church and the Workingman” On Moral Business, 298.50 Dennis F. Thompson, Political Ethics and Public Office, (Cambridge, Massachusettsand London, England: Harvard University Press, 1987), 12.51 Thompson, Political Ethics and Public Office, 12.52 Thompson, Political Ethics and Public Office, 12.

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public life.53 If the church must make a difference in society it must recognize the interdependence of the so-called private and public morality. This is one of the reasons why the Pentecostals and Charismatic were apolitical at their inception. Has the situation change? If yes, what are the evidences? An overview of Pentecostalism and Charismaticism in Nigeria will help us grasp how the Pentecostals and Charismatics understand their place in society.

An Overview of Pentecostalism and Charismaticism Self-understanding of Public Life

It could be argued that since African Pentecostalism and Charismaticism originated from the African Christian experience and encounter with Western Christianity, its public involvement cannot be limited to the political sphere only. In the real senseof African worldviews, there is no such thing like the dichotomy between the secular and the sacred, the church and state. The historiographer, Ogbu Kalu states that ‘Pentecostalism is often treated as a social movement, and it certainly fits that characterization.’54 He argued that African Pentecostalism is unique. It is a home-grown movement, ‘made in Nigeria’ movement, so to speak. Some of its groups were formed in reaction to the Western missionary Christian enterprise in Africa that uprooted Africans from their rich cultural heritage and left them danglingin mid-air. In other words, African Pentecostalism is a reaction to western missionary church policies in Africa.

The fact that some of the Pentecostal and Charismatic groups originated in Nigeria do not necessary makes it true that they understand the public implication of their faith. Second, that

53 Thompson, Political Ethics and Public Office, 12.54 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, xiii. “Exercising a measure of agency, African Christians absorbed new resources generated internally and externally in reshaping their histories.” (p.170)

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does not preclude the fact that there were indirectly influenced by Western missionary Christianity which has found roots in Africa before the Pentecostal phenomenon broke out in Nigeria. According to Musa Gaiya, African Pentecostalism is ‘by all standards, an outgrowth from missionary Christianity.’55 But we must observe that there is a part of the movement that is indigenously and independently initiated. Kalu is aware that there are two types of Pentecostals and Charismatics: Those who have Western missionary contact and those who do not. But in arguing that it is uniquely a Nigerian initiative, outside of theAzusa episode, he is critiquing the work of scholars56 who often argue that African Pentecostalism resulted from Azusa Street revival.57 In some ways, Kalu’s argument is reinforced by Paul Gifford who asserts that African Pentecostalism is attractive to Africans because Pentecostals claim to have the answers to peoples’ existential problems and especially to their most pressing existential problem, economic survival. 58 I will argue that Nigeria’s Pentecostals have this claim and even more. An overview of how Pentecostals view the public space illustrates this salient truth.

55 Musa A. B. Gaiya, “The Pentecostal Revolution in Nigeria”, Occasionalpaper, Center of African Studies, University of Copenhagen, 12th October, 2001, pp,1, 13.56 Dario Lopez Rodriguez, ‘Pentecostal Identity, Diversity and Public Witness: a Critical Review of Allan Anderson’s An Introduction to Pentecostalism’ Journal of Pentecostal Theology 16.1 (2007), 54.57 See Rijk van Dijk, Christian Fundamentalism in Sub-Saharan Africa and “Time andTranscultural Technologies of the Self in the Ghanaian Pentecostal Diaspora”, in Between Babel and Pentecost. Transnational Pentecostalism in Africa and Latin America, (eds.) André Corten and Ruth Marshall-Fratani, London: Hurst & Co., 2001, pp. 216-34; André Droogers, “Globalization and Pentecostal Success”, in Between Babel and Pentecost,(eds.) Corten and Marshall-Fratani, pp. 41-61; Gerrie ter Haar, Halfway to Paradise. African Christians in Europe, Cardiff: Cardiff Academic Press, 1998.58 Paul Gifford, Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy,(Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004), ix.

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Nigerian Pentecostal and Charismatic perceptions of public life must be examined on their own terms. Any attempt to fit this definition into western mode of understanding the public life will fail to grasp the depth of the Pentecostals and Charismatics’ involvement in public life or limit it to what happens in the political spheres. Generally, African Pentecostalism has grown because it is culturally fitted into indigenous worldviews and its willingness to pay attention and respond to the questions that are raised within the interior of those worldviews.

Nigeria’s Pentecostals and Charismatics have been attempting to respond to Nigeria’s challenges in diverse ways. Kalu identifies three interpenetrative publics which they respond to: ‘The village public, the emergent urban public, and the Western publicthat is represented by Multinational Corporation and international institutions.’ 59 In each of these publics, the Pentecostals and Charismatic primary task is rooted in their overall perception of the mission of the church, which includes, among other things, conversion of unbelievers and the uprooting of spiritual forces of darkness that are at work in public systems, structures and institutions. It is on this basis that economic and political bondage are also seen as an obstacle to human flourishing: Freedom from all that oppresses is the goal oflife. This is not only a major reason why people are attracted tothe movement, but also ‘the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements[have] created new theological and ideological discourse by bringing the concept of evil and spiritual warfare onto the agenda of political discourse, and thus consolidating new forms of religious expression and political understanding.’ 60

First, in addressing the village public, the movement speaks the language of the African mindset derived from the general

59 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 169-170.60 Ojo, “Pentecostal Public Accountability,” p.124.

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worldview of what constitutes reality. Their worships are characterized by renunciation of the ancient covenants their fore-parents made with the devil and breaking them down with a view of not only taking over the land, but also taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ’s Lordship. Thisliturgical stance is also seen as a reaction to the activities ofWestern mission Christianity.61 That is to say, due largely to their focus on the village public, Pentecostalism and Charismaticism in Africa pay close and careful attention to the African worldviews. They take seriously the African mindset.62

Second, in dealing with the emergent urban public, African Pentecostalism is fully aware that every African is rooted in his/her cultural contexts to the extent that no amount of Westerneducation can erode the traditional beliefs that determine people’s daily life. According to Kalu, the Pentecostals’ effort to rid society of the schemes of the devil has led to the creation of a niche.63 He further explains that ‘The argument hereis that Pentecostalism is, in fact, colored by the texture of theAfrican soil and derives idiom, nurture, and growth from its interior. It does not merely adapt, it gestates the resources of externality, transforming it to serve its needs.’64 In other words, Pentecostals involvement in urban public life is rooted in

61 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 174.62 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 175. Kalu speaks of the Pentecostal reconstruction of the primal worldviews: ‘The Pentecostal goes through life keenly aware of the presence of evil forces just as the African does. Life is secured through a good relationship with the supernatural.The Bible, for instance, prescribes both obedience and active maintenance of the covenant with God; it, therefore, contains a diatribeagainst the competing covenants with other gods. These are imaged as snares and, therefore, the need for testing of spirits. The promise of land was a key component of the covenant. Similarly, when there is a drought or famine or social distress, Africans look to the land and to their relationship with the earth deity because the earth deity sustainsthe economic and moral order. The Pentecostals do likewise: They bring to the problem the importance of the land among the Israelites.’

63 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 175.64 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 189.

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their ability to take the African map of the universe seriously, by actually acknowledging that it is redeemable ‘to the praise ofhis [God] glory.’ To take captive the urban realm and make it obedience to Christ, ‘They deploy four strategies: adopt a posture of spiritual warfare, use the covenant imagery to describe the relationship between human beings and the gods, explore swaths of resonance between the Bible and African indigenous worldview, and reinvent a theology that reclaims God’srule over the whole inhabited earth.’ 65

Thirdly, in addressing Western public—political involvement—‘Pentecostal political theology and practice reflect its responses to African political culture.’66 In speaking of scholarship on the Pentecostal political involvement, Kalu identifies two approaches: instrumentalist discourse and functionalist discourse. He privileges the functionalist discourse because, ‘the practice is a response to the substratum of African political culture.’ 67 By this assertion, Kalu is arguing that African Pentecostalism is not here to serve a different purpose or agenda than the African purpose.

Kalu’s assertion here is based on the contemporary situation of Pentecostalism. We are sure he is aware that in the beginning of the movement, it was apolitical. There were many reasons for thisstance, which Matthew S. Clark et al have identified. Firstly, there was no organized body to speak on political issues on

65 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 178-9.66 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 187.67 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 189. According to Kalu, it is a lack of this understanding that it used to be falsely asserted that: ‘Pentecostals are apolitical; that it ignores the issues of social justice and inequities in the political structures and focuses its message on the message…. Another perspective is that African Pentecostalism is the religious face of modernity in which issues of political exclusion, frustrated economic aspirations, and overburdened kinship networks are confronted and renegotiated. It is said that Pentecostalism is a religion for the upwardly mobile, young, urban, educated generation who deploy it as an instrument to contest the constrains of ancient traditions.’

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behalf of the Pentecostals. Occasionally, individual pastors tooka political stand on issue of social concern that affected their local congregation. Secondly, Pentecostals’ priority was usually the conversion of a lost world. They did not want anything to distract them from that focus. Thirdly, conversion was interpreted as a ‘break’ from the world of sin and death.68 Fourthly, in many countries of the world, Pentecostal and movements were held in suspicion; they were seen as grassroots movement that was capable of undermining the political status quo.69 For example, Clark et al cited Wedenoja (1980:41) who maintained: ‘Pentecostalism is a subtle revolution that induces agreat number of social, cultural and psychological changes…. Its this-world theology rejects the status quo and preaches that a millennial revolution will elevate Pentecostals above the “ungodly”—the large land-owners, businessmen and politicians.’70 Clark et al conclude,

Although the impact of Pentecostal has sociopolitical dimensions, its maintenance of thedistinction between church and world leads it into a largely passive role as far as politicsitself is concerned. It is where secular powers (as embodied in the state or against the state) perceive that they are engaged in a battle for the hearts and minds of the people that challenge of Pentecost is realized as a threat, and that the Pentecostal experience ofsecular processes in human society becomes hat of oppression. To be “free indeed”, as the Master was here on earth, apparently confers the concomitant distinction of being hated as he was hated!71

Similarly, Ruth Marshall quoted Pastor Ojewale’s 1990 radical call to prayer, which we cite in part as follows:

The warfare we are presently engaged in is the battle of translating the victory of Jesus over the devil into the

68 John A. Ryan, “The Church and the Workingman” On Moral Business: Classical and Contemporary Resources for Ethics in Economic Life, edited by Max L. Stackhouse, Dennis P. McCann, and Shirley J. Roels, (Grand Rapids: WB Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), 298. 69 Matthew S. Clark, Henry I. Lederle et al, eds., What is Distinctive about Pentecostal Theology? (Pretoria: University of South Africa, 1989), 85-87.70 W. Wedenoja, Modernization and the Pentecostal Movement in Jamaica, (Glazier 1980), 41, cited in Clark et al, What is Distinctive about Pentecostal Theology, 87.71 Clark et al, What is Distinctive about Pentecostal Theology, 90.

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everyday, natural realities of our personal lives and also of ourpolitical, religious, economic and social systems. It is a battleof reclamation: to reclaim from the devil what he illegally holdsin his control…. It is a warfare. But we on the winning side. This is the time to muster the army—the Lord’s army. Here is a clarion call to battle…. We are disadvantaged if we lean on carnal weapons. Prayer—militant, strategic and aggressive prayer—must be our weapon of warfare at this time…. Nigeria is indeed poised for a revival of an unprecedented dimension. You and I are active participants in what God is about to do….’72

The main conviction that caused the Pentecostals at the beginningof the movement to be apolitical was their apocalyptic stance. Pastor Ojewale’s prayer was motivated by apocalyptic dreams. JohnMills work identified three fundamental features of Pentecost, which are included in modern day Pentecostalism’s worldview: the notion of ‘break’, or ‘radical reversal’, the reality of hope (expectation of Christ’s return) which makes sense of secular history and faith; and a sense that all of humanity and nature are mutually involved in progress toward the apocalyptical end.’73

This understanding and interpretation of the purpose of Christianlife inhibited their political involvement at the beginning. Pentecostal involvement was largely characterized by political polemics.74

Determining the Character of Nigeria’s Pentecostal and Charismatic Engagement in Public Space

The foregoing overview of how Pentecostals worldviews work vis-à-vis public life sets the agenda for a discourse on the contemporary character of Nigeria’s Pentecostal and Charismatic theology of public engagement. We recognize that Pentecostalism and Charismaticism in Nigeria is part of the religious movement which paradoxically shares in ‘the hopes and the terrors’ of the civilization of which it participates in shaping. Christianity isnot only a private but also a public faith. Jesus categorically

72 Marshall, Political Spiritualities, 1-2.73 John O. Mills, ‘New Heaven? New Earth?’ in New Heaven? New Earth? (1976),69-118.74 Clark et al, What is Distinctive about Pentecostal Theology, 90.

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tells the church, ‘You are the salt of the earth…. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid….’ [He also said to the individual members of the church] ‘Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5:3-16). Why then does the church still pay little attention to the public arena? Perhaps, it has forgotten that becoming salt of the earth and the light of the world is not automatic. It requires preparation and training. This writer believes that it is the responsibility of every denomination (including the Pentecostals and the Charismatics) in Nigeria to prepare its members for both private and public life.

To engage in public space means many things have to be clarified.(1), understanding the distinction between charity and economic justice: ‘One of the most obvious differences between justice andcharity is how power is distributed. Justice distributes power sothat the weak become stronger and better able to care for themselves. Charity meets people’s immediate needs in ways that keep them dependent.’75 Justice rooted in love is effective. This effectiveness would include empowering those Jesus calls ‘the least of these.’ (Matthew 25:40, 45) Jesus’ conception of the church involvement is revealed in that little phrase: ‘the least of these.’ It tells us what public engagement is not and what it is. First, it is not about church leaders or members siding with and helping the political elites maintain the status quo nor competing with the powerful at the detriment of ‘the least of these my brothers [and sisters].’ Second, it is about recognizingthat ‘living in poverty over time robs individuals and communities of the ability to make choices, to control their own lives and communities.’76 That is realizing that ‘unless poverty and impoverishment are actively resisted by religious communities, it makes persons powerless and dependent. Inevitablythis powerlessness and dependence wear away feelings of both dignity and self-worth and the ability to feel beloved by God andother persons.’77 It is been deeply convinced that without a sense of dignity and self-worth, ‘communal bonds weaken and

75 Stivers et al, Christian Ethics, 78-9.76 Stivers et al, Christian Ethics, 78-9.77 Stivers et al, Christian Ethics, 78-9.

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break.’ It is recognizing that ‘involuntary poverty is sinful andan affront [to] God our Creator… it kills and maims bodies and souls, individuals and communities.’78

(2), there are different forms of engagements in public life. Some engagements involve formulating antigovernment policies and protest against social injustice. Other forms include intercessory prayer, active participation in politics and/or filling the gaps of a failed state. We have shown above that conversion is a primary task of Nigerian Pentecostals and Charismatics. As such some of them are not interested in serving tables and leaving this call to suffer. From all indications, church leaders and members do not often have a good grasp of the workings of the political sphere. This lack of understanding leads to what Kalu speaks of as government officials’ involvementwith secret societies behind closed doors and sometimes in the open. According to Matthew A. Ojo, by and large, Christians’ uncritical engagements have led some of them to soil their moral character; some have become materialistic and corrupt—worse than the public servants.79

Kalu identifies four things that the foregoing analysis of the nature of politics in Africa can teach Pentecostals and Charismatics what they really need to watch as they seek to make a meaningful and intelligent engagement in the Nigeria public space:

First, it is important to enlarge the boundaries of our understanding ofpolitical engagement beyond overt activities such as political protest, party politics, and the electoral process. Second, we should be attentive to the magical substratum that underpins the political culture, and Pentecostal political response is embedded in the indigenous terrain and the religious foundations of the political culture…. In the African terrain, the pneumatological approach is key tounderstanding the Pentecostal political theology and practice. Third, that the vast differences within the regions and countries within the continent compel attention and comparative perspective. Fourth, that thesacralization of political order and ethics in primal society informs the political culture in modern public space. The political elite tap the resources of primal religion in their competitions in the modern space; dynamics of modern politics. A legitimacy crisis merely 78 Stivers et al, Christian Ethics, 78-9.79 Personal comment during my paper presentation on

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intensified the process in a religious space bedeviled with an occult explosion. Meanwhile, other religious forces are growing, with many political implications…. Indeed, Pentecostals are implicated in the conflict generated by the Abrahamic religions in the political dynamics Africa. 80

Kalu’s point is that public life is complicated. For fear of the unknown invisible forces, public servants patronize occult agents. The Nigeria’s political culture is one that is saturated with a ‘religious undercurrents.’ 81 This conception of public life agrees with Walter Wink’s argument that the domination system has ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ reality. Pentecostals and Charismatics seeking public understanding and engagement need to be aware of this reality. Van Djik conclusion about Malawian Pentecostalism captures the implication of the picture of Nigeria’s political culture which Kalu painted above:

Pentecostalism’s fascination with the horrific witchcraft stories plays a role in the construction of a critical politics of identity. It destabilizes other frameworks of identity production, such as the modern Malawian postcolonial state, seeking to enhance its dominion over itscitizens through a specific project of nationhood.82

The danger is that uncritical engagement can easily lead to political alignment with the status quo. Instead of the church becoming a catalyst of transformation it get converted to the status quo. Often church leaders are naïve about the magnitude ofwhat challenges their members face in public life. In such a situation, it is difficult to help members become effective agents of healthy transformation in society.

In 1944 (and reprinted in 1960), America’s renowned theologian, political philosopher, and social critic, Reinhold Niebuhr wrote a book, The Children of Light and The Children of Darkness. He picked the

80 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 199-200.81 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 200.82 Rijk van Djik, “Witchcraft and Secepticism by Proxy: Pentecostalism and Laughter in Urban Malawi,” in Magical Interpretations, Material Realities: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa, ed. Henrietta L. Moore and Todd Sanders (London: Routledge, 2001), 113, cited in Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 200.

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title directly from Luke 16:8 which reads: ‘The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.’ As he explained the basic difference between them, Niebuhr profoundly observed the contradiction of each. He said: ‘The children of darkness are evil because they know no law beyond theself. They are wise, though evil, because they understand the power of self-interest. The children of light are virtuous because they have some conception of a higher law than their own will. They are usually foolish because they do not know the powerof self-will....’ according to Niebuhr, self-interest and the will to power drive all political ambitions. It is rooted in the belief that in this world there are basically two operating political principles: ‘You are either dominated by others or you dominate others.’ Consequently, this conception of the political life shapes the thinking of people at every level of social, religious, political and economic spheres. This reasoning is largely responsible for the continuing exploration of occultism, corruption of good morals and politics in the country that Kalu alludes to.83 Power and authority over other fellow human beings and the natural resources become the driving forces of public life.

Niebuhr’s analysis shows the political ignorance of church leaders and their members. In general, the Christian community does not recognize the problem of self-interest or group interest. Self-interest or group interest is a general problem ofhumanity and the major cause of religious, economic and politicalcorruption. Today, the political class sees public funds as personal funds. This is why a onetime US Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, pointed out that governance in Nigeria faces many challenges: “Nigeria is run by competing and cooperating elites supported by their patron-client networks, ethnic interests, big business, and the military….’84 This is what is happening in a country where the growth of Pentecostalism is well and alive. Reinhold Niebuhr further asserts: ‘Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice

83 Reinhold Niebuhr, The Children of Light and The Children of Darkness (1960), 10-11.84 John Campbell, Nigeria Dancing on the Brink (2010), xiv-xv.

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makes democracy necessary.’85 Democracy worldwide is a system of governance which provides checks and balances of power. It promotes the use of public resources for the social and economic enhancement of the citizenry. Nigeria’s public space is grossly managed by the few who in most cases recycle themselves in power;and in no way have the masses’ interests at heart. They get immunity because there are no structures in the Nigerian civil society level which provide checks and balances. Niebuhr exposesthe danger inherent in a democratic culture that has no checks and balances of power. According to him, in a crooked and depraved world, humans are often inclined towards evil. And to have a system that has no independent checks and balances of power is dangerous.86 He argues, ‘If men are inclined to deal unjustly with their fellows, the possession of power aggravates this inclination. That is why irresponsible and uncontrolled power is the greatest source of injustice.’87 There are five possible and fundamental approaches to public participation whichcould be used as criteria for evaluating Pentecostal and Charismatic churches’ involvement in public life.88

Five levels of public involvement

Pentecostals and Charismatics may not have what it takes to engage the public life. But they can give Nigeria five things. First, moral character: The greatest public contribution a church can make is to help its members develop a strong ethical vision and virtues such as—human dignity, love, justice, honesty, hard work, humility, compassion, perseverance, creative initiative, the fear and love of God and so on— which will enable them to shape the character of society. It is needless to say that the Nigerian society needs a strong dose of ethical and biblical values that will help move the nation forward from its present impasses. Society is often changed not just by the few but by

85 Niebuhr, The Children of Light and the Children of Darks, xiii.86 Niebuhr, Children of Light and Children of Darkness, xiii-xiv.87 Niebuhr, Children of Light and Children of Darkness, xiii-xiv.88 These five criteria are distilled from Daune K. Friesen book, Christian Peacemaking & International Conflict: A realist Pacifist Perspective (Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 1984).

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ordinary men and women making a commitment to their God and theircountry. Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders are apparently awarethe church can and does help shape the ethos of society. But it is not enough to know this. The church needs to consciously orient its members on how to shape people’s views of the world and their basic values. According to Daune Friesen, the church iscapable of shaping ‘the so-called public opinion to which policymakers must be responsive.’89 Some tangible ways the church can shape the public perspectives of its include, teaching them to value contentment, view other humans as fellow God’s creatures, develop the attitude of humility, self-control, hard work and doing everything humanly possible for the joy and progress of fellow citizens. Yet, they need to pay attention to Niebuhr’s observation about the subtleness of self-interest or group interest and to resist the temptation to compete for power and domination, which often conflict with good intentions.

Furthermore, this orientation or reorientation must include helping members to understand that we now live in a ‘global village’ where, as Thomas Friedman writes, ‘It is now possible for more people than ever to collaborate and compete in real timewith more other people on more different kinds of work from more different corners of the planet and on a more equal footing than any previous time in the history of the world—using computers, emails, networks, teleconferencing, and dynamic new software.’90 In other words, public engagement is not just about being polemics; it is about collaboration with different individual denominations and faith communities for the realization of social, economic, religious, ethnic and political justices.

To be effective in the public sphere today, Christians in Nigerianeed to pay attention to the dynamic economic, religious, social and political forces driving globalization today. Friedman observed that so far there are three noticeable eras of globalization. He writes:

89 Friesen, Christian Peacemaking & International Conflict, 206.90 Thomas L. Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 8.

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The first lasted from 1492—when Columbus set sail, opening trade between the Old World and the New World—until around 1800. This era is Globalization 1.0. It shrank the world from a size large to a size medium. Globalization 1.0 was about countries and muscles. That is, in globalization 1.0 the key agent of change, the dynamic force driving the process of global integration was how much brawn—how much muscles, how much horsepower, wind power, or, later, steam power—your country had and how creatively you could deploy it. In this era, countries and governments (often inspired by religion or imperialism or a combination of both) led theway in breaking down walls and knitting the world together, driving global integration.91

The big question then was how each country will collaborate with other countries in the then global world which has been reduced to ‘a size medium.’

The second great era, Globalization 2.0, lasted roughly from1800 to 2000, interrupted by the Great Depression and World Wars I and II. This era shrank the world from a size medium to a size small. In Globalization 2.0, the key agent of change, the dynamic force driving global integration, was multinational companies. These multinationals went global for markets and labor, spearheaded first by the expansion ofthe Dutch and English joint-stock companies and the Industrial Revolution. In the first half of this era, globalintegration was powered by falling transportation costs, thanks to the steam engine and railroad, and in the second half by falling telecommunication costs--thanks to the diffusion of the telegraph, telephones, the PCs, satellites,fiber-optic cables, and the early version of the World Wide Web.92

This second era saw the birth and maturation of a global economy.This was made possible by the easy movement of goods and communication. Friedman noted that ‘The dynamic forces behind this era of globalization were breakthroughs in hardware—from steamships and railroads in the beginning to telephones and

91 Friedman, The World is Flat, 9.92 Friedman, The World is Flat, 9-10.

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mainframe computers toward the end.’93 Some of the important questions that people have to ask was: ‘Where does my company fitinto the global economy? How does it take advantage of the opportunities? How can I go global and collaborate with others through my company?’ This period prepared humans for what is now called a ‘Global village.’94 But it was not yet the global village as such: ‘there were still a lot of barriers to seamless global integration.’95 It is the next era that actually brought the realization of true globalization.

The third Globalization 3.0 is shrinking the world from a size small to a size tiny [like a mustard seed, if you like]and flattening the playing field at the same time. And whilethe dynamic force in Globalization 1.0 was countries globalizing and the dynamic force in Globalization 2.0 was companies globalizing, the dynamic force in Globalization 3.0—the thing that gives it its unique character—is the newfound power for individuals to collaborate and compete globally.96

In this era, the dynamic force that allows individuals to go global ‘software—all sorts of—in conjunction with the creation ofa global fiber-optic network that has made us all next-door- neighbors. Individuals must, and can, now ask: Where do I fit into the global competition and opportunities of the day, and howcan I, on my own, collaborate with others globally?’ It is good topay attention to this era because, ‘It is different in that Globalization 1.0 and 2.0 were driven primarily by European and American individuals and businesses. … But going forward, this will be less and less true. Because it is flattening and shrinking the world, Globalization 3.0 is going to be more and more driven not only by individuals but also by a much more diverse—non-Western, non-white—group of individuals.’97

From Friedman’s analysis of the contemporary global situation, wecan say with certainty that the world has changed. Therefore, thechurch leaders and members need to realize that the world has

93 Friedman, The World is Flat, 10.94 Friedman, The World is Flat, 10.95 Friedman, The World is Flat, 10.96 Friedman, The World is Flat, 10.97 Friedman, The World is Flat, 10-11.

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changed. But more than just knowing that the world has changed is the fact that this is a dreaded change because, ‘it is not only the software writers and computers geeks who get empowered to collaborate on work in a flat world. It is also al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks.’98 Friedman noted that ‘The playing field is not being leveled only in ways that draw in and superempower a whole new group of innovators. It is being leveledin a way that draws in and superempowers a whole new group of angry, frustrated and humiliated men and women.’99

Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations are to some extent already taking advantage of the global contemporary technologies and innovations. But they still need to take advantage of the global opportunity individuals now have to collaborate with theirnext-door-neighbors for a tangible transformation of the public sphere.

Second, modeling: In a society where people generally assume thatevery Nigerian is corrupt and dishonest, concrete lifestyle matters. Pentecostal and Charismatic churches can disciple their members in such a way that they are able to demonstrate honesty, integrity, justice and nonviolence in the church and in society. In a country where ethnic, political and religious prejudices andhatred characterize the larger society and startle citizens from all angles, the Pentecostal and Charismatic members will do a great service to humanity if they consciously and persistently practice the Christian core values in public space.100 A great service that the Pentecostals and Charismatic churches owe all citizens of Nigeria is to raise up members who in their daily lives are able to demonstrate justice and nonviolence.101

98 Friedman, The World Is Flat, 8.99 Friedman, The World Is Flat, 8.100 J. Kwabena Asamoa-Gyadu, ‘Religious Education and Religious Pluralismin the New Africa’ Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Accra, Ghana, p. 242.101 Daune K. Friesen, Christian Peacemaking & International Conflict: A realist Pacifist Perspective (Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 1984), 207. He observed that ‘Inmany respects the church is an alternative institution when its members live out a lifestyle of love, forgiveness, and peace, and through that example, witness to what could be, and convert others to that position.’

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Third, provision of basic services: Organizing institutions to meet human needs in the society. There are Pentecostal churches that are already doing this in Lagos and Abuja and across the length and breadth of the country. This is a situation where a ‘church often organizes itself to do tasks that aim to meet the basic needs of people. It is an organizer of institutions, which are responsive to human needs such as poverty, ignorance, malnutrition, disease, and community disorganization. In this role the churches have been and continue to be the creators of numerous institutions—educational and health care institutions, programs for prisoner rehabilitation, agricultural and community development projects.’102

Fourth, positively influencing Policy: Pentecostal and Charismatic churches can engage the public space by consciously discipling their church members who can in turn influence public policies. Policies promulgated in the public square have implication for every member of society. The Pentecostal and Charismatic churchesin Nigeria will do a great service to the country if their members are able to push for bills that will meet the needs of the general public. Sometimes church leaders are only good at becoming polemic. But they do not know how issues are debated letalone reorienting their members on how to nonviolently engage other faiths or government on issues bordering on detrimental policies.103 Fifth, Vocation: This entails teaching members to see their work as a ‘calling’ or as part and parcel of the mission of God. If Nigerian Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians will take advantage of the opportunity God has given them to work in publicplaces and in institutional settings and see their calling as notlimited to evangelism and individual conversation; but also including changing structures of social and economic injustices, the moral impact will certainly be very deeper than what it is currently. By and large, Nigerian Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians work at tasks in the world and through other institutions—business corporations, governmental structures,

102 Friesen, Christian Peacemaking & International Conflict, 208.103 Friesen, Christian Peacemaking & International Conflict, 208.

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social agencies, schools and universities, and international organizations. In these vocations they can seek not primarily to serve their own interests but also to see their being there as anopportunity, a ‘calling’ by which to try to further the interestsof peace and justice in or through the institution or organization. For example, they can pay attention to the policiesthat are made by institutions, corporations, governmental structures, social agencies, businesses corporations, particularly on how they affect ‘the least of these my brothers.’104

Conclusion Christianity has a public face which every believer needs to grasp. Therefore, every denomination in Nigeria must see it as its responsibility to disciple and prepare its parishioners for life in the public arena. This will go a long way in amelioratingthe high rate of corruption and the resultant politically motivated violence in Nigeria.

By way of constructive critique of Nigerian Pentecostal and Charismatic theology of public engagement, suffice it to say thatsomething is fundamentally wrong with the theology of public engagement in Nigeria. It obviously lacks ‘grassroots mobilization.’ In the survey conducted, we found a general tendency in Pentecostal and Charismatic theology of public engagement that stops at the level of Christian charity, or mobilizing people to vote for political candidates during election or participate in politics.

104 Friesen, Christian Peacemaking & International Conflict, 216. Friesen writes: A person can be an innovator, one who seeks to create an alternative vision of how institutions can better serve human need: a business corporation that designs and markets products to meet basic human needs rather than superfluous products with the primary motive of profit, a lawyer seeking to defend the cause of justice or civil liberties or working in behalf of the poor rather than defending the special privileges of the rich, a teacher who teaches science from a global framework rather than from a narrow nationalistic perspective, a social worker who helps to organize the poor to restore their dignity rather than simply cooperating with a demeaning social welfare system which dehumanizes people.’

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Consequently, what Pentecostals and Charismatics call holistic engagement does not tally with what the Bible means when it says,‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world’ (Acts 1:4-8). Due to this tendency, their public theology generally serves the agenda of the political elites who are usually afraid of freedom of the oppressed. Like their counterparts in the mainstream Nigerian Christianity, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have the tendency of aligning themselves with the status quo (the oppressors) rather than remaining committed to the plights of ‘the least of these’ (the oppressed) (Matthew 25:40, 45). Undue attention is paid to those in leadership not only to the detriment of the poor and marginalized, but also to the extent ofbeing snared by the elitist lifestyles. Instead of the whale swallowing Jonah, it is Jonah who swallowed the whale.

Some Pentecostal and Charismatic church leaders compete with politicians and business tycoons who own personal bullet proof SUVs, private jets and personal security escorts or aides. As thepublic officials feed fat on the culture of taking advantage of ‘the least of these’, church leaders who are supposed to remind them of their divine responsibilities and vocations and the need to be voices of the oppressed, instead do follow suit.

A theology of public engagement which this paper advocates is a theology that takes its inspiration from the fact that ‘after hissuffering’ and resurrection, Jesus took forty days talking about the Kingdom of God to his disciples before sending them out to behis witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:3-5). This theology realizes that the task of public engagement is for those who believe that ‘With man this isimpossible, but with God all things (including Christian public engagement) are possible’ (Matthew 19:26).

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Grassroots mobilization involves a belief in the unlimited power of God’s rule in this age, through the power of the Holy Spirit. This belief enables the theology of public engagement to seek to create critical consciousness in people at the grassroots. In other words, its sees the role of the church as significantly involving seeking to create critical consciousness at all spheresof society, particularly at the grassroots. This means helping the rural peasants, the marginalized and the silenced learn and believe in themselves as agents of social change. The Brazilian born educationist, Paulo Freire explains that creating critical consciousness is ‘learning to perceive social, political and economic contradictions, and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality.’105 That means, if the church believes that ‘with God all things are possible,’ she will undoubtedly believe in the potentials of people at the bottom of society, the grassroots. It will specifically believe that they can be mobilized through training to be radical transformers of culture through identifying the two dangers of culture: ‘Culture of silence’ and impunity and ‘the culture of fear of freedom.’ 106

We need churches who because they believe in God’s kingdom rule and that ‘with God all things are possible’ are willing to have a‘direct engagement in the struggling to liberate men and women [at the grassroots] for the creation of a new world [a new Nigeria].’107 As Richard Shaull explains, ‘Freire is able to do this because he operates on one basic assumption: that man’s ontological vocation (as he calls it) is to be a Subject who actsupon and transforms his world, and in so doing moves towards evernew possibilities of fuller and richer life individually and collectively.’ 108 For Freire the idea of ‘with God all things are

105 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: The Seabury Press, 1973), 9.106 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 10.107 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 11.108 Richard Shaull, ‘Foreword’, Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 12.

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possible’ takes on new meaning or new power: ‘It is no longer an abstraction or magic but a means by which man [human] discovers himself and his potential as he gives names to things around him.’ He succinctly put it thus, ‘each man wins back his right tosay his own word, to name the world.’ 109

This is exactly what creating critical consciousness can cause atthe grassroots. It is a situation where those in power will not be afraid of the freedom of the so-called powerless. It is the belief that even if people are exposed ‘to specific situation of injustice’ that exposure will not lead them to ‘destructive fanaticism’ or to a ‘sensation of total collapse of their world.’110 Rather, creating critical consciousness in the peasant or at the grassroots, ‘[E]nrolls them in the search for self-affirmation and thus avoids fanaticism.’ 111

In view of the foregoing analysis in this paper, one can categorically say that this is not what is happening in the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches we have surveyed. By and large, what the survey has shown is an indication that they are indirectly like the political elites who are afraid of freedom. For as Freire saliently puts it, ‘Men rarely admit their fear offreedom openly, however, tending rather to camouflage it—sometimes unconsciously—by presenting themselves as defenders of freedom.’ 112 The kind of theology of public engagement that this paper proposes is one that does not confuse freedom with the maintenance of the status quo, but threatens to radically place that status quo in question. 113

In the contemporary socioeconomic, socio-political and socioreligious climates of Nigeria, particularly the rising 109 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 13.110 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 20.111 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 21.112 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 21.113 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 21.

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sectarianism, the grassroots needs Christian radicalization as analternative to sectarianism. Freire succinctly explains the difference between sectarianism and radicalization. He writes: ‘Sectarianism, fed by fanaticism, is always castrating. Radicalization, nourished by a critical spirit, is always creative. Sectarianism mythicizes and thereby alienates; radicalization criticizes and thereby liberates. Radicalization involves increased commitment to the position one has chosen, andthus ever greater engagement in the effort to transform concrete,objective reality.’114 Christian radicalization is the realization that the enabling power of God is for radicals. In other words, the task of transformation is for radicals and not for sectarians. Unlike the sectarian, ‘the radical, committed to human liberation, does not become the prisoner of a [vicious] “circle of certainty within which he/she also imprisons reality. On the contrary, the more radical he/she is the more fully he/sheenters reality so that, knowing it better, he/she can better transform it.’ 115 The theology of public engagement is ‘a task for radicals; it cannot be carried out by sectarians.’ 116

The idea of the kingdom of God is capable of transforming our society. Prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is a prayer that is meant to help us focus on the kingdom of God and the doing of its heavenly will on planet earth. The question that the church must ask itself is, how much do members learn every week that help them hallow God in their weekly activities and endeavors? How are members taught to monitor the political progress of theirmembers? To actually achieve the goal of training members for public life, theological seminaries need to introduce courses on political theology, church, society and law, good governance, public policy administration, implementation and evaluation. The church should help members realize that politicians are servants or ministers of God (Romans 13:4, 6). They are pastors in the

114 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 21-22.115 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 23-24.116 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 25.

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public arena. Therefore, what Scriptures required of a pastor is also required of a politician. Keep them from straying from the faith, they should be reminded of their vocation and calling as public figures that recognize that they are not only saints but also citizens. Therefore, they should love righteousness and hateall forms of wickedness.

Finally, Jesus is calling every denomination to be salt and lightin a broken and decaying world. We must stop assuming that members will automatically become the salt and light of Nigeria. They need to be given the skills required to perform as expected of the children of light when they find themselves in the public arena as business individuals, civil servants, politicians, and in every human endeavor. As the Church does all these, she must remember that ‘People want change; but they themselves do not want to change.’ We must give them the incentives that will make them want to change!

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