Former Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has called on churches in Nigeria to shift their focus from preaching prosperity and wealth accumulation to instead emphasising the importance of peace, productivity, and community development.
Osinbajo gave the opinion while delivering a lecture at the 68th Anniversary and 58th Annual Convention of The Gospel Faith Mission International (GOFAMINT) at the weekend.
Speaking on the theme of the lecture titled: “The Christian Faith in the Political Struggles: A case study of Nigeria,” the former Vice President argued that the obsession with wealth and lavish lifestyles among some religious leaders has alienated a significant portion of the population, particularly the youths, who are seeking more meaningful and impactful messages from the pulpit.
He noted that for too long, churches have been caught up in the pursuit of personal prosperity and material wealth, neglecting the true calling of the gospel to promote peace, unity, and the holistic development of the society.
According to him, if the church leaders truly love the country and want it to rise again, they must return to their roots, preaching the values of hard work, compassion, and service to the community.
He said: “For too long, our churches have been caught up in the pursuit of personal prosperity and material wealth, neglecting the true calling of the gospel to promote peace, unity, and the holistic development of our society.
“If we truly want to see Nigeria rise again and fulfill its immense potential, the church must return to its roots, preaching the values of hard work, compassion, and service to the community.
“It is only through this shift in focus that we can inspire our people to become agents of positive change, rather than mere consumers of prosperity gospel.”
Osinbajo warned that when preachers place premium on benefits and rewards, especially Christians in government and position of authority, it makes national development suffer because the people’s mind will be soiled and unable to do what is right.
He said many prosperous nations of the world have no natural resources while many nations with many national endowments are lurking in poverty because people do not play according to the rules of hard work and productivity.
Osinbajo added that many countries in Europe and America that the country sought to be like thrived based on the true gospel of Jesus Christ that was preached from the pulpit coupled with other virtues like hardwork, productivity, integrity, protection of the poor, among others.
He said many preachers do not care to question the source of wealth of their members but attribute almost any unexplainable wealth and riches to miracles.
Osinbajo said further: “The major responsibility of christians, responsibility of the church is propagating the correct version of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is that correct version of the gospel of Jesus Christ that transformed other nations of the world.”
“The nations that we copy, the nations we want to emulate, the nations whose developments we have seen, the nations in Europe, America, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the virtues of hard work, productivity, integrity, protection of the poor preached from the pulpit that transfer this nations.”
“If we must transform and impact on our nations as Christians and as a Church, we must be mindful of the messages we preach, such that it will encourage and promote virtues of hardwork, integrity, productivity while also caring for the poor and needy around us,” he stressed.
