The Role of the Church in Rebuilding Nigeria

Many would describe Nigeria as being in a crisis, with the intractable problems of terrorism, insecurity, kidnapping, corruption, a stagnant economy, epileptic power supply, unemployment, poor governance, breakdown in healthcare delivery and the education system amongst others. The stupendous amounts of wealth acquisition by the few to the detriment of the many – by way of cronyism and plain corruption flies in the face. I believe the church can make an invaluable contribution to the transformation of Nigeria.

The Nigerian church is gradually freeing itself from the ‘locked-in’ syndrome, which in the name of building formidable and mega churches made the churches focus on ‘our brand, our image, our programmes, our members’, and locked us into the four walls of the church building, competing with each other for members and seldom venturing out except in the most dire of circumstances. This syndrome has resulted in growth in numbers, but not in quality.

It is common to find people professing to be Christians whose character and lifestyles do not emulate the life and character of Christ, and leave much to be desired. It could be said that our standards have been lowered to accommodate all comers. Thankfully the understanding is now growing that the church is relevant in every facet of human endeavour, that the church can no longer be consigned to the sacred, but is indeed responsible for influence amongst the secular. Indeed most of the systems that modern governments employ, such as judicial systems and separation of powers are rooted in Christian doctrine. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and bemoan the travails that Nigeria faces, it’s time we arose to our responsibilities as the salt of the earth and the light of this world.

It is often said that ‘as goes the church goes the nation’, and truly with the numbers that claim adherence to the Christian faith, the church should be one of the most influential institutions in our land today. It follows therefore that the church must become whatever it wants the nation to be. If we desire to see more transparency in government, commerce and industry, then we must take the lead by demonstrating transparency through our own operations, leading by example, in other words we must become the change we desire.