Nov 20 2009
Is Your Church Relevant?
“Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them, is a dry-as-dust religion.” – MLKJR
In the days we live in, the world celebrates Martin Luther King Jr, even the church is apt to identify with him and with what he stood for, but it was not so in the days that he lived in. When I listen to people refer to great men like this, I’m often ashamed when I discover that those that speak know little more than their listeners about the life of the people they speak about. Many are shallow, from not reading in depth enough, to not engaging their minds when they read, to having insufficient experience to draw from to connect with the lives of these great people. Read this slowly and understand it clearly – “The “Organized” Church Opposed Martin Luther King Jr, in his days!” If you need to read more about this, find articles like the Letter from Birmingham Jail or his book “why we can’t wait”. I daresay, that anybody interested in change in any nation must read the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.
“But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.” – MLKJR.
The question today, is simple and straight forward – “Is your Church relevant, or are you gradually becoming an irrelevant social club?”. I must warn you that NOW requires urgency. Our nation is in on an auto-cruise that is collision bound with annihilation. We are failing as a state, with all our metrics and indexes for measuring progress plummeting, in a few years we may well be history and the last hope of this nation is currently rubbing shoulders with those who may enthrone it as the headquarters of cowardice and complacency. So answer the question, “Is your Church relevant, or are you an irrelevant social club?”
Before you are quick to make this about them and not us, please understand that by Church, I mean the Organized Church and I also mean the internal Church – the called out ones – the Ekklesia – the hope of the world -You and I! Are we relevant collectively or individually? As a nation are we not too full of organized churches for this country to be the way it is? Have we assigned God the responsibility of coming down to earth to set things right on His own? Or are we God’s arm and the people he seeks for change to happen? Isn’t there too much light in this country for us to be the darkest nation on earth? Are we not fast becoming irrelevant social clubs?
“Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.” – MLKJR
Are our organized churches bound to status quo? Are they afraid of biting the arms that waiver them? Have we exchanged our birth rights to be the conscience of the nation for the messy pottage of unprincipled alignment? Where are those noble souls in Nigeria who would break out of satanic conformity and join us to herald and birth a New Nigeria? Rather than weep the deplorable state of our nation, and secure our one hand with swords and the other with bricks, we spend our resources on spiritual jamborees! We are in subtle competition, slyly moving the coliseum into the organized church – Our churches are ranked by their numbers, by who organizes the biggest concerts, who has the biggest cathedral, who has the largest assembly in one sitting and many more. Our numbers are not converting into voting in righteousness, into upholding justice or annihilating poverty. The helpless die in our watch, our negligence equates us to murderers. There is a conspiracy of the prophets – Let he/she who reads be guided by the words of Ezekiel in Chapter 22: 23-31. Prophets, Priests and Princes gone bad! We are in perilous times. About our times however and about where we are positioned, God is not silent! If we are irrelevant in the days of battle, we will be irrelevant in the days of victory! A stationary bird is an easy target! Hear God’s views crystallized before our times.
“I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice–oceans of it.
I want fairness–rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.” – Amos 5:21-14 (Message Translation)
When I read this again some months ago, my heart trembled, today it still does… I have moved to action. Even New Nigeria Club has left being an irrelevant social club. We need to engage the highest offices, and move our nation into better than it is, simply because we are better than this, and there is a lot we can salvage! What about you? Even if the organized church you attend is fast embracing irrelevance, what about you? What are you doing about it? Can you print this for your pastor? Can you influence change?
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A call to relevance in the 21st century, lets step up the game with action. Thanks Deolu.
Organized religion is fast destroying our world! Crusades, Revivals, Miracle night and several “solution grounds” that only enriches a few and impoverishes the majority! Religion in my opinion is just a “traditional” way of doing things ;it defies set objectives and celebrates routine! It’s so amazing how many of us “forget” jesus came to DESTROY religion and replace it with spirituality (Love of God and your Neighbor). It’s also interesting to know that jesus was “killed” by the RELIGIOUS folks of his time.Can’t forget how the high priests and the teachers of the law accused him of blasphemy against “their” God.Afterall,how could a “mere carpenter” call himself the messiah! (How dare……lol)
We are back to that era again, when men would rather flow with the norm all “in the name of God”.It’s time for us to purge ourselves of these “believe” that we need to pray more when evil is been perpetrated in our land.We need to speak up, we need to act now, we need to leave our “religious box”.This is the
time for us to uninstall all these “funny softwares” and re-format our harddisk. It’s time for us to stand up for what we believe.We cannot wait!
God Bless your soul Deolu for this “world-class” piece. Meeeeeeeee……….I CANNOT WAIT!
This is an amazing piece… I love it…
Fantastic and great reminder of what we are supposed to be and not just to teach
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Powerful powerful powerful…I’m moved, touched and I’ll ACT today.
Thank you
From every angle u touch our lifes and change us for better, well done sir
Hmmm. Deliberate positive action for change is the birthplace of relevance
We are better than this, we are more than this! Join us, we will deliver correct political leadership and enlightened follower-ship in Nigeria! http://www.thefuturemovement.org/register NOW!
Deolu, thanks for challenging us today on this issue that is supposed to be the concern of every patriotic Nigerians. I wished this could be forwarded to all our so called ”religious leaders”, so that they can know where they are in terms of their contributions to the development of this country and where they are supposed to be.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by deoluakinyemi: New blog post: Is Your Church Relevant? http://www.deoluakinyemi.com/is-your-church-relevant/...
Hmmmmmmm…….. i’m left wondering after reading this post, this frequency is sounding somehow, perhaps i need more understanding to be more settled with this perspective. But because i know who is writing this thoughts my concern is less.
HMMMM……………………
…been ruminating over this for months, this Deolu man just stole my thunder..:-) please keep preaching this particular message and we might just get there sooner that we thought. Brave!
This is an awesome piece!!
This is my first time on your blog…and I’m not from Africa (by birth)…but I can see that you are truly passionate about social change. I pray that God uses that passion for His glory!!
Be blessed
Chairman!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know what to say, just that our eyes be opened up to the realties presented!
You Are Lifted!
Honestly, some of us are beginning to ask questions about the place of the church. Are we more of a solution we’re meant to be or problem to the nation? Lord have mercy
Deolu, God bless you. You've hit it again. for some weeks back, i have been so much burdened about the church- the body of christ… is this the same church that Christ used His blood to redeemed and the blood of the saints was used as seal to keep the faith. In the new evolving modern world..the church has lost her relevance…but i know Christ is coming for a glorious church.
Religion is the opium of the masses — Karl Marx
In Nigeria, Religion is fast becoming a cult of some sort. MLK was a man of God, yet he stood up for what he believed in, he mobilised both believers and non-believers – in unity they stood up against injustice. Let us stop pretending, we are not holier than countries that have fought for what they believed in. Nigeria can't get better if we keep praying and not acting……
I believe in a new Nigeria….
This is a great message. I totally agreed with you. Watch and pray; faith without corresponding action is dead etc those are some of the phrases in the bible. When the righteous prosper the city rejoices … we need to act and say no to wickedness in our land. Personally, I noticed the trend of insincerity among the so call big men of God, they are just building empire for themselves and uses their influence to achieve their selfish goals. How far with the party registration? Was out of the country during the H & C dinner, would have made it. Thank you for making use of your influence positively.
Thanks so much for this, Deolu.
Nice one Sir…
the question is pregnant. we have some business centers around disguised as churches. making money and causing problems all over the country.
Thank you so much Deolu…………….Its refreshing to know that many are becoming aware of the distortion and abuse that is being perpatrated in the name of Christianity. Let it be said that the followers are also to be blamed, An aveverage 9ija is more ”BULL than BRAIN”. We are a people that like short cuts, in many of our endeavours we like readymades especially when it comes to Brain exerscise. It beats me why many followers cannot checkmate their spiritual leaders life and doctrine to that of Christ! Could it be that we really do not want Jesus to be our Lord but our Saviour? Many would rather look outward instead of inward as root of the problem. Xtianity is more of personal soul searching to bring about change(Repentance) not merely means of connecting to the Divine for material acquisition. As long as these is our general mentality, its sad to say that many will not even notice or care if their Church is relevant!
This is a call to action.
I pray that the bishops, pastors and apostles who dine with the mighty and hide the whip would read this. We God’s children need to speak up too. For sometime now, i’ve been suggesting that Labour groups, the organised private sector, churches, mosques, students and other stake-holders in this country need to down-tools, come together to stage a 10 million man-march to Aso Rock! We would all sleep and wake up there till Yar adua listens to our demands for change in the power, education and health sectors- to start with. We are our own saviours.
Great wake-up call! Most churches have become religious institutions with man-made rules, man-made authority structures, man-made programs and man-made visions. What happened to a royal priesthood of believers living true community, walking in the power of the Spirit who bring the life changing presence of Chriist whereever they go? Most Christians are stuck in a rut simply attending an event on Sunday, being content to be “led” in worship and listening to a lecture with three points and a poem. Many seem to have forgotten that Jesus didn’t come to start a religion, organization or spiritual society. When the religious leaders saw the power fo the early church they were afraid that Jesus followers would turn the world upside down. Looks like the we’ve let the world turn the tables on us. Time to wake up!
This website is certianly a welcome development, a long awaited call to action. It’s in the true spirit of the Biblical watchman sounding the trumpet…I do believe that the greatest problem with denominational Christianity today is the fact that it is denominational (divided) and driven by men, organised by men, envisioned by men and supported by men. This is wrong, the Bible never suggests that the Church should be owned by men, because the church belongs to God, that’s why it is called the Body of Christ !…To have a truly revolutionary church move like what was found in the book of Acts (when they turned the world upside down) the Church must be given back to Christ, meaning we must follow Paul’s counsel in 1 Corinthians 1:12-13; 3:3-5 and align ourselves with Jesus’ prayer points in John 17:21-23 then Church will truly find its place in the world !…Christians living in a particluar community should come together as one church with one thing in common – Christ!!!
The church needs to wake up to changing times. The era of "sidon look" is far gone. if the message been preached on the pulpits does not address the basic needs of man in the literal and logical sense, then its just like running on the treadmill alone in a gym full of exercise gear.I believe for the church to lead people to heaven, it starts with them, getting involve in things that affects people most on earth now, and stop alluding to a blissful heaven while men literally live in hell on earth.
we are the salt of d world,but if d salt has lost its savour,why it shall it be salted ?i believe its a phase of the church,d church is still d last hope of the society.u and i will mak it happen.
This is really what the church today is, we are really diverting from the ancient landmark, my prayer is God should open our eyes and put the burden in our heart to go back to the ancient time