Dr. Mensa Otabil Speaks About Bigger Challenges Facing Church Leaders In Africa

Pastor Mensa Otabil, General Overseer of International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), has in a viral video on social media, addressed biggest challenges facing leaders of Charismatic churches in Africa.

Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) has transcribed the message for its valued readers. Below are the words of the man of God:

The biggest challenges of the African church is that church founders and leaders do not know it’s not their church.

They’ll say I sweated, I worked hard, I sow seeds. When I heard the call where were you?

But when you didn’t hear the call, where were you? That’s the bigger question. When you were not called, where were you? The one who calls you is the same one who calls the members. We are all the called…belong to the called assembly.

Pastors, the church is not yours. Mensah Otabil, the church is not yours and the people are not yours. The one who calls you calls them.

So if Jesus is the one building the church, isn’t it reasonable that we know a lot about Jesus? We must cleanse the African Church and ensure that the African church can be a good custodian of the mysteries of Christ for the next generation.

It is His church, you are members of His Body. He is the Head of the body and in the body of Christ it is not as if there is a body of Christ and the Pastors are under the Head after which comes the members. We are all members that’s what scripture says.

Of course, He gives some special gifts, special callings and special abilities to do special things. But that does not make them owners of the body. And when I see these kinds of things coming into the church, I get worried especially when we create a class distinction between those on the pulpit and those in the pew, because that’s not the church of Jesus Christ.

The fact that I’m standing on the pulpit and I’m a preacher does not make me superior to the member of the church.

Christianity is not about barriers, that is Israel; that Jesus says I will build mine and if you manage to function the way I want you to fuction then nothing can stop you.

I am anointed, you are not anointed.

I have a special grace, you don’t have it. Maybe we’re age mates but we’re not grace mates. I don’t even know what that means. How were you saved? By grace. How was I saved? By grace. Then we’re grace mates.

You know why the African church likes barriers? Because the African society likes barriers. We live in a hierarchical society where power must always be concentrated at the top and hammers down everybody.

So we become Christians and although Christ is building something else we allow our culture to undermine what Christ’s building and if we don’t build the church the way Christ wants it to be built then we will be like Israel with great promise yet going into captivity.

Because there is too much need and poverty, our ministry is now becoming need based. While we minister to people’s needs, they must know doctrine, they must know what is right. They must know who God is. They must know why we believe in the trinity. They must know why we believe in Jesus. They must know the foundations of their faith.

It can’t always be about receive, receive. We must also teach in addition to receiving – to receive knowledge, to receive doctrine, to receive sound doctrine.

In Africa, we preach heresy freely and boldly. While they are preaching they are manufacturing heresy, and the people are ‘eating’ them because they don’t know anything. It may serve us, it may prosper us, it may make us popular, but it is taking us into captivity.

And Christianity will not die in Africa because people resisted us but because we polluted it so much that it was no longer Christianity. It’s in the church we preach it but it is not Christianity. There is no historical faith there; there is no doctrine there .

It’s all theatre and gymnastics and all of that is going on. We can fill large auditoriums but it will not be Christianity. That is Africa’s challenge, pollution of the faith.

You cannot preach a whole message and Christ was never a reference point. Let Him be your reference point. Teach His wisdom, teach His ways, teach His life, teach His humility and teach the way He loves people.

When I was growing up as a young Christian, in the ’70s, early ’70s, we didn’t even call preachers as pastors. I didn’t know people were called pastors, much less bishop. I mean what is bishop, we called each other brothers. Brother Mensah, Brother Eastwood, etc.

And…we loved Jesus and we studied the Bible and people spent time in the presence of God. We didn’t spend time praying for breakthroughs and money and wealth. Money will come! We don’t pray for it. It comes! It’s a side benefit for following Jesus.