ORTHODOXY, INTER-DENOMINATIONALISM AND CHILD EVANGELISM
Mark 10:13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Introduction
Good day my brothers and sisters in Christ. Permit me to give my exhortation in a written format, for which I trust God that you all have copies in your hands. I have chosen to have this written for the records and so that if my words will be referred to in the future, I can be properly quoted. In November 2013, I gave a similar exhortation to an assembly of God's people but because there were no facility to have my words recorded, my statements were delivered out of contexts in some quarters and the end result led to my family and I leaving that church and coming to Chapel.
I must begin this exhortation by thanking my able Superintendent of the Children's Church, our brother Prof. for giving me this opportunity to speak. I also wish to thank my coordinator at the Secondary Section, Dr N, for the support and help I have received from him since I joined this team. I thank my fellows teachers at the SS2 class: Sis N, Sis B, Sis F, Bro and Mrs . For the support I have received from them and the opportunity given to me to minister to the children and to horn my ministry in that regard.
My exhortation will be short and I trust God that it will be straight to the point. I intend to speak on issues I have observed amongst us as ministers to the children, to praise us in many ways and to point out a few things, which in my view, constitute a clog to our ministry here. With the hope that we can remove them for greater efficiency as ministers of the most high God to the most precious vessels in life: the children. I plead with God that we will be blessed and instructed as we read.
The above scripture, Mark 10:13-14, came to life for me in the year 2005, while undergoing Children Evangelism Ministry (CEM) training in the city of Zaria, Kaduna State. My instructors told me that Christ's reaction to the attitude of his disciples in rebuking those who brought children to him was that he was "much displeased". They said the original words translated as "much displeased" carried a notion of great indignation. In other words Jesus is very pleased when we bring children to him and he is "much displeased" when we hinder them from coming to him. Our ministry as children evangelists is to bring children to Jesus. And from the above scripture, I can confidently say to you that the Lord is very pleased with what you are doing. Praise the Lord. The danger, however, lies in the fact that the enemy of our souls is not sleeping and he can very well use the same disciples who were supposed to bring children to Jesus, to hinder our efforts at doing this. I'm saying that child evangelism can become an avenue for leading children away from Jesus and in the process making our Lord "much displeased" with what we are doing here. I am sure that because this possibility abounds in every ministry, church and family, everyone will want to note the things that might be hindering our bringing children to Christ and with God's help stay away from such things. I trust God to help us in this onerous ministry.
Inter-denominationalism
The Chapel of The Resurrection is a great assembly of God's people. From the little I know, I understand that the church pursues an interdenominational vision, to cater for the wide spectrum of Christian worshippers in a foremost citadel of learning like the University of Ibadan. I understand that it provides worship opportunity for the Protestant Christian views that students, lecturers and workers in the University might possess. In this bid, the Methodist Church of Nigeria, the Anglican Communion in this country and the Presbyterian Church, have provided the pastoral leadership in this church; all of these under an interdenominational setting.
If I understand inter-denominationalism well enough, I believe it is not a place where a vain and lazy ecumenism is provided so that every possible Christian belief is permitted to float. I believe interdenominationalism is our own little effort to play down the minor things that divide Christian congregations over the years and to provide opportunity for the essentials of our faith to be taught and practiced. So interdenominationalism will have as its essentials:
1. The bible as final authority.
2. Jesus as Lord
3. A common history and orthodoxy.
With the bible as final authority, the church has its first constitution. But we understand that despite the bible being final authority, there has been no end to divisions and controversies in the church. So, at this point the interdenomination is forced to appeal to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in each of our individual hearts. Therefore, whatever else we might disagree on, we end up appealing to Christ in the individual members of the church so that peace might reign in God's holy temple and so that gospel proclamation and the prosetylizing of the world can continue. You will agree with me that this is necessary or there will be no end to controversies, and that will certainly hinder our witness to the world.
The last thing that an inter-denomination like ours must not forget is our roots: our orthodoxy. While every church will certainly claim its roots or orthodoxy from the Christ and the bible, Chapel of the Resurrection will have to come to more recent history for its orthodoxy. If my knowledge of church history is correct, the Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist churches are the by product of the 16th Century Reformation which a former Roman Catholic monk led - that is Martin Luther. The leading product of the Reformation was the restoration of the bible to the homes of the common man. By the end of the day, the laity did not have to wait for the clergy to read and interpret God's word to him; he had God's words with himself. So God began to speak to people from scriptures. With the bible in our hands, God's people encountered the faith that was once delivered to the saints (Jude 3). In the bible there was a restoration to orthodoxy.
Orthodoxy
A quick Google search reveals the meaning for the word "orthodox":
orthodox /ˈɔːθədɒks/
adjective
1. following or conforming to the traditional or generally accepted rules or beliefs of a religion, philosophy, or practice.
It was in the bid to preserve the traditional beliefs of Christianity that God caused for the authors of scriptures to have it written down. And in the bible we have the life and words of Jesus recorded. Our Lord also instructed that the apostles were to teach the nations all that he has taught them (Matthew 29:19-20). And in the epistles we find the teachings of the apostles. Theologians call them church age doctrines - the doctrines the church ought to abide by. The study of church history reveals that the first step that the enemy takes to derail the church is ensuring that the church comes to a low view of scriptures. So that when God's people begin to take Papal declarations, angelic visitations, historical relics, visions, dreams, revelations, "thus saith the lord" or "God said to me", etc, more authoritative than scriptures, we begin to find doctrines infiltrate the churches that threaten expressly revealed truths in the bible. And because these things, many times, are fresh, sensational and new, God's people are very likely to be led astray by them.
When I was growing up, we used to revile some churches as orthodox. I only got to understand that that term "orthodox church" was actually a good and blessed term recently. Our fathers who coined that term had it in mind that the children found in the churches they leave behind will abide by the tradition laid out as the foundation of those churches. That tradition being the bible or "Sola Scriptura" as the Reformers used to say. The churches we call orthodox then were Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptists, etc. These are the churches who provide the leadership of this chapel today.
To introduce the crux of this message, permit me to use an example we are all familiar with. Everyone knows the Jehovah Witnesses here. The Chief error of JW is that they consider Jehovah, God, as their ultimate source of worship and believe that Jesus Christ is just the Son of God; he doesn't share deity with God. In the process, their worship centers around God. History reveals that this error led their founder to enact a new bible, different from the one we have and to present a new orthodoxy to his people.
The church today finds itself almost repeating the errors of JW. This time, the God exalted is not Jehovah but the Holy Spirit. This teaching is predominant not in orthodox churches like ours but in most charismatic and Pentecostal churches. The phenomenon that makes the Holy Spirit the new God that Christians worship cannot be separated from the practice of glossolalia or "speaking with tongues". Other phenomenons include the practice of seeing visions, hearing voices, and pure mysticism. Those of us who have been in these churches can say with authority that these phenomenons have taken the final authority that the bible should have in the church. The greatest danger that this possesses is not what it has done to those churches, but how it is creeping into the so called orthodox churches and rendering their orthodoxy a joke. The Pentecostal phenomenons have gained entry into the orthodox churches because it promises a new spirituality for churches that have lost their true spiritual walk with Christ. I am saying that when orthodox churches lost their vital relationship with Jesus and only submitted to a dead orthodoxy hinged on the letter of scriptures, it became fascinated with a false spirituality that the Charismatic movement was selling and very easily bought into it.
Knowing that most of us teachers in this place have a Pentecostal or Charismatic background, am I hereby saying we should stop speaking in tongues? No.
Rather, I would want us to pursue and understand why our fathers called this churches orthodox churches:
Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
True spirituality is knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior. The error of JW and Islam is having God without Jesus. The error of Pentecostalism is pursuing religious experiences purportedly originating from the Holy Spirit but having no doctrine of Christ in it. When we come to Jesus, then we know God as God and Father our Lord Jesus Christ. Except Jesus reveals the Father to us, whatever picture of the Father Islam, JW or you and I have of him is a false picture. In the same vein, except Jesus reveals the Holy Spirit to us, what we might have possessed is another spirit whom john told us will pervade the world today (1John 4:1). The bible never told us to pursue the Holy Spirit and some experiences he could give us. The bible instructed us to pursue Jesus and he will give us the Holy Spirit to instruct and guide us, John 16. In the process of seeking spiritual phenomenons, hundreds have opened themselves up to demonic activities.
Let us beware of this.
Child Evangelism
The thrust of my message is to show us just one danger that arise in our evangelizing children. Our calling as disciples of Christ and instructors of these children is to bring them to Jesus. Not to lead them to religion, to Jehovah or even to the Holy Spirit. Our duty is to lead them to Christ. In the process of doing this, our children come to possess the Spirit of Christ within them. They also gain an accurate understanding of Jehovah God.
The means of doing this is to call our children's attention back to the bible. For within scriptures, especially the gospels and epistles, is the person of Jesus revealed. (In the bid to return to the bible after leaving our former church, I inaugurated a fellowship that I lead called the GODSPATNERS Evangelical Outreach. We hold fellowship once a month in a school in Basorun. Our next meeting is this coming Saturday. You are heartily invited to it). We cannot do this accurately except of course we as teachers know our bibles well enough. This message is not meant to disparage Pentecostalism or whatever influences it has had on us. Rather, it might occasion us to compare whatever Pentecostal experiences we possess with biblical truths. And if we find any discrepancies, we can discard such experiences. The freedom that an interdenominational church like ours possess must not be lost. If God's people believe that their relationship with God is best exercised through Pentecostal "gim gim", by all means pursue it. If however, like me, you have your doubts about these phenomena, then live by scriptural standards you know. But let the overall sum of all that we do be that we are pursuing a relationship with Jesus and at the same time leading our children to him.
A few months ago, I was invited to join the syllabus committee of the children church. This committee is led by the able Dr A. I have seen her commitment and adherence to the tenure of scriptures, so much so that I am confident that the Pentecostal excesses I criticize in thus message are not likely to find their way into our children's curriculum in this place. This message is an additional call on us to ensure it doesn't. And I am very privileged and grateful to be part of that team.
Our calling is to lead these children to Jesus. I trust God that we will not earn his much displeasure by leading them elsewhere though our own lack of understanding.
I thank you for listening. God bless you.
Let us pray...
(This speech was originally meant to be delivered to teachers at the Children's Church of Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, on the 9th August 2015, but due to time constraint, I preached it instead.)
