Pastor Femi Adefolaju is the Provost of Christ International Divinity College, a Seminary owned by Christ Apostolic Church. In this interview with Adekunle Adewunmi he shares mind-blowing truths about the Church and Seminary.
Kindly give us a peep into your background?
I had a distinguished career in education before joining the ministry. I trained in the Seminary and I’ve been the coordinator of Christ International Divinity College since 2005. Since I came here, God has enabled us to improve the status of the college, improve the image and we are unique in some respect – we do not only teach theological subjects, we teach courses that could make people effective in ministry like Discipleship and a host of other courses. Many people who have graduated from here are established Pastors, Church Planters, Evangelists and very good Church workers all over the world. So, we are proud that we are contributing to positively to the church workforce
How did you come to know the Lord?
I was born into Christianity; I was born into Christ Apostolic Church. My father was a Pastor. So, I knew the Lord from my youth and I had the rich heritage of evangelism and I’ve been a church worker all my life. So, it’s not a question of just knowing the Lord.
Serving God over the years, what has been the experience and challenges?
The experience I have is that God is trustworthy; He is faithful to those who are committed to serving him. He has shown me that trusting Him his worthwhile and rewarding. So, I can boast that serving the Lord has been the secret of my strength. I thank God also that my children are in the Lord. The challenge now, is the challenge of the Church in general. Many people come to God because of what they think they can get from Him not because of knowing that He has created us to serve and worship Him. As soon as some people get what they want, they go their way. So, the challenge is to make people know why they are serving God. Many ministers today are also not serving God with the love of Christ. There are some ulterior motives why people come to serve the Lord. So, that’s the challenge and it’s a great one.
How did Christ International Divinity College begin?
It started as Christ International Evangelical Ministry in 1986. So, it became CINDICO – Christ International Divinity College in 2001 and since then, we’ve been using the name. The headquarters is at Erinmo Ijesa. It’s a unique place; we thank God for what He’s doing.
So, what is the story behind CINDICO?
The story behind it is that God told Prophet Samuel Abiara to establish the ministry. He is the brain behind the College. For several years, he was the sole financier but now, the College is of age.
Can you tell us what makes CAC unique, being a Church of many years now?
Ha! CAC is unique. Christ Apostolic Church is unique in the sense that, of all the Founders of Churches, Apostle Joseph Babalola understanding of prayers is awesome. CAC is unique as a prayer Church. In fact, people confirmed that A o kin se aladura, awa gan, adura niwa which translates that “we are not prayer warriors, we ourselves are Prayer!” So, that’s very important. You’d be hearing the popular song; Babalola Olomi iye re o, omi iye (This is Babalola, the owner of the water of life). We believe that when we come to serve God and we pray, things happen. Things are not happening today because people are no longer serving God the way they should serve Him. That is why things are not happening today and that’s a great challenge.
Sir, there is so much emphasis on Apostle Ayo Babalola and we learnt that he was just part of those who started the Church. We are told that the group had been in existence before he joined. Why so much premium on him?
That will be a long story. The prayer band started 100 years ago. So, Babalola came from the root of Anglican Church but God used him to bring a dead person back to life. That was the origin of the revival at Ilesha in 1930. They were prayer people who were meeting and it was at the meeting that Babalola said God sent him to the Church but they didn’t allow him until the miracle of raising of the dead and the revival started. The name CAC was introduced in 1942.
There is also a SUBTLE idolization of Babalola. His pictures everywhere and people going to his graveside to pray. Are you not bothered about this?
That is not in CAC. Anybody doing that is not a genuine member of C.A.C. WE DON’T DO THAT IN C.A.C. We don’t believe in spirit. We don’t believe in conjuring spirit or asking anything to help us except the Lord Jesus Christ.
CAC operates more like a franchise. There is little control from the central, why is it so?
There is a central coordination. But CAC because it’s an omnibus organization, many people who left came to use the name of either Apostolic as part of their name but if they leave, it’s not the making of CAC.
