Churches are doing a lot for Nigeria-Lagos PFN chair

The chairman of the Lagos Chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Pastor Yemi Davids has said many churches are doing a lot to help Nigerians and to stabilize the polity noting however that such gestures are not publicized because of biblical injunctions.

He made the observation during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday, September 4 monitored by Church Times.

Davids who was inaugurated on August 31 as the 11^th chairman of the Pentecostal body said many churches help widows, pay house rents for members, and engage in regular feeding of the poor.

He said however that advertising such acts of kindness will dehumanize the recipients. “We feed a lot of people and pay house rents for members. When I checked what we spend on feeding people, it’s staggering. But we can’t be advertising that on TV or social media. That will reduce the humanity of the people we are feeding. Last Easter for instance we extended love to over 1000 widows. But we don’t shout about it because the Bible does not encourage us to do that.”

He noted that churches have played a great role in stabilizing Nigeria and giving hope to people.

According to him, Nigeria would have been worse off without the church.

Fuel hike

On the recent increase in the fuel price, Davids said the action on the part of the government looks like wickedness because there is no adequate communication.

“Both the leadership of the church and followers feel the pain. As a leader, I think there is a need to have adequate and prompt communication with the people. There is a kind of disconnect with the people. Those are the areas that bother us and we are appealing that those things should be looked into.”

While agreeing that the Lagos State government is doing a lot he said, the challenges are overwhelming. “There are committees they set up and they ask us to send representatives. The consideration of even inviting us on board to help Lagosians is laudable. But the challenges are too much and overwhelming. There is pressure everywhere”

Pastors not the problem

He debunked the notion that pastors are the problems of Nigeria saying, “I agree there are excesses. We have corrupt bankers and great bankers, we have fantastic engineers and fake engineers. There are good doctors and bad doctors. We can’t generalize. Pastors give hope to people.”

On allegations that some pastors place undue emphasis on prosperity message, he said, “You call it prosperity. We call it hope. I believe without churches things would have been worse. We give hope every week to people. I agree there are excesses in the church but the lapses we have are not enough to condemn the church as a whole.”

2023 election

Talking on the 2023 elections during which some churches took sides with politicians, he said, “I was personally pained with the way the last election was handled. What I want to encourage is development. Where there is development people will not worry about the religion of those who are in government. We have the opportunity to communicate a lot in church every week. I think pastors should do better in that area in terms of educating their people.”

While recalling that he was part of the Endsars protest before it was hijacked, he said, “When people are hungry, I don’t think it is fair for them to be told how to respond to hunger. It is an unconscious thing. I feel people should be allowed to express themselves. But then there should be some caution so that it does not degenerate”

He argued that it is wrong to paint all churches with the same brush while also adding that, “many churches are doing well in terms of focus.”

He urged pastors to allow people to make their decisions in subsequent elections but that they can “educate their members about national transformation and also prepare them for leadership”