Dr. D. Z. Cofield is Senior Pastor of Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Houston Texas. He was instructor at Dallas Theological Seminary, a former adjunct professor at the College of Biblical Studies-Houston, former president of The Texas Center for Biblical Studies and currently teaches for Grace School of Theology. He is the founder of Hope for Families, Inc., a non-profit committed to rebuilding communities one family at a time through a comprehensive approach to addressing the basic needs of community residents in the areas of fresh food, healthcare, employment, and counseling.
He is the founder of Project Hope; a programme committed to helping at-risk youth succeed through creative and innovative strategies. He is a certified Church Revitalization Specialist who serves as the principal consultant in The Cirred Group LLC, and the lead instructor of The Church Training Institute LLC, an organization that teaches nationally and internationally in the areas of Church Development, Christian Education, Expository Preaching, Pastoral Ministries, Discipleship, Worship, and Leadership Development. Additionally, he serves as the Director of the Minister’s Division for the Fellowship United District Association (FUDA).
He was in Nigeria recently to hold a three-day discipleship programme at the West Africa Theological Seminary during which he entertained questions from some media platforms including Church Times Nigeria. Find below part 1 of the interview
You just came into Nigeria for the first time. What is your experience of the country?
It has been very exciting since I came. And I must say I have been really impressed with the West Africa Theological Seminary and the fact that it has impacted the church in the West Africa region. And I think the church in Nigeria is uniquely poised to impact the world unlike any other country that I have seen in terms of Christianity and church life.
It’s interesting that you’re saying this, because there is this controversy that’s going about a minister who said Nigeria’s calling is to revive the world through prayer. Do you agree with such position?
Yeah, to some extent. I think Nigerians are well aware of who they are as a people. And unlike what obtains in other nations of the world where we have blacks, Nigerians have the ability from top-to-bottom to speak to issues in a way that others around the world cannot speak. Black people in America do not have the power at the top of the government and throughout the government. But here in Nigeria, you have the resources, you have the wealth, you have the capacity, you have the leadership and the capability. It’s just a matter of time and you will be able to marshal your potential to really impact the world. For some, it is a scary thought, for me it’s exciting.
So, what would you consider the greatest strength of the country, I mean, from the little time that you’ve spent in Nigeria?
Let me start on this premise. Houston, Texas is reported to have the largest population of Nigerians in the world outside of Lagos. We partner with a lot of Nigerian doctors, nurses and other professionals. We’ve always enjoyed a really great working relationship with them. But at the end, I think the biggest thing about Nigerians is that they unapologetically know who they are, and when you know who you are, you can be who God created you to be in a much more effective and impactful way.
You ministered at the WATS discipleship programme. How easy is it to communicate your message to your audience?
I think there are some things that I said in the message as Dr. Olufemi Emmanuel the Provost of WATS noted are known to the people. But a lot of times people don’t have the courage to say what needs to be said, and the boldness to say it. And I think for so long the church in Africa has taken its lead from the church in Europe and the church in America, and I think now it’s time for the child to teach the parent. It’s time for roles to be reversed and for the church in Africa to be able to lead and show the rest of the world what the church really can do and should be.
One of the biggest fears of some Christians is the seeming threat of Islam in Nigeria. Do you think such fear is justified?
In all fairness, I think part of the reason Islam is having strong voice in the country is tied to the insufficiency of the church being what it’s called to be. I think whenever you compare true Christianity— the gospel as Jesus presents it— to any other religion, they pale in comparison. I mean, even the Quran talks about the baby Jesus. There’s a recognition of who he is. I think, it is highly important for us to remember that when you have the real thing, you don’t have to argue with people who are trying to create a counterfeit.
The problem has been the church not being who Jesus commanded us to be. There will always be alternative thoughts and religions and ideologies and the like. But I think when the church really stands up to be the church there will no fear of any threat whatsoever. For instance, we have people who are atheists and we’ve seen many of them come to faith in God when they see the church the way Jesus wants it to be.
We have groups in our country, the Black Hebrew Israelites, for example I don’t know if you have them here who have taken a very cultural stance around religion. But they do not bother us or attack us because they know that there is no counterfeit with us. They cannot argue with what we do, because we feed more people than they feed. We help more people than they help. They see the church being what it should be. I think their criticism is really about churches who are pretending to be what they are not.
And so, I think when we are who we are it causes people to pause and be able to say, ‘Okay, yeah, this is real, you know.’
What would you say to the ministers, the pastors who feel this heat more, especially in the northern part of Nigeria who are being attacked on a daily basis because of their faith?
The persecution of the church is something, that the world deals with at varying levels and varying degrees. And so, you know, I would definitely, pray for them and support them.
But the challenge is: How do we become what God wants us to be and not just believe in him? How can we be the church. Jesus says, ‘You are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world,’ Too many times as Christians, we have been taught to oppose and fight, as opposed to being who Jesus wants us to be. And that does not mean we will not be persecuted, because Jesus was persecuted.
But how can you know, when you hear a man like, Mahatma Gandhi says he would have been a Christian if he had just met somebody who was a real Christian. In the US where I live, we have successfully lived with the Muslim community. I greet them in love, they greet me in love, and there’s nothing but respect between us. I have come to discover that if you want what is best for people and you’re not misusing or abusing them you stand a chance of not having issues with them. At the end, what we are talking about regardless of religion we adhere to is loving people, respecting people, caring about them and caring about the community. All of these things matter.
What is the situation with the American Church over the years. Is there a revival?
I don’t know if there is a revival happening in the United States. In the Book of Revelation Chapter 3 Jesus said to the church in Sardis, ‘You know, this is what I have against you, you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.’
And for me, that is a very sobering passage, because what the Lord says is that other people think you got it going on, and you think you have it going on, but I say you’re dead, and you don’t know it.’
And then he says in the New Living Translation, he says, ‘Wake up, strengthen what remains, because even what remains is at the point of death.’ And he says, ‘You’re not doing what’s right in the sight of God.’ I think that’s the challenge for us. Are we going to do what’s right in our sight, or are we going to try to continue to maintain our traditions. And then Jesus closes his message to the church in Sardis by saying, ‘Go back to what you first believed.’
Now, we have to remember who he’s writing to and when he wrote this. He says, ‘Go back to what you first believed.’ Jesus is not saying the church has to go back 50 years. He’s saying go back 2,000 years to when the church started. The point is, if Jesus evaluates our churches, what would he say? That to me is the approval that we need to look for. And we’ve gotten so far away from the original intent and mandate of Jesus. We’re busy emulating and imitating ourselves, and every time we do that, we get further and further away from what Jesus has asked us to do. I had a gentleman tell me, he said, ‘Man, what you’re talking about is so simple. And I said, ‘Because that’s what the Lord told us to do but we’ve made it complicated.’
To be continued