By Pastor Gbadebo Akinyemi.
The Redeemed Christian Church Of God, RCCG is of late in the news for the wrong reason. This is because the son of the General Overseer himself, Pastor Leke Adeboye threw caution to the wind, calling some pastors in the Mission goats.
The offence the ‘goat pastors’ committed was that they dared to give their own sermons in their own local parishes at the Thanksgiving Sunday Service after the live telecast of Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s message to the whole church across the globe.
Well, following the groundswell of angst and criticism that trailed the recklessly unsavoury comment, Leke who is Daddy GO’s Special assistant has tendered an apology.
But if the mood in the church is anything to go by, that apology is impotent. Though they would not summon the courage to openly express their anger over Leke’s outburst, many big pastors in the Mission are not happy with him.
They feel the young man is feeling too big for his shoes and must be reined in. And they are right for two reasons. First, it is beyond Leke’s purview to legislate a moral code for pastors in the Mission.
An inbuilt mechanism for correction
There is an inbuilt mechanism to beat erring pastors into line. What is the work of the Assistant GO, Admin and personnel? In the street parlance what Pastor Leke has done is what they call “ikoja aye”, that is, going overboard.
Second, while we don’t know how many pastors were guilty of Leke’s accusation and their ordination statuses, it is not impossible that a good number of them had joined the church workforce before Leke was ever born or when he was still in diapers.
We can only appeal to these angry pastors to kindly calm their frayed nerves. In the word of the elders, a child can not eat cornmeal(Eko) without getting his fingers smeared. I am sure that Leke himself has learnt the golden lesson that two wrongs don’t ever make a right.
The point he was trying to make was very valid. It is morally wrong for any Pastor to still mount the pulpit to give any sermon after the high priest’ of the Mission has fed his flock across the globe with the word of God. Pastors who indulge in such overzealous acts are inadvertently flexing muscle with their father in the Lord.
And that is not something to be encouraged. The truth is that most members readily have their fill once baba gives his message. So they consider any sermon after GO’s message as an unwanted overdose.
But where my beloved brother Leke got it wrong was assuming the magisterial responsibility of correcting pastors who are not directly under his command.
Good intention but…
As good as his intention might be, he sent the wrong signal to the whole world. He makes everyone think that RCCG has become a fiefdom in which he is the emperor.
So to avoid this kind of embarrassing and regrettable outburst next time, Pastor Leke needs to go for tutoring in the art of self-censorship. Words are like eggs that can not be salvaged once broken. You can’t take back words after they are uttered.
You can only do damage control which may sometimes be costly or futile. So it behoves someone holding a delicate position like Pastor Leke to learn to be shrewd with words or keep quiet as much as possible on sensitive matters of the church
Otherwise, people would think he is getting vertiginous from the immense power of his status as the son of the GO. If I were in his shoes, I would first bounce my statements off my father and get his consent before going public with them.
Adeboye blessed with wisdom
God has blessed him (in particular)and us all (in general) with a father with a depth of wisdom and sagacity. You hardly can fault daddy GO when he ventilates his views on any matter.
Daddy has his ways with innuendos and parables that tacitly speak to the ills of society or the church without making anyone feel bad personally. In fact, daddy is always irreproachably on point. God bless our beloved GO!
Pastor Leke would do himself a world of good if he could just follow in the footstep of this great man of God. Daddy would not publicly call any of his pastors goats. Never! So let’s hope that ‘the goat’ comment will be the last of impetuous and impulsive grandstanding from Leke.
Message after G.O’s message, not sinful
For any pastor to preach in his local assembly after daddy GO has given his message is not necessarily sinful. It is just inconsistent with the unwritten norm of the church. And that is just the truth.
So if all Pastor Leke wanted to do was to express his displeasure about an error in the church, there were better ways of doing so.
Except he was out to assert his heavyweight as the almighty Special Assistant to the GO. Certainly, there is no need for the tiger to prove its ‘tigeritude’. Apology if there is no such word as ‘tigeritude’.
