offering: Why i don’t collect it in my ministry
By Charles Okogene
Brother Chikadibia Njoku, is an itinerant prayer warrior who intercedes for people in need of prayers.
A Catholic, he is also the leader of Divine Favour Adoration Ministry, a prayer group that specialises in praying for people. The group holds a weekly (Wednedsday) prayer meeting in his Iju/Ishaga, Lagos State residence.
He was born into a Christian family that placed much premium on prayers. His father was a Catechist in one of the Catholic Churches in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. He set out early in his ‘prayerful’ journey some four years ago with a group of friends.
He recalls how the journey began, “my childhood ambition then was to go to the seminary but it did not work out, one way or the other. But while working in a hospital, I kept praying for people especially the sick ones. I love interceding for people. My dad was a Catechist, like I said earlier and we loved praying at home. Then, I enjoy praying for people and it always come to pass. Though, I never took it seriously. In Catholic Church such was not taken seriously,” he said in an answer as to how he discovered his calling.
While the calling was a special gift from God, he said it was not fully discovered until he met a woman of God while looking for solution to the challenges that he had in his work place.
According to him, “I was constantly having challenges in my place of work and one day, my friends and I decided to see a certain woman of God to know the cause of the problem; and on getting there, the woman of God told me that as long as I have refused to do the work of God, that the challenges would persist. She was clear about it that I have to work for God and that there is nothing I can do except I work for God. That was how I decided to open the ministry. I pray for people and people do invite me to come and pray for them.”
The ministry he said is strictly a prayer group that is uniquely different from other ministries in the sense that it is not a church, it has no formal structure or organogram, we conduct prayer on Wednesdays and it is open to anybody in need of prayers no matter the person’s faith or denomination.
“The only thing is that I am open to pray for anybody as long as you can reach me; I make myself available in as long as you believe in Christ Jesus because when Christ was going about his ministry, it was an open one and a lot of people whose faith He did not know came to him. He did not discriminate or charge money. Mine is to make an impact in the world and not as a Catholic but as a Christian,” he stated.
According to him, the ministry is not just about prayer alone. “A lot of people do not need prayer alone. Some just need somebody to talk to. Some are sick and need more of medical attention than prayers but instead of seeking medical help, they run to church. When I see such person, I do pray for them anyway but after that, I advise such person to seek medical care; in fact, my ministry’s vision this 2020, is to have a hospital I can refer such people to and afterwards pick their bill. Some people will have malaria and come to me for prayer and when I finish praying for them, I do tell them to go to hospital and get full medicare.”
The most unique thing about this young man and his ministry is that unlike other ministries and churches that cannot do without offerings and tithes, his ministry do not solicit for such. It survives freewill offering.
“In the ministry I run; just come, we pray and share the word of God. That is the kind of ministry I run. I do not run it for money and God has been using the people to prosper us,” he said.
And to show that the ministry was not founded for money making or to rival Catholic Church like others before him have done, he said that he does not have the intention of breaking away from the Catholic Church and that is why his ministry does not question the doctrine of the church.
“I have no intention of leaving Catholic Church. I will never do anything against the doctrine of the church; my ministry do not do anything against the doctrine of Catholic Church and our prayer session is on Wednesdays and if it coincides with anything the Catholic Church parish where I worship has a programme, I suspend that of my ministry. When Christ was going about his ministry there was no Christianity. Mine is to bring people to God. There is possibility the church is aware because there are some priests who know of my ministry but as long as I do not do anything contrary to the doctrine of the church, I do not think, the church will frown at what I do. The church will not frown at me or my ministry because we will not do anything against the doctrine of the church or lead people out of the church,” he said.
Though, his activities and the reception/feedback is not too bad, he believes that for everything one does in life, there is advantages and disadvantages saying “some people see you as a disadvantage others as advantage but the fact is that I am not doing it to please anybody. What is paramount in my mind is to make sure the people I pray for, do not miss heaven and that I do not miss heaven also and if that is achieved, I am okay.”
He agreed that there are little challenges here and there but was emphatic that with God, all things are possible.
According to him, his ministry and his activities are not officially know to the Catholic Church at any level but he said that some priests at their individual levels are aware of what he does.
“There is possibility the church is aware because there are some priests who know what I do. Some people come from the church to see me. So there is nothing one does that is not known.”
The feedback or the impact of the ministry on the people he also said is not too bad. To show how far and wide his fame has grown, he told this reporter that he will be leaving for Calabar in Cross River State immediately after the interview to participate a week-long prayer session just as he had in the past taken his prayer mission to countries like Cote D’Ivore, Congo and other West Coast countries and that the ministry, is on Facebook, twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms