By Toyin Adeniyi
Rev. Christie Bature, the founder of the Port Harcourt-based 360 Degree Rehabilitation Centre, has recounted how a top minister of the gospel once discouraged her from going into full-time ministry. She also narrated the challenges she faced during her early days as a preacher and gospel artist.
She made the disclosure in a sermon themed “Be More,” which was shared on Facebook and monitored by Church Times.
According to Bature, the pastor—whose name was not mentioned—described her ambition as unrealistic for a young, single woman.
Having studied Electrical Engineering, Bature worked for a while at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Kaduna. However, each time she went to work, her mind was focused on missions and evangelical outreaches. She became so unhappy at the turn of a new week that she dreaded resuming work.
She became increasingly convinced that God was calling her into ministry. However, when she sought counsel from a senior pastor she admired, the response was far from encouraging.
”The pastor told me, ‘Where have you seen any young, single lady in this country doing full-time music ministry? My friend, you are just being lazy,'” she recalled.
Bature, who became born again in 1977, recalled how she first got involved with the Children’s Evangelical Ministry at the age of 14, where she was trained to teach 7-year-old children on Saturdays during the holidays.
It was during that time that she was introduced to a group of young people in Kano, where she grew up. The group, which went by the name Kano Students for Christ Crusade, included the late founder of The Carpenters Church, Charles Omafoma, and many others who are now doing exploits in ministry across the globe.
She said the group of young people was full of fire and zeal; all they wanted to do was win souls. According to Bature, this group discovered unreached people groups in Kano who were neither Christians nor Muslims. These people lived in remote villages and would not allow anyone to come and preach to them.
She recalled, “The people were living in thick bushes. We would get to a certain point by car but had to use our legs to access the villages because vehicles could not reach them.”
Bature further stated that the group initially met with resistance when they took the gospel to the villages. But something incredible happened. In the course of their evangelism, one of the village heads received news that his father was critically ill and was asked to come see him before he passed away.
When the young evangelists heard this, one of them offered to pray for the father. The village head replied that if his father could be healed through their prayers, he would accept their Jesus.
Bature said, “We went to pray for the man. And just like Peter’s mother-in-law in the Bible, the man sat up immediately after the prayers. He was healed. The whole village turned to Jesus. That was how the gospel was accepted in those villages.”
That was the kind of faith environment in which she grew up. So, when the senior pastor discouraged her from full-time ministry, she was crushed in her spirit and started questioning whether she had truly heard from God.
Despite the setback, she said she later received what she described as divine encouragement while reflecting on the situation.
She came to the conclusion that, “The fact that it has not been done does not mean it cannot be done. The fact that nobody has had your kind of dream does not negate the dream. It doesn’t make your dream illegal or illegitimate.”
Bature explained that this realization became a turning point in her life and ministry, renewing her confidence to pursue God’s call despite doubts and opposition.
Using her experience to challenge believers, Rev. Bature said many people abandon their God-given assignments because they focus on existing examples rather than divine possibilities. She noted that the theme “Be More” is not primarily about financial success, social influence, or personal ambition, but about growing deeper in one’s relationship with God and fulfilling a divine purpose.
”We have too many people carrying the name without the lifestyle, and carrying the name without the power,” she said.
According to her, many believers approach God casually while expecting extraordinary results.
”Most of us are casual inquirers. We casually walk in to inquire of the Lord, but there are people who are pressing into God,” she said.
Bature urged Christians to develop a closer relationship with God, learn to recognize His voice, and pursue His purpose wholeheartedly rather than merely identifying as Christians in name.
On how she later obeyed the call, she said God told her to leave Kaduna, where she had settled, and move to Port Harcourt. She was initially reluctant, wondering how she would cope with the expensive lifestyle in Port Harcourt.
By then, she had been involved in a ministry on whose platform she traveled to minister in Port Harcourt around 1991. She said that after the ministration, she returned to Kaduna only to discover that thieves had broken into her house and stolen all her belongings.
”God told me, ‘I have been asking you to leave Kaduna for Port Harcourt and you have refused to obey me. Now I have helped you move your things.’ That was how I had to relocate to Port Harcourt with just a few clothes and a bass guitar.”
Upon arriving in Port Harcourt, she formed a gospel band consisting mostly of female artists. They ministered in songs, blessed lives, and God prospered the work. Today, her ministry has blossomed and is making a global impact.
Bature remarked, “Every time you attempt to be more, there will always be voices that say you can’t, you shouldn’t, or you must not. But if God has spoken, you must be willing to move beyond those voices and become more.”