Founder of Grace Outreach Global Church Apostle Segun Aigbogun, has explained the circumstances that might have led to the decision of Pastor Tola Odutola to leave the Redeemed Christian Church of God noting that doing church in the US is not as easy as people think.
He said Odutola must have decided to leave the RCCG based on what he could cope with.
Aigbogun talked from his experience as founder of a parish of a denominational church (not RCCG) before the Lord called him to a fresh work in the US.
In his own case, he had to forgo the property he labored to buy for the denomination. He explained however that he is still carrying the burden of the property of the church since the property was bought in his name.
Though he has founded other churches in tough places of the world like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, he said his experience in his former church in the US clearly showed that doing Church in some denominational setting comes with its own baggage.
He explains, “When you start a church in the US, that church is an independent legal entity. It is unlike in Nigeria where the church is centralised. The authority of the state where the church is located sees you as the person that is answerable for anything that goes on in the church especially as it concerns mortgage and other issues.
“There is a form 503c which is filled by the pastor. It is the form that makes the church to be tax exempt. If the church defaults on paying mortgage for instance, it is the pastor that will be called to question. If there is any legal issue it is the pastor that will be called. In the case of RCCG for instance the government does not know RCCG as a body, it is the pastor of the particular parish that the government knows.”
Citing his own example, he said, “When I left my former church I did not go with the property. But I have since been called up each time an audit is carried out on the church. When they defaulted in paying their mortgage, I was the one the authority wrote to even when I have left the church years ago. I have to hold meeting with the church and told them recently we will have to foreclose the property that I can’t continue paying their mortgage. What we are now thinking of is to sell the property and give the money to the church so that we can pay the mortgage and then they can use the remaining funds to buy a smaller property.”
Aigbogun who is a food technology expert and presently works in a multinational company while also doing ministry said growing a church in the US is not as easy as people think. “I can imagine the work that would have been put into the church where Odutola pastors. I know him from afar when I was in the US. His parish is one of the most disciplined churches in Maryland, US. Since he said he heard from God, I think we should give him benefit of doubt. You can’t fault a man who hears from God.”
Aigbogun reasons that though Odutola laboured under RCCG using the name of the church, getting people together irrespective of the name of the church is an assignment that requires a lot of personal sacrifices. “It is God who grows the church. But there must be something on ground for God to bring increase to. It is when a church is meeting the needs of the people that they are attracted to it. People don’t just decide to commit themselves to a church.” he said.
