Adeboye Vs Cardinal Okoye: Here is what the controversy is all about

The retired Catholic priest is critical of Pastor Adeboye's vision to have RCCG churches everywhere.

Church planting is a well-known objective of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

In fact, it is boldly stated on the church’s website as one of their mission and visions, along with making heaven, taking as many people with us, having a member of RCCG in every family of all nations and making holiness a lifestyle.

It reads, “To accomplish №2 and 3 above, we will plant churches within five minutes walking distance in every city and town of developing countries and within five minutes driving distance in every city and town of developed countries.”

 

While this has been accepted and praised by most, not everyone is okay with it. The Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie falls into the second category.

In July 2017 Daily Post reported that he criticised the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s decision have branches everywhere.

He called church planting his biggest challenge, adding that this does not result in holy people.

In his words, “Seeing many churches, left right and centre without (them) making an impact, is my biggest regret.

“I disagree with the concept of building many branches by the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye. Churches don’t make a person holy.

“There are many churches in Lagos and that’s the cause of traffic. The other day, Mathew Ashimolowo made some outrageous demands on tithing and offerings.

“Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is right. Corruption has taken over the churches. What are the church leaders doing to curb corruption?

“Before it was speaking in tongues they used to deceive people, but today it is miracles. It is also annoying when pastors don’t go to the hinterland to evangelise.

“They will rather go to where there are many churches already. According to Lagos law, no two churches should be on the same street.

“When you see things these Pentecostal leaders do, I ask, do they really believe in God? Have they no conscience?”

 

Cardinal Ookogie has made reference to the same issue in a recent interview with New Telegraph newspaper.

This time, he described these branches as “mere business centres” and a major cause of traffic.

In order to bring us together and to get sanity back into this country, the fear of God must be number one. Nigerians of today don’t care a hoot about God.

He said, “For example, I heard that one of my colleagues, (Pastor Enoch) Adeboye, said that he would love to build churches everywhere so as to make it easy for worshipers to walk to them. But for me, that is a useless statement. How can you say you will build churches everywhere?

“What kind of churches are you talking about? Look at traffic in Lagos for example, and those who are pastors are traders and a good number of them are businessmen. Such churches in most cases are more like business houses! Look at the number of churches springing up in Lagos. If the Muslims start building mosques like that, does it show that Nigeria is a religious country?

“Every day we hear of killings and other things that we were not hearing before.

“We can’t even walk the streets freely. You have to be watching yourself left, right and centre to know who the man coming behind you is. It wasn’t like that before. Churches must ensure that there is fear of God.

“And I’m just telling you that those churches that he is talking about are just business centres.”

ALSO READ: Cardinal Okogie slams Nigerian leaders

The  Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Oyo, Most Reverend (Dr) Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo, has reacted to Cardinal Okogie‘s statements.

Speaking with Tribune, he said that he agrees with the retired priest and gave reasons for taking this stance.

 

He said, “One of our leaders, Anthony Olubunmi Cardinal Okogie, just addressed the issue (multiple branches). Many of these churches are business centres and shops.

“Why do you need five churches on a street? Is it right or wrong? Your guess is as good as mine.

“But we have not done enough research on this matter that has shifted the attention of Christians from working hard to achieve a goal that is Christian from that to just praying and seeing visions.

“The church has a role to play to make a positive difference. We must restate our commitment to getting our messages into the mainstream of public discourse so that the Christian religion would not be rubbished in the mud as it is at the moment.”

Pastor Adeboye has not responded to any of these statements.

SOURCE - PULSE.NG posted by Campus94