Evangelism outside the pulpit: This Present House example

By Amechi Obiakpu

This Present House, a new generation church situated in Lekki, Lagos, has devised a different method of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unsaved as instructed by the bible in Matthew 28: 19.

The church believes that, the present day situation needs a 21st century approach of making disciples of all nature, hence has resulted to spreading the word of God to people in the slumps.

This Present House feels that more souls will be won if the message of Jesus Christ is taken to the areas tagged as ‘dark spots’ which abound everywhere and the people integrated in the church.

To this end, the church which is founded by Tony Rapu, one of the pastors who started what turned out to be the present day ‘Apapa Family,’ of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, through it’s different ‘Expressions’ (a term use by the church to depict various offshoots) has for about a decade been constantly visiting the slumps of Ijora, Alaka, Iwaya among other areas to improve the lives of the people while preaching Jesus Christ to them.

This present House has about six Expressions scattered around Lagos. They are: The Water Brook Church; Holy Trinity Church; The Green House, Mount Zion Church, The Potter’s House and God Bless Nigeria Church.

According to Senior Pastor of God Bless Nigeria Church, Steve Nduka, the gospel is not only for the rich, but for the people in the slumps too and it should be taken to them. He told Espi News in an interview in the church Lagos office on Tuesday that, the instruction on preaching the gospel of Christ is so paramount that it has made the mandate its passion for the past 11 years.

“We run a church that is centred on taking care of the destitute. A church where one practically has to be poor to join,” Nduka said.

“There are people on the payroll whose full time job is to see to the need of the downtrodden and through the help of the church meet them, including feeding. We look at it from the perspective that Jesus will gather and be worried about feeding the poor.

According to the Delta State born cleric, the parent church, This Present House is involve in many activities that centre on improving the lives of the destitute.

He mentioned ‘My Lagos diary’, as one of them. According to him, ‘My Lagos diary’, is a documentary programme aimed at exposing life in the slump. The initiative was launched in 2017.

“My Lagos diary is Pastor Tony’s private journal on what is happening in Lagos life as he takes the gospel to the poor. It is aimed at exposing his encounters with the herbalist, drug addicts who threaten, as he goes about in the course of the message.

Nduka explained that some people from the slump who have gone through the transformation stage are made ambassadors and their lives used as tools to further testify to the goodness of God.

“Apart from using it as a tool for evangelism, the essence of ‘My Lagos diary’, is to make the world know that a lot of work is needed to be done to improve the lives of people in the slumps and for the government to know how much work is still needed to be done. Though, the state government is trying,” but, “more can still be done,” he added.

“We are not really into showing off what we do but, the bible says let your light shine that your heavenly father can be glorified.

“We are not running a franchise programme, but we want people to come see what we do and go and replicate it elsewhere.”

Explaining the roles some of the expressions of the church play in the reformation process, the cleric said they are created to meet specific need.

“God Bless Nigeria Church caters and picks people from the slumps, people who may have been written off by the society and through a reformative process they are integrated in the church. The Potters House and Mount Zion Church, absorb some of the converts who may no longer be comfortable with the ‘class’ of people in God Bless Nigeria Church.

“The Green House, Yaba is a full blown campus church, which takes care of majorly students and understands their need, while the Holy Trinity Church handles christians who are more comfortable with the Anglican church-like style of worship. The Holy Trinity church is run by a vicar,” he averred.

He advised that more impact will be made in the lives of the poor if the proliferation of churches in the country will do the work of an evangelist.

“The church is huge and am a small boy. But I want to encourage the church to do the work of an evangelist, like what Paul said in the bible that we should do the work of an evangelist. When Paul said that he does not mean go to other people’s churches and steal their members but, go to some of the areas we labelled dark spot preach to the people and see how to give helping hands to change their lives.”

He decried a situation where some pastors see ministry as a means of livelihood irrespective of their membership strength.

“The number of members may not matter to them as long as it can sustain them and it is not so much that they want to become millionaires or billionaires but once they can feed from there, its ok.”

Reacting to the recent debate about tithing, pastor Nduka noted that the issue may not have arose if some pastors are seen to be using the resources entrusted in their care to affect the lives of poor people living within the various communities.

“We are not saying we can eradicate poverty, but we will continue to set example so other people can replicate what we do in their various communities for the good of the society and so that the name of our lord Jesus Christ can be glorified,” he posited.