On 18th JANUARY 2025 the church had its FIRST COLLOQUIUM, themed Influencing the Marketplace – Calling Believers to their Kingdom Responsibilities: Transforming the Nation. The convener Revd. Mike Ola emphasized that the colloquium was a divine mandate and not an assemblage of human ideas. The set man explained that the programme was a product of God’s mercy reaching out to us to help us focus on the mandate He has given us as His disciples as stated in Matthew 28:18-20, which is principally to go make disciples of the nations of the world, which is to transmit to them the Kingdom culture.
He emphasized that the reality of us being light and salt of the earth is how we live with intentionality to change the world. We are not to blend in but to influence it for the Kingdom.
Christ saved us so He can send us out to save the world.
When righteousness is absent, God sends down His anger. We as light and salt bear the responsibility to preserve the earth as we spread the influence of His Kingdom. Therefore, we are all stakeholders in this business of spreading His righteousness wherever we find ourselves.
The colloquium pulled in people from different sectors of the economy
Mr. Yunana Yahaya, a geologist of over 25 years working in the Oil and Gas industry in Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Habila a lecturer in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Onaolapo, retired Dean of Pharmacy ABU Zaria, Dr. Ogbonna, Miss Abiodun Itunu the brain behind Amesthy Doree and Mr Gaven Sindep, a public servant for several years and a retired General Manager of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency.
The discussion centred on the keyword ‘Influence’; in Family, Business, Media, politics etc. participants deliberated on the existing decadence and solutions on how to change the statusquo
Dr Sunday Habila spoke on the influence Christians must have in their homes stating that the devil is fully aware that the manifestation of the society is the church and the manifestation of the church is the family. He explained that a healthy family produces a healthy church and a healthy church produces a healthy society.
On the same note, Mr Yunana also explained that Home training is the foundation for building resilient Kingdom agents that can influence their marketplace. He strongly explained that family upbringing is superior to whatever can be studied from books.
Professor Onaolapo affirmed that Christians have allowed technological advancement to erode biblical principles to the detriment of our own spiritual education. He strongly instructed that believers put their feet down in the upbringing of children. He explained that parents dictate the pace and moral temperature of their children therefore we must let Christian principles be the key values that drives the socialization of our children.
On Politics, Mr Yunana explained that the church and the community should be deliberate in equipping people with skills that are relevant for engagement with the world. He emphasized the need to put a system in place that is targeted at helping believers engage with the system as well as a system of accountability where we demand more from each other and caution our people when they go wrong.
Dr. Ogbonna added that we lack a Christian Political agenda. He explained that in many cases, people identify first as tribal or racial entities before they identify as Christians, whereas, what should come first is our identity as Christians which can now be projected into politics
He insisted that Christians intentionally raise their children with the consciousness of the kingdom and train them to be intentional about involvement in the politics and other key issues in the society.
Miss Abiodun stated that in business Kingdom citizens must be transparent and straightforward in dealing with their customers. She added that we pursue a win-win situation for all parties and be very clear upfront about our identity as Kingdom Ambassadors. Mr Yunana added that believers who are into contracts based businesses must work so well that their credibility can be vouched for, that way they will have no choice but to look for them when quality job is to be done. Kingdom citizens must understand that their engagement in business is a creation mandate so that they face it with a sense of stewardship
On the topic of the use of the Media, Miss Abiodun stressed that Christian Youths should not just scroll past unwholesome contents since we have a responsibility to counter the lies the world system is trying to sell to people with superior content on all subject matter. She instructed that Christians be deliberate about changing the narrative on social media. Dr Ogbonna supported this stand saying we should consciously and shamelessly push the kingdom agenda and culture within the system. He explained that Kingdom Ambassadors cannot rely on the world system to push our agenda for us, we must take responsibility to push the kingdom’s agendas also. We should create our own content and put it out there. Prof. Onaolapo summed it up by saying every church must have a social media department. AIG. Lalas, the Guest of Honour remarked that the world is evolving and we must be and project our identity as Kingdom Ambassadors to influence where we are. High Chief Christopher who was also in attendance commended the program stating that such should be the move of the church in these days.
