Our Impact On Youths Is Holistic – Kumuyi
Pastor
William F. Kumuyi is the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian
Life Bible Church. He addressed the press recently on his church’s plan
for Nigerian youths as well as other national issues. John Oba was
there for LEADERSHIP.
What is your assessment of the state of the nation?
Everybody knows that we need some progress and we also need clarification on the vision and the direction the country ought to go. In almost every area: industry, technology, agriculture, and virtually all the sectors of the economy, one needs general knowledge. What I will say is that instead of mourning the past or having self-pity or national pity, we should be forward-looking, we should begin to think together; what can the leadership of the country do? When I say leadership, it could be from no one to the rest of us and we have leaders in the state, and local governments and everywhere. If we look at the condition of things in our country, we are not going to ask people from outside to make our country better for us. They have their own challenges in their own countries. There should be people who could rise up and say what do we do, not in a way to condemn or criticise or lay blame or throw stones at anyone or at any section of the leadership but to positively be proactive and say what can we do to confront the challenges facing us as a nation.
Security is one of the major challenges in the country, and obviously, I have always said that if we do what we always do, we will get what we always get. So, if we apply the same methods we have always been applying and the method does not appear to be working, then, we get what we always get and the insecurity will continue for a very long time. But if we look at other countries that have gone through the same process before and right now things are not the way they used to be, I don’t have any solution apart from that I am a Christian and I am a pastor too and I know that we can pray and I know that prayer changes things and people. If that is the case, I know that prayers can change situations and change the country. But God has also given us intelligence and mind and focus and all the things we have at our disposal that we make use of. So, while we are praying on the one hand, we are also brainstorming and thinking about what can be done and God can give us wisdom on how to move ahead
The church has just organised a programme for the youths, what is the purpose of the programme?
The title of the programme is Success camp for youths. We are thinking of their excellence in their formative years when you can redirect them and refocus them and re-channel them in a right direction they ought to go. Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he would not depart from it. We are interested in their education and their general development, we are interested in their life as a whole because you know it is not just academic, people who are successful in their academic life but their social relationship is almost zero. Some people have good relations and they are dull and they are not making it in life. Others have right attitude to life and because of that whatever they learn or do they make it in life. There are people who have what it takes but they don’t know what career they should do in life. So the programme is a whole package to address all these problems, it is a kind of holistic programme, spiritual, physical, academic, career building that is why we are bringing the young people together, we are not just going to preach the bible, we are also going to bring in the educationist, people who are into career building, into passing examination, addressing juvenile delinquency, addressing the problem of hooking up into addiction and drugs, looking into our society and bringing them both the spiritual wisdom and natural wisdom, build their life. We discover that those who have gone through this kind of life in the past, by the grace of God, are moving on in life and we believe that we can impact on the life of these children and make them successful and make them love to live and have a fulfillment in life. That is the goal of the programme
Christianity seems to be at the receiving end of the security situation in the country. Why?
Well, we say that Christianity is at the receiving end; of course when something happens, we are generally inward looking, and we forget other people. It is like when somebody is having headache and is feeling so terrible, he will feel that he is the worst hit person in the whole world. But if that person manages to go to the hospital, he will see that there are some who have lost their legs or other part of their bodies. Then, he will know that he is not the only person in the world that is suffering. So, to say that Christians or the church or a particular church have been at the receiving end, people may look at it like that, but when you look at it critically over these few years, the state of insecurity has not, really, hit the church only. Not only those who profess to be Christians. You can see that in the FCT here, lots were affected at the UN building, the police headquarters. Even Muslims too have been affected in some states. So, it is not just a matter of this alone because if we single out ourselves, then we try to solve the problem by ourselves. But we are interested in finding solution to the whole nation’s problems so that the freedom of worship entrenched in our constitution, freedom of religion and worship, whether Christian or Muslim or non religion people, everybody will have a fair chance to live and to live the best way he believes he ought to live. I think that is the most important thing, not just to say we want the church to be protected. Of course that is needed but every other person should be protected too. All of us, all the citizens of the country are creatures of God and God wants the security fulfillment and everything, for everyone whether in the church or not, this religion or that religion. So what we want is really holistic, national kind of development that gives a fair chance to everybody to make the best of their life on earth.
If asked, what will be your contribution to the ongoing constitutional reforms. Would you advocate a national sovereign conference?
Whatever name it is called, we fight unnecessarily over semantics, over the word we use. But if I am using this terminology and another person is using the other, if I look at those words, labels politically, we might think that, well, this is not coming from my political party while that is coming from the other party. We might even be saying the same thing. All we want is that there should be solution to the problems. Even in a little family, husband and wife may have problems and nobody is talking to another, how are they going to solve the problem? Or you expand it now, in large family, if there is no dialogue, how do we solve the problem? Then, in a whole country, we know that the problems are there, how do we solve the problem? Nobody just rises up to say he wants to destroy property, destroy lives, what are the grievances of the people involved? And then if there is an attack somewhere, why the attack? It is when we begin to talk, then we can say, this is where the person is coming from. I think, the major reason for anybody doing anything is that I am looking for this and I think this is the way to get what I am looking for, what if that way is not going to help? If we really talk, we can say this is what we are looking for and if it is legitimate, according to the constitution, we know that with the constitution, this is what you really ought to get, but your right should not cancel another person’s right and your desire should not cancel another fellows own; you want to live and another wants to live as well, how can you and I then have a fulfilled life? And I feel that, this is the best way to live, the other fellow also wants to live the same kind of life, so it is when we dialogue and talk that we will be able to resolve that.
And about reforms and all that, it all goes back to talking and if I use a particular terminology and another person does not understand, let him ask me what I mean, and then I will explain. In choosing another terminology, lets come to agreement that this is our country and that we don’t have another country to live in and our children, what are we going to give to our children?
The emerging global and domestic challenges, are they really pointing to the end of the world?
Some people might say, yes. But this depends on the interpretation of what someone means by the end of the world. If what you mean by the end of the world is catastrophe, that we are all wiped out, people might say, okay, we are all going to die, why live? Why make efforts? Why don’t we say, let us eat and drink because the end is come? But I will say that whatever end is coming, we have today, between now and that end, and what can we do to improve the lot of ourselves and the people leaving around us? Look at the last tsunami in Japan, did the Japanese say that the end has come and what has happened to us is not up to half of what happened to them and they did not say that the end has come. You see some of those places where we have explosion, they are building and they have some kind of recovery. We are too religious, we say the end has come and we fold our hands, 10 years, 20 years, the end has not come, children were supposed to go to school did not go and why would they go to school? Because the end would soon come, things that we supposed to improve, we did not improve and we say the end is coming, yet the end has not come. I would say when the end will come I leave that in the hand of God, while I am here, whatever I can do to improve the lot of people around me let me rise up and do it because this is my chance. I want to leave a mark in this world and want them to say while he was here this is what he did to move the country forward.
What is your assessment of the state of the nation?
Everybody knows that we need some progress and we also need clarification on the vision and the direction the country ought to go. In almost every area: industry, technology, agriculture, and virtually all the sectors of the economy, one needs general knowledge. What I will say is that instead of mourning the past or having self-pity or national pity, we should be forward-looking, we should begin to think together; what can the leadership of the country do? When I say leadership, it could be from no one to the rest of us and we have leaders in the state, and local governments and everywhere. If we look at the condition of things in our country, we are not going to ask people from outside to make our country better for us. They have their own challenges in their own countries. There should be people who could rise up and say what do we do, not in a way to condemn or criticise or lay blame or throw stones at anyone or at any section of the leadership but to positively be proactive and say what can we do to confront the challenges facing us as a nation.
Security is one of the major challenges in the country, and obviously, I have always said that if we do what we always do, we will get what we always get. So, if we apply the same methods we have always been applying and the method does not appear to be working, then, we get what we always get and the insecurity will continue for a very long time. But if we look at other countries that have gone through the same process before and right now things are not the way they used to be, I don’t have any solution apart from that I am a Christian and I am a pastor too and I know that we can pray and I know that prayer changes things and people. If that is the case, I know that prayers can change situations and change the country. But God has also given us intelligence and mind and focus and all the things we have at our disposal that we make use of. So, while we are praying on the one hand, we are also brainstorming and thinking about what can be done and God can give us wisdom on how to move ahead
The church has just organised a programme for the youths, what is the purpose of the programme?
The title of the programme is Success camp for youths. We are thinking of their excellence in their formative years when you can redirect them and refocus them and re-channel them in a right direction they ought to go. Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he would not depart from it. We are interested in their education and their general development, we are interested in their life as a whole because you know it is not just academic, people who are successful in their academic life but their social relationship is almost zero. Some people have good relations and they are dull and they are not making it in life. Others have right attitude to life and because of that whatever they learn or do they make it in life. There are people who have what it takes but they don’t know what career they should do in life. So the programme is a whole package to address all these problems, it is a kind of holistic programme, spiritual, physical, academic, career building that is why we are bringing the young people together, we are not just going to preach the bible, we are also going to bring in the educationist, people who are into career building, into passing examination, addressing juvenile delinquency, addressing the problem of hooking up into addiction and drugs, looking into our society and bringing them both the spiritual wisdom and natural wisdom, build their life. We discover that those who have gone through this kind of life in the past, by the grace of God, are moving on in life and we believe that we can impact on the life of these children and make them successful and make them love to live and have a fulfillment in life. That is the goal of the programme
Christianity seems to be at the receiving end of the security situation in the country. Why?
Well, we say that Christianity is at the receiving end; of course when something happens, we are generally inward looking, and we forget other people. It is like when somebody is having headache and is feeling so terrible, he will feel that he is the worst hit person in the whole world. But if that person manages to go to the hospital, he will see that there are some who have lost their legs or other part of their bodies. Then, he will know that he is not the only person in the world that is suffering. So, to say that Christians or the church or a particular church have been at the receiving end, people may look at it like that, but when you look at it critically over these few years, the state of insecurity has not, really, hit the church only. Not only those who profess to be Christians. You can see that in the FCT here, lots were affected at the UN building, the police headquarters. Even Muslims too have been affected in some states. So, it is not just a matter of this alone because if we single out ourselves, then we try to solve the problem by ourselves. But we are interested in finding solution to the whole nation’s problems so that the freedom of worship entrenched in our constitution, freedom of religion and worship, whether Christian or Muslim or non religion people, everybody will have a fair chance to live and to live the best way he believes he ought to live. I think that is the most important thing, not just to say we want the church to be protected. Of course that is needed but every other person should be protected too. All of us, all the citizens of the country are creatures of God and God wants the security fulfillment and everything, for everyone whether in the church or not, this religion or that religion. So what we want is really holistic, national kind of development that gives a fair chance to everybody to make the best of their life on earth.
If asked, what will be your contribution to the ongoing constitutional reforms. Would you advocate a national sovereign conference?
Whatever name it is called, we fight unnecessarily over semantics, over the word we use. But if I am using this terminology and another person is using the other, if I look at those words, labels politically, we might think that, well, this is not coming from my political party while that is coming from the other party. We might even be saying the same thing. All we want is that there should be solution to the problems. Even in a little family, husband and wife may have problems and nobody is talking to another, how are they going to solve the problem? Or you expand it now, in large family, if there is no dialogue, how do we solve the problem? Then, in a whole country, we know that the problems are there, how do we solve the problem? Nobody just rises up to say he wants to destroy property, destroy lives, what are the grievances of the people involved? And then if there is an attack somewhere, why the attack? It is when we begin to talk, then we can say, this is where the person is coming from. I think, the major reason for anybody doing anything is that I am looking for this and I think this is the way to get what I am looking for, what if that way is not going to help? If we really talk, we can say this is what we are looking for and if it is legitimate, according to the constitution, we know that with the constitution, this is what you really ought to get, but your right should not cancel another person’s right and your desire should not cancel another fellows own; you want to live and another wants to live as well, how can you and I then have a fulfilled life? And I feel that, this is the best way to live, the other fellow also wants to live the same kind of life, so it is when we dialogue and talk that we will be able to resolve that.
And about reforms and all that, it all goes back to talking and if I use a particular terminology and another person does not understand, let him ask me what I mean, and then I will explain. In choosing another terminology, lets come to agreement that this is our country and that we don’t have another country to live in and our children, what are we going to give to our children?
The emerging global and domestic challenges, are they really pointing to the end of the world?
Some people might say, yes. But this depends on the interpretation of what someone means by the end of the world. If what you mean by the end of the world is catastrophe, that we are all wiped out, people might say, okay, we are all going to die, why live? Why make efforts? Why don’t we say, let us eat and drink because the end is come? But I will say that whatever end is coming, we have today, between now and that end, and what can we do to improve the lot of ourselves and the people leaving around us? Look at the last tsunami in Japan, did the Japanese say that the end has come and what has happened to us is not up to half of what happened to them and they did not say that the end has come. You see some of those places where we have explosion, they are building and they have some kind of recovery. We are too religious, we say the end has come and we fold our hands, 10 years, 20 years, the end has not come, children were supposed to go to school did not go and why would they go to school? Because the end would soon come, things that we supposed to improve, we did not improve and we say the end is coming, yet the end has not come. I would say when the end will come I leave that in the hand of God, while I am here, whatever I can do to improve the lot of people around me let me rise up and do it because this is my chance. I want to leave a mark in this world and want them to say while he was here this is what he did to move the country forward.
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