Pastor Adeboye’s vision for men – Pastor Balogun
Pastor Daniel Balogun, Provincial Pastor in charge of Lagos Province 49 (Perfection 2)
The phenomenal growth of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) would seem to have provoked a new dispensation for men in the church under the auspices of the Redeemer’s Men Fellowship (RMF). Pastor – in – Charge of Lagos Province 49 of the RCCG, also known as Perfection(2) Province, Pastor Daniel A. Balogun, speaks on the new vision as unfolded by the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye.
One big challenge with the RCCG men’s Fellowship is that pastors don’t identify with the group, and this hinders the actualization of the group’s mandate. What are the authorities doing to address the challenge?
It is actually a big challenge. I am a pastor, so I know what it means to be one. At the level of pastor, we have a lot of commitments. Maybe the pastor is not a full – time minister, he may have other things in his schedule outside of the ministry. But the commitments are always there. And the pastors – in – charge have to attend to all the commitments. But sometimes when the RMF has its programmes, that will be the time I will be engaged with other church programmes.
It happened like that recently when the RMF had a meeting and I was engaged with another crucial church commitment. As the Provincial Chairman, I was supposed to be at the RMF meeting but had to excuse myself because the meeting fell on the second Sunday of the month when we usually have many activities. But in the area of the notion that pastors are not supposed to be part of the RMF, we are addressing that issue. It is a directive from the national headquarters that we must be part of the RMF.
Going by what is happening in the new dispensation, our Regional Pastor, Pastor Obayemi, is the National Coordinator of the RMF. We had a meeting of the pastors in the Province recently where the issue of the RMF came up and, what we decided was that the men’s group had to be inaugurated in all our parishes and at the various levels.
This is an assignment from the national headquarters that we must take up. It is not a matter of being pastor alone; after all we are also men. So we have to create the time for the RMF. Even if we are pressed for time and cannot attend all the group’s functions, we must be interested in the affairs of the group.
So Province 49 is fully into the new dispensation in the RMF?
Absolutely. What I am asking our pastors to do is to identify fully with the RMF.
What advice do you have for men in the RCCG in Province 49 vis a vis their participation in the RMF activities?
I am aware that there are some of our men who are yet to identify with the RMF. This could be a question of mobilization. Therefore I am asking our pastors to regularly announce the activities of the RMF as frequently as possible and days when meetings are scheduled to hold. Our men have a lot to gain by being members of the RMF.
For instance, something happened to one of our members recently. Unfortunately he did not identify with fellow men in the church. But we had to wade into the issue because his wife was deeply involved in church affairs. I know of some churches where you lose certain privileges if you don’t belong to certain groups. But in the RCCG, we are liberal.
What incentives are in place to attract men to join RMF?
That is one of the things the exco will look into. There are empowerment programmes that we are planning and we believe God to take us to where we want to be. Our financially challenged members can take advantage of this. I know there used to be some kind of Cooperative Movement in place in the church some time ago that availed people credit facilities. That was where Haggai (bank) started from. We can pull together ideas that can benefit our men in terms of empowerment.
Culled from Vanguard
