I have never even heard of this man before.
"Sunday Adelaja, founding pastor to the 30,000-member God’s Embassy Church in Kiev, Ukraine, was the featured guest of a teleconference hosted by Strang Communications, the publisher of Charisma and Ministry Today magazines.
God’s Embassy Church boasts more than two million converts and 600 church plants worldwide.
During the Q&A, Adelaja emphasized how the Church should not be pulpit-focused, but rather concentrate on how to reveal Jesus Christ to people if they want to experience growth.
The Nigerian-born Christian leader used his own church as example, saying that his church first experienced massive growth after four fruitless years when he started to go out and fed the poor and took care of the drug addicts and alcoholics in Ukraine."
“You have to really keep on pushing them to believe in themselves that they can change the world for God.”
I am sure I don't have enough information to know for sure, but it certainly sounds like more of the same self-help, positive-think silliness dressed up in different clothes. Please correct me if I am wrong!
I'd say first, he's right: we need to be out there in the highways and biways helping the destitute. But we don't need to help them see they can change the world for God - we need to show them they're in need of change by God
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like he has made the age old mistake of creating a false dichotomy. Either have a pulpit centered ministry or get out of the church and meet people where they are. There is no choice. We are to do both. It's a shame he thought he had to give up preaching to grow. And grow he did. But is it growth absent of the declaration of the Gospel?
ReplyDeleteWhat caught my attention in the quoted text was the closing comment, "You have to really keep on pushing them to believe in themselves that they can change the world for God."
ReplyDeleteAny church built on pushing people to believe in themselves is on a road that leads to nothing but disaster.