The International Friendship League (IFL), Lagos, a non-denominational Christian organisation with the sole aim of winning all for Christ, recently held a banquet at the multi-purpose hall of the University of Lagos. Pastor Adebayo Oyeyemi, coordinator, IFL Lagos, interacted with the media on the sidelines of the event. He spoke on the set goal of the League and other issues. SEYI JOHN SALAU was there.
What is the International Friendship League all about and what informed it?
I will say it is the vision of the General Superintendent of the DeeperLife Bible Church and it is an arm established to take care of those people that ordinarily would not be reached by the church. Jesus Christ died for the whole world, and the man of God packaged this ministry (IFL) to reach all sinners, through which all sinners would be saved. The way you reach adults is different from the way you reach children; the way you reach children is different from the way you reach teenagers, educated, illiterate. And so the League is so packaged in a way that everybody across the world is reached with the gospel message; that is the reason we have this International Fellowship League.
IFL as a non-denominational organization seeks to bring people outside the walls of the church into knowing Christ, but how does it bridge that gap of regular interaction with these people when its activities are held once every month?
You see, this is not a school, it is not a company. When you talk about God, Christ, salvation, it’s not a school or a business or any other thing, it is something ordained and divinely controlled by God. All this outreach is doing is to connect men to God. Once they are connected to God, all these other questions will be taken care of. In my message at the banquet, I gave the example of a man who thought he was the best in life until he met Jesus; when he met Jesus he became relevant. So whether someone is in church or not, what I am personally interested in is what God is interested in – the life of that person, which is Jesus. And when that person becomes the child of God, he will be directed by the spirit of God. I can give an example of my own life. Before I became converted, I was tired of my church, so I started going to churches – I went to more than 20 churches, different denominations. Because I was not satisfied, it became a habit and I went back to my church, but I was not born-again. It was an argument that led me to Christ.
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This argument took place at the school dormitory. We were arguing about churches, and because I had tasted different churches in my search for God, the argument led to someone saying, ‘When you are talking about churches that way, remove DeeperLife.’ I said, ‘What DeeperLife? You better don’t talk about any church; I am a Christian.’ The person asked if I had been to DeeperLife, and I said no. Then eventually I agreed to go to DeeperLife. So the following Sunday I found myself in DeeperLife, but I was not born-again, I was only impressed because I was able to read the bible I had been carrying for many years. I was born into a Christian home but I did not know anything inside the bible. The person that sat with me that day did not do anything in the church than to open the bible for me. He was opening the bible, I was seeing and convinced but I was not born-again until about four months later.
I became born-again in the University of Lagos here in a programme like this through a campus fellowship, and I just found myself there without knowing what was going on there. Oh, that church, DeeperLife Bible Church. So it is not about church this time, it is about knowing Christ; I entered the place and became born-again that day. I was changed and by His grace, till today I have been living in that grace. So the main thing is for Christ to be in every life to produce the picture of a man that God desires and once that picture is made in the cause of Christ, that life is liberated to be with God in the end and death would be again to the person in the end.
People have argued that it appears the body of Christ is divided; how true is that and why?
There is no division or confusion in the body of Christ, what is confusing is something that is not of Christ that people are forming here and there. If it is Christ, there cannot be confusion; Christ in London, Christ in America, Christ in any part of this world will produce the same type of human beings in Christians. But the problem with what you call a body of Christ is not really of Christ, that is why you have confusion. If you are bringing any form of other religion, it may be the bible you are reading, any bible one is reading or anything one is doing without salvation is not Christianity. Anything one is doing that does not bring him to be the son or daughter of God has nothing to do with God.
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So, it is not about someone reading the bible or preaching. It happened to the Israelites – they were against God, they were working against God, but you cannot conclude that there is a problem with God because of that. There is no problem with God; if the man can come to the point of knowing Christ through salvation, what you see in church A is what you will see in church B. The bible is one, Jesus is one and Jesus died once, but what is causing confusion is that people are trying to qualify or analyse things, trying to put human knowledge or trying to create another religion, not Christ nor the body of Christ.
Away from IFL, what is the role of the church in nation-building?
When we talk about nation-building, God created the nations, He created human beings. The best way to build this nation is to get people to know God. The only person that can be useful in this nation is the person who has known God because before you can rule a nation like this, you need wisdom; before you can do anything tangible in a nation like this, you need wisdom. The bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The wisdom given by God is the wisdom that can rule our nation, and that is why all that man did could not avail a man to be the best in the side of God or to fulfil the purpose of God creating this world (earth).
God created the earth for a reason; for His glory, and because the man lost the glory of God, the earth turns to a place full of mess, and the only way to make the earth meet the plan and purpose of God is Jesus that has come to save and deliver man from what has made man (enslaved man) walk contrary to God’s plan. So, when you talk of the role of the church in nation-building, the role would be to allow Jesus to have His way in our nation. The more Jesus has His way in our nation, the better for our nation.
Should Christians go into active politics?
Politics or no politics, Jesus is the main thing. If you talk about the church, what do you mean by the church? The church is the body of Christ, that is the real church, not the gathering of all human beings together. The church is not an association, so politics or no politics, the primary purpose of God is that Jesus has His way in every life. If Jesus has His way in every life, that life in particular, anywhere that person goes the person will be relevant. So there is no need of paying attention to politics; if am a teacher by profession, anywhere I find myself as a child of God, I should influence that section to be able to fulfil the purpose and plan of God.
