Author: Deji Okegbile

Lent, Theology of the Cross, and Leadership Temptations: Overcoming Distortion of the Truth.

As a liturgical and renewing period, Lent calls us towards the Cross. At a time when the message of the Cross is foolishness to the perishing, Lent reminds us that there is a massive ongoing battle between the forces of God’s kingdom and those of evil. Martin Luther said that a “theology of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theology of the Cross calls the thing what it actually is.” Christian leaders are sent to call a thing what it is by refusing to dance with the devil. It is so sad when leaders who preserve their institutional...

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VERY REV AMOS NIYI OLADIPO, A TEACHER OF BISHOPS @70.

Celebrating a father, a theological mentor, and a spiritual father in Christ, Very Rev Amos Niyi Oladipo, at 70, is an honour. Thank you for your godly influence on many lives and organisations. I know Very Rev Oladipo as a man who faithfully models the Spirit-filled life he passionately preaches about. In our day, when ministry, public words, and private actions are seldom consistent, Very Rev Oladipo remains a man of his word and calling. He is a gentle mission giant of a man. He is a scholar, but he is much more than that to me. He is...

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234 years after, John Wesley’s Epitaph, ‘Ever the Evangelist, even in death’: The Joy of Future Generations.

To the Memory of THE VENERABLE JOHN WESLEY. A.M. Late Fellow of Lincoln College. Oxford. This GREAT LIGHT arose (By the singular Providence of GOD) To enlighten THESE NATIONS, And to revive, enforce, and defend, The Pure Apostolic DOCTRINES and PRACTICES of THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH: Which he continued to do, both by his WRITINGS and his LABOURS For more than HALF A CENTURY: And to his inexpressible Joy, Not only, beheld their INFLUENCE extending, And their EFFICACY witness’d In the Hearts and Lives of MANY THOUSANDS, As well in THE WESTERN WORLD as in THESE KINGDOMS: But also, far above all human Power of...

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Nne Bishop Nwabueze Jaja Wachuku Nwokolo @70: A Black Role Model in Great Britain and British Methodism.

There is an African Proverb that says, ‘You should not lose focus of the gazelle simply because you have seen a dashing squirrel. I relate to this saying as this is the cost of being distracted for the publication of this tribute last year on the 70th birthday celebration of Nne Bishop, Nwabueze Jaja Wachuku Nwokolo. The story about my ministry and the development of the Nigeria Methodist Mission (NMM), UK and Europe, is not complete without the impactful patroonship and leadership influence of Nne Bishop Nwabueze. I call her Nne Bishop, meaning mother of Bishop based on her...

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Fishermen to Fishers of Men: Missional Shift in Attitude and Perspective.

Since my Sunday school days, a particular song has inspired me. The song is, ‘I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men, I will make you fishers of men if you follow me. If you follow me 2x, I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, if you follow me’ – 2x. The promise to be made a fisher of men was not without a condition, and the condition is a call to you and me to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus calls us to leave our old sinful way of life and...

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