Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Benue State Government has stressed the need for the Church to strategize all her structures to enable Christians have societal influence in governmental decisions and actions toward the betterment of our nation.
Principal Special Assistant to the Benue State Governor on Strategic Investment and Knowledge Economy, Rev. David Ogbole, stated this at a one day dialogue on Christianity, Leadership and the Fight Against Corruption organized by Inspire Achievers Global Network in collaboration with Priest Peace and Justice Initiative (PPJ).
Ogbole who spoke on Leadership and Societal Influence: The pentecostal perspective, posited that the pentecostal movement has been a veritable ally of Government in the development of Nigerian communities.
The PSA who maintained that from education to infrastructure, the church has performed credibly, however emphasized that the church must begin to take its stand especially in the political education and economic empowerment of the people.
“With the challenges bedeviling the nation, the church community must rise to the task of political education and economic empowerment so that it can shapen the leadership landscape through the training and deployment of high impact leaders into the politics and business world.
“The mandate of Jesus Christ is for the church to be the light and salt of the world as written in Matthew 5:14-15,” he said.
Also speaking, Representative of PPJ, Dr. Orinya Agbaji who spoke on the Shun corruption Project said the dialogue was focusing on pentecostal pastors and leaders with the aim to join the fight against corruption.
“The program is planned for 25 participants and it is to mobilize christian leaders to join the fight against corruption because if nothing is done to stem the tide of corruption, it will kill us all,” Agbaji said.
On his part, Apostle CBN Martins, who is the Convener of the program, while speaking on Mentoring and Mentorship of Christians for Social Dimensions of the Church, explained that everything in life revolves around Mentoring and Mentorship.
He explained that there was need for Christian leaders to consciously evolve programs and processes that will help the Christian communities move beyond the Church spiritual well-being into the social dimensions and societal dominance.
He further said that although mentoring and mentorship are two closely related words, they require pragmatic approach and process before a generational impactful results can be expected.