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Reverend Rachel Gbemisola Olaleye, the wife of the Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Assembly, is a full-time minister of God, housewife and dedicated mother.
She is a retired matron, a music minister, author and a doting grandmother to her children’s offspring. Her songs, such as the Gospel hit “Madu Nile na si Ebube, Ebube Jehovah Maranma, Mo Ti Gba Leta Ayo’ among others ” are widely sung in Christian circles during praise and worship sessions.
In this interview with Saturday Sun, she talked about herself, family and ministry, among other things.
Were you a nurse and gospel artiste at the same time?
Yes, I was. When I graduated from the School of Nursing, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, I had to practise as a registered nurse (RN) and I worked for almost 10 years there. Back then, I used to sing normally. I would just do my thing, as I have always been singing. And then when I started releasing music, the demands of the ministry increased. So, after almost 10 years, I had to resign from nursing, to fully settle in with my husband, who was also a travelling missionary. I had to now take charge as we started our church.
The music ministry is my forte. While I minister in songs, he preaches. And we’ve been doing that as a couple, travelling here and there and everything. So, that’s what happened.
Do you still travel together?
We travel together. But before we started travelling, I was a housewife, managing the home, while he was out there travelling. However, when the demands of the ministry mounted, I had to resign from my job to join him in the ministry and travel from place to place, preaching the gospel. We’ve travelled to many countries in Africa. I’ve travelled to the east, west, south, with God’s help, to Europe, America, the UK, just doing the work of God; and God has been faithful.
How have you been able to combine your music, ministry and work? Do you still produce CDs?
Well, I have CDs. I think the last one that I released should be about 10 years now. I like going to the studio and producing music. But, apart from that, I minister in the church. I lead worship. I attend conferences and all of that.
So, combining all those things, I would say it’s just by the grace of God.
At one point in the ministry, I wrote “Help, I’m a Pastor’s Wife.” It’s the only book that I have. At that time, the ministry was growing and I was just beginning to understand what was going on and then I was retired. I entered the ministry fully and, having to meet so many people, so many parishioners meant that, as a pastor’s wife, the first thing you realise is that you are the centre of attacks, misunderstanding, disrespect, and then they keep telling you all sorts of things. I remember in those days, one blessed woman of God told me that I should endure because pastors’ wives were like dustbins where people dropped everything. But I was not ready to do that because it was a clash, contrary to where I was coming from. I was a successful registered nurse, a matron, doing my job well. I was doing well on my own. Even as a pastor’s wife, I didn’t need to depend on parishioners for anything. I would say I was good on my own.
So, coming into the ministry to attend to people that would look down on me and try to size me up, I had to brace up with boldness and courage. Back then, I didn’t have any physical mentor, it was just the Holy Spirit. I just went to God and cried; and God was faithful.
Precept upon precept, I discovered that I was being helped in ministry and that was why, out of experience, people started coming to me. Pastors would bring their wives and ask me to counsel them because they were not coping well. That was how I became a counsellor and went to do a chaplaincy course to really know about it and make it official. In addition to my other roles, I became a chaplain. Apart from the normal basic psychology, all that I did in nursing came in handy.
And the Lord helped me minister to the pastors’ wives, especially those who crashed into the thing. For example, there were couples that were not in faith before then but became born-again: maybe the husband was a banker and became a pastor. Those kinds of situations. So, God helped me to help those people to understand their pains and where they were coming from. In summary, in that area, I tell every pastor’s wife that your first ministry is your home. Don’t compete with your husband with a microphone. The fact that you’re a pastor’s wife does not automatically make you a pastor.
So it’s left to you to seek God’s face and upgrade yourself in terms of theology and every other thing to do with your calling. Like I told you, a few years later, I went to study theology just to have more knowledge in church history. Then from there on to PSE, then master’s. They called me to do a PhD in theology but I ran away! I couldn’t cope with the stress!
You were also in the United Kingdom. Could you please tell us about your sojourn there?
I travelled to the UK a few years shortly after I resigned. There, I was able to take up geriatric nursing. Geriatric nursing, as you know, is for elders. That’s why most of the time we see people going for caregiver jobs. Care worker, nursing assistant and all these things. Because they have a unique way, the one they practise out there is different. In Nigeria, we did it theoretically in school, but we don’t really have old people’s homes like that. We don’t have it here because, in Africa, we take care of our elderly ones. Even though the mistakes of our African setting complicate it so that when people are old, maybe they lose memory or they have amnesia, forgetfulness and poor judgement, then we tag them witches. Before you know it, the woman is “confessing” and saying nonsense that, yes, she is a witch. But that’s not it. It’s just a little disruptive imbalance in chemicals. Over there (in the UK), they gather them together, the doctor ministers to them, then they are okay.
Before you practise as a registered nurse, you have to go through three months of adaptation. They have to teach you how. Because most of the things we are taught theoretically in Nigeria, over there, you see the practical aspects. You see all the machines but at first you can’t use them. The manual training is done and everything.
That’s how I improved in that area. I took my children along to the UK then. But the Lord sent me back. That’s just the way I can describe it. He sent me back after almost seven years there. He told me to go back to the ministry in Nigeria, “That’s where you are called.” He not only asked me to go back, he gave me a mission, which was gathering His Eagles. I have this annual conference retreat that I call IHPR, which is, In His Presence Retreat. And, ever since, God has been faithful.
Why did you return to Nigeria, being a professional in the UK?
I really didn’t want to come back home. I had a good job and my children were already settled in school over there; but there were incidents occurring often that told me God surely wanted me back in Nigeria to lift up the hand of my husband in the ministry. The incident that shook me to the marrow was the destruction of my brand new car a few days after I got it.
A drunkard took a big stone, broke the sports car that I bought just two weeks ago, broke the mirror and left the stone on top of the car.
Because it was the UK, I just called my insurance to come and change the car. But then, I discovered that if I was going to work or coming from work, it was either I would fall down or slip. And, finally, I thought to myself, don’t let them come and carry you from here, better go back. That was how the fear of the Lord started.
I sold everything and packed my bags and left. But I was not happy at all.
When I came back, by the Lord’s miracle, when my children were coming, that was the week that God began to settle my children, one after the other. People of God who were not members of our church but loved and respected the bishop were the ones that helped sponsor all of them abroad.
What advice do you have for single ladies?
For young ladies who want to get married, believers, I’m talking to Christians, they should seek the face of their Father, God. It’s very important. Yes, you have your pastor, prophet or whatever, but your personal relationship with Jesus matters.
He talks to you like an earthly father-and-son conversation. So, whatever else you hear is a confirmation. And then they shouldn’t think, as they do in the popular saying, You are the prophet of your destiny. You still need your senior minister, your pastor and elders to confirm with you. Don’t just say that this is the brother and that’s final.
You understand? So, seek God’s face and let there be a confirmation. And then they shouldn’t use physical things as their benchmark. Benchmark because that’s what I hear happening now. Must have a good car, not just a car, must have a house.
You know the list, you don’t need it. Just pray that God gives you a friend, a brother, a real
Christian. As long as you meet a man that loves God, then you have a husband. A man who loves God will love you. He will love you automatically.
My husband is never intimidated by my popularity. In those days, whenever I was going somewhere, he allowed me wholeheartedly. He trusts me. If I have a meeting in Kano, going with the band, he would be praying. He’s not somebody that will be stalking: Where are you now? Who are you talking to? You are talking to a man. I saw your brother smiling. You know, insecurity, it kills marriage.
So, trust is very, very important, especially as a man. Even if she’s now the First Lady or
the Head of State, she’s still your wife.
That respect and trust and releasing the woman into her destiny is very crucial in marriage. If you do that, there will be peace. But when some men sit down on their wife, will not allow her to shine or do anything, the woman will have all kinds of anger, deep anger unexpected.
Do you know why some men become lonely in old age? Mistrust. That’s why the women, such women, immediately they have children, they start to decide they are going to take care of their
children. They will just abandon the man because they have been wounded for years. They were not ever released into their destiny.
They know how this man treated her. So any opportunity to run away, they leave him on his
own. But when you have a thriving marriage, a man that has taken good care of you, has done so much, even if the children want to keep you, they say, ‘Please, my husband is waiting for me, that kind of thing.
That is how it should be. I pray that God will really help men to understand that women need to be released. Release them, then you have them, don’t gag them. Release them to have them.
