By Daniel Breakforth
THEY WERE IGNORED IN THE 70s AS MUSHROOM CHURCHES
*When Christian Association of Nigeria gathered to form itself into an organization in 1976 after the meeting with Brigadier Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, the Pentecostal churches were not invited as they were considered negligible. Pentecostals had no place at the table.
SCORNED IN THE 80s FOR TURNING CHURCH TO DISCO HALL
Archbishop Idahosa brought the Church to media and media to the Church with praise and worship as we know it today and it was termed ‘Disco’.
MOCKED IN THE 90s FOR CHURCH PROSTITUTION
The Orthodox Church in Nigeria unable to explain the growing crowds in Pentecostal churches decided that these were Church ‘prostitudes’ as the same crowd were moving around to different churches for miracles.
INSULTED IN THE 2000s FOR BUILDING FAMILY BUSINESSES
With the establishment of schools and especially universities by Pentecostals, pioneered by Idahosa and on the passing to glory of great servants like Harford Iloputaife and Benson Idahosa amongst others, it was decided that this was simply a family business meant for family members.
ATTACKED IN THE 2010s FOR ATTEMPTING TO START EMPIRES
Noticing the large acreages being purchased by Pentecostals in dimensions never before witnessed in Nigeria, the tag ‘building of empires’ was easily given to Pentecostal giants.
TODAY THEY ARE BEGGED FOR FACTORIES AND ENVIED FOR BUILDING LIKE NATIONS
Every single day, a Church critic and hater admonishes the Church to build factories instead of churches forgetting that the Church does not receive taxes. The Church however has successfully proven capacity and administers resources in such a way that the governments of many nations can learn from. The Church is now a City Set on a Hill, She simply cannot be hidden.
According to Leke Beecroft, the three million Israelites led by ‘Pastor’ Moses, who marched out of Egypt towards Canaan can be considered the first Nation-Church (the Church in the Wilderness) scripturally.
The term Nation-Church is therefore defined by Leke Beecroft (2017) as:
A Church, numbering over a million members, which has grown into a major group of several Mega-Churches and with a reach and spread internationally that she is now a veritable source of influence within and outside her foundational Base and as such is now respected all over the world.
Such a church in Nigeria for example must fulfill several requirements such as:
*Physical presence in terms of membership, structures and facilities in all Nigerian states and her capital (100 percent local coverage).
*Physical presence in at least 4 continents (more than half) of the world and not less than 58 foreign nations (a quarter of the countries of the world) spread over these continents.
*Online presence in at least 120 nations (more than half of the countries of the world).
*Membership of not less than 1 million people.
*Facilities and infrastructure to administer followers and organise large gatherings.
*Minimum of a thousand branches in Nigeria and another 500 branches cumulatively in other nations of the world.
*Self funded: No sponsorship or funding by any external agency or organisation.
*Annual budgets running into multi-million dollars or same size with several other nations.
*An established international headquarters with functional administrative structures.
*Numerous other organisations such as welfare organizations, schools, colleges, media houses and other institutions, established for the goal of the “Nation-Church” and which have inherent power to influence nations in which she has been domiciled.
*An organised system of succession.
The Meteoric Rise of Nation-Churches.
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