Dr. Francis Akin-John

A PASTOR MUST BE AN EXAMPLE TO THE FLOCK (I Peter 5:3) — shepherds are examples of bibli-cal expressions sexually, time management, marriage, parent-ing, worship, relationships and any other way. A Pastor should be someone your sons could pattern their lives after and the kind of man your daughter should marry.

If we desire revival, Turnaround, transformation and spiritual impact of every local church, then pastors of churches must demon-strate these qualifications in their daily lives and pastoral assign-ments. Without returning to these qualifications and adhering to them, our churches will continue to lack God’s power and presence to change and transform our so-cieties.

One of the cardinal ordinances that The Lord gave to His Church was the Lords Supper. “As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and give it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom” Matt. 26:26-29.

The Lord Supper, representing the blood and body of Jesus is for true believers in Christ and to be done often in remembrance of Him. But today in modern church-es, I see three kinds and versions of it being practiced, namely;

Communion – Done with various kinds of things such as Dubonet wine, Agege bread, Coke, Fanta, Black Currant drink and served to all kinds of people in the church services. Mostly, it is IPESE—initiation, to tie people down in the church, Crusade grounds and most social gather-ings. Quite sad that many so called Pentecostal and charisma-tic churches are neck deep in this.

Holy Communion – Done with wafers, hot drinks, red wine and all kinds of fruits and bread, served to all and sundry in church-es to procure healing, miracles and prosperity for people. It also served in crusade grounds, conventions and hyped as the ‘miracle food’ to heal from all manner of sicknesses and diseas-es. It eventually hardened people’s heart to true repentance and living a godly life. That’s why there are too many nominal Christians today, blinded by eating unworthy communions.

The Lord’s Supper– Preparation is made with unleavened bread only and fruit wine. It is served to genuine believers only and done with honour, dignity and sacred-ness. It is a mark of identification with Christ. Chronic sinners, divorcees, thieves, polygamous and those that have not done water baptism are not to partake in it.

Well, those who eat the Lord’s Supper unworthily will have themselves to blame. Those who basterdise the body and blood of The Lord will die spiritually and hardened to things of eternal life. Eating The Lord Supper with sin will result in damnation. So says I Corinthians 11:23-31.

The wrong practices of The Lord Supper might be one of the reasons for the large number of hardened and nominal Christians in modern churches. Because they eat the body and blood of The Lord unworthily.

It’s not mandatory that you eat the Lord Supper if the spiritual level of the church is not ready for it. Must you practice Christ’s communion when majority of your church members are still living in open sin, disobedience and rebellion to God’s Word and will?

Of what use is drinking the blood of Christ and eating His bread of communion when they cannot strengthen us to live holy, separate and Christlike lives for Him in this crooked world?

Which one are you practicing in your church?

12 Bible passages for Church leaders.

If you want to be a Biblical lead-er, consider these: 1. “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” Luke 6:31

2. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Philippians 2:3
3. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23
4. But select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain —and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Exodus 18:21
5. With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. Psalms 78:72
6. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant. Matthew 20:26
7. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phili-ppians 2:4
8. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37
9. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
10. He must become greater; I must become less. John 3:30
11. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Galatians 6:9
12. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

These are scriptural injections that have particular impact on the heart, life and ministry of church leaders everyday. Live by them and let them guide your work for the Lord.

FATHERHOOD AND SONSHIP IN MINISTRY 1

Even though I have not finished with my Kingdom Minister series, yet I feel the urge to start this series too. So I will be posting them intermittently.

One of the major dysfunction of the church today has to do with the issue of fatherhood. The calamities and corruptions of the church today can be traced back to poor fathering. Too many so called ‘fathers’ have not been good fathers, while some have abused their fatherly positions. Consequently, many ministers are without father figures in their lives and the ministry has been the worse for it. Furthermore, many teachings on mentoring and fatherhood has been grossly one sided and the results have been unpalatable on all sides. Its time we take a dispassionate look at this major dysfunction again with a view to strike the needed balance for the good of all.

1. Scriptural Basis – Matt. 3:9; 6:9; Exo. 18:13-21; Acts 18:24-28;

1 Tim. 1:2

Jesus introduced God as our Father. Abraham is addressed as the Father of Faith. Fathers are the foundations of our lives and faith. Fathers are the spiritual giant Overseeing, Covering and Backing us up along the journey of life and faith. Everyone need a father, but not everybody can and do function as good ,godly father to those under him. The place of a good father cannot be overemphasized. A fatherless generation is surely a lost generation. There can be biological fathers, spiritual fathers, church fathers, ministry fathers and eternal fathers.

V’ Moses had Father Jethro

V’ Young Joshua had Moses

V’ Young Samuel had prophet Eli

V’ King Saul had prophet Samuel

V’ Prophet Elisha had prophet Elijah

V’ King David had prophet Nathan

V’ King Solomon had king David.

V’ Appolo had Priscilla and Aquila

V’ Paul had Simon, Barnabas

V’ Timothy had Apostle Paul.

Spiritual fathers can be called several names, such as mentors, coaches,leaders and overseers (1 Cor. 4:15). A spiritual father is someone who brought you to the Lord; develop and taught you; disciple and grow you; nurture and believe in you; gave you platform and introduce you; train and hone your gift and calling; prays and intercede for you; gives you foresight out of his own hindsight. A pioneer in ministry and someone who has brought much challenge, inspiration, instruction and blessings to your life by his own examples, teachings and ministry. A true father invests time, trust and resources in his children over a long period of time. A true father spends and continues to invest in the future potentials of his children. He is really happy to see them grow and fulfilling potentials. In some occasions, your spiritual father can also function as your mentor and coach, but in other occasions, your mentor will be radically different from your spiritual or biological father. I will still expanciate on that later.

1. The Need for Spiritual Fathers in Ministry – Acts 18:24-28

By its nature, ministry is a thankless job and it kills. Without spiritual fathers, you can be easily consumed by the vagaries of ministry. If you are to last long and survive the contaminating effect of ministry, you will surely need a father figure in your life.

ª% For training, instruction and leadership

ª% For direction, counseling and guidance

ª% For covering, protection and upliftment

ª% For accountability and responsibility.

ª% To avoid error, false doctrine and drifting

ª% For blessing and favour

ª% For platform and open doors

ª% To avoid mistakes that ruin ministries.

No matter who you are and the level of your encounter with the Lord, you Will surely need a father figure in your life. Without a good and godly spiritual father, you will fall prey to the machinations of the devil.

How can you really go far, when you are the all in all of your life and ministry? Robert Liadon had no father in ministry and he fell. Ted Haggard failed to open up to his father, but when he fell, his father saved His ministry. Larry Stocktill and John Maxwell credited their life and ministry success to their biological and spiritual fathers.

Don’t ever do ministry without a good and godly father that will hold you accountable. You will always NEED someone to report yourself to, someone to speak candidly to you, someone who can call you by your first name and spank you on the head, if need be,: someone that will sharply rebuke you, someone you are truly afraid of and who have authority over your life and ministry.

You need someone who have the permission to discipline you when you go out of line. You need someone you can submit your “revelations” to before you start teaching them.

Unfortunately, lots of young ministers of today don’t have this kind of person in their lives and ministries, small wonder many are going astray and dabbling into erroneous practices.

I know that this issue had been grossly abused today, to the extent that many ministers have no father figure in their lives and ministry. Many are practicing distant fathering-that is calling someone your father whom you don’t have one on one relationship with. Just like many people referring to me as their father or mentor, whom I have not seen, known or met.

While wrong teachings and practices have portrayed the issue of fatherhood or mentoring in ministry only from the financial angle, yet the fact of scripture shows that it is far beyond that. As you follow me on this issue in subsequent posts, you will discover the true scriptural meaning and practice of godly mentoring, coaching and fathering in ministry, then and now.

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