By Luminous Jannamike

Pastor Oloche King Adaji is the Senior Pastor of The City of Refuge International Church (TCRIC), with its Headquarters in the city of Abuja-Nigeria. A trained Electrical, Electronic Engineer but called into the full-time ministry, he is blessed with a dynamic prophetic ministry.

Married to Pastor (Mrs.) Deborah, the man of God is passionate about soul winning human capital development. In this INTERVIEW with religious affairs correspondents, the couple talk about their vision, rising global insecurity, women empowerment, why marriages collapse more frequently nowadays, amongst other faith-related issues._

EXCERPTS

The City of Refuge is quite young, but it has  changed lives and transformed communities in the nation’s capital and beyond. What is the motivation behind the church?

The vision to open The City of Refuge International was divine. Every divine vision comes from God, and he gave me the name. It was not something I sat down to craft, I only received it. He gave me the name. We started not quite long ago, but God has been good to us. Our vision is not only to preach the gospel of Christ but to bring about developmental change to lives and communities by reaching out to different demographics through strategic interventions. We have a vision of delivering humanity from the destructive power of hell, raising a pavilion, and providing a haven from the heat and limiting forces of life. I served in Dunamis International Gospel Centre for 20 years, and God gave me a direction to start this, and the work is amazing.

All over the world, insecurity appears to be a key problem for nations. What do you make of the present challenges?

We are in the last days, and the world should look up to God. My counsel is for us to look unto God. Nobody lives in the world forever, so let’s take the path of peace, dialogue, reconciliation, and talking out our differences like what is happening in Israel and Palestine where properties and life are destroyed, and development hampered.

These days, sex scandal and marriage collapse even among clerics are rife. What’s your advice to couples?

A major reason for marriage collapse is lack of knowledge. That’s why we urge couples to read literature on marriage and understudy people who have so far succeeded in marriage

We recall how the marriage in Galilee was blessed because Jesus was there. The marriage did not end in shame, the wine finished, and he replaced it. So, our advice is for everyone to know God. You need God and should give Him the right place in your marriage and life.

Women empowerment is a game-changer in the world today because the female-folk are an important catalyst for positive change in the society. How are you promoting their socio-economic wellbeing?

We have a platform, the Deborah Adaji Foundation (DAF), which our family has used over the years to impact the lives of people and reach out to the less privileged. It has existed before the City of Refuge Church. We founded it on September 2nd, 2019. Although it was named after me (wife), it is our family’s social responsibility to the world and community aimed at ameliorating the sufferings in the world. And we do these by accomplishing our vision which is enhancing the lives of women, youths, and children.“

What specific initiatives has DAF implemented for women and other underprivileged members of the society?

Generally, empowering women by strengthening their socioeconomic status and providing them with the knowledge and skills needed to live a sustainable and healthy life is our goal. However, we have implemented multiple programmes, which include the entrepreneurial skills development initiative, the healthcare support initiatives, the education development and counseling initiative, the community development and social works initiatives and the children support initiative.

Through the Children Support Initiatives, we go out for different outreaches, which include visitation to orphanage homes and bless them with school bags, food, and other writing materials. Under the Community Development and Social Works Initiatives, we have visit communities and support them with food items, we recently visited Benue State to give succor to indigent communities there. We have also done a lot under the Entrepreneur Skills Development Initiative where we have trained women, and we have lots of success stories under these initiatives. In the first training, we registered 30 women and graduated 27, in the second training we registered 34 and graduated 32 the third training will commence from July to September 2021.

READ ALSO: Military Plane crash: Losing officers has increased our problems – Buhari

‘’Our joy is to assist the less privileged to earn a living, we are targeting women to empower them so they should not be stranded if their husband is not there and if he is around, they should be a support system to the family. Some of the specialized training of the foundation includes catering and event management, hair and soap making, beadmaking, entrepreneurial skills development (mentality renovation), and this initiative has led to the development of a social enterprise, Women Enterprise Network. Through this, interested women are impacted to go into business.”

What are some of the challenges you face empowering women and youths?

‘’Right partnerships. We are open to international and local partners to give more succour to the less privileged and touch more lives. We don’t want women to be redundant because an empowered woman is an empowered home, an empowered woman encourages and supports an empowered man as well as the children, because if the woman is empowered the home is built and the society is built and developed. There won’t be agitation that can lead to a trial or crisis in the family and joy will be multiplied. We are passionate about training and impacting children. When you impact on the youths and children it will in turn help to build a solid future and that is why we focus on the children, youths, and women,’’ she said.

Where do you see yourselves by the end of this decade?

In 10 years, we want to have representations all over the world, giving succour to people across the world.

What are your parting words to Nigerians all over the world?

‘’Everyone should seek God, seek peaceful coexistence, and make a difference by making the world a safer place. When you seek God, every other thing will be added. The mission of the church is to guarantee a glorious destiny fulfillment through the agency of God’s word, presence, and power. Life is a warfare and not funfair, life is a battleground and not a playground, and this is the reality.

‘The Lord has told us that we are in the days when humanity is facing a lot of assault from the devil. Bombardment from hell. You remember what the bible says in Revelation 12 vs 12, the devil has come down because he knows his time is short. And because of this, the assault against humanity is immense and unbelievable and God has used The City of Refuge International Church to raise a safe pavilion, haven with a covert canopy, a spiritual asylum for God’s people, and God says we should do this for him.