WHY THERE’S SO MUCH SQUABBLESAMONG PASTORS IN NIGERIA
Bishop Gabriel Nkenang has a unique ministry. His candour and ability to deliver Gospel messages with a blend of soft – soothing but poignant and penetrative words always keeps his audience longing for more. A well-bred minister with a teeming crowd of enthusiastic followers, he honed his ministerial acumen in the Assemblies of God, where his impact was palpable in the youth fellowship, evangelism and prayer ministry, before God led him to start Word Tabernacle 26 years ago. He’s also involved in the leadership of the Christian Community in Akwa Ibom State; serving as a member of Akwa Ibom State Christian Leadership Advisory Council (AKSCLAC) in Pastor Umo Eno administration.
In this interview with IMA NKANTA, His Lordship, Bishop Dr. Gabriel Nkenang touches on very salient issues that border on global gospel spreading, squabbles amongst ministers, the hyper-grace phenomenon, among others.
Recently, you took a trip outside the country. What is it like for one to experience outside tour in terms of Gospel?
I heard people say that traveling is part of education, and I think I can’t agree less, because places you watch on TV, for instance, and you see those places, there’s a sense of satisfaction it gives you, just knowing that you’ve been in that place. That was what happened to me. As you travel, you learn a lot. It’s a pity that some of our leaders in Nigeria travel overseas, but they pretend not to see the development they should have brought back to us and I wonder why they are not bringing back those developments here. When you travel, you see what taxpayers’ money can do. You see the political leaders there using taxpayers’ money to do things that will better the lives of their people, especially the youth.
There’s decency and orderliness there. Some Nigerians may not be able to live in some of those Western countries because of strict compliance to rules. You discover as you travel that institutions are stronger than individuals.
But in Nigeria, individuals are stronger than institutions. In America, Europe and Asia, you may look at those people as saints but they are not; they are guided by laws. If they come to Nigeria, they will be as recalcitrant as we are, because here the laws are not strong. The Nigerian car owners don’t use seatbelts but over there, car owners use seatbelts even at the back. People obey traffic lights, not because any traffic warden is there but they know if you flout it, you are booked without anybody coming after you; the system works on its own. You beat a traffic light, you are booked, the camera has booked you already and before you know it, you see your bill. The next day you appear in court for flouting a road safety law.
As such, people will not want to break the laws because you keep paying your hard-earned money through the nostril. You can’t be working for the court and paying for breaking laws, so people are extremely careful. I don’t know why our people travel and cannot bring this back to us. Meanwhile, traveling is a part of education, it shapes our lives.
Did you notice any difference in terms of the Gospel over there and here? The perception of people about the Gospel and its receptiveness?
Even though those guys were the ones who brought the Gospel to us, I discovered that they have now become missionary fields. We are now the ones taking back the gospel to them. In fact, in Europe, some of those church halls have become shopping malls. They have become warehouses, you need to preach to them and take them back to God. What I have discovered is that their hearts are very open and they are very naive, so whatever you tell them, they will do, because they believe that you are a man of God. I find it less stressful doing ministry abroad than in Nigeria.
In Nigeria everyone is born again; that’s what we think! Everyone is speaking in tongues, even kidnappers speak in tongues. When you listen to many ringing tones, they’re tongues and gospel music, everyone looks like they are too familiar with God here, if you tell them something, they’ll need to verify if it is God that said so. Unlike there, whatever you tell them to do, they will do it. So, I feel less burdensome doing ministries overseas.
Here, we hear pastors who condemn tithing and giving of seeds to the Lord. But over there, you pray for somebody, you didn’t ask him for money, he requested for your account details. So, you discover that ministry there is less stressful compared to Africa and especially Nigeria that looks like the headquarters of the Gospel.
In other words, there is a reverse, they are hungrier now for the gospel, the first has become the last, while the last have become first, the reverse is the case, and this is like the Gospel literally being fulfilled, that the very first shall become the last.
So given this discovery, how do we make use of this opportunity?
I think it is time for us to ask the Lord to help us, empower us to go back to them. Let’s give back to them what they gave to us over a century ago as missionaries. We don’t all need to stay here and do ministry in Nigeria, because we are overcrowded here. Overcrowding has made us to fight ourselves here, let’s go to where the Gospel is needed and stop bringing shame to the body of Christ by fighting your fellow minister.
If you believe what you believe, nobody is against you or asking you not to believe what you’re believing; but why do you have to insult others, especially the fathers?
The Bible says, ‘Honour your father and mother if you want your days to be long on earth.’ It looks like people have thrown all of this into the winds and they’re not honouring the fathers anymore. What are we fighting for? Let’s go and preach the Gospel overseas where there is a big mission field, make altar calls, get souls born again, start churches over there and let the people overseas also come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The people there need the Gospel, because over there, all you have are a lot of pleasures – people drink, they believe in having a good time. Some of them don’t even know about the Lord Jesus Christ. One time I travelled overseas, I was so shocked, I got broken, it took time before I could recover myself in two different places.
The first one was in Connecticut, another one was in Dallas, Texas. One was a youth and another a teenage; both of them say that ‘God is a scam.’ One of them said to me, “Pastor, if you need money, I’ll give you, you are a good man. Whatever you need, I’ll give you, but please don’t preach to me, I’m not ready to hear you. God is a scam, Jesus is a scam, Church is a scam, ministry is a scam, and everything is a scam.”
The other one, it was my personal life that actually made her to respect the Gospel message a little bit. But before now, her heart had been tainted with doubt. The mother said she doesn’t want to hear anything Gospel, and that ‘everything is a scam.’
Now, before somebody comes to that point in life, it means there has been an experience with people who were supposed to be the light but who never were the light and then they came to that conclusion that, well, ‘Let’s forget about this thing; it’s all a scam.’ So, we need to do more. We need to not only preach but model out Christ in our relationship with them. So, there’s a big mission field outside Nigeria.
You’ve been around for a long time here, as I can recall, and you’ve been one of the people the young generation have always looked up to. You’ve been in some Christian bodies like PFN, you were one time youth president for PFN, that is how popular you’ve been among the young people. You’ve also had very good relationship with the older ministers.
Now, in this our generation, where the young people don’t seem to draw a line in terms of fashion, in terms of music, in terms of attitude towards ministry, I think you’ve really been a very good bridge between the two sides. So how do you look at this scenario?
Thank you very much. It’s true that I’ve been here for awhile and I thank God for people like you, because we partnered together years back and I also thank God for your consistency in this media business. I know you still remember, as we used to do this media interaction many years together, and you’re still here doing the same ministry.
So I’ve seen it all like you said, I’m like a bridge between the old and the new. And I relate very well with the elders, the fathers of the land. By the grace of God, most of these fathers take me by their hand into their bedrooms, I sit on their bed and I talk with them; they talk with me, so some of them tell me, well, when a young person washes his hands clean, he can eat with the elders. So I have eaten with them. I have been with them and I also have this privilege to work with the younger generation. So I can tell the younger generation what it takes to work with the older generation.
I don’t know how our young men got here to think that God is through with the elders; I hear that a lot. It’s not true! Whenever a season is about to end, there is always a transfer of mantle. But I’m wondering how many of the up and coming generation are ready for the mantles of our fathers who are on their departure lounge. I’m not here to mention names, but we know some of our fathers that we wish they will still be around for a long time. Sometimes, I weep and ask myself, when this one and that one is out, who gets their mantles, who taps their unction so they can continue in that unction? How do they reproduce themselves? So the young people, instead of getting close to these elders and ready to get their mantle, they are fighting them, saying all kinds of things against the elders. These men may not be saints, but they have been sent by God.
So, we should forget about anything we think about them or how we feel about them, and go closer to them and let them be ready to release their mantles to us when they are done. No matter how you view it, these men have experiences that you don’t learn in the Bible colleges. These men have experience with God that even if you think the anointing has departed, the experience has not.
Remember, it was Eli who gave young Samuel a direction. By that time, Eli had lost his eyes, he didn’t have that spiritual fervour that used to be his portion in those days. This time, it was Samuel that had the charisma, but he lacked the needed experience. When God called Samuel, he went to a father for direction, a father that had lost his sight, but he did not lose his experience. When the man noticed that he kept coming to him; he understood that it was the voice of God Samuel was hearing. And he admonished him: “When he calls again, tell him, ‘Master, speak for your servant heareth.”
And that was what happened, it was the elder that gave the younger the direction and it worked for both of them. Remember also, it was this Eli who prayed for Hannah for Samuel to be conceived. He didn’t even understand what was happening, Hannah was praying a heart-rending prayer. The old man thought she was drunk and accused her of being drunk so early in the day. The woman said, ‘My Lord, I’m not drunk, It is because of the burden in my heart.’ He was the one who gave her direction; he said to her, ‘Go, break your fast for the miracle has come;’ and it came to pass. The same Eli was the one who even dedicated Samuel.
So this generation should know how to bridge the gap, they should not keep insulting our elders. They should try and get closer and then see the direction they will give and how to get the mantle because we will have something to dismantle and we need the mantle. Like it was Elisha who got the mantle of Elijah, there was Jordan he had to dismantle with the mantle.
Take it or leave it, there will be a Jordan to dismantle, there will be challenges and we will regret if we don’t get their mantle. How will we dismantle the hindrances ahead of us?. My advice to the up and coming generation is: let’s forget about our pride; let’s be humble, for God gives grace only to the humble. If you’re not humble, you will surely fumble.
You have been a word-based minister; the Word Tabernacle as a church is still strong and expanding. What is your staying power?
My staying power is what he told me on the mount while I was waiting on him. Even the name of the church, Word Tabernacle, was given to me on the mount as I waited on him. It was there God said to me, “Son, build your ministry on my Word.” He said to me, “I will honour your word – miracles, signs and wonders will follow your words, but do not make the mistake of building the ministry on miracles.” He said to me, “I will do creative miracles through your hands, especially when it comes to the fruit of the womb.”
And so I started off and I told my people plainly, miracles will be happening in this church, but we’re not building it on miracles. We’re building it on God’s inerrant Word. So, my staying power is staying on the Word as instructed. So, a minister’s staying power is following what was told him, it’s good to stay on what God told you. For me, He told me to stay on the Word.
There was a time in the course of our ministry that we had a crisis, I don’t want to go deep into it, but there’s something I want to bring out of it; in the middle of that crisis, I had thought to go to church the following Sunday to see empty space, I just knew the church was going to scatter but the next Sunday, I saw a full church, another Sunday a full church, I was confuse.
So, I went back to ask God, “I said I’m confused, I want to know why the people did not go in the midst of the crisis. I want to know why the place was not scattered.” God said to me, “I saw today yesterday, and that was why I told you to build the church on my Word. He said to me, “If you had built the church on miracles, the people would have gone, but they are still here because of the Word.”
That encourages me; I do a lot of teaching and I recommend it to every pastor. Whatever you want to see, keep saying and teach. Nothing stabilizes a church like teaching, it might appear they’re not hearing, but they’re hearing, it’s just a matter of time, what you’re teaching, you will begin to see it happen, I speak from personal experience.
So, I advise men of God, please stay on what God told you, follow God’s direction, don’t swerve to the left or to the right, and don’t copy anything, because photocopying can never be like the original.
Let’s digress a little bit to the aspect of Leadership; we have a Pastor on the throne of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno. He’s done about two years now. How do you assess his leadership?
Well, let me disgrace myself a little bit here: I’ve never voted before in my life, I voted for the first time when I heard that my colleague was aspiring to be the Governor of my state. For the first time, I got the voter’s card and went to a polling booth and voted. It’s because my colleague was vying to be the Governor, and I have no regrets whatsoever. I did something I had never done before, I staked my name during the electioneering campaigns for Pastor Umo Eno.
Everyone knew that Gabriel Nkenang is not interested in politics, I don’t do campaigns, I have never voted before but for Pastor Umo Eno, I staked my name and went for campaigns for the first time. Some persons who saw me campaigning for Pastor Umo Eno abused me; some sent me abusive text messages, some called me to say that they were disappointed, that I have back slidden.
They knew I wasn’t interested in politics. How come suddenly that I changed my mind? For me I was convinced by one scripture that I found; it changed my mind: And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance (1 Samuel 17: 42).
I knew that Pastor Umo Eno would win the gubernatorial election in Akwa Ibom State because I saw him in the above scripture. David won the fight against Goliath. So, what was his criteria? I looked into it and I saw those characteristics in Pastor Umo Eno, I knew there were many Goliaths, political juggernauts, political heavy weights, political timber, calibre and Irokos in Akwa Ibom State. But when I saw what happened here in the scripture, I just knew Pastor Umo Eno was going to win the election.
Some people said God showed them in the dream; God did not show me in the dream, I didn’t have any vision, but when I stumbled on this scripture, it changed my mind. I shared it on every platform, every church that we visited during campaigns.
One of the first things he did was something that has always been in my mind; to rise up and bridge the political divide, by reaching out to people from different political parties to join hands together and work for the betterment of Akwa Ibom State. With this; Pastor Umo Eno has shown leadership. This unity is so important, because when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
You remember the era of Abuja front and Home front? It has always been there and for the first time, what I had in mind, I saw Pastor Umo Eno, the Governor doing those things, I am excited about it. So, you can see today leaders from different parties hug themselves in public and eat together; you can see why I’m excited. He may not be a saint, and none of us is, but he is sent!
In conclusion, in spite of all that is happening, is there hope for the church?
Yes, there is hope, God can never leave his people hopeless; there is hope for the church. All we need to do is that those of us the remnants who fear the Lord, we should team up together, continue to preach the basic Gospel. The Gospel cannot be modernized, let’s keep emphasizing the fear of God, let’s preach what was handed over to us by our fathers, the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom.
All these things that are trending, they will fade. All these new preachings, new discoveries, they will fade, that’s why when I pray, I tell God, I don’t want to be a trendy minister, I want to be relevant. Gabriel Nkennang had been here 20 years ago, 30 years ago, and will still be here 30 years to come if Christ tarries. I’m not trending but you can’t ignore that I exist. People asked me, “That your Faith Clinic on Thursday, is it still holding?” I say to them, “It’s better now!” We are not trending but we are here.
I want to advise men of God who are preaching the truth, don’t be moved by the new waves. They will all pass away, some people are coming back here to the tithing and the offerings; attacking tithing and offering was just a rave of the moment, they now realized the main intention of these guys (hyper grace preachers); at first they say don’t give 10%, later on, they told the people, ‘you’re stupid to give God only 10%, give him your all.’
Finally, there may be some of your followers who may not have an idea of what your 2025 prophetic theme is, can you share what you have for 2025?
The Lord told me that 2025 for this commission and everyone who are connected with it, will be a year of Amazing Grace. Some people think I don’t believe in Grace and I’m sure some people are shocked that our theme for the year is grace. I believe in Grace but not the type of grace that makes you live in sin. No! The kind of grace I believe the Bible is talking about is the grace that gives you power to live above sin, not in sin. After all, is it not Grace that took away my cigarette and gave me microphone? Is it not Grace that took away my alcohol and gave me the Holy Ghost? For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Titus 2: 11-12.
Grace is a teacher and in grace, there’s something to deny, these guys (hyper grace preachers) tell us, ‘You don’t have to deny anything, do everything, eat everything, walk naked on the streets…’
If not for some of us who are rendering some checks, some young men and women will even be walking naked. So, God told me it’s going to be a year that what you tried to get in the previous years by your effort, as you trust me, God will bring it to you on a platter of Grace.
Grace that will cause people who knew you and knew your background to be amazed and say: ‘When did this change take place?’ Amazing Grace!
We are already recording testimonies, every year we ask people to write the things they need from God according to the number of that year. In 2023 people wrote 23 things they needed, last year, people wrote 24 things they needed, this year, they’re writing 25 things and this is just February, and people are testifying, that they’re ticking the box already, God is working miraculously, sicknesses are being healed. The other day on Sunday, a lady testified she was living on medications that cost like two to three hundred thousand naira a week, the least of the medication is one hundred thousand naira a day,
I was ministering in one of the Faith Clinic programmes and as I brought her out by the leading of God, I didn’t know her case, she has never come for counseling before. I told her, I see a lot of complications around you but in the name of Jesus, I see God working a miracle in you. I prayed for her, and she left. Later, she went back for tests and the people were confused because it was the same people who did tests on her before. They were confused, they told her you have no problem, you have to drop all the medications, you can now eat what ordinary people eat and live a normal life. She was testifying and crying and rolling on the floor, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
The church is so encouraged that Bible days are still here, that’s the kind of things we’re witnessing at Word Tabernacle, and at the end of the day, I’m not going to take the glory because it is not me, it is Grace!
