Adeniyi Opebiyi Barnabas has charged the authorities of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) during the recently concluded international youth Convention at Imeko city to be deliberate in employing the culture of discipleship in the administration of the church. A move he described using the book of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:42) as the culture of the early church. He argued that believers would not grow to maturity if such culture is not considered a must in the church.
The young preacher reiterates that Christianity is a race which begins at new birth but the case seems a lot different in CCC. He explained that the CCC approach to Christianity never captures the new birth experience as some became members as a result of the solutions to their life’s challenge which came through prophecy and observing some stated spiritual assignments. These people observed a process called Sanctification (Iyasimimo), using the water by the entrance, a candle stick and a song of salvation from CCC Hymn Book (Hymn 8).
Apostle Stephen Elesho of Great Grace Commission has illustrated from his teachings that the Water at the entrance represent the word of God (Ephesian 5:26) which is to be presented to any one, according to Rev 3: 20, if anyone opens the door of their heart, the Lord promised to dine with such fellow. Unknown to most new converts, the experience is a mystery that depicts the encounter they ought to have as a people coming to God genuinely.
They do the physical but the implication is not their experience, therefore no relationship with the saviour was initiated. Such individuals only know how they gets to the church not how and when they became born again. This poses a hinderance as we endeavour to establish this people to develop relationship with the one who saved them. This needs to be urgently corrected in the church to help the people understand the reason of been in the church.
In order for CCC to fulfil her global assignment of cleansing the world, her members must be enlisted as effective partners and labourers. There is a therefore a need for a systemic discipleship approach, a model that incorporates the early church model to groom believers from new birth to developing intimate relationship with the holy spirit, to growing in faith and hence developing to the full measure of the stature of Christ.
It is imperative to know that to cleanse the world means to get the world saved and cover the earth with Christ’s way of life, but an unsaved person cannot save the world. The preacher gave his own experience as a member of the church for good 13 years in full obeisance to the traditions before getting saved and discipled through the ministry of Apostle Stephen Elesho. The experience, he said, has turned his life around 360 degrees.
Adeniyi further urged the celestial youths to be committed to God and to the word of his grace which is the only thing that can build them up and give them an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. He left the audience with 2 diagrams that capture the mission of the church and obedient Christian in action.
