My faith under fire, choosing between two pastors…

Dear Agatha,

I need your counsel. I was a vibrant youth in a church situated in Oyo State some years ago. The two pastors in charge of the branch of that church were like fathers to me.

Suddenly there was rancour between the two pastors, which eventually led to the senior pastor accusing the other one of adultery. This led to the sack of the junior pastor from the church.

The matter caused a division in the church because many believed the junior pastor is a victim of the church politics. I am one of those people who think so, this I did after listening to his side of the story. Few years after I came to Lagos, I stumbled on the senior pastor at the headquarters of the church where he gave me a document to make photocopy for him. Going through the documents while making the photocopies, I discovered the pastor has been suspended over financial improprieties and that he was begging the Founder of the church to reinstate him. I made an extra copy of the documents, which I took to Oyo to show the sacked pastor who has started his own church.  

I learnt both of them reconciled about two years ago but the sacked pastor refused to return to the church. 

This year, I ran into the senior pastor again at the headquarters. He wants me to follow him to the branch in Jos where he now pastors.  

Agatha, will it not be a betrayal to the sacked pastor who if he discovers I followed the other pastor would feel bad? Will the senior pastor not tell the other pastor that I am a hypocrite? 

Please advise me.

Joshua.

Dear Joshua, 

Who is your allegiance to: God or man? What are you going to do in Jos: serve this man or to work for the propagation of the gospel of Christ? And why would the other pastor feel bad if indeed his passion is for the progress of the body of Christ?

The question is what is your motive of wanting to go to Jos? Is it for personal gains or for the glory of God? If your desire is for the service of God, if you have the time and callings, please go to wherever the Holy Spirit wants you to work irrespective of whatever anybody feels or thinks.

The only person you need to reconcile with is God. Has He asked you to go there? Is your ministry in Jos and is this man ordained to pastor you? 

Rather than worry on what the other pastor who has since started his own church would say about your going to Jos to do the bidding of God, go to God in prayers to enquire if this move of yours has His backing and anointing. Once He gives you the clearance to go, expunge from your hearts the doubts you have about the senior pastor by going to him in private to tell him how you feel about what happened between him and the other pastor while you were all in Oyo.

Since you would be working with him, there is the need for both of you, especially you, to work in complete trust and harmony. It is the only way the spirit of God can move mightily and manifest in the church you are both going to partner each other. There is no way you would be able to give your absolute if you don’t trust him or keep harbouring resentments against him. 

Urge him to tell you the real side of his story, not the side he told the entire church. Confront him with the thinking and opinions of others about the incident as well as your reluctance to go with him for fear of the same thing that happened to the other pastor happening to you. 

Let him for the first time discuss the matter with you personally. Hear him defend himself, ask more questions that you have all these years kept to yourself, ensure the matter is completely settled and erased from your memory before embarking on the journey with him if God gives His permission for you to go.

This is essential because even if you have the express permission of God, refusal on your part to let go of the memory of that incident would impede you from giving your best to the ministry. 

Once you have the divine permission, for friendship sake, go and inform the other pastor about your decision to accompany his senior colleague on a missionary journey to Jos. From his experience of God’s work, he knows that every minister of God always need someone to help nurture his or her dream. 

Hearing it from you would take care of whatever misgivings he has.

Good luck.