The General Overseer of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, William Kumuyi, may have radicalised Christianity, he is still a scarce commodity. The residents of Kumasi in Ghana are one of those who would hate not having him in their midst.
When Kumuyi decided to visit them, they waited in anticipation. However, they did not wait for too long for the much anticipated visit of the Nigerian Gospel minister.
In 1973, the preacher had been used by God to set up Bible Study Group that radicalised Christianity in a country just crawling from an internecine civil war. The Ghanaians were themselves passing through storm, tossed for several years by billows of military regimes.
Some six years later, Kumuyi was invited to lead a crusade in the second biggest city in Ghana, the country whose military rulers played the peacemaker as Nigeria stood inexorably on the cusp of war.
Was Kumuyi coming with scars of conflict? Was his message going to be relevant to the people of Ghana who were also writhing under the boots of the khaki boys? If what his Bible study group was offering was healing the wounds inflicted by 30 months of a carnivorous war in only a few years of its existence, let him come and wave the “magic wand” in Ghana too.
The Ghanaians were thinking right. The people needed a healing – spiritual and physical – at the touch of something new, something fresh, something not born of the jaded prescription that had worsened their condition day after day. Those who invited the young Nigerian evangelist (only in his late 30s) to Kumasi accepted the man whose group has since blossomed to become the Deeper Life Bible Church (DLBC), with stable and dignified presence all over the world.
That trip to the land of the Golden Stool and home of popular football club, Asante Kotoko, has been notched as a reference point in church history in Ghana.
Analysts of developments within DLBC have hailed the event as the beginning of the international reach of the church. That visit has spawned massive changes in the heart of Asante land: the landfall of old time Gospel message, accompanied by signs and wonders. It is freeing the people of the area from spiritual and physical poverty, making the dark ages of the day to recede and giving way to the “more abundant life” promise. It has brought development and employment to the community of Santasi in the western suburb of Kumasi and nearby Brofoyedu.
There is a 149-acre citrus farm, a community clinic and a water purification plant in the area, all available to the public. They are in existence as a result of the 1979 DLBC crusade in Kumasi where Pastor Kumuyi ministered.
Now in Ogun State, as we look back to those days of spiritual and physical renaissance engendered by a crusade, we are compelled to expect a similar boon, indeed a greater turning point, while we await a three-day crusade at Kobape, Abeokuta, with Pastor Kumuyi preaching from October 24 to 26, 2014.
Only recently, when DLBC held a three-day crusade in Osogbo, Osun State, the cleric spoke of the all-round impact of the programme in the life of the society and its people. He said the crusade was brought to Osun for the manifestation of God’s power and love for the people, to heal and turn every life around, saying that the event was meant to be enriching.
He declared: “We want you to believe in God, that He can conquer any challenge; that is the most significant aspect of our crusade… to remind the people that no matter how bad it may be for individuals, state and nation, God can still turn things around and move things forward.
Isn’t this the message Nigeria needs at the moment; the message of hope that by the mercy of God and faith in Him, Nigeria can pull through her challenges?
We need the crusade to transform the citizens into a peace-loving lot who would enjoy the spiritual and physical benefits that follow a Divine visitation.
• Ojewale wrote in from Ota, Ogun State.