By Banji Ojewale
The international journalist, Baffour Ankomah of Ghana, is reported to have recorded the lengthiest interview session with Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM. As editor of the London-based New African monthly magazine, Ankomah ran voluminous portions of his encounter with the revered Nigerian churchman in October 2006, revealing more than a treasure trove of the life and times of Kumuyi.
*Pastor KumuyiThe Ghanaian newsman said what he served the public, old and new takes on Kumuyi, was bereft of the trappings you witness between the intrusive reporter and his evasive newsmaker, between a predator and his potential prey, or between a dispassionate journalist and an equally disinterested figure. The reporter was intentional in his bid to secure an uncommon interview with an uncommon man. He got it, but at a price: he travelled with Kumuyi across West Africa, following and studying the man of God as he preached to hundreds of thousands of the poor and enthusiastic folk who wanted to benefit from his prayers and messages of salvation, hope, restoration, healing and deliverance.
I believe Ankomah desired an archival (historic) product
(interview) to emerge from his peregrinations with Kumuyi, which he grabbed,
because to date, there are few journalistic publications, if there are at all,
that have captured a near-bubbly picture of the clergyman and his evangelistic
work. The work is more than a reflection of the activities of Deeper Life Bible
Church and its founder, leaders and members. Naturally, you can’t labour on an
enterprise like this without profusely addressing the person of Kumuyi, his
background, his associates and his followers.
But of what use are your literary travails over a great public figure if they don’t, ultimately, push for an agenda to transform lives and change society, if they don’t teach that those who read of the greatness of the subject should be inspired to be like him or her? Why do we go to extreme ends to write (auto)biographies, if the goal isn’t to build a better society through the emulation of the eminent lives of these citizens? Writings aren’t for the pleasure of their creators; they are for society to gobble and gain from. They’re out of the writer’s control once they escape from his fingers. The consumer takes over for good or bad. His takeaway decides the impact of the book or publication (or broadcast).
*Pastor Kumuyi and his wife, Mummy EstherIn the case of the Ghanaian editor, his takeout came at the
close of his long introduction to the interview with Kumuyi. He wrote: "Pastor
Kumuyi…has positioned himself, and run his life in such a dignified manner…As
such he wins respect everywhere he goes. Church leaders are rarely held in such
high esteem. The irony is that he is such a humble man you would never think he
is the one so regarded…by national leaders. His humility, in fact, is quite
disarming! His selflessness, too, means that he draws no salary for the work he
does, even though some of his junior pastors who are full-time (ministers) are
paid for their service… Pastor Kumuyi does not touch money…The church takes
care of his upkeep…In a way, Pastor Kumuyi reminds me of Ghana’s first
president, Kwame Nkrumah. Like Nkrumah, Kumuyi has no property to his name,
even though he is the leader of a mammoth organization…What a challenge!’’
There are apposite lessons. First, when we examine Kumuyi, we must be less awed by the superstructure of the Church God used him to found. We must focus more on the integrity, incorruptibility and inflexibility that have been his driving precepts as a servant of God and leader of men. Otherwise, we shall unwittingly pigeonhole the man with those who also have created mega Christian assemblies without the critical attendant moral undercurrents.
Secondly, Kumuyi’s pact with God dictates his relationship with
man and everything associated with this world. In that case, he disavows the
material in order to bow to the spiritual. Number 3: Kumuyi has developed a
backbone that stands him from the crowd; once he has taken a decision he
believes is Biblical and not dissonant with the prescribed righteousness of
Heaven. His sing-song is, Others may I
cannot.
All those who have met the man never fail to observe these traits. Those who haven’t met him but do write on him from secondary sources or by watching (or listening to) him preach can’t also escape a whiff of these attributes. But, as I said earlier of great personalities, our reflections on them are not to be caged in books; they must project into our lives. That’s when our heroes and heroines would be fulfilled that when they pass on, their outstanding deeds wouldn’t pass on as well. We would have taken the baton from them for the race to continue towards a goal for the improvement of mankind.
At a time Nigeria is witnessing a new crop of persons at the
helm and with promises of a new beginning, I invite our public office holders
and the political class into the world of Pastor Kumuyi. Overseeing that world
is a God Who loathes leaders who are not servants of the led. He desires
leaders who wouldn’t be leeches. This God wants Spartan helmsmen whose
practical discipline would infect the entire citizenry.
Many today are overwhelmed by
the gigantic strides of Deeper Christian Life Ministry which started 50 years
ago in August 1973 with only 15 persons. The resplendent spectacle they behold
refers them to Kumuyi, the man at the root of the whole story. But he in turn
reroutes his stunned admirers to the Great Originator of what is petrifying
them. Kumuyi tells them that they must rather adore the God Who gave him the
gifts he has deployed over the decades to get the Church to this blazing
height.
What we
gather from Pastor Kumuyi, then, as we mark his 82nd birthday on
June 6, 2023, is simply that the God Who gave him First Class in Mathematics at
the University of Ibadan, Who made him learn at the feet of an unyielding
atheist without becoming an atheist, Who is still giving His servant in his
advanced age grand evangelism strategies such as the current revolutionary
brand, Global Crusade with Kumuyi, GCK, will heartily offer our policy makers
exceedingly more endowments to govern selflessly if they also embrace His laws
and fear Him as Kumuyi has done.
Happy Birthday, Beloved Shepherd!
*Ojewale is a writer in Ota, Ogun State
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