FIJ
Many among the 1,600 evangelists preparing for a pastoral ordination to be held in Osun State have resorted to begging to raise the N350,000 fee the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) leadership directed them to pay.
Across the CAC pastoral locations in Nigeria, most of these ordinands earn less than N30,000 per month. This is despite having spent seven years at the church’s seminary and done full-time ministerial work for five years.
The ordination training will last a year, beginning on Wednesday at the Babalola International Miracle Centre, Ikeji Arakeji. On resumption date, these theological students are to pay 75% of the N350,000 fee, according to an admission letter dated January 21.
The N350,000 will cater to accommodation, logistics, administrative charges, lecture booklets and other intellectual properties, as well as training fees.
In order to raise this money, some evangelists have resorted to borrowing from instant loan apps, according to a source who asked not to be named for fear of being victimised for speaking out.
“At least, eleven evangelists have expressed their helplessness to me. They were begging me for funds to meet the deadline,” the source said.
“They were lamenting that they cannot raise the money on their own. To add salt to the injury, some of them have borrowed loans from online apps but they could not access more than N25,000.”
At CAC, evangelists are administratively called teachers. In 2023, the national leadership of the CAC increased teachers’ and other clergymen’s salaries by 50%. However, the proposal is yet to be effective.
According to the applicable salary structure, a teacher earns N20,966.40 and N16,565.40 as basic salary and monthly allowance respectively. If the proposal had been implemented, the basic salary and the allowance for a teacher would have been N56,297.70 monthly.
In many rural communities, teachers are paid in kind rather than cash. A teacher could be given tubers of yams, garri and other farm produce equivalent to their salary.
FIJ’s source said, “Evangelists are usually paid with farm produce like tubers of yam, cassava and garri in rural communities because that is what members bring as tithes. Out of lamentation, some of the evangelists rhetorically asked, ‘Is it with the garri and yams they give me monthly that I will pay this ordination fee?’
“They are prevented from engaging in any other business activities because they are full-time pastors. But the payment system is horrible and it is not making most of them live a quality life.
“This pastoral ordination is another stage in their priestly career. They have already spent five years at a local assembly and have now been recommended for ordination.”
The previous ordination done five years ago had about 2,000 evangelists. They were to pay N120,000. Many participants at the time grumbled and paid through their noses.
“Evangelists using all means to raise that money in the most unworthy manners to God’s sacred name. Those at the lower rung of the ladder live as beggars while those at the top, particularly when leaving office, go away with large perks that the hardworking ones will never get in their lifetimes,” the source told FIJ.
“The authorities need to put a human face to their directive. Let them bring down this levy to make it more affordable to pay. I am unhappy seeing how these helpless evangelists are going about begging even the worst of unbelievers for loans and donations in their quest to meet the payment deadline.”
HOW MUCH DOES ORDINATION COST IN OTHER CHURCHES?
To understand what is obtainable at other churches, FIJ spoke with a source familiar with the ordination system at the Deeper Life Christian Ministry.
According to the source who pastors at Deeper Life, ordination is free of charge. One only needed to have attended Bible study sessions for at least two years and performed other obligations to demonstrate their understanding of the scripture and the church’s principles
To be ordained at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), FIJ learnt, an assistant pastor who is equivalent to an evangelist is required to pay a N10,000 fee. The RCCG’s ordination programme begins on March 7.
CAC SPOKESPERSON SAYS HE ‘CANNOT SPEAK WITH A ROBOT’
When contacted for comment on Monday, Ade Alawode, a pastor and the CAC spokesperson, told FIJ that he doubted he was speaking with a human being.
“We cannot respond to you because we don’t know you. We want to see you in person. It is then that we would know we are dealing with a human being and not a robot,” Alawode said.
When told he was speaking with a human being, Alawode repeated his doubts.
“There is nothing Artificial Intelligence cannot do. We cannot respond to your text. I will like to deal with a human being, not a robot,” he said.
Before Alawode commented, FIJ had spoken with Tope Dada, the director of administration at the church. Although he said he had no permission to comment, he said the evangelists knew the right channel to complain to if they were unhappy about the fee.
“They [the evangelists] know the right channel to talk to. It is not through a journalist or me,” Dada said.
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN FIJ
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