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The Joseph Mandate Summit, a programme put together for Christians to truly discover their true callings, took place in Lagos over the weekend with a call on Christians and the society at large to chart a course that aligned with their true calling as followers of Jesus Christ.
Convened by Bishop Dr. Priscilla Otuya of the United Gospel Churches of African Nations and Dr. Emeka Obidi, and facilitated by Evangelist Chiju Joseph Nkwo of Full Gospel Tabernacle Incorporated, Lagos, the deeply religious programme exposed what the speakers called the deep-rooted inadequacies in the body of Christ and how Christian leaders had detailed in the course of teaching the Word and why they should advance and tailor messages towards their true callings.
Speaking to the media on the purpose for the monthly event with the theme, ‘Mobilising Enterprise for Global Good’, Evangelist Nkwo who acknowledged that the event was by the Nigerian American Social Entrepreneurs Forum, in collaboration with The United Gospel Church of African Nations and All Souls Outreach (ASO), as well as Koga Faith Foundation, Washington DC, USA, Explained more on The Joseph Mandate.
“Joseph’s mandate, you know, gives us the room to discover who we are and what assignment God has put in us,” he said while in a chat with the media.
“When it comes to what is happening today, there are two coalitions, United Gospel Churches of African Nations, which Dr. Priscillia Otuya is the president.
“I am privileged to be the Nigerian Ombudsman. It is a global vision but when it comes to what is happening today, it’s within the Nigerian context,” he noted.
Nkwo explained why the summit took place in Lagos.
“We are hosting it here not because we can’t host it any other place. It’s the place we had the first meeting and it has resonated very well here,” he said.
“The Joseph Mandate teaches us that every man has his own role to play.
“In the Bible, there was the first Joseph, the second Joseph, the third, which… You know their individual roles.
“Now we are saying that if you are a pastor, what has God asked you to do? Four people in God’s agenda are better than 100 people outside the will of God. That is what it is. People may be saying, I have a church filled with people.
“You may see that the church can be filled up but not impacting lives, while the man of God may have his own way of making money out of the people he gathered as members of the church.
“There’s the 6-hour workers, the 9-hour workers, and the 11-hour workers. The anointing for the 9th hour cannot dare the 11th hour.
“You can see God using people who didn’t even go to Bible college and they are making impact. So that is what we are trying to say.
“Now, I want you to go home with this. God will never sponsor the projects he’s not into, He can’t.”
On the prospect of The Joseph Mandate and whether it would be hosted outside Full Gospel Tabernacle Incorporated in due time, he said it is a wide summit.
“The mandate is so wide that it is not locational. I mean, we have it in Ijanikin here roday. We are planning a journey now to go to Imo State. So, it will be all over the 36 states.
Also in a chat with the media, Bishop Otuya noted the place of the body of Christ in emancipating the world.
“The Joseph Mandate is very important at this time because the world is looking up to the body of Christ for a solution,” she said.
“So, the world is looking up to the church, but we have failed. But there are remnants in the body that God is raising to turn things around, like Joseph.
“So, we are trying to mobilise people like that to make sure we provide help to the governments themselves, for change to happen.
“It’s not a Nigerian initiative, even if it’s from Nigeria. But we’re just trying to go to local governments to make sure we mobilise people.
“They should know the truth and then carry them along. But we need grassroots to make things work out,” she said.
On his own, Dr. Obidi noted that Joseph Mandate is a multi-dimensional summit for people to know their true callings in Christ.
“Joseph Mandate is a multi-dimensional program which brings in people of God and channels them through the genuine calling and the original mandate and plans of God while still maintaining plans for the future in order to secure the truth because in our generation, we are really losing the truth,” he said.
“We are carried away by a lot of rivalities, a lot of things that do not really hold water or count, and you see that is why the religious world has now started overcoming true Christianity.
“When you come to church, you see a lot of social mishaps, things that are happening are not supposed to happen. You know, it is no longer God of man, it is now man of God.
“So, Joseph Mandate is bringing us back to our original plan and the original mandate of God,” he said.
Reverend A.O. Amen commended the summit as eye opening, saying God is easing people for His true gospel.
“If you look around the government in Nigeria, you find that even people that are Christians, most of them are being confused, are being disturbed. And the people that we call the unbelievers, they find it hard to believe what we are saying these days.
“In fact, people are tired. So, God is raising people. For every generation, God will raise someone who will bring about His change, to let people know exactly His mind.
“The Joseph Mandate is just an opportunity for changes to happen in the way we do things,” he said.
Speaking, Rev. Steve Mario Anozie said the summit was an opportunity to change the negative narratives in churches.
“It is a great opportunity for some things to change in the way we do things in the name of serving God,” he said.
“In my own church, they see me as an outcast, because I don’t agree with what they are saying or doing sometimes. They fought me sometimes.
“My take is, give me the practicality of Jesus Christ. How did he run his own ministry? Like, in my own ministry, the little ministry God gave to me, I don’t carry offerings,” he said.
Barrister Nene Uche Kalu Nmaju who attended the summit pointed to the roles of the three Joseph in the bible, noting that the summit would go a along way in correcting the ills in the church.
“It will go a very long way. I mean, because from that point, I see a lot of truth here,” she said.
Meanwhile, some of the attendees relieved their experiences, saying The Joseph Mandate had exposed a lot they never knew about true Christian worship.
