Interview
Recently, Writers Club met with the Head Pastor of the IT Unit at the MFM Headquarters Youth Church, Pastor Gabriel Okwuofu. In an extensive chat with our correspondents, Pastor Gabriel shared with us a lot of his personal experiences in the church, his role as a Pastor and much more.
Have a good read!
Sir, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Gabriel Okwuofu.
When did you join the Youth Church?
I joined from the first day.
When was that?
On the 3rd of February 2008.
Did you come in as a Pastor?
No. I joined the Counselling Team at the time the Youth Church started when Pastor David was the Assembly Pastor. Before the end of that year, I was made a Pastor. By 2009, I was posted to lead the Ushering Team. Early 2015, I moved to the I.T Unit. That has been my leadership journey in the Youth Church so far.
Pastor Gabriel in a chat with our correspondents
I know you have a lot of experiences in the Youth Church, and personal experiences too. Can you share some with us?
For me, the Youth Church has really been a home. I usually say God captured my heart at a young age. That aside, there was the growing through secondary school and university. There was always cause for me to serve in one capacity or the other. I served in a leadership capacity in secondary school, and campus fellowship. I can recall when I was going for the national youth service; I had this mindset of just being a floor member during the service especially after being President of the MFM Campus Fellowship at the University of Lagos (Unilag). Little did I know that where I was, God was not going to let me go.
I still remember at the Nigerian Christian Corpers Fellowship, I served in the 2007/2008 era at the end of my service year. When I handed over, what was on my mind was, God what is next? I remember I had this thing in my mind going back to the MFM Headquarters. I could not picture myself in the groups at the headquarters. So, service year finished for me by February 2008 and the Youth Church started February 2008. The Youth Church came as an answered prayer. It was as if God was saying this is where He wanted me to be. I started as a regular member and then, I was discovered and made one of the leaders. I became a Pastor even in the early days of the church. For me, the Youth Church has been a home.
The Youth Church has been an answered prayer in terms of service, in terms of what next to do. In the Youth Church, there was a manifestation of grace to make use of the preparation of previous years for my service here. The church offered me a platform to practice some things I have seen God build up in me. I have the personal passion for helping people and for counselling. That is why I joined the Counselling Group initially. For mentoring, I personally see the gap in our generation; people actually find themselves look up to the wrong things. They need people to direct them aright.
There are a few things that I have gone through and I believe God has prepared me to be able to minister to people. I found out in a unique and brilliant way I probably did not plan. I found people that I was meant to minister to always coming my way. The Youth Church has been a place where I have seen God transform lives. For example, I recall seeing a number of people who I know lived negatively during my days in Unilag. But these people now come to the Youth Church and are even ministers today because God has transformed their lives.
The Youth Church has been a field to mold lives and this I have seen as a testimony. God is actually using the Youth Church to mold and make lives. It has been awesome. The church has been a place where I see the youth channel their talents to the glory of God. There is strong peer pressure on the youth to flow in the wrong direction and it is easy to yield. What the Youth Church has afforded the youth is to see themselves in the midst of other young people; and see how ordinary people can love God and use their energy to serve God. They then become challenged to live their lives to the glory of God by nature of seeing other people who are doing so.
I have also seen positive peer pressure in the Youth Church because people have seen it pays to serve God. This means peer pressure could come in a lot of ways. All you need to do is to get people into an environment that will nurture them, an environment that will influence them for good. The world out there is very negative and as young people who are in the world, all they see is the negative peer pressure which typically pushes them to the negative things. But they have now found themselves in the midst of young people who are doing by God’s grace, great things in the Lord.
So for me, it is a joy to be part of the beautiful things God is doing. I have seen God transforming lives. I have seen God use me to be able to interact with certain people. I have seen people transform from wretched states to peaceful lives. I have had personal encounters with people who were enslaved to sin and a lot of people suffering from sexual perversion. God has been able to capture their heart, change their passion and today, they are people who love God.
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