A DUBLIN-BASED Nigerian pastor has spoken of his “wonderful experience” on a recent ‘pulpit exchange’ in the United States.
Pastor Anthony Eziashi of Mountain and Fire of Miracles Ministries (MFM) in Dublin spent a month pastoring at an MFM church in Bowie, a town in Maryland, during January and February this year.
“People were coming because they believe in God,” said Pastor Eziashi. “They are not coming because God has not done this or God has not done that.”
Officially founded in Nigeria in the early 1990s by Dr Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, MFM is a “full gospel ministry devoted to the Revival of Apostolic Signs, Holy Ghost fireworks and the unlimited demonstration of the power of God to deliver to the uttermost,” according to its literature.
Outside of Africa, it has branches in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. In Ireland, it has over 30 branches with thousands of members, mostly Nigerians.
Pastor Eziashi found a more nationally diverse flock at the MFM church in Bowie which aside from Nigerians included Liberians, Americans, West Indians and Sierra Leoneans. A sum total of 350 would attend three services each Sunday, said the pastor.
Asked of the differences between the Nigerian members of his congregations in Dublin and Bowie, the pastor noted that there were many. He said some of the flock in Ireland can be over-reliant on their pastor whereas in America “people have grown to maturity”.
Pastor Eziashi also sensed that in Ireland, there is a greater tendency to go to church to fulfill personal needs through God – such as financial gain or immigration regularisation – and once such needs are met, some don’t feel the need to attend church regularly or at all.
Some church members in Ireland seem to think they are “doing the pastor a favour” by turning up, he added.
Pastor Eziashi said that in America, “when you call a prayer meeting, people come” without the need for reminders, and that the level of punctuality is impressive.
He said church attendance in Ireland tends to be “need-motivated”, commenting: “‘Because of a lack, I run to God.’ When [the individual’s] got his needs met, that zeal will drop... In the American church, they still come.”
Pastor Eziashi said he has been sharing his experiences with his Dublin congregation.
