Following up on conversations to extend the easing of the necessary lockdown to religious institutions, the General Overseer of the Guiding Light Assembly, Pastor Wale Adefarasin, has insisted that his church will not open even after the government allows it.
Responding to a question about where he stands regarding the clamour for reopening of churches by some pastors in the country, he reiterated that while indeed physical worship trumps worshipping through electronic devices, he is personally responsible for his congregation.
“Even if the government says churches should start opening,
we won’t open. We will wait and observe how this pandemic pans out first. The
Lord didn’t put his children in our care for us to put them in the line of
danger. It is common sense, and that is a gift from God that He no doubt will
question in the hereafter how much of a good use we made of it, if at all,”
Pastor Adefarasin said in an IGLive session with the founder of Joy Inc., Chude
Jideonwo, in a 21-day series titled “Retail Religion,” with the theme, “The
Future of Faith” and aimed to host frontline leaders from different faith communities.
The conversation centred around the role of the church in
current realities and is a pull-out from Chude a special series of targeted
multimedia conversations and investigations.
The series which aims to address issues of fading
spirituality among congregations will centre how religious can refocus their
congregations towards fighting the pandemic and how to navigate, spiritually,
this period and beyond.