Christian Short Courses

Short Course With The Title:Study Of The End-Time Dangers Prepared By Pastor (Dr) Dipo Toby Alakija (CEMS/CCEM President)

Introduction Of The Course With The Topic: Ignorance Is A Destructive Tool:

We thank God for what He is doing through many lives of some people in this generation. We also have to express regrets of the havoc we – the Christians have allowed the devil to wreck on souls through our indifference, negligence, ignorance or even arrogance of what we think we know. The Bible tells us in Hosea 4:6-7 that the people of God are destroyed for lack of knowledge, especially of the word of God. Through our ignorance, the devil is able to wreck havoc on our society, putting an end to many effective Ministries. He replaces them with his own versions of lifestyles, homes and ministries.

However, there is hope for everyone who is ready to learn the word of God. College Of Christian Education And Missions (CCEM) is saddled with the responsibilities to evangelize the world, edify the Body of Christ, equipping all categories of people with the word of God. The College enlightens everyone of things of eternal values, training them to become End-Time Solders of Christ through various seminars, courses, publications and productions.

STUDY OF THE END-TIME DANGERS

Introduction: Imagine the scenario in a theater room where some doctors are performing an operation on a patient with members of his family looking at them as they toy with his life, joking about all his internal organs. What would you expect the family to do, knowing fully well that the life of one of their members is at stake? Of course, the doctors dare not toy nor joke about human lives. If man feels he has to preserve physical life, how could anyone expect God to toy or joke about eternal life of anyone, especially when it is in grave danger?

This subject is very serious. Thus all serious minded Christians who need to see themselves as spiritual doctors must take it very seriously.

Dresden James said, “when a well packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will be utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.”

In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, the Bible says, “But know this (for sure), that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control brutal, despisers of good, traitors, head strong, hauty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

Going by the above passage and with proofs of events all over the world, we are already in the last days – a perilous time before the rapture takes place. Note that we are not yet in the days of Anti-Christ but we are in the days of spirits of Anti-Christ. Before we classify the dangers of the end time, there is need to first study the scheme and agents of the devil.

SCHEMES AND AGENTS OF THE DEVIL

Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal (souls of men), and to kill (spiritual life), and to destroy (souls in hell fire). I have come that they may have (eternal) life, and that they may have it more abundantly (till eternity).” From what the Lord said, we see three deadly missions which devil has against humanity which are to steal, to kill and to destroy. Before studying these missions, let us study the methods Satan uses. It may be surprising to note that some of these methods are so subtle and similar to that of God, making it difficult if not impossible for those who are not sound to detect the differences.

The devil always poses as God, The Father in this world just as he tried to do in Isaiah 14:1-14. The Anti-Christ which is yet to come poses as God, The Son and the unholy spirits which are the angels that fell with Satan in Revelation 12:7-8 pose as God, the Holy Spirit. Also among the unholy spirits that are posing as Holy Spirit are the spirits of Anti-christ. These unholy spirits are the ones making way for the coming of Anti-Christ. The mark of the beast shall be given by Anti-Christ, going by Revelation 13:11-18. The present so-called mark of the beast are not the real ones even though they are given by the spirits of Anti-Christ. The reason the real mark cannot be given is because it is not yet time for the reign of Anti-christ.

Anti-Christ cannot come now because real Christians had not been taken away (raptured), going by 1 Thessalonian 4:13-18. A case study that buttresses this are the agents of the devil like freemason, illuminati, malta templar and a host of other society that had been working from one generation to another just to bring about what is generally known as New World Order (NWO). Through out all generations till now, they continue to fail in their attempts to bring about one world so that the Anti-Christ would rule the world. The reason for this failure is: Christians are still in the world. If you look at the main characteristics of these agents of the devil, you will realize that they hate real Christians though they can tolerate fake believers and ministers. In fact, you will find a lot of people who profess to be Christians but who are actually members of these secret societies.

In other to bring about the reign of Anti-Christ, the devil continues to steal the souls of men, using tools like materialism, religions, cultism, entertainments, media, propaganda, philosophy, so-called charity and other things that are worldly; using them as baits. Thus the Bible says in 1 John 2:15 that Christians must not love the world or the things inside the world. The things inside the world are usually used by Satan to steal souls.

Weapons that are used to kill souls are both physical and spiritual. They kill souls by disconnecting them from the source of eternal life (Jesus as in John 14:16, 1:12-13, 11:25), making them ignorant of heaven and hell. Such things include the lust or works of the flesh as recorded in Galatians 5:16-21, lust of the eyes and pride of life (1John 2:16).

The agents of eternal destruction are not physical but spiritual. In Ephesians 6:12, the Bible says, “for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of heavenly places.” These agents of destruction are divided into four levels of authorities.

Level One: Are Principalities that work with flesh, bringing about works of the flesh in Galatians 5:16-21.

Level Two: They are called Powers. These powers actually empower human beings who bring about demonstration of demonic powers like black magic, witchcraft, occult powers and a host of others.

Level Three: They are called Rulers of Darkness. These agents are actually in control of politics, economies and social lifestyles of all nations, including cultures. For this reason, you will see demonic symbols in the seats of powers in most if not all the countries in the world. If you study the design of the US white House, you would discover that they reveal the demonic symbols of the cult called Freemason. This explains why many political rulers are involved in secret cultism.

The last level: This is the devil himself and his cabinet of the most powerful demons or other fallen angels. This level always equate themselves as God, The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.”

THE DANGERS OF THE END TIME

  1. One of the dangers in the end time is that the word of God had been taken away from the Church, making it easy for the spirits of Anti Christ to operate. In 1 John 2:18, the Bible makes us to understand that real Anti-Christ is coming but many (spirits of) Anti-Christ have already come. These spirits are replacing the word of God with Church creeds, dogmas, heresies and various doctrines that are directly or indirectly opposed to the word of God. In 1Timothy 4:1, the Bible says, “Now the Spirit (of God) expressly says that in latter times (end time) some (Christians) will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits (of Anti-Christ) and doctrines of demons.” Before devil can operate in a Church or the life of anyone, he would first remove the word of God which, according to Ephesians 6:17, is the sword of the Spirit that can be used to attack these spirits. Anyone who is not grounded in the word of God is vulnerable. He is in the danger of spiritual death in life and eternal destruction in hell. (Revelation 21:8)
  2. The other danger in the end time is found in the weapons which the devil uses against humanity. These include flesh, materialism, pride of life and lust of the eyes as 1 John 2:16 says. The devil through lust of the flesh has taken the world into the Church because most Christians and their leaders refuse to take the word into the world. With the world in the Church, souls are at the mercy of the devil as people graduate from worldliness into idolatry, worshipping human beings, wealth and other things of the world.
  3. The other danger which is also broad in scope is the missing Spirit of unity among Christians. The devil adopts the method of striking the shepherd and let the sheep scatter. Many genuine ministers of God are busy fighting one another, displaying ego and using the weapons they are supposed to use against the devil to fight against one another. In John 13:34-35, Jesus told the disciples that through the love for one another, people will know they are His disciples.
  4. The other danger is the lost of focus on eternity. Many Christians are involved in vanities at the expense of eternity. The service to God, to fellow Christians and to the world are no longer important to most of Christians. The great commission given by the Lord in Mark 16:15, saying, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” is disregarded by Christians. Most preachers no longer preach messages of salvation, holiness and righteousness. What is now common are messages that appeal to the intellect of the people and not what meet their spiritual needs. The consequence of that is to have spiritually dead people in the Church or to starve them of the word of God to eternal death.

CONCLUSION

We are all guilty of about the same things which are negligence in the way we treat souls or arrogance of what we know but choose to ignore or ignorance of the fact that our lives are supposed to reflect the word of God which can attract others to the Lord Jesus. Hence, all Christians need to go back into the word of God, go to God in prayers and take the word into the world.

Likely Questions

  1. Describe the schemes and agents of the devil
  2. Explain all the dangers of the end time
SALVATION - A PRODUCT OF EVANGELISM

Prepared By Pastor (Dr) Dipo Toby Alakija (CEMS/CCEM President)

Introduction: Christian faith was challenged by Penn Jillete, an American atheist, illusionist and comedian when he said, “I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize (in Christian term: evangelize) … If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell and not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward… How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell that?”

 To illustrate the point Penn is trying to make, let us imagine a blind person walking across the highway with cars speeding in front of him while you stand by the road, watching him. Even though you have the chance to save the person, if you do nothing to get him out of the road, it is plain wickedness. If you watch the car crushing him, you are responsible for his death. What Penn is saying in essence is that if you believe heaven and hell exist and you do not try to warn people about the places in any way you can, you either do not believe there is heaven and hell or you are just being hateful.

Before the author of this paper gave his life to Christ, he was a real controversial sinner who knew how to argue against eternal life but one lady prayed for him in her closet that God should arrest him. So when he slept one fateful night, his spirit left his body and he found himself facing a long queue, where the dead were to be judged, according to their ways of life. When it was his turn, he was condemned to hell according to Revelation 21:8. Just as he was heading to hell, Jesus who is the joy and the hope of the world came and told him He was giving him the last chance to mend his ways. He came back to life as a changed person.

About 5 years later, he was fed up with life. He told the Lord that he wanted to go home in heaven. Again, he found myself going to heaven but before he reached the gate which had been opened to him by an Angel, multitudes of people had blocked his way. They all pointed accusing fingers at him, saying that it was unfair and unjust if he goes to heaven while they end up in hell. At the gate of heaven, he discovered that sin is not the only thing that prevents a person from getting to heaven. Sinners can also stop a Christian from getting there if he or she does not preach to them. You can find the biblical proof of this testimony in the book of Ezekiel 3:17-19, which says, “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

With the above Bible passage and testimony, we need to study a few things about evangelism in this topic: Salvation – The Product Of Evangelism.

What is Evangelism?

Jesus said in Mark 16:15-16, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Evangelism is all of these:

  1. It is preaching the word of God to people with the aim of bringing them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
  2. It is an act of winning souls through the power of Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8. The author’s experience through the power of Holy Spirit as the sister prayed for him is good case to study.)
  3. It is a act of warning people of eternal death (Ezekiel 33:1-14. This passage again proves that the blood of sinners would be required from all Christians who refuse to preach to them about heaven and hell.

Effects Of Evangelism

  1. It saves people from eternal death (Ezekiel 18: 20-32. There are many cases of people who had been to hell and heaven coming back to life, relating the same story of huge number of people that end up in hell.
  2. It gives people hope about eternal life after physical death. (If the author does not have hope in heaven, he would not have prayed that God should take him home. His reason for being alive today is to preach the gospel to people whom he saw blocking his way to heaven. There are so many of them that he confirms that he wonders how he would reach out to all of them.)
  3. It brings about the fear of God in the lives of people, making them people of God that work against evils. (Proverb 3:7, 8:13, 1:7)

Reasons For The Need Of Evangelism:

There are so many reasons for evangelism apart from the fact that it is a command from the Lord. The Bible mandated believers in 2 Timothy 4:5 that says, “But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

  1. Any Christian who does not evangelize risks losing his or her own eternal life. In Matthew 3:10, the Bible says every tree (believer) which does not bear fruits will be cut down and thrown into fire (hell).
  2. Evangelism is one of the ways to show gratitude to God for what He has done to believers. (Mark 5:19-20)
  3. Believers are save to serve (Galatian 5:13)
  4. Death and judgement are sure and sudden (Hebrew 9:27, Job 20:23)
  5. The labourers are few (Matthew 9:37-32)
  6. Gifts of Holy Spirit make Christians effective witnesses of Jesus Christ (Act 1:8, 1 Corinthians 12:7-12)
  7. Sinners are on the increase everybody (Jeremiah 5:28, 2 Timothy 3:1-6). Through evangelism and prayers, they can they be reduced. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
  8. Through evangelism, soldiers including all ministers are enlisted into the army of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:2-4)

Ways Of Evangelism:

There are two broad ways of evangelism which are personal and mass evangelism. Whichever way a Christian adopts, he or she needs to love and have burden for lost souls. It is lack of love and burden that makes a believer not to make any move to pray and reach out for souls. It is little wonder that Pen Jillete made the comment that is quoted in the introduction of this topic. Among these two types of evangelism, however, the more effective way is personal evangelism. The reasons for this include the personal contact and the issue of follow up of the convert.

Personal Evangelism: is one on one conversation or personally leading a soul to Christ through:

  1. Words of the mouths of the preacher (Ephesians 6:19-20, Proverb 10:32).
  2. Sharing the word of God with one person or more persons, leading them in prayer in the areas of their needs like good health (1Timothy 2:1)

III. Through characters or conducts of believers, people can be led to Christ (2 Peter 1: 5-11) There are cases of people who are led to Christ through the attitudes of some Christians either at home or while working.

Mass Evangelism: This is preaching the word of God to a large number of people at the same or at different times. Unlike in personal evangelism, the preacher often do not have personal contact with the people he wants to convert. Mass evangelism is very much required because the labourers are few (Mathew 9:37-38). Mass Evangelism may take many or more of the following methods:

  1. Open air crusade as in the case of Peter in Acts 2:14-39
  2. Media Evangelism like preaching on the radio or television.

III. Publication Evangelism like printing and distribution of tracts to people in schools, hospitals, prisons, streets and other places.

  1. Entertainment Evangelism like the use of music, drama or film show to reach out to souls.
  2. Online Evangelism like the use of social or interactive web sites to share the word of God. The author uses this means to reach out to the world, including the use of Facebook groups like the one with 1.7 million members.

The good thing about these methods of evangelism is that anybody can be involved although some of them like media, online and entertainment evangelism may required some skills or talents but Christians can help others in the use of such means to reach out by giving their money or time to distribute or produce such items for evangelism in their areas.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, we can use the story of three brothers who are all handicapped to illustrate the need for cooperation among Christians. One of them is lame while the second is blind. The third one is dumb. They are sent by their father to share good news about eternity with the people while on their way home. The lame cannot walk though he has the skill to communicate with people. The blind who is physically fit cannot see. The dumb cannot talk but he has good sight. They decided to cooperate with one other as the dumb carried the lame who would to talk to the people on his shoulder. The dumb who leads them watch out for danger. Each diligently plays his role as they go about the assignments to deliver the message, making up for the weakness of the other without any criticism or envy. They accomplish their missions through spirit of love and unity. And they are all rewarded for the job well done.

In the same way, Christians are supposed to make up for the weakness of one another in their ministries and journeys to the kingdom of their Father instead of attacking one other. Without cooperation, the work of the Lord may suffer and the souls will damn the consequences.

Likely Questions

  1. Explain what Evangelism is about
  2. Explain effects of Evangelism
  3. Explain (i) reasons Christian need to evangelize and (ii) ways of evangelism

 

(A) 1-Month Basic Christian Orientation: This short course offers only CEMS certificate of participation. The course offers the following subjects:

(B) 3-Month General Christian Orientation: This short course which also offers only certificate of participation includes the above and the following subjects: (i) Practice Of Christianity: Christianology 1: CCEM Course 01 (ii) Evangelism Methodology: CCEM Course 02 (iii) Introduction To Upper Room / House Fellowships: The Use Of Illustrative Sermon Books.

(C) 6-Month Christians’ Basic Ministries: This may or may not attract CCEM certificate, depending on if the student sits for prescribed examinations or not. This programme includes all items A-B and the following subjects: (i) Christian Basic Ministries: CCM 03 (ii) Christian Oral Communications: CCEM Course 07 (iii) Basic Principles Of Leadership.

(D) 6-Month Certificate Course In Value Education Under The Institute Of Christian Education And Ministries: This course is designed for qualified teachers who will teach the subject and present papers on Family, Moral and National Values in schools and other places. Subjects in this special course include:

DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

Prepared By Pastor (Dr) Dipo Toby Alakija (CEMS/CCEM President)

INTRODUCTION

Steve Farrar, an American Christian writer says, “if hundreds of thousands of men seriously began to lead their own homes, the impact on America would be far greater than one Christian man leading in the white house.” Christian leadership is vital in every part of the world, ranging from families, the community, various groups, organizations, ministries to government of every nation. Without sound Christian leadership, all these areas, including social; political and economic aspects of life would be in complete shambles. This can invariably lead to compromise of faith, sins and eternal destruction. The Bible says in Proverb 14:34 “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”

This course is vital to everybody, especially Christians.

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

First, we have to consider the definition of Christian leadership for the purpose of this teaching. For the purpose of this seminar, Christian Leadership can be defined as the leadership by a Christian as mandated by God with Jesus Christ as a role model. If you study the ministry of our Lord, Jesus Christ, you will discovered that He laid solid foundation for Christians to follow through His teachings and leadership examples. Not only that, He gives genuine Believers Holy Spirit to guide them in their leadership positions either as Christians that will lead souls to Christ or as married people that will lead in their families or as religious or business or political or other leaders in the world.

The presence of Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian distinguishes his leadership from other forms of leadership. The Bible says in John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Here Christians have the advantage of knowing so many things which other people do not know through Holy Spirit.

Although Christians occupy various leadership positions in all walks of life but all required virtually the same style – Christ’s style. Hence we shall consider (a) Christ’s teachings on leadership (b) Christ’s leadership style (c) Holy Spirit inspired leadership.

CHRIST’S TEACHINGS ON LEADERSHIP:

Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 15:14, “Let them (the scribes and Pharisees who claim to be the religious leaders in those days) alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into ditch.”

Jesus is saying so many things to everybody through this statement. He is talking about leaders and the followers who are both blind (ignorant) of many things. In Hosea 4:6, the Lord said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”

The followings need to be understood in Jesus’ teaching here:

  1. A leader is expected to know better than the followers. In 1Timothy 3:5-6, the Bible makes it clear that a novice is not expected to lead in things of God. The reason for this is that such leadership can result into catastrophe or eternal damnation of both the leaders and the followers.
  2. A leader must be well trained just as a military leader is trained to lead his troop. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:3, “you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” We see a Christian leader as a disciplined soldier while the followers are like the civilians. The more well trained you are by Holy Spirit, through the word of God and your menthol, the more you will be able to train civilian Christians into Christian soldiers or nurture Christian babes into man or woman of God. This kind of training involves the followings:

(a) Your response to God’s dealings (Deuteronomy 8:1-5). In this passage, we can see how God humble the Israelites because of the lessons He had for them but the sad part of the story is that most of them did not make it to the promise land. Joshua who was one of those who positively responded to this dealing was the one that led the people to the promised land.

(b) When you are being trained either as a husband who will lead his family or a wife who leads the children or other people who lead in the Church or elsewhere, God will have to redesign your attitude towards Him, His people and the world at large. A lot of Christian leaders do not appreciate the fact that when wrong things begin to happen, how they react to them will determine if the problem would increase or get solved. When situations work against a Christian leader, he needs to understand that he is the prime target. More often than not, devil strikes the leader so that the followers can scatter. With strong leadership character and prayers, a Christian leader can always be in charge of the situation and the people involved.

(c) When you are being trained in anyway, you build either good or bad reputation for yourself. Reputation is like the result of an examination. Such an examination is usually given at the time of crisis. The Bible says in Proverb 24:10 “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”

Instead of many Christian leaders to continue to grow in experience of life, they compromise. Some fall outright into temptations that ultimately destroy their reputation as ministers of God. Note that If a notable Christian leader fall into temptation, even if he rises again, thousands of his followers will not be able to rise up again. If a Christian leader compromises or falls, he takes a nose dive downward from grace into disgrace. The training of Christian leaders do not end until they leave this world. Like someone said, if anyone stops growing, he starts dying. So we keep learning everyday.

  1. A Christian leader must be conscious of the fact that he leads through his conduct or deeds and by what he says. In Matthew 23:2-3 Jesus said, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.” Jesus makes it clear in this passage that there are some leaders who say the right thing but they do not practice what they preach. Such persons are like African bus conductors who usher people into the eternity bus with what they say but they do not follow the bus to heaven. The deeds or conduct of a Christian leader must match what he says. If not, he will be regarded as hypocrite. In other words, a Christian leads through what he says and what he does.

CHRIST’S LEADERSHIP STYLE

In John 13:3-20, Jesus taught the disciples the hallmarks of Christian leadership when he washed their feet. These include humility and transparent honesty. Jesus method of leadership are:

(i) He first went to preach the good news. Matthew 4:17

(ii) He called the disciples, according to Matthew 4:18-21

(iii) He inspired and taught them. Matthew 8:18-27

(iv) He made them watched the way He leads through His teaching and the outreach to souls. Matthew 4:23-25

(v) He instructed and sent them to do the work without being there. Mark 3:14.

(vi) He corrected them when they went wrong (Matthew 17:14-21).

HOLY SPIRIT INSPIRED LEADERSHIP

In addition to Christ teachings and leadership style, the Holy spirit inspired leadership is required in the present day because the methods which the devil constantly designs to deceive Christians varies. Many are different from the methods he employed during the days of the early Christians. Jesus knows this will happen. Hence, He said in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, (including how to lead and deal with people) and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” What is instructive to note here is that Holy Spirit will not teach anyone what is contrary to the word of God. Hence, anyone who would be inspired by Holy spirit to lead must be well grounded in the word of God.

CONCLUSION

Christians are the ones who are expected to lead in all areas, including at homes, in economics, politics, business etc because they have the potentials but most shy away from it. Hence, we have those who are supposed to be led by Christians leading them – mostly in the wrong way. Pray that God would put His children in their rightful positions in Jesus’ name!

 

Likely Questions

Describe Christian Leadership in line with (i) Christ’s teachings (ii) Christ’s leadership style and (iii) Holy Spirit Inspired Leadership.

LEADERSHIP CHARACTER

Prepared By Pastor (Dr) Dipo Toby Alakija (CEMS/CCEM President)

Introduction

Robert McCheyne said over two hundred years ago, “it is not talents that God blesses so much as likeness of Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.” Of course, this is in line with the word of God as we read it in Act 11:26 where disciples of Jesus Christ were first called Christians. They were called Christians till today because, according to Acts 4:13, they had been with Jesus, acting like Him.

To understand the comprehensive attributes of Christian leadership, the personality of Jesus need to be studied diligently. For the sake of time, we will study the most crucial of them all which can be found as the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-26. They are as follow:

  1. Love: God first sowed the seed of love in John 3:16 by giving Jesus Christ to die in the place of sinners, which include everybody. First great attribute of a Christian leader is love. Love is a universal language, understood by everybody, including children. It is love that brought Jesus down to save mankind. Thus all Christian are expected to demonstrate this love one way or the other. Jesus even taught His disciples to love even their enemies in Matthew 5:43-48. Let us study the case of a missionary who found a little girl in a country that was ravaged with war. The girl’s parents and so many other people had been killed in her presence. So she was filled with hatred and hostility. When the missionary showed her love by taking her away from the street to an orphanage home, she said, “I know you’re doing this so that you can go to heaven.” Because her life was so characterized with hatred and hostility by the war environment, the girl could not recognize love when the missionary showed it to her. All the care and kindness did not convince her of her love for her until it was time for missionary to go to another place for other assignments. She said, “well, my daughter, I have to go to another place to care for other children in need of me. Can I just kiss you before I go?” The child who had never known love since she was born burst out into tears when she saw genuine love in the missionary.

 A Christian must always prove love one way or the other because it is powerful. It can break even the most stony hearted person.

  1. Joy: In Nehemiah 8:10, the Bible says, “… the joy of the Lord is our strength.” A Christian leader must always exhibit joy in all his dealings, including the way he leads others. This is because, according to the above passage, it brings strength. Secondly, joy affects the mood of others, according Isaiah 51:11. Demons are good at inflicting sorrows inside people, oppressing or depressing them but the joy of the Lord drives them away. The study of the word of God brings joy which brings confidence, courage, strength and hope. Christians who are filled with joy have the power to remove pains, hopelessness and fear in their lives and that of others.
  2. Peace: In Ephesians 6:15, the Bible says, “and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Christians must always use the word of God to promote peace wherever they find themselves.

 There was an American Pastor who was caught up in the crossfire in another country some years ago. The leaders were threatening the peace of the country with civil war. One of them who was very influential was a convert of the Pastor. He used the leader to negotiate peace with other leaders. Through telephone conversation, the Pastor gave instructions to the leader on what to do. And through the Pastor’s instructions and prayers, the leader was able to bring peace into the country that was on the verge of civil war. Because Christians are followers of Prince of peace called Jesus, they are mandated to always promote peace in their environment through direct or indirect leadership. Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” True Children of God are peace makers, not trouble makers.

  1. Longsuffering: This is an attribute of God and all Christians who are filled with Holy Spirit. This attribute of God in His children give them the ability to endure or tolerate problems and other people who possess negative attitudes. Some people find it hard to tolerate the attitudes of others for a number of reasons, which include lack of understanding, differences in backgrounds, opinions and others things. Often times, children of the same parents find it hard to tolerate each other. Marriages hit the rock, family members and even Church members are at loggerheads because of these differences but with the attribute of longsuffering through the Holy Spirit, a Christian can live in peace with others. He or she can lead the unbelieving husband or wife or neighbours to Christ. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians. 5:13, “And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.”

 Christian leaders need to have the attribute of longsuffering if they want to lead at any level – be it in the family, the Church or Community etc. I had a theory that was partially proved wrong by the testimony of a dear Christian sister. The theory is: it takes a married couple to make their marriage to succeed but it takes only one of them to make it fail. But this sister’s case proves that with longsuffering and other attributes of Holy Spirit, a bad marriage can be restored. This sister got born-again after she got married. So the devil used her husband to seriously persecute her. He would beat and treat her like a slave in the house but this woman continued to endure, praying that God should transform her husband. At a point, she was advised to pack out of the house but she refused, saying, “he is the cross I am willing carry till death.” God honoured her faith and longsuffering when the man brought his friend home late one middle of the night in a drunken manner. He boasted about the way he maltreated her and proved his points to his friend. It was the words of his friend that led him to Christ. He said to him, “if I have a wife like yours, I’ll be the best husband in the world.” This made the husband yearned for what make his wife to be so longsuffering. She introduced Jesus to him. Through that, he became born-again that day. Consider how this sister through her longsuffering lead her terrible husband to Christ.

  1. Kindness: This is also another attribute of a real Christian. Even a wicked person yearn for love and kindness of others because these attributes speak the language that everybody understands. Naturally, it you are kind to someone, he or she would show the same kindness to you because he wants to continue to enjoy it. If any leader wants to enjoy the cooperation of his followers, he or she must be kind to them. If you want them to frustrate your efforts in leading them, you can show them the other side of kindness.
  2. Goodness: There are constant needs for Christians to be good to others. Refusal to do what is good, according to James 4:17 amounts to sin. Because Jesus always do good, His followers must always do good as well.
  3. Faithfulness: This attribute of Christian leaders is also vital. There is need for a Christian leader to be faithful to God and to his followers if he wants them to be faithful to him. Recently, I met a very prayerful pastor who is having big problems with his ministries. He thought of relocating his ministries to another street after spending 14 years in the place. God later sent a man to inform him that he would meet a man that would put him through the ministries. Not so long after that, I met this man. From what he told me and from what I perceived in through revelation, his major problem is unfaithfulness. Ignorance of this problem leads to rebellion and covetousness. He was not faithful in contributing into his own ministries, let other others’ but he expected his Church members to be faithful to him. Members never grow beyond eight, which include his family of three. God needs us to be faithful to Him in our finances and services. Unfaithfulness closes the door of blessing. This is one of the reasons some Christians never prosper despite their prayers.
  4. Gentleness: The Bible says in Proverb 25:15, “By long forbearance a ruler is persuaded, And a gentle tongue breaks a bone.” A Christian leader must always be gentle to all if he really wants to lead the people to heaven or bring the best out of them. When meeting a person for the first time, there are chances that you will detect his weakness at the first instance but a closer look at him will reveal his strengths. Just as everybody has his strengths, we all have our areas of weaknesses. A Christian must be gentle with others if he wants to lead them in any area.
  5. Self-Control: This is the last in the list of the fruit of the Spirit which Christian leaders must exhibit as a trait. Self-Control, as the two words indicate, is the ability of a Christian to control his or her impulses and desires. He must be able to discipline and control himself even in the most provocative situation. If a Christian cannot control himself, he will never be able to control others. When a provocative situation erupts, the leader is usually the target by the devil. He knows that if he strikes the shepherd, the sheep will scatter.

CONCLUSION

Christian leadership character is all about bearing the fruit of the Spirit. True Christians are leaders who lead souls to Christ within their families, communities and other places. Thus they must all be filled with the Holy Spirit who helps them to bear fruit of the Spirit as it is required in Christian Leadership.

Likely Questions

  1. With Bible passages, explain love and joy as parts of Christian Leadership character
  2. Also with Bible passages, explain peace and longsuffering as parts of Christian Leadership character
  3. Also with Bible passages, explain kindness and goodness as parts of Christian Leadership character
  4. Also with Bible passages, explain faithfulness and gentleness as parts of Christian Leadership character
  5. Use your experience as a Christian Leader either at home or anywhere to explain Self-Control as part of virtue that is required to lead others
Christian Short Courses

Online Courses are expected to take minimum of three months though it can be shorter, depending on the pace of the student. They are specifically and specially designed for qualified teachers or matured people with at least basic literacy skills since they would be required to teach others values or to reach out to them with the word of God. Only two courses are available online, each of these leads to issuance of certificate in Value Education or General Christian Orientation. Certificates are issued either by the College or its affiliated institutions after meeting up with academic requirements, including passing the proscribed examinations through submissions of paper and practical assignments. While textbooks may be purchased online, only examination fees and costs of issuance of certificates are paid by the students. The total costs is dependent of the affiliated institutions the conduct the examination or issue the certificates. The available online course are as follow:

Value Education: Required subjects in this course are: (i) Communication Art: CCEM 11 (As in the book titled: Christian Ministries And Basic Leadership at Google Books) (ii) Four Human Temperaments: CCEM 26 (Also (As in Seminar Papers)) (iii) Principles Of Christian Counselling: CCEM 10 (Also in Christian Ministries And Basic Leadership) (iv) Basic Principles Of Leadership: CCEM 27 (As in Seminar Papers) (v) Leadership And Other Roles Of Teachers: CCEM 28 (As in Seminar Papers) (vi) Christians Ministries And Education Methodology: CCEM 29 (As in Successful Christianity And Basic Ministries at Google Books.)

General Christian Orientation: Subjects include (i) Study Of The End – Time Dangers (As in Christian Short Courses.) (ii) Salvation – A Product Of Evangelism (As in Christian Short Courses.) (iii) Doctrine Of Christian Leadership (As in Christian Short Courses.) and (iv) Leadership Character: (As in Christian Short Courses.)

Subscribe For Newsletter

Sign up now for updates about early registration. A wonderful serenity taken possession into entire soul also like.