Posted by By TUNDE OYELEYE on
"When the Lord told me to go and learn practical air-conditioning and refrigeration services after my masters (MBA) degree, I thought I was hearing from someone else.
"When the Lord told me to go and learn practical air-conditioning and refrigeration services after my masters (MBA) degree, I thought I was hearing from someone else.
"After all, I have risen from a school certificate holding pastor in (Benin City, Nigeria) to become a first and second degree holder in Houston, Texas, United States. After much spiritual confirmation, I decided that this next step the Lord wants me to take is as usual, for the fulfillment of His purpose in my life."
Thus, Bishop Jerome Etinfoh found himself enrolled as an apprentice in a company that specializes in training people in the art and act of practical repairs of all forms of air cooling electrical and mechanical engines.
"For about two years, I was working in the evenings and learning my new vocation in the mornings," disclosed Etinfoh, the presiding bishop of The Word of Hope Revival Church, based in Houston.
According to the man of God, the import of the Lord's directive to learn a trade dawned on him in a revelation at one of his devotional times.
"The church in Nigeria in particular has done much of crusading, thereby winning souls into the kingdom. However, the people are still hungry, helpless and lack the knowledge to better their lives. They know how to pray and fast. They read the scriptures but with little understanding; work is the only way to better one's life, not wishes. Ministers should take active part in helping the people to realise the need to be engaged in one form of business or the other.
"The possession of a degree at any level is not necessarily a must for you to go looking for an office or other paid employment. Our members should be taught to seek how they can create wealth and employment for others.
"With their degrees and higher national diplomas, born again Christians who, by reason of their new birth, possess the mind of Christ should not be roaming about the streets looking for employment anyhow.
"The youths who are still looking for admission and those who are out of school should not be allowed to be a menace to the society and a burden to their community. Let the churches open vocational training centres for them to learn one trade or the other just like our technical colleges of those days. There are so many trades you can learn within weeks or months that under proper management, you become a self-made man forever.
Let us sink our money into building and developing these centres for our youths, men and women instead of building structures and edifices to show that we have arrived.
"Many of our adults, both male and female, have retired from several fields of studies and jobs. Those who are still physically and mentally fit enough could be made instructors at the vocational centres.
Others with money should be made to invest in these centres and set up graduands of the institute. Let us create skill, thereby employment, and wealth."
It is this vision of skill transfer and economic empowerment that the man of God, who has spent over 15 years in America, is bringing into Nigeria via a centre at Gowon Estate, Egbeda, Lagos.
Pastoral background
'I started my pastoral life at the age of 17 under my uncle late, Archbishop Idahosa. I was with him for over 10 years before I left for America.
'During my pastoral years in Nigeria, I saw this needed addition to the gospel, but I was lost as to what to do and how to go about it. I initially thought salvation alone takes care of all areas of life, not knowing that we needed to add value to faith to make salvation meaningful."
The Egbeda centre, which has reached advanced stage of construction, Etinfoh says, will feature skill transfer in areas like brick-making, mat and pillow construction, carpentry, tailoring and design, simple home economics, painting and a host of other crafts. 'We shall train musicians and singers. Others will receive training in electrical and mechanical works."
The man of God from Ishan in Edo State disclosed further that great emphasis would be placed on training people in the use of local materials to meet their construction needs. "We shall work on the adaptation of machines and machinery to fit our environment and needs as well as tap knowledge to become inventors. Our people have the potentials, they only need the helping hand to wake them up.
"I wonder why Nigeriam ministers rush to America and other European countries. Are they on mission for evangelism or for the hard currency? I think America as a single country has the largest number of churches in the whole world.
Almost all ethnic groups boast of one church of their own especially among non-American blacks. For anyone to face America as a mission field is not telling the whole truth.
"I believe that it makes more sense for us Nigerian ministers to teach our people the act of self-sustenance than rushing to America to establish churches."