The church of Jesus Christ, especially in charismatic form, which started in Nigeria during the early 20th century has arguably become a growing and expanding denomination in the country with more ‘charismatic’ churches being planted. With the increase of the charismatic church in Nigeria, it goes without saying that more faces and names are being recognized and respected as leaders of different charismatic local assemblies. Some are recognized for the number of years which they have dedicated to ministry, some for the popularity of their teaching gift, some for the working of miracles and some for a combination of all these.
However, in a country like Nigeria which has the largest and growing population of charismatic believers in Africa (with 3 out of 10 Nigerians identifying as either ‘Pentecostal’ or Charismatic), the subject of this article stands out as a strong new face with respect to the charismatic church in Nigeria; unable to ignore or even strictly box him into the conventional definitions of the charismatic movement in Nigeria.
Emmanuel Iren is the founder and lead pastor of Celebration Church International, a ministry which emphasizes the importance of sound teaching and evangelism and caters to believers in different parts of Nigeria and the world through its Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island, Abuja, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt and Canada campuses. Emmanuel Iren who began trailing the path to full-time ministry during his undergraduate days in Covenant University, eventually set up the church’s first branch on November 11 2012 at the age of 22, has risen impressively to be a notable, courageous and exemplary leader, not only of his local assembly, but also of the body of Christ in Nigeria.
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One cannot but sense the beginning of a new and better balanced ‘charismatic’ ministry when one interacts with Emmanuel Iren. For instance, he continues to teach and strongly advocates that there is no such thing as a Christian or a local assembly identifying as strictly Charismatic or Orthodox. According to him, what makes a Christian is the blend of both charisma and orthodoxy as neither Jesus Christ nor the apostles taught to choose a preference. In fact, he popularly asserts that “if you are orthodox, you will be charismatic”. That is, if orthodoxy means to adhere to laid down creeds and beliefs of the Christian faith, then an Orthodox believer would seek to grow in ‘charismatic doctrine’ such as speaking in tongues, working of miracles and evangelism because these are laid down creeds from Jesus down to the Apostles.
This boldness to address both major denominations in Nigeria and to seek to achieve the unity of the Faith among the Christian body, is just one of the reasons why Emmanuel Iren is easily referred to as the new face of Nigerian charismatic movement.
It is impossible to discuss the topic of ‘pentecostalism’ in Nigeria and not address the numerous confirmed and unconfirmed allegations that have been met against ‘pentecostal’ leaders in the country, and indeed in the world. One major issue that has been hammered by ‘non-pentecostals’ in protest against ‘pentecostal’ leaders is the topic of money and the church; how they opine that many ‘pentecostal’ leaders aggressively preach the gospel as being about prosperity and then manipulate their congregation to give their money and valuables to the church.
On this topic, Emmanuel Iren, has again provided a refreshing perspective which he carefully and impressively backs up by the Bible. He openly condemns the misrepresentation of the Gospel as anything other than what it is; the forgiveness of sin and redemption of man by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He then talks about money and the church; delivering a well-balanced teaching on the use of money as a tool of worship to God vis-a-vis the worship of money.
But not only is Emmanuel Iren correcting wrong doctrine and working to unite the faith, he is also actively teaching the word of God, working miracles and raising an incredible army for the expansion of the Kingdom of God. Many of his congregants have been trained to see ministry as something that not only happens on the pulpit but in their everyday lives and they are quite popular for radical and consistent evangelism, their boldness to work miracles and their sound teaching of the word. When a leader raises those who follow him, to effectively lead as well, it is a noble thing.
These and more make Emmanuel Iren the leader who is not only improving the narrative of charismatic movement in Nigeria but is also taking charismatic and orthodox ministerial participation from the pulpit to the pews; raising members of the body of Christ to think and act more in line with the faith they profess and the power they carry as opposed to being exclusively reliant on one single person. He is the new face of Nigerian charismatic movement because he is training many more faces to lead alongside him.
Adedeji wrote from Lagos
