Vice President's Address

FROM THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT (EDUCATION) CHRIST THE REDEEMER’S MINISTRIES

To God be the glory for His mercy endureth forever.  In Him all thing consist.  He is the giver of Wisdom and understanding.

I congratulate you all as graduands of the School of Disciples.  Today you are special because you started the school and finished.  No man can receive this honour except it is given to him from above.  By participating in the programs of the School of Disciples, you have moved out of illiteracy and ignorance.  Once again, I congratulate the graduands and thank God especially for the grace that sustained them throughout their period of discipleship training.

Without any iota of doubt, you have sacrificed a lot of time so that you could successfully complete the training as we are all witnessing it today.

The School of Disciples was a vision given to our father in the Lord – Pastor E.A Adeboye who also doubtless is the Principal of the school.  The purpose of the vision was to train an end time Army of the Lord of which you are part today.

I want to thank all who have contributed their quota to make this graduation ceremony a success.  Mention must be made here of the Provincial Pastor, The Zonal Pastors, Area Pastors, the Coordinators and all the lecturers.  May the good Lord strengthen you and your labour will not be in vain in Jesus name.

The first set of school resumed in January 1985 at the Redemption Camp and by that time, the programme was meant to be a life time affair, that is, where no disciple was expected to graduate.  But because of other programs of the church that needed the attention of the Principle of the school, the duration had to be reduced to only ten years.  So those of us who started the school spent ten (10) years at the Redemption Camp, two days at the end of the month.  This is unlike the training you are passing through now covering only ten months or at most one year (i.e. the accelerated Discipleship Programme ADP).

The meaning of a disciple as you have been taught in first year of your study is that a disciple is a regimented follower of Jesus Christ.

During the course of your training, you have learnt a lot about:

A  Who is a disciple?

B  Know your enemy

C  The weapons of our warfare.

Having learnt all these, the Bible has the following to say to you:

1. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations “Matt 28:19, that is to say, go and reproduce yourself.  It is dangerous for you to remain without bearing fruit.  Any tree that refuses to bear fruit shall be cut down – (Isa. 5:7, Matt 7:19).  May you never be cut down in Jesus name.
   
   
2.  “We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” – (Heb. 2:1).  All the things that you learnt in the School of Disciples should not be allowed to be choked through the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things (Mark 4:19).
   
   
3. Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only” James 1:22 – you are enjoined to put into practice everything you have learnt in the school of disciples.  As you have passed through the school, you should allow it to pass through you.  Learning is a process that should produce a change in the life of the learner.  Otherwise, it is a wasted effort.  Yours will not be a wasted effort in Jesus name.
   
   
4. You are not supposed to see your participation in the school of disciples as one of the criteria for ordination in the Redeemed Christian Church of God.  You should see your training as a training to equip you to be a better Christian, a better worker and minister in God’s vineyard, a better husband or wife at home, a better worker in your place of work, a better boss to your employs and a better citizen of your country.  It is a training to live or die for Christ.
   
   
5. Above all, you are to love one another for the bible says in John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love one for another”.  This love is a new commandment given by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (John 13:34) He preached it and also practiced it because the bible says, “having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end”- John 13:1.  you are supposed to love other disciples unto the end not just by words of moth but in deed (or action).
   
   
6. Last but not the least, do not forget our motto – “Greater work that these” – John 14:12.  “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my father”.

This should be encouraging to you, you should be inspired to do even more than the Lord Jesus.  Go ahead and do it.  The power in the word of this verse will follow you.

Finally, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give an inheritance among all those that, are sanctified.  God bless you all.  Amen.

PASTOR (MRS) FOLU ADEBOYE