We must be mindful of the messages we preach if we must impact our country as Christians – Osinbajo says

Former Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo has urged churches in Nigeria to shift their focus from preaching prosperity and wealth accumulation to prioritizing peace, productivity, and community development.

Speaking at a public lecture over the weekend, Osinbajo expressed concern that churches have, for too long, been overly focused on personal prosperity and material wealth, thereby neglecting the core mission of the gospel, which is to foster peace, unity, and societal development.

He cautioned that when preachers emphasize rewards and benefits, particularly for Christians in positions of power, national development is hindered as people’s minds become corrupted, preventing them from doing what is right. Osinbajo further noted that many of the world’s prosperous nations lack natural resources, while countries rich in resources often remain impoverished due to a failure to adhere to principles of hard work and productivity.

“For too long, our churches have been caught up in the pursuit of personal prosperity and material wealth, neglecting the true calling of the gospel to promote peace, unity, and the holistic development of our society. If we truly want to see Nigeria rise again and fulfill its immense potential, the church must return to its roots, preaching the values of hard work, compassion, and service to the community. It is only through this shift in focus that we can inspire our people to become agents of positive change, rather than mere consumers of prosperity gospel.”he said

“The major responsibility of christians, responsibility of the church is propagating the correct version of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is that correct version of the gospel of Jesus Christ that transformed other nations of the world. The nations that we copy, the nations we want to emulate, the nations whose developments we have seen, the nations in Europe, America, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the virtues of hard work, productivity, integrity, protection of the poor preached from the pulpit that transfer this nations.

If we must transform and impact on our nations as Christians and as a Church, we must be mindful of the messages we preach, such that it will encourage and promote virtues of hardwork, integrity, productivity while also caring for the poor and needy around us,” he said