African Quilt : 24 Modern African Stories (9781101617441) (31 page)

The American donors would not have been disappointed with what the African evangelist did with the money he had raised from them. The impressive church building spoke loudly and clearly for itself.

The pastor had from the inauguration of the church taken the name of Evangelist Peter. He had become the rock upon which the new church would stand and grow. The church would be the beacon of light in a dark landscape, he had envisaged.

Five years later the church was as solidly rooted in the community as if it had been there from the beginning of times. Even the older churches did not have as passionate and devoted a congregation as the Church of the New Dawn's. No service in any other church in town could boast of more numbers. No church event elsewhere in town was more crowded than anything done in the Church of the New Dawn. No congregation was more loyal and more generous than that of the Church of the New Dawn. Members of the church took literally the paying of tithes and did so without Evangelist Peter beating it into their ears as other pastors did, but without success. The Church of the New Dawn had become a model church in the area. All other Christians looked to the church on the green-clad hill with envy and admiration.

 

* * *

One Sunday morning, in the season of Lent, only two weeks to Easter, at 11 a.m. the congregation of the church came as usual to their place of worship for their weekly service which usually lasted from late morning to late afternoon. The church members looked to the service as to a great event in
their lives and had dressed as for a popular festival. The Sunday service was a weekly festival that they waited for to fulfill a strong yearning that was at once social and spiritual and so compelling. Despite the five hours of service, they looked to the hours spent there as the time they had dedicated to God. The drumming, singing, and dancing brought spiritual energy that radiated into every pore of the body. They were too busy the rest of the week to think of God. The rest of the week they put into practice Evangelist Peter's recommendations about achieving wealth and fighting diabolical forces that stood in their way to success. During that period they sought the breakthroughs that their pastor told them to expect from God.

Evangelist Peter had always kept the main door of the church shut on Sundays until fifteen minutes before the service began. Members of the congregation who came early had to stay in a line and, as soon as the door opened, would rush in to occupy the front seats. They were usually in their fine clothes and jewelries, and would converse and shake hands. The men would shake hands with the women, and the women had the same opportunity to shake hands with men, which was not common practice outside the church premises. Sometimes Evangelist Peter would shake the hands of the first fifty people or so in the queue before they were let into the church. He would hug a few women who often took responsibilities for church activities. Magdalene Ogbe always came early and often received a hug from the evangelist; her husband would receive a handshake. Many members of the congregation believed Evangelist Peter was a modern-day prophet with his hands soft like a ripe banana.

This Sunday the usual humming of conversation could be heard. Many women showed off the latest fashions. New headties, new styles of blouses, and new fabrics bought from Lagos or imported from Marks & Spencer in London or from Dubai. They wore the different types of gold they craved for—Saudi, Italian, English, Dubai, or Indian. The men talked about where they had visited or the new contracts they had got from government agencies. This was a good part of Sunday, the showing-off time before the service began.

However, those coming late could see that the crowd had grown and there was no line to fall into. It was a large crowd but in groups of threes, fours, and fives—a forest full of clumps of trees.

This situation was because the early birds had found out that the church door was still shut even when it was already eleven o'clock. Was Evangelist Peter, always punctual to the minute, late this morning or why were people still outside? the latecomers wondered. He had never been late for service and they did not think that he was late that very Sunday morning. The evangelist had the mind of God and so could not forget time, more so the time for worship on Sunday. He would not want to keep his flock waiting to worship God. Something must be amiss, they thought, but could not guess from a distance. There had been no word that their pastor was sick or that he had traveled. Evangelist Peter was always well especially as he had boasted of being covered by the blood of Christ that repelled all physical and spiritual ailments from him.

The Sunday service attendants who had come first, and so were in front, saw what they thought was a prank. Who would intrude into the church premises at night to do this? What they saw was not only one poster but many. Could this happen? they asked. Their church building had been sold to another pastor. On the hand-carved huge front door was posted the boldly written “Under New Pastoral Management.” The same poster was pasted on different parts of the front wall of the church.

The new pastor, an imposing man like a tall boxer, and his wife, both dressed as if they belonged to royalty, introduced themselves as the new owners and pastors of the church, which they had bought from the former owner—Evangelist Peter.

“I am Pastor Emmanuel and my wife is Magdalene,” the new pastor said.

They showed the signed agreement to those close enough to read the paper they flaunted before the crowd and asked the people to go in for worship.

“After all, the house remains the house of God. I am only God's messenger to bring you good news,” Pastor Emmanuel said.

He was wearing a black suit as Evangelist Peter did on some Sundays. It was humid. He brought out a white handkerchief from one of his pockets and wiped sweat from his face. The sun was bright and one could feel the intense heat it had in store for the rest of the day.

There was division among the congregation as to whether to go in or leave.

“Let's go in for worship,” one member of the congregation said; “you never can tell that this is God's working and we have to accept it—He definitely works in a mysterious way. If the Almighty deems it necessary to give us a new pastor, let's accept him. He may well be what we truly need.”

Adam had never liked Evangelist Peter and had felt he favored the pretty women over other members of the congregation.

“A church is not property that you sell for profit and then disappear to buy a cheaper one somewhere else,” Samuel argued.

Samuel was one of the few men that Evangelist Peter took out on church missions. He was in the church's Finance Committee that rarely met and only to approve Evangelist Peter's accounts, but still felt favored by being in the committee.

“We came to worship in Evangelist Peter's church; now we are asked to be in Pastor Emmanuel's church. It is only one God in the churches, really one church,” Adam said.

“Why did you leave the Catholic Church for the Church of the New Dawn if it is all one church?” Samuel asked Adam.

“We have put in so much energy and tithes into this church and whether or not it is sold, it remains our church,” a church member added.

“I can't imagine myself worshiping in another church,” Adam told them.

“But the building alone is not the church. The pastor matters as well as the type of church,” another church member said.

“Evangelist Peter and I are both men of God chosen to minister to you. Let's not argue before God's house. Don't be a doubting Thomas! Go in and you will be satisfied that God never fails in His mysterious ways,” Pastor Emmanuel told the gathered crowd at the door of his newly acquired church.

He could not imagine the people leaving. The failure of his takeover of the much coveted Church of the New Dawn would be disastrous for him. He had invested so much money into this new church and wanted it to continue to prosper so that he could give praise to the Lord for His kindness. Eighteen million naira was a huge sum of money to pay for a building and its congregation, but without the congregation the investment would be ruined, he pondered. The building was designed as a church and could not be converted into a block of flats, Pastor Emmanuel reflected. He just had to succeed by all means, if he was to avoid a business disaster.

Pastor Emmanuel had acquired the art of persuasion from a source that would remain a secret all his pastoral life. He believed that to fight the devil, he had to use all means necessary, including devilish techniques. That was how he justified to himself his going to a medicine man to make the charm of persuasion. The traditional healer had used a needle to poke his tongue to bleed and rubbed it with some medicine as he chanted an esoteric invocation. That, he assured the pastor, would make whoever listened to him accept what he said as truth and also carry out what he asked to be done. What was important in the end was his ability to convert more people to his church and exercise authority over their lives. With that Pastor Emmanuel felt he could enforce the paying of tithes without any hassle and preside over a prosperous church.

Pastor Emmanuel's wife, Magdalene, was very supportive of her husband. She used to be called Grace but he made her change her name to Magdalene as soon as he became a pastor. That was a better Christian name than just Grace, he felt. Magdalene was the woman who had stood by Jesus even after his death. She had anointed Jesus. If Jesus had been an ordinary human, who wanted to marry, Pastor Emmanuel felt, the Son of God would have married no other woman but Magdalene.

Magdalene was a very charming woman whose dress, face, and smiles were as persuasive as the pastor's words. She was tall and had a well-proportioned shape. She walked with grace and whatever she wore gave her a unique charm. Pastor Emmanuel remembered what it had taken him to succeed among her many suitors. He had spent hundreds of thousands of naira in cash and kind to earn her attention and affection. He had planned ahead his successful life of a God's servant. Emmanuel and Magdalene formed a good partnership in the crusade against darkness and demons. Each found the other's company fortunate, as their partnership became strong with an ever-expanding beatitude.

At the end of a long debate, which each side thought it would win or lose, depending on their tenacity to their viewpoint, the congregation was swayed over to enter the church by the new pastor and his wife.

“Can't you give me the benefit of the doubt?” he asked, when he saw the opposing argument as gaining more support.

“My husband is a man of God that makes things to really happen. He knows how to pray, as a warrior knows how to fight his enemies,” Magdalene interjected.

The congregation, feeling guilty for arguing so noisily with a man of God beside his newly acquired church, decided to give him the benefit of the doubt that he asked for and went in. Though the old order of entering the church was not respected, they sat in their usual seats.

Nothing in the church had changed. The altar section, like other parts of the church, remained in the way they used to be arranged. Only one thing was absent and none there noticed it: the rose or other flower that Magdalene Ogbe used to place at the altar before Evangelist Peter started service. But that beautification only took place when Peter was there.

It was as if it was a normal Sunday service but without Evangelist Peter, whose baritone voice always held them spellbound. He could sing and he could dance. His lilting voice would rise to a crescendo as the percussion instruments brought his dance steps to a staccato movement. He had been the lead singer and the rest of the congregation the chorus. Similarly, he had been the lead dancer and his congregation followed his graceful and agile steps. In their minds, they wondered if Pastor Emmanuel could match the evangelist's dexterity and talents in song and dance.

This first service at the Church of the New Dawn under new pastoral management proved to be a great success and more than pleased all present. There was something in Pastor Emmanuel's voice that made them feel he could be trusted. Though he was in his forties, he preached like a wise old man who knew life and could advise others. He had a different voice from the evangelist's, but his was like a river running leisurely towards the ocean, sure of where it was going and dissolving itself into the wide waters.

When it came to preaching, Pastor Emmanuel performed the sermon he had practiced meticulously at home for weeks. He knew the consequence of not doing his utmost best in his first sermon in the new church.

“Alleluia!”

“Praise the Lord!” echoed from the pews.

“I say Alleluia,” he repeated in a stronger voice.

“Praise the Lord!” the church reverberated thunderously.

“Al-le-lu-ia!”

“Praise the Lord!”

He was now primed enough to start to perform his sermon.

As his sermon progressed, many people began nodding approval of his lessons. Some rose to shout “Amen!” to his prayers. And the whole church was on its feet to dance with Pastor Emmanuel and his wife. The congregation did not want the long service to end. It was as though they were suspended in a planet of pleasurable spirituality.

Pastor Emmanuel was an artist and knew how to weave functionality and beauty into his craft. He was an experienced performer who took the cues from his enthusiastic audience. He knew how to connect with his audience and did wonderfully with the new congregation.

Pastor Emmanuel and his wife felt his first day in his new church was a huge success. The three offerings accompanied by drumming and dancing fetched a staggering amount that made them smile. No wonder, they thought, Evangelist Peter struck a hard bargain with them. No pastor who made so much money every Sunday would sell his church unless he really had to, they now realized.

 

* * *

Once back home, some members of Pastor Emmanuel's congregation started to hear strange things about Evangelist Peter. They started to add so many things together. It started as a rumor, which gossip easily transmitted to every attentive ear. The absence of Elder James Ogbe's wife at church the past Sunday fueled the rumors and gossip. Some women had looked out for her when Pastor Emmanuel introduced his wife as Magdalene, the same name as Elder James' wife. The Magdalene they knew, Mrs. Ogbe, was not in church that day. Now they remembered that the ritual of the flower being placed on the altar was not performed. “Where was Magdalene today?” many started to ask. They imagined she had not heard about the change of ownership of the church and might still be on an assignment that Evangelist Peter had arranged before he sold the church.