Why The Nigerian Church Has Not Taken Over by Pastor Kingsley Okonkwo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Kingdom of Church vs. Kingdom of God

The Nigerian church has done something extraordinary — and something incomplete. The kingdom of church is thriving. Buildings that rival stadiums. Gatherings of millions. Management excellence. Some denominations run fleets of aircraft and maintain camps and cities. The kingdom of church is growing massively.

But on Sunday evening, people lock that kingdom inside the building and go back to Nigeria.

The kingdom of God is not growing at the same rate. Monday arrives and the excellence, the anointing, the order — all of it stays in the auditorium. The bribery continues. The poor service continues. The corruption continues. And most of the people perpetuating it were in church on Sunday.

Jesus did not come to start a church. He came to establish the kingdom of God. His vision was not that his principles would be locked in a building and accessed one day a week. His vision was that the whole earth would be covered with the knowledge of God — that every sphere of human life would reflect the character of the King.

God Is a Creator — So Are We

Genesis 1:1 — in the beginning, God created. The first thing mentioned about God establishes his core essence. By the law of first mention, everything else about God rides on this: he is a creator. Remove this and the foundation of purpose collapses. Without a creator, there is no creation purpose — no reason why you are here.

Genesis 1:26–27 — God created man in his own image. If God is a creator, and we are made in his image, then we are also what? Creators. Genesis 1:28 — he blessed them and said: be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, and have dominion.

Subdue it. That is the mandate. There is an area every believer is called to subdue — a specific sphere, a specific field. Engineering. Medicine. Fashion. Tech. Politics. Media. Finance. Agriculture. That sphere is waiting.

Godliness Is Godlikeness — Not Spiritual Activity

Some countries are called godless because they do not have as many prayer meetings. But the measurement is wrong. Godliness is not spiritual activity. God himself does not pray. But God creates. God loves.

Those nations that look developed — they have taken hold of God's principles, whether they know it or not. Principles work regardless of acknowledgment. The engineers who developed the airplane were children of pastors. They did not lock their gift inside the church. Thank God.

The nurses in developed nations who serve patients with such attentiveness — carrying for them, caring for their newborns, attending to their every need — that is love in action. That is more godly than a nurse in a so-called Christian nation who insults pregnant women and collects bribes for medication that the government already paid for.

Godliness is godlikeness. God creates. God loves. If you are creating and loving well in your sphere, you are godly. If you are only doing spiritual activity and returning to ungodliness in your conduct, the kingdom of church is thriving — but not the kingdom of God.

Every Believer Is a Sent One

The word apostle means one who is sent. It is not a title reserved for pulpit ministry. You are sent to your industry — to engineering, to banking, to NPC, to tech. You are a sent one in that sphere.

The same anointing that rests on a pastor to build a church belongs on you to build in your domain. The same God who said "He that sent me is with me" to Jesus is saying the same to you in your field. When you are in your place — when you are operating in what you are anointed for — there is an unusual grace. Unusual ease. Unusual results.

Kingsley Okonkwo found a burden for marriage and relationships when he was newly born again. He did not have a vision or an audible voice. He just had a burden. When he stood up to speak for the first time on that subject — without preparation, without materials — it was as if a tap opened. That tap has not closed in over 20 years. Six-city tours in Australia. Twelve-city tours in America. A global ministry. It all started with a burden he acted on.

What burden do you have that you have not acted on? Where is the area where you notice unusual ease, unusual results, unusual passion?

What the Church Must Do Next

Churches build auditoriums shaped entirely around the gift of the preacher. But:

• Churches with gifted musicians should be building recording studios — not just for worship sets, but for music that reaches the world
• Churches with gifted filmmakers should be creating film villages and series — providing an alternative to what Netflix is normalizing
• Churches with gifted writers should be producing children's books before the other side fills the gap with their worldview
• Churches with gifted politicians should be in the ward-level meetings, not just online complaints
• Churches with gifted technologists should be building platforms, news stations, and communication infrastructure

Sunday is supposed to prepare people to go out and take their world — not to be the totality of the kingdom. People should come back on Sunday and share what happened in the field during the week.