A Discussion with Dele Olowu and Mrs. Bukky Olowu, Freelance Consultants, Faith-based Development in Africa

With: Dele Olowu Berkley Center Profile

June 28, 2008

Background: Dele Oluwu, after working in academia and then in development with the UN and African Development Bank, came to the Netherlands in 1995 to work at the Institute of Social Studies at the Hague. While working there he noted a surprising deficit of active churches in the region, and he began planting parishes with other like-minded individuals in the Netherlands. To date Olowu has founded 130 churches in Europe. The interview focused on evangelization in the context of a predominantly secular continent, and more broadly about the role that he sees churches having in advocating for good governance and against corruption.

Can you tell us something about your path and current work? How has your own career linked faith and international development work and issues?

That's a long story, so let me be very brief! I have spent much of my life teaching. I began at the university level, in my country Nigeria. I taught public policy at the University of Ife, and my wife was teaching English. At that time, we came to know of the work of a Pentecostal church, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). A longtime friend of ours became the leader of that church, and we were members.

I was a professor until 1995, when I was invited to come to Ethiopia by the United Nations to work on a governance program, and my wife joined me there.

Apart from my work, we were inspired there by the challenges we found in terms of church planting. We were aware that Ethiopia was a society with lots of poverty, and as we worked among the ordinary people we also became aware that the development framework that was guiding most programs and aimed at tackling poverty did not take into account spiritual dimensions. So we began to work also through the church, and the Lord helped us in this effort. There were four to five churches planted before we left.

I also worked in Tunisia with the African Development Bank from 2004 to 2006. Tunisia is a Muslim country, and that presented great challenges. But by the grace of God, we started a parish there by the time we left.

I came to the Netherlands around 1995 and was teaching at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. Coming to Europe was a very different experience and held surprises for us. We had expected to find a society that was very Christian, but realized soon that things had changed, and the society was not as Christian as we had thought. We saw the chance to start planting churches. And this has resulted in 21 or so new parishes working with a number of other like-minded persons in the Netherlands. There are also another 130 parishes in other mainland Western European countries. We have parishes now in Holland, Denmark, Poland, and several other countries. We are not, of course, alone. Many other people work with us, indigenous Europeans but also transient people, especially Africans, who are ministering especially to Africans and non-Africans alike in the last 10 years.

So now, I am living in the Netherlands, doing some research/teaching and consulting, and engaged with my ministry.

Can you talk a bit about your ministry and your congregation?

The task in Europe is just enormous. Very few people go to church these days, and many churches have actually been sold. We came to see that if people wanted to have a spiritual life here in Europe, there was simply no opportunity. But God is helping us. Europeans are starting to see that there is a limit to what consumption-oriented lifestyle alone can provide, and so the taste for things spiritual is growing.

Here in Holland, we have about 1,000 members, in 21 parishes. They are very different in size, a few couple of hundreds, while others are quite small. Our congregation is very diverse. We have members from many countries, including Suriname, Indonesia, Eastern European, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, and the Netherlands. There is also a group from Turkey and Morocco, in the latter case involving some from families that have been in the Netherlands for hundreds of years.

Our congregants are also very diverse in terms of their occupations and ways of life. Some work for large organizations, like Shell, or the International Court of The Hague. They are posted to the Netherlands by their companies and may stay for several years. There are also some people who have taken on permanent employment and status and live in the Netherlands. And there are some people who are in asylum status, who present special challenges of ministry. Some congregants have married Africans, or members of the church. And there are some native Dutch citizens who are members.

How would you describe the Pentecostal church? What distinguishes it from other Christian churches?

Most important is the focus on the scriptures, as the word of God, and especially the word of Jesus Christ. It is a sort of reform movement within the Protestant churches. In Europe, especially, people have tended to think that the age of miracles has passed. We take the opposite position, from our religious position. We believe that God is still able to do miracles. We see the Bible as the word of God.

Do you work with other Pentecostal churches in the Netherlands and other countries? Do you see the movement as growing?

We do work with other churches. There are some, but not very many. The church that is our base, and that gave us our headquarters, is called Sionkerk, a Dutch church. It is a Dutch church, and a Pentecostal church also, and it hosted us for the past five or so years.

The thrust of a Pentecostal church—what distinguishes is most clearly—is the focus on the Holy Spirit. This is especially important in terms of church planting.

Our congregations are a mixed bag. They come largely from Africa, but also from non-African countries, people who are living in Netherlands. We have members who come from countries in Latin America and Asia also, and increasingly now, Europeans, Dutch people—especially those who are married to Africans.

What is the focus of your ministry? What have you found are the greatest needs?

I would like to ask my wife to answer that! We have discovered that there are many problems that people have. Even if the government tries to provide solutions, there are so many problems, of health, emotional problems, and government solutions do not solve all problems.

We know that whatever God did in those days of the past, he can do now. He works miracles and offers help. For example, there are times when people go to hospital and are told that there is no more hope. There is no way to heal their incurable disease. But God is still healing people with cancer and all kinds of illnesses. So in that sense we help to offer healthcare.

But even more we find we are called to help with marriage and family problems. These are very important, and there are children involved. God instituted marriage, and he has set out a formula for marriages to work. So we do lots of counseling of families. For those who are starting up, we teach them. And when families run into trouble they too are taught. Many are on verge of breaking up. But with help they can live happily ever after! Of course, we do not see 100 percent success, but it is certain that our help is working, and we continue to pursue it. Depending on welfare is something we address, as many people look too much to welfare. We have seen people begin to focus and organize their lives, and go back to work.

We also have welfare for those that are in need. We do provide money, housing, and resettlement programs to different people here in Holland: people who used to be on drugs and could not take care of themselves. We have some soup kitchens for people in Holland.

And we have a special ministry for prostitution. Some who are working as prostitutes want to go home, and we help them. Some have been trafficked.

We believe in the totality of person, and that is the way we work. The Lord showed us how to address this totality, and it is part of his message.

Do you do any work outside of Europe and the Netherlands?

Yes, we do some, though it is rather limited. We work with some communities in India, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tunisia. We support the work of those who are taking care of people. Some members of our church are sponsoring some orphanage homes in India and in Africa, for example in Zimbabwe.

Do you work with governments, either here in the Netherlands, at the European Union level, or in the poorer countries where you have activities?

The answer is not very much.

Here in Holland, we rarely work directly with either the national or local governments. We ourselves sponsor all the things we do. There are some soup kitchens that we run in collaboration with local governments.

Overall, there are only a few cases where we have received any funding for our work in developing countries. Almost all our funds are raised from our members. When we are working as a ministry in an African country, we get people who are based in a developed country to support our work in the less developed country. We are becoming somewhat more active, and, for example, last November we participated in a meeting on Kenya. A group raised $150,000 in support of Africa missions. There are some links established with parts of the Kenya government, and some NGOs and several projects were finalized. But in other cases, we have to get permission from governments to work in the country at all. Dues that members pay do go to support new church planting.

How much is the work of your church tied to Nigeria?

We have quite close ties, using every means of communication: email, phone, visits, etc. There are three important festivals each year, in March, August, and December, and we try to be part of at least one of them. We are from southwest Nigeria, Yoruba country, but our congregation is very diverse.

Are you involved in trying to address some of the intercultural tensions that have arisen recently in the Netherlands?

Not really. We tend not to be much involved as we have a rather different approach and outlook.

You were speaking earlier of your work in Ethiopia. Could you describe it a bit more?

We could see the depths of poverty there, and also during the time I worked for the African Development Bank. I was aware of how difficult it was for the government and the traditional development agencies to reach out to the people and to be effective in helping them. There was a discussion, a discourse that focused above all on how the government could help the people, but ironically the governments were so disconnected from their own people.

What has emerged is a new framework for delivering aid that presents many problems. Countries now have to be in the good books of the development agencies as so much of their funding comes in the form of direct budget assistance. This is putting pressure so that all agencies must put their money into projects of the government. The underlying idea is that the government is to direct the flow of funds to projects and, often, actually be responsible for implementing the projects. I fully understand why this focus has emerged, and it has a kind of logic to it. It is the subject of many meetings and the Paris Declaration of 2005, and all this is well publicized and on websites. It responds to the many problems of aid coordination.

But there is a large drawback because if the government is not working, there is almost no way for projects to work these days. There is virtually no mechanism for aid to go to projects other than through the government. And to the extent that the government is at war with the NGOs, especially faith-based organizations, there is a large disconnect, and agencies cannot see eye to eye with each other or with the government. This is the case in Ethiopia. There are so many Christian aid agencies working there, coming from the United States and from Europe. They were the ones who were really providing aid to poor. The government was spending its money for war, with Somalia and Eritrea. But it still tried to control the spending of the NGOs, for political reasons.

This presents a definite dilemma that is worth discussing. How can we get aid agencies to make these distinctions more wisely, to get out of the box of seeing that they either support the government or cannot support the people of the country?

What do you see as the solution?

My own sense is that it is a bit on the lazy side just to send money to governments. It often just will not work. And there are real dangers when countries like Mozambique and Ethiopia become the darlings of aid agencies, and are on the good list, or are praised for their good governance. We need to find or create a situation where moneys are indeed going to people in needs. But I also recognize that many NGOs and faith institutions are not engaged with other actors as they could and should be. The current model involves a lot of competition, and the overall systems are not working well.

The nub of the problem may lie in decentralization. Governments are reluctant even to devolve power to local government entities within the state governments. How do we expect them to devolve to entities outside government when they do not even devolve within their own structures? These are serious subjects, and there needs to be a serious dialogue.

Are you aware of any dialogue along these lines?

There are many discussions that are critical of the current consensus on aid, but it is not clear to me that they are really addressing the issues. I believe that IDS [Institute of Development Studies] at Sussex is very critical of the consensus and focused on the underlying problem of state failure. They are looking at ways to build cooperation among agencies and organs that could really promote development.

How do you see the role of corruption, and what church leaders could do to address the problem?

We have thought a lot about the problem. It is very much a two-way affair—in terms of locating responsibility—with government and religious bodies. Governments are reluctant to utilize religious agencies to assist them in tackling corruption—e.g. in Ethiopia the government refused to allow non-governmental organs to be represented on the board of its anti-corruption organ. But a part of the issue has to do with religious faith and the failure of religious leaders to articulate their position, above all on the political economy of how faith connects to political life. You find a lot of very religious people in government who are just as corrupt as others. There is a lot of potential that can be harnessed to engage better against corruption. There is fault on all sides. The nexus of political life and faith have not fully connected. Preachers are preaching, but they do not have a good sense of how to apply these principles to enable their members to reform governance. When someone is in government, they feel they are on their own. Few political leaders have also tried to think through how to engage religious leaders in better ways.

A next step might be to have a dialogue and discussion, with interlocutors on both sides—faith and politics. I would like to see engagement on the issue between some of church leaders in Nigeria.

What issues would you like to see us discuss at the Hague consultation?

The notes that I wrote from Maputo [appended below] suggest some ideas on the agenda. I would like us above all to talk about how we can work to connect what we do to the development aid dialogue. People are working on all sides and questions are being raised. How can we put together a formula whereby European policymakers and governments can work both with governments and outside government channels? How can we work towards more sensible approaches on development and governance?

Some participants have focused on issues of human rights and how they may present tensions around human rights. Are these issues where you have encountered problems?

I see the clashes, but I also see opportunities for building bridges. The cultural divides can be large, but there are also areas of common concern. An example is that many Muslims and Catholics take the same position on contraception. That is an extreme case, perhaps, but there is often surprising agreement among quite different traditions when you look at issues in terms of culture, and a consensus about issues that may be manifested in terms of faith. The challenge is to get the elements and faiths to work together. There are also many divisions, even within Christianity, all sorts of sharp divides. It helps if you are able to find some commonalities based on culture.

In terms of the role of women, our church is one of the most liberal, and it has been very strong on women leaders. We draw on a culture that has traditionally had women being strong. However, even among the Dutch people, who have a culture of strong women, Dutch churches are only now opening up to idea of women priests.

The real problem for culture is how to translate faith into the political economy, and the political economy into the life of the country and people. Education is a good avenue to discuss, as there are many issues around it, including tools for dialogue and how to use new means of communication.

Notes from Maputo

I am writing this while on mission in Maputo, Mozambique for a governance and capacity development project that is focused on assisting and enhancing the capacity of that country's civil service. The state and faith-based organizations have been engaged in development and conflict resolution activities in Africa, but they have rarely seen themselves as partners. I have written two articles on this subject and might like to share with the meeting. In many countries, the complete failure of state agencies—especially outside their state or regional capitals—is ameliorated only by FBOs. Ethiopia and Mozambique are good examples.

The above is the first reason why your project is important. A second reason for its importance lies in the fact that international development agencies have generally tended in Africa to focus their attention, at times almost exclusively, on state agencies and even other non-state actors, without reference to FBOs in spite of their rich history and continuing achievements in the development field. The Paris Declaration on Development Cooperation of 2005 is an illustration of this orientation. FBOs are not even recognized as a development actor at a time when there is a commitment to building the capacity of the state. The failure of the state especially in health and education sectors in many countries is contrasted by the positive roles of FBOs in these areas and in other areas such as rural and agricultural extension and even tertiary education, etc. Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Nigeria would be fine examples.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God is an indigenous African Pentecostal church that was established by a peasant with big promises like those of Abraham that it would become an assembly with global reach some 55 years ago. What seemed impossible has been actualized, and the church has been active about 100 nations of the world—including some 23 European countries—in making God relevant to all aspects of human activities—spiritual, social, economic. The Free University of Amsterdam is carrying out a multinational research on the church in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Germany.

One of the most spectacular aspects of the work of RCCG is being done through the African missions. This work is focused on mobilizing all other branches of the mission worldwide to assist African countries to tackle poverty in the villages and cities. We would like to share experiences here.

An important issue we would like the consultation meeting to incorporate would be the concept and practice of holistic development—how development discourse can incorporate spiritual aspects of human beings to its present focus on mental and physical development.

Once again, thanks for involving us in this consultation meeting.

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