Founder of the Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), Bishop David Oyedepo, has responded to the scathing criticisms that trailed the news that his two deputies would be retiring after rendering 30 and 40 years respectively to the Ministry.
Social media was on fire last week when the news broke that the two longest- serving Bishops and Vice Presidents, Bishops Thomas Aremu and David Abioye, would step aside shortly following a clause in the church’s constitution popularly called The Mandate.
But Oyedepo picked up the gauntlet while delivering a sermon at the valedictory service for Bishop Aremu at Winners Chapel, Orita Bashorun, Ibadan, on Tuesday, telling his antagonists to mind their business.
Oyedepo categorically told the congregation that the Living Faith Church operates by “divine order”, explaining that Administrative Policy of 1998 was reviewed in 2001, while The Mandate of 2012 was revised in 2024, and that the documents spell out clearly defined guidelines on how the church conducts its affairs.
The revised Mandate has changed the retirement age from 60 to 55. And while the Founder, Bishop Oyedepo, retains the right to serve for life, future church leaders will be restricted to one or two terms of seven years, pending approval by the Board of Trustees.
The Bishop, however, warned those wishing for the ministry’s downfall that they were wasting their “lives.”
“My advice to commentators is to study to be quiet and mind your business,” he warned. “It is wisdom to learn what is working and find out what makes it work. Everything works here.”
He urged Bishop Aremu to keep God at the centre of his life, adding that taking a spiritual break is risky.
Quoting the Bible in Genesis 49:26, Bishop Oyedepo stated that no one has an inheritance in a teacher or pastor.
He encouraged him to maintain a mindset focused on growth, saying, “There’s no such thing as the best today or tomorrow; what matters is your pursuit of God.”
Oyedepo urged Aremu to remain connected for the continued flow of grace, advising him not to be distracted by baseless criticism.
Speaking on his post-retirement life, Bishop Aremu said he would not leave the church neither would he found his own church as he has not been infused with such vision.
“I don’t have a church, and I cannot have a church because God has not infused me with the capacity to do so. This is my church,” he said.
A former accountant, Bishop Aremu went into full-time ministry after a successful career in his field expertise.
He is distinguished as the last surviving bishop among the seven consecrated at the Garden of Faith in Kaduna in November 1999.
Meanwhile, Bishop Abioye’s farewell ceremony is set for Friday, 18th October 2024, at Durumi, Abuja.
