Many of us think that the church exists to make the world “more Christian.” We started seeing it as a moral club, a political lobby, or a machine to shape culture and enforce values. But that was never God’s plan for His church.
The Bible shows us clearly: the church is not God’s tool for national renovation or cultural domination. It is not the public relations team for politics or the engine of moral reform. The church is a home for the broken — gathered together to receive and share the good news of God’s grace through Jesus Christ.
Martin Luther, centuries ago, reminded the world of this truth. He said the church does not exist to enforce morality but to proclaim Christ’s saving grace. And he added that this grace must be preached and lived out in the real world — not in a clean and pure society, but in a sinful and messy one, just as it is today.
The church’s mission has always been spiritual first, not political. Every age of history has been filled with corruption, hostility, and rejection of God. Our time is no different. What has never changed is this: we are all great sinners in desperate need of a great Savior.
Even Jesus made this plain before Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world.” If His kingdom were earthly, His followers would have fought with swords. But His kingdom is different—built not on power but on grace, not on law but on mercy, not on the sword but on the cross.
So when Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” He was not calling us to conquer culture or seize political power. He was pointing to the way His kingdom comes — through the gospel, through forgiveness, through sinners being rescued and made new in Him.
And here is where many get confused: culture wars are not the same as true engagement. Culture wars are about control and winning power. True engagement is about bearing witness — shining the light of Christ in a dark world.
The mission Jesus gave His church was never to “Christianize” empires or legislate morality. He sent His followers to announce forgiveness, to proclaim good news, to baptize the lost, to feed the hungry, to comfort the grieving, and to walk with one another in love.
The church is not a factory to produce “better citizens.” It is a recovery center where the guilty find pardon, the sick find healing, and the dead find life in Christ.
Whenever the church confuses its mission with culture wars or political movements, it trades the scandal of grace for the seduction of power. And in doing so, it loses the very thing the world needs most—a community that doesn’t point to its own strength, but to the finished work of Jesus Christ for sinners like us.
The church does not exist to make Nigeria more Christian. The church exists to make Christ known. And that calling is more beautiful, more powerful, and more freeing than anything else.
Prophet/Evangelist Olusegun Asaolu (Ph.D), Christ Apostolic Church, Km 33, Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, Ibafo, Ogun State.
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