“Every pastor in the coming generation needs a minimum of 4-year theological seminary training” – Pastor Mensa Otabil advises

Pastor Mensa Otabil, General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), has issued a stark warning about the future of Christianity in Africa, particularly focusing on the need for well-trained pastors in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements.

Speaking at the Day 5 Morning Session of the Charisma Conference hosted by Pastor Eastwood Anaba at Desert Pastures of Fountain Gate Chapel, Bolgatanga on Friday, October 4, 2024, Pastor Otabil expressed deep concern about the current state of pastoral training and leadership in African churches.

“My warning to the current Pentecostal charismatic movement is that if we continue as we have done, within 20 years we will collapse Christianity all over Africa,” Otabil cautioned. He emphasised the importance of proper theological education for pastors, stating, “For the next generation of pastors, although God used your fathers in spite of their limitations, you would have to be trained differently.”

“Everything about Africa shows that God has visited us” – Pastor Mensa Otabil at Charisma Conference (Fountain Gate Chapel)

Dr. Otabil strongly advocated for formal theological education, asserting, “If every profession requires at least 4 years of proper regulated study, then I would suggest that every pastor in the coming generation needs a minimum of 4 years of theological seminary training. Everyone.”

The renowned pastor highlighted the growing gap between promises and delivery in the church, noting, “We are promising to be what we are not, and we are teaching things that do not make for biblical, theological, reasoning and logic. And pretty soon, it will catch up on us.”

Otabil also addressed the issue of self-proclaimed titles and the lack of regulation in the church. He remarked, “We’ve taken the noble characters, the noble titles, the noble offices that people toil for to build value and integrity for. Charismatics attack it and dissipate it.”

In his closing remarks, Otabil called for a new generation of church leaders, praying, “Raise up a new generation passionate with the fire of the Spirit but upholding the integrity of the word of God, knowledgeable about their faith, who can rightly divide the word of God.”

This call for reform and higher standards in pastoral training comes at a crucial time for African Christianity, as it continues to grow rapidly across the continent.