Park pastors: business or calling?

One after another, the passengers boarded. They paid the fare, got their tickets and proceeded to choose their seats on the bus. Apart from the general park buzz, everywhere was quiet. But as soon as the last passenger boarded, a voice rang out from one of the windows.

“I greet you all in the precious name of Jesus,” said a man clutching a bible. “If you are a child of God shout a big halleluyah!”

That was how the passengers were treated to a dose of evangelism which ended with prayers for journey mercies.

But, wait a minute, is this evangelism or plain business?

In era of problems and daily challenges, one of the options available to the poor and deprived is spiritual solution. It’s an avenue to a world of dreams, beliefs and an escape from the daily troubles of life.

That, perhaps, is the reason many religious houses are sprouting up across the country.

This phenomenon has also affected the various motor parks in the country. The Federal Capital territory is not an exception.

It is common to see buses and cars of different sizes and colours loading passengers and to see traders displaying their wares like recharge cards, petty articles of trade like edibles, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, cigarette, kilishi and other things in Abuja parks.

They are as ubiquitous as the buses and Agbero boys who help motorists invite and load passengers for a fee.

The messengers of the gospel at these venues are called motor park pastors because they basically practice their callings at the parks.

Their purpose, to the knowledge of many, is to pray for commuters embarking on a trip and in the process win souls for God.

It cannot be denied that most people, if not everybody, need prayers and the Holy Book commanded it in the first book of Thessalonians 5 verses 17, saying “Pray without ceasing.”

These pastors have cashed in on the fact that the parks are usually populated with people who are heading for one destination or the other.

In Abuja, some of the transport services are Ideal, AIT, Fairplus, Okunline, Ola Express, Abbey Line, Big Joe, Peace Mass Transit; God is Good, the Young Shall Grow, among others.

These transport services are found in parks like Utako, el-Rufai bus stop in Kubwa, Nyanya Bridge, Jabi Park, Zuba Park, to mention but a few.

Passengers at all these parks witness the pastors, especially in the morning.

The common routine at the park is that once passengers are seated, the pastor stands by the window of the bus or if the bus is still open, he stands at the door with his Holy Bible as his tool and usually begins: “I greet you all in the precious name of Jesus. If you are a child of God shout a big halleluyah!’’

Everybody shouts the halleluyah and then he smiles in triumph and continues. He leads a session of praise, sermon and then he says, “let us pray.”

Most of the prayers go like this: “Father God Almighty, I thank you for the life of everyone in this bus and for keeping them alive. We ask for your mercy to prevail upon us and forgive us our sins. As they are travelling today, I bind all blood-sucking demons on the way. Nobody will die from accident in this vehicle today.

“I cover the driver with the blood of Jesus. I cover the steering with the blood of Jesus. I cover the engine with the blood of Jesus. I cover the tyre with the blood of Jesus. In fact, I cover the road from here to your destinations with the blood of Jesus!

“You shall not run into armed robbers. Father, nobody in this bus will have accident and I pray that everybody in this bus will make heaven at the end of the day in Jesus name.”

The prayer ends but it has been observed that some of the pastors don’t end it there. They proceed by saying, “Brothers and sisters, please support the work of God. Nothing is too small.”

This is the part that some commuters have complained about claiming that a true man of God will not ask for money or offering after prayers.

According to majority of the commuters who spoke with Abuja Review, when pastors ask for money, it reduces the authenticity of the prayer and it looks like they are paying for the prayers.

Sandra Kawu, one of the commuters who spoke with Abuja Review in Utako Park said: “I am travelling with Plateau Riders to Jos. I always encounter them in Utako Park. I feel most of them engage in it as a form of business to make ends meet. I have had cause to donate to them or give offering. It is not like I believe in them but as a Christian, you have to support whatever since it is their own business.

“Sometimes, if you don’t want to give, at the end of the prayers, they will tell you to drop something for their ministry to move forward. I am serious about this.”

Mercy Ocholi had this to say: “I travel with Benue Travelers. Each time I board bus at the park under Nyanya Bridge, when the bus is filled, they will walk up to the travelers and say, ‘ok, now that the car is filled, we want to pray for journey mercies.’

Everybody closes their eyes and the pastors will pray. After that, he will say if you have anything to drop for the man of God, please drop and at that moment, you will see people who have good heart dropping money to help the man of God.

Miss Ocholi further said: “I believe in what the pastors do because it really helps. It is encouraging. There is no problem in that, because even if the pastors don’t come, sometimes after a bus is filled and it’s in motion, one of the passengers willingly leads prayers in order to ask God for a safe trip.

Ikenna, another passenger said he suspects that the transport service and especially the drivers have a deal with the pastors because of the patience they exercise to allow these pastors finish their business.

He said: “The driver is always patient enough to wait for the pastors to finish praying. I think the pastors have a deal with the transport service.

Biodun Tijani said he sees motor park pastors as businessmen.

His words: “With each Naira note the pastor grabs, he rewards the faithful with a ‘’bless you” and when he is sure no more is coming he wishes us a ‘safe journey’ and moves on to another bus.

“I think they are a nuisance. Is there anyone of them who doesn’t ask for donations/offerings at the end of their sermon and prayer? They are little more than corporate beggars who just capitalise on people’s fear of traffic accidents and highway robbers. They pray against these incidents just to make you feel better, and put you in a good frame of mind to give them money and then they are off to the next bus.

“The ministry they represent is unclear and it makes me feel they represent the ministry of their pockets and stomach,” Tijani added.

In a chat with Abuja Review, the Secretary of the pastors, Pastor Abiola he said that he belongs to an association called Mobile Ministers Evangelical Ministry of Nigeria.

Pastor Abiola, while explaining that he goes beyond motor parks to minister in churches, schools and sometimes in the hospitals if he is led by the Spirit, debunked the notion that the pastors are out to make profit.

“It is wrong to say that it is for business purpose. If I want to do it for business’ sake, I will sit back in my office because I have an office opposite NYSC camp in Kubwa. We, the mobile ministers are about 15 in number and our ministry is basically to win souls for Christ.

Continuing, he said: “We don’t ask and passengers are not compelled to give. Those who give do because they are led by the Spirit to give and it won’t be nice for us to reject.

Debunking the notion that pastors pay the transport firms for the time taken in praying, Mr. Lekan Ojo of Okunline said that they don’t charge anything. They are just propagating the gospel and I feel it won’t be right to hinder them. Since there is no test we can carry out to ascertain whether these mobile ministers are called or not, there is need to do everything decently in order to avoid harassment and anarchy.

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