Lead Pastor of the Living World Conquerors Global Assembly, Bishop David Abioye, has narrated how some people, including his relations and friends, mocked and abandoned him and his wife when they left their jobs for full-time ministry.
Speaking recently to an audience that asked him questions on how to begin ministry, Abioye said he and his wife, Mary, who followed him, were perceived as fools when they decided to work for God full-time.
“By the grace of God, I graduated in automobile engineering. But I left what I was doing to answer the call to ministry. Wasn’t I a fool? And I was going to be seen as a fool because I saw a challenging moment. My wife was working. She left her work to follow me. So, two fools are following each other.
“But by understanding—by understanding—that it may take a while but will soon break through. And believe me, you know Jesus made it very clear: if you cannot forsake your father, your mother, forsake your this and that, you can’t truly follow me. You can’t follow me in an absolute sense—that’s the meaning.
And we did two, three years—nobody was asking after. It became a lonely journey. ‘If they will die, let them die. Yeye people. They don’t have sense. How can somebody say God calls you? What connection do you have between engineering and ministry?”
The 64-year-old cleric explained that after about four years, some relations and friends, who did not support their decision to go into ministry, began to call him and his wife, requesting to visit them.
He said, “We stayed on there. We stayed on there. We stayed on there, the third year, the fourth year, relations began to call us. Friends who abandoned us began to call. ‘Ah, we hear that you are doing well. When can I come and visit you?’ I say, ‘Wait first, ‘Glory to God. Glory to God.’ Somebody said—or was quoted to have said rather—that ‘all these small, small boys, they don’t have work. That’s why they say they are called into ministry.’
“And you know what that did? It made me make a vow of commitment to make it with the help of God. Five years after, the same person came and knelt before me and said, ‘I’m sorry for what I said.”
Ministry paid off
Abioye said he does not regret going into full-time ministry because God has blessed him abundantly. According to him, despite the initial challenges, the decision to go into ministry will eventually prove one.
“It will prove you. You heard me talk about the time when I’ll be looking for meat inside soup. Today, I don’t look for meat again—because in any case, I don’t eat it again. From looking for meat inside soup, by God’s grace, I have ranch today. Can we applaud Jesus? Amen. Where I don’t eat, I look for people who have a need and give it to them.
“Today, by the grace of God—I mean, I’m saying all of this for us to learn. And I’m not talking about my possession, but for us to learn and give hope, particularly to young people who are getting worried – How will I make it? How will I cope?” You will not only cope, you’ll be giving to people”.
He added, “I can go to my wardrobe and then roll out a dozen coats to give to people. Then my wife used to buy a mudu (measurement), but now we roll out bags to give to people, to the glory of God.
“Since about 25 years ago, I’ve not bought a coat. I’ve not bought a coat. I’m not looking for them. If I have only three, I’ll be satisfied. But people won’t stop giving me. I paid my dues—to the glory of God,” he said.
While providing some other challenges he encountered in ministry, the popular cleric advised those who are called not to be afraid but to take a step of faith.
He said, “So, the sacrifice you are making today, it will speak tomorrow. So, everyone who is called into ministry, don’t be afraid. ‘Will he take care of me?’ Ministry may send you into hiding for a while.
“I had one pair of shoes — I told you before. My marriage gave me the opportunity to have a second coat. My bed was a bench before we got married. A day came—food finished in the house. I had only flour, maize flour. Maize flour, no soup. So, I made pap with it to drink. But nobody will hear it and nobody will see it on my face—until it becomes a testimony.
“What are we saying? Take a step of faith, but let your faith be built on personal understanding and revelation. Now if you can’t see that, be doing your business and doing ministry together.”
Asked if it is possible to survive as a minister of God without doing something extra to bring in money, Abioye said, “I am not doing any other thing with ministry, and I am not a yahoo pastor. God does not force anything on anybody. It is to you according to your faith. If you believe that you can’t run a ministry and be materially blessed, and for that reason, you have to add something else, God will allow you. God doesn’t impose anything on anybody. God waits for each of us to understand. He deals with us according to our level of understanding. And understanding breeds faith, and faith produces action. So, when you see a man acting, it is according to what he believes, and what he believes is according to what he understands.”
He said everyone needs personal understanding, warning that it is wrong to go into ministry because somebody else did so.
Abioye, who retired from the Living Faith Church on October 18, 2024, explained that the biblical standard is that all the people God called abandoned what they were doing to answer the call.
“And that’s why we need personal understanding. Don’t go into ministry because somebody else went into ministry. But this is a biblical standard. Don’t adopt it until you understand it.
“You know, God makes a presentation to us and still allows us to make our choice. This is the standard from the Old to the New Testament. Everyone that God called abandoned what they were doing in the discovery of something bigger and greater. Beginning with Moses, he abandoned his opportunity to be a king. You can read all of that from Hebrews chapter 11. He saw the invisible. He was prepared to abandon the opportunity to be a king.
“Don’t forget that Jesus also abandoned the opportunity to become a king to continue his ministry. They came to take him to become their king. Jesus ran away. Elisha abandoned his farming business to follow Elijah. Jesus told Peter, ‘Follow me.’ And they forsook their nets. Peter would have died as a local fisherman and would have had no name in history. “
