Prophetess Nonnie Roberson is the president of Nigerian Women in the Clergy and the vice president, core responsibility of teaching Women in Clergy Worldwide. She
Prophetess Nonnie Roberson
spoke with SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, Hazeez Balogun, on why she left Revival Assembly to start her own ministry
You are a woman of many parts, prophetess and entrepreneur, which of them are you more proud of?
I am proud of everything I have achieved so far. You are right by saying I am a woman of many parts. I was formerly a pastor with Revival Assembly under Apostle Amslem
Madubuko. Now, I have a new Ministry, called The New Wine. We are into a lot of crusades. It is more of a prophetic ministry. It was a spiritual mandate that I have decided to carry out. In November last year, I was appointed as one of the Board members of the Lake Chad Research Institute.
I was the pioneering member of Women for Change. I was one of those who conceptualized the idea. I was the FCT (Federal Capital Territory) coordinator and director of project for Change Initiative. As I speak to you, I’m the president of Nigerian Women in Clergy.
I’m also the vice president of Women in Clergy, worldwide.
You once complained that women are side-lined in the work of God, what do you mean?
What I mean is that women that are in clergy have not been carried along by the male counterpart. It is a man’s world, clergy wise. In a place like Nigeria, culture plays a major role in the lives of the people. If you are a clergy, you are a leader, and you are expected to lead some men and women. However, with Nigerian mentality and their culture, it is very dif?cult to ?nd men that have high regard for women, but if there is substance in you, they will follow you. We don’t have a lot of female clerics in the forefront because they have not been given the desired opportunities. But if you ask me, I will say that women make more impact in clergy than men. If you bring into focus the maternal instinct in women, you will agree with me. Women are into children based issues. They are more into issues that concern the youth. However, with the birth of Nigerian women in clergy which encompasses pastors’ wives, reverend sisters, women that have ministries, women pastors, women evangelists, prophetesses and a host of other women working for God, things will de?nitely change. One of the things that led to the formation of women in clergy is the marginalisation of the women that are working for God; they are not being carried along. If you read through the bible, you will realise that women are of very strong character.
You can take for example; Deborah and a host of others. If we can sit and talk together as women, we will surely get through this phase.
Will you say you are a non-conformist?
I try to be myself. Number one, I’m delivered from people. I refuse to be put in a box. I’m not about religion; I’m about relationship with God.
This is because on the last day, God is not going to ask you which denomination you belong. Sometimes, it amazes me when Christians, including pastors, ?ght amongst themselves. With such attitude, the body of Christ is said to have been broken. Now, everybody wants to build their own kingdom. It’s not really about the work of God; it’s about their edi?ces, missions and ?eet of cars. In doing this, politics has been brought into the church, and clerics are beginning to deviate from their core responsibility of teaching the words of God. Their religious attitudes which tend to limit individuals are greatly worrisome. Another interesting thing is that we are now in a generation where we are beginning to lose our youths because we are not even in tune with their language. You see them say ‘what’s your swag?
Who’s dulling you?’ and other slangs like that. If we must deliver the youth to God, then we must learn how to speak their language.
But you agree you are controversial?
I wouldn’t say I’m controversial but I sure know that my ways are different from those of other clerics. It will be dif? cult for you to see a pastor with blond and short hair, but that appears to be my own unique identity, after all, there is nowhere in the bible where God instructed that you must not keep your hair that way.
Man looks outwardly, but God looks inwardly, and I love it when I camou?age.
Today, pastors live large while their congregation live in poverty, you must see this as a bad trend?
First of all, I’m not exactly against being ?amboyant if you can afford it. It’s imperative to note that the bible says that the poor will always be with us. Someone once asked me ‘are you a full time clergy?’ and I asked him ‘what’s a full time clergy’ and he responded, ‘you don’t do any other thing but doing the work of God.’ My response was that I do all that whoever is regarded as a full time clergy does, but that does not stop me from doing other things. That is why I went to school. I need to explore other areas that can make me outstanding. Therefore, for you to make the kind of impact you ought to make as a clergy, money should not be an excuse. This, I learnt early in life. Once money becomes your focus in your ministry, you will lose focus and your entire are preaching will begin to tilt towards that direction.
Your work will bend towards extorting money from people via the work of God. It will get to a point where someone who gives you money cannot be corrected. In this case, I do other things to generate personal income, so I don’t just rely on offertory or tithes to make a living. I’m just okay with what I have. Our focus is really not about money, it’s about salvation and to run your ministry, you need to invest money into it and not the other way round.
What is your take on President Goodluck Jonathan’s leadership style?
I would say that in appointed positions, President Goodluck Jonathan has done better than other past leaders have done. He has been able to balance the situation by appointing more women into his cabinet.
However, in elective position, nothing much has been done. In 2011, we had more women who failed elections. The reason is that politics in Nigeria is not exactly about fair voting; it’s money that speaks for every candidate. Women fail because those of them that venture into politics are not as buoyant as their male counterpart; that is one issue; then the second issue is that most responsible women don’t go into politics because most of them are focusing on something else. Hence, those in politics are either not married or promiscuous, making people to have different impression about female politicians. Some of these women know how to sleep their ways through to the top hence you don’t have quali?ed women going into politics. But it is obvious things are changing and I am praying that by the year 2015, more credible women will come out to jostle for good positions nationwide. The thing about women is that we are our own enemies and the men capitalized on this weakness. A woman would rather support a man than support a fellow woman because they are extremely jealous of themselves.
However, things are changing and I believe it will get better with time.
How would you rate women participation in the ongoing National Conference with regards to religion?
We don’t even have a single woman representing us religious wise. It’s only Muslim Female Association that has a representative. That again goes to tell you how women are marginalised in both politics and religion. At least, women in clergy should be represented, but because the men have continued to marginalise them, we do not even have a single representative.
Another sad issue is that instead of women being part of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), we have another branch of CAN that most people do not know, because they are not proactive. They are not even part of decision making when it comes to real nation who the leader of CAN is nationwide, but do you know who the female CAN President is? You will not know because the body is weak and has no particular agenda; but all these are about to change.
When you say all these are about to change, what does that mean?
What I mean is that women are gathering momentum. I have been able to liaise with like-minded women that are in clergy and we have noted that women are not carried along. If you look critically at the just concluded Millennium Service, you will agree with me. There was no single woman in the podium. No woman was allowed to say anything. It was all about men in clergy. Women are working hard to ensure this issue is put behind them. Thank God we have got our voices. Our physical strength may not be able to speak for us, but our voices and spiritual senses will speak for us.
Do you have any political ambition?
Most times, because of my doggedness in my own philosophy, people tend to call me an activist. This is because when I believe in something, I can die for it. I believe I the highest calling anyone can have, and that is the call to serve God, because man can’t put me in or put me out. De?nitely, I can’t answer the call of man to abandon God’s call.
However, the bible says that the government shall be upon our shoulders, hence if God approves any of such national call that will transform the country I will accept it, but it must really be something that I can handle.
What is your message for the youth?
I feel very sorry for the youth. When I was in school, my parents knew I was in school. They equally knew when I had to be home. They were engaged in the payment of my school fees and other things that I needed to cope in school, but these days, parents don’t care. Parents don’t even know where their children are. A child could wake up one morning and tell the parents ‘I’m going to Abuja’ and they won’t ask questions.
Most times they don’t even care to know whether they are in school or somewhere else. These kids are all out on their own. The only role models they have are Dbanj, 2Face and a host of others. Satellite TV has become their text books. Because of the so much in?uence they get from the TV, they are continually trapped. They are neither Americans nor Africans; hence they are lost in the middle of nowhere. Something has to be done.
What is your assessment of the music industry generally?
I love music, but unfortunately, with this generation, we have vibrant tunes and sound than local contents.
The content is practically zero. It tells you the content in the head of the singer. Most of the songs have no message, but whenever you hear the message, your body must move. There is nothing that in?uences as much as music, but we have left it porous as the more garbage, the higher they sell. And talking about nudity, our youth are neither here nor there. They are stuck in the middle of the road. They don’t even know who they are. Back in the days, if you know that certain things will bring shame to your parents, you won’t even dare it. Your parents will need to face the entire family to defend every of your action. When you act weird, your chances of getting married become so slim. But these days, all those cultures have gone with the wind. Parents are no longer instilling those values in their children.
Religious organisations are no longer instilling values. I think these young girls have discarded completely those values, and I wonder where their self-worth has gone to. Imagine a parent watching his or her daughter showing off all she has got on TV. And even the TV stations that air these nudities are lost in the middle of nowhere. Something is definitely wrong somewhere. In any case, credit must be given to our producers and musicians. They are trying to meet up with the standard globally, but I think they are all in a hurry to become famous and they are not taking their time to build local content. I must attest to the fact that the beats are of global standard, which most record labels outside the country have actually commended. I think that what they need is to become more creative, especially in the area of the actual messages.
And as for Nollywood, I’m not a very big fan of Nollywood. Reasons being that the outcome of every movie is always known after you are being introduced to the movie. The prologue communicates virtually everything. Films in the industry are highly predictable, and they could be produced in 24 hours. All movies except for few have virtually the same pattern.
I’m saying this because I have been in Theatre and I know what it takes to produce a movie. Another problem with their production is the question of setting. Nollywood movies have a problem de?ning their settings. Sometimes varied times are portrayed in the same light and contemporary and extant settings are inexplicably mixed up. However, I must give them the credit for their effort, especially, the earliest Nollywood actors like those that initiated the New Masquerade and a host of other popular soap operas that transformed into what we have as Nollywood today.
I just pray and hope that the industry would be sanitised in no distant time.
You were formerly with the Revival Assembly, how long did you pastor with the church?
I was a pastor with the Revival Assembly for about six years under Pastor Anslem Madubuko.
Why did you break away?
When I came back from the United States, I had a ministry called New Wine; I was running New Wine, not as a church, because I didn’t want to run a church, but Prophet Anslem being a friend of mine, wanted me to join him. Even when the church started three months earlier, I didn’t know I was going to be made the resident pastor. I was with him for six years before GOD asked me to go back to the real mandate and that was one of the reasons I left.
Now I’m doing something out of the box. At the moment, I have something called Spirit Raining. Spirit Raining holds every Saturday. I do not believe church must be on Sun-days, as such stringent rule was not stipulated in the bible.
If you go to Dubai, Christians worship on Saturdays. There is no day when we come together to the glory of God that He doesn’t come down to be with us. Because of these unnecessary rules, the church as the body of Christ has been disintegrated. I have decided to break some of these rules, and to bring together all denominations under one umbrella on Saturday to worship together. Spirit Raining is nondenominational. In this case, I’m not put in a box to say church must hold on Sunday.
I can’t ?nd that in the bible. Those are mere human ideas. And for me to be able to reach my people, I need to be very ?exible. I must not be termed ‘’group soul.’’ It’s not going to be easy, telling members of other churches to leave their churches to worship with you on Sunday, so Saturday has been chosen to bring all denominations together. God has asked me to do this, and I’m doing it. He said, ‘behold I’m doing a new thing’. This is part of the new things he is doing for his people. I’m always ready to break the norm if it is for His own glory.
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