Tag: ministry

Vivian Atenaga: The Gospel isn’t Enough Without Impact

by Awunli Eghosasere
Vivian Atenaga is a pastor, conference speaker, and an educationist. As a preacher, Vivian believes that the message of the gospel is not complete without making a physical impact on peoples lives. 
Driven by this, Vivian co-founded a project named Smile Naija. Smila Naija is a platform that is used to reach out to the indigent in the society. In this article, Vivian tells us more about her passion. 

What inspired the Smile Naija Project?

Seeing the sufferings of people in our society has truly touched me. I thought to myself that though I was encouraging people through preaching the gospel, this was not enough. So, with a team of other passionate people, we began collecting food items, furniture, and kitchen utensils to donate to those who needed them through Smile Naija.
Through our diverse team of professionals, we offer free legal counseling and medical checkups from experts. After the medical checkups, patients are given free drugs also. The services we offer are open to any member of the society and so far we have reached a number of people.

What is your plan for the project in the future?

By the end of this year, we are hoping to feed and clothe at least five thousand families. It sounds ambitious but we strongly believe that we can achieve these goals. When looking at the future, we hope to have empowerment programs. Through these programs, we hope to give startups the training and funding they need to be able to start their businesses.
We also plan to establish scholarship programs that will especially benefit children in the Northern part of Nigeria as it holds a larger population of children that are out of school. All in all, we have many plans for Smile Naija and hope to make it more impactful.

Can you tell us more about your mentoring program?

I have often heard about this phenomenon that the younger people will outlive the older generation. Therefore, I believe that impacting the youth is a deliberate effort to designing the desired future that we want.
Through our program, we look into all the aspects of life that affect young people. We then deal with these aspects through teachings and dialogues. I’ve realized that the reason we keep having challenges in society today is that young people usually lack the requisite skills and tools to deal with challenges as they face them.
Therefore, I hope through mentor-ship, young people can get the help they need to face challenges.

How do you stay motivated with your various projects?

I understand that I am here on an assignment, and mediocrity is not one of the kingdom traits, which means that excellence is a basic mark I must meet. I keep setting new standards based on the vision God has given me for my life.
I know my purpose, and I ensure I stick to it through prioritizing my life, whether it is focusing on the home front, pastoring or even running my business. However, I have prioritized my life in a way that my home comes first, ministry second and my business third. With this order, I give to Caesar what belongs to him.
There is life after your wedding day, you are more than you think you are. - Vivian Atenaga Click To Tweet

What will your legacy be?

 At the end of the day, I hope that my legacy will be that I served God through everything that I did. I also want to have impacted humanity without any reservations.

Any inspiring messages for women seeking to start pursuing their dreams and fulfilling their purpose?

 You only live once here in this world. I know the period of giving birth and raising the kids are quite challenging, but I also believe that you can find time to document your ideas and sketch your plan to execute them once the kids are a bit older.
Don’t ever allow being married to be your life’s last dream.There is life after the wedding day and you are more than you think you are.
Do you have a story you would like to share with She Leads Africa? Let us know about yourself and your story here.
 

Meet Mbuetung Eyere the 26-year-old redefining pastoring as a career in Cameroon

by Marriane Enow Tabi
You can only find satisfaction & profit when you're working in line with the uniqueness of your purpose Click To Tweet

Mbuetung Eyere is a young Cameroonian female pastor and entrepreneur. Contrary to the popular cliché which states that pastors are broke, Eyere believes it is profitable when it is your unique purpose. To her, being a pastor is call and anyone who wishes to take up pastoring as a career must make sure he/she has a genuine relationship with God.

Eyere shepherds the Champions Faith Assembly in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon and dreams of using her calling to bless and positively influence generations across Africa.

Being a young woman, how did you get the idea/concept of becoming pastor?

My idea stemmed from my search for my purpose here on earth. In the course of searching and walking with God, I discovered that God wanted me to know and serve Him more. So getting into the pastoral office was a discovery I made in course of my search for my purpose here on earth.

What has been your biggest hurdle so far?

Having to guide people spiritually and physically has a lot of stakes. One needs to put a lot of things together to aid people to understand the mind of God for their life.

So being a leader spiritually and physically over God’s people is a challenge. But then again, I see all challenges as opportunities to grow.

Has there ever been a time when you thought of giving up? What kept you going?

Yes, of course. Like any other career, you get to a point where the challenges overwhelm you. But the spirit of God has been my strength. I just run to him in prayer. You know the Bible says, “Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will run and not faint.”

What is your favourite thing about being a pastor?

Watching baby Christians grow spiritually to where they can worship and know God for themselves. I am happy when I get to help people who are downcasted.

Using the word of God to encourage them and help build spiritual giants who can intend help others.

Will you encourage other young girls to take up pastoring as a career? Is it profitable?

Being a pastor is a call. It’s part of a person’s purpose. Everyone cannot be a pastor and that is where the profit comes in. Pastoring can only be profitable to you if it is your unique destiny.

You cannot find profit in another man’s destiny. You can only find satisfaction and profit when you are working in line with the uniqueness of your purpose. I will encourage any young girl who has discovered this to go for it.

What practical tips can you give to girls who wish to take up pastoring as a career?

What comes to mind is first of all the stability of her relationship with the Holy Spirit, because He will be her source of strength in and out of crisis and the challenges that come with the pastoral calling.

Also, she must have a confirmation of it being her call. That is it being the purpose of God for her life, not just because she admires or wishes to become a female pastor.

Again, she will need a source of finance to aid her in ministry. Else she may become a burden to her followers, which might, in the long run, make them disregard the anointing of God on her because she might be depending on them for financial support.

Furthermore a young girl who desires to serve God in a pastoral office must have mastery of God’s vision for her life, to enable her to move from one level to another in God’s divine agenda for her life Also, she has to diligently work on any form of weakness in her character or attitude, for this will her help become an effective leader.

If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.