GO National
6.2.5 Life Spring Ministries
The founder of the Life Spring Ministries, Bishop Jinga A. Mayo, was a member of the Lutheran and Baptist churches before he became „born again‟. He also had joined the Living Faith and Love Divine Ministries in Kaduna and when he came to Yola, he
worshipped with the Praise Chapel church. “From there”, he explains, “I started Life Spring Chapel.”351
Previously, in 1987, Bishop Mayo had established a youth ministry called „Set Go Free Mission‟ at the YMCA in Kaduna. It was a campus youth ministry, aimed at mobilizing the indigenes of the then Gongola State at universities and colleges so that they would return home and evangelize their state.
Bishop Mayo established Life Spring Chapel in 1993 in Yola, beginning with eight Muslim converts, one of whom had offered his house as a church venue. “I was running from being a fully-fledged pastor. I believed in being a free-lance evangelist, but God impressed on my spirit that I must start a church. He gave me a name [for the church] and asked me to give him a date to convince me that the church was going to come into being. It was in January, the first of January, very close to the time of the discourse with God. I could not believe that God could provide a venue at short notice.”352
The following morning Mayo and his converts gathered at the Muslim‟s house. Their singing and clapping attracted three passersby. The topic for the message that day was “I can do all things”, taken from Philippians 4:13. The bishop describes the ensuing period as both painful and joyful, whereby he was always that “tomorrow promises to be better”. “I taught converts, but now I teach leaders. God has raised more hands to support the work for the task yet ahead.”353
The Life Spring Ministries has educated seven batches of trainee ministers (as well as the bishop himself) in various fields. The training programme is assisted by an American group, the „Millennium Leaders Training‟, run by John C. Maxwell‟s Leadership Institute.
351 Mayo, interviewed 5th September, 2007.
352 Mayo, interviewed 5th September, 2007.
353 Mayo, interviewed 5th September, 2007.
Representatives of the institute officiate at the graduations of the trainees. The bishop himself attended the ASCOT Theological School, affiliated to the University of Nigeria, Nsuka. The institution organizes periodic theological training for busy pastors.354
The church grows its membership by sending out invitations to Christians and non- Christians to attend programmes. The church also conducts evangelization in other ways.
According to the bishop, “... a church is a market place; there are those who have permanent shops and those who display their wares on the street.”355 When asked about allegations by mainline or traditional churches, that the Pentecostals „steal‟ their members, the bishop said:
“Yes, the church is one. All that we have are apartments within the same estate.
Denominations are apartments. The church is one.”356
The Life Spring Ministries church preaches prosperity but in a slightly different way from other Pentecostals. Their understanding of 3rdJohn v. 2 is that prosperity is firstly spiritual in nature, and only in the second place physical. „Wellbeing‟ is equated to soundness of the soul that gives vitality and life to the body. The emphasis is on the decoration of the inner, rather than the outer man. A person can be without a roof over his head, but, that does not mean he is not prospering. In addition the church refers to Jesus‟ words that „man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God‟.357
This Pentecostal church aims, through the thriving of the soul, to establish wellbeing of the body. It sees to the personal needs of individual members and helps them to develop personal relationships and to interact. Bishop Mayo argues that: “…you hear of no food, clothes, shelter, etc. First we take care of the inner man and then the outer needs come into play. That way you meet the total needs of man, spiritual and physical.”358
The church intends to inculcate a good leadership spirit among members and to stimulate political, social and economic development in the community. Its funding comes exclusively from church members.
The church has four branches, one each in Yola, Adamawa State, in Jos Plateau State, in Abuja, and one in the USA. The following list presents the Life Spring Ministries leadership. Its complex structure is depicted in figure 5, below.
i. BOT: Board of Trustees (bishop as chairman);
ii. AC: Agape Council (bishop as chairman, VP, ministry admin, chairman council, resident pastor);
354 Mayo, interviewed 5th September, 2007.
355 Mayo, interviewed 5th September, 2007.
356Mayo, interviewed 5th September, 2007.
357 Mayo, interviewed 5th September, 2007.
358 Mayo, interviewed 5th September, 2007.
iii. PC: Pastoral Council (bishop as chairman, all pastors as members);
iv. CEC: Church Executive Council (resident pastor as chairman, church administrator, chairman elders council, finance director, director projects, youth leader, Kadesh Fresh (choir) director, chairman board of deacons, P31 woman leader (married women fellowship), promise keepers leader (married men fellowship), 3 members nominated by floor members;
v. TPC: Temple Pastors (assistant pastors), Council (assistant resident pastor as chairman);
vi. BOE: Board of Elders (elders, deacons, deaconesses);
vii. CHD: Council of Heads of Departments; and
viii. TFC: Family Council (General Council, only full church members. During meetings a member is free to express feelings, views, misunderstandings, misconceptions, even if directed against the bishop). The church
administrator chairs meetings.359
Judging from the structure, the church seems quite developed. One would expect it to have a very large number of followers, but this is not the case. The church is in that respect an exception among Pentecostal churches in Adamawa. Although the church stresses spirituality above physical wellbeing, its leader shows clearly features of the businessman. He receives free housing with electricity and water rates paid by the government. This is a rare privilege.
That there is only a single congregation of the Life Spring Ministries in Yola, the town where the church was founded, is the result of a split whereby one pastor went his own way, taking many followers with him, to create a different Pentecostal church with a new name. Life Spring Ministries was left with less than half of its original membership of about 200 persons.
359 Mayo, interviewed 5th September 2007.
Figure 5: Life Spring Ministries‟ Church Structure
In relation to its modest size, the leadership structure of the church speaks volumes. It tells us that the church, which is basically business oriented, expects the complex structure to enhance its profile and impress potential supporters.