Israel Oluwole Olofinjana is director of One People Commission, part of the Evangelical Alliance.
He is a Baptist minister and has led two multi-ethnic Baptist churches and an independent charismatic church. He is the founding director of Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World, a mission network initiative that provides cross-cultural training to reverse missionaries in Britain. He is a consultant to the executive team of Lausanne Europe, advising them on matters related to diaspora ministries in Europe.
1. How did you become a Christian?
I came to faith through a crisis in secondary school in Nigeria.
2. What lessons have you learnt since that you would want to pass on to a younger Christian version of yourself?
Christianity is not a sprint but a marathon, so pace yourself!
3. How would you describe your prayer life?
I was raised in an African Indigenous Church (AIC) called in Yoruba – my language – “Aladura”, which means “people that love to pray”. Prayer is the basis of any spirituality and dependence on God.
4. Which two or three Christian books apart from the Bible have most influenced your faith?
Corrie Ten Boom Tramp for the Lord and Martin Luther King, Jr. Why We Can’t Wait.
5. Who or what have been your biggest Christian influences?
The late Joel Edwards, former General Director of Evangelical Alliance UK.
6. What are the main challenges you believe Christians face today?
The impact of secularisation on Christians which affects our spirituality, prayer and faith. Divisions within the church that confuse people of other faiths and non-faith.
7. What encourages and what discourages you?
I am encouraged by what God appears to be doing at the moment with students and people being open to Christianity. We are seeing people coming to faith in a way that is not making headlines. This is good because God’s Spirit is the One doing this and not necessarily the church!
What discourages me is how we treat each other. Racism discourages me because it is dehumanising another person created in God’s image. Racism is a sin, but it is also demonic.
8. What makes you laugh?
I enjoy watching good comedy and having a good laugh.
9. What would you want to say to the wider evangelical world?
We need to embrace a bigger vision of our understanding of the gospel that connects personal witness and public witness in a postmodern context.
10. Which Biblical person (other than Jesus) do you most look forward to meeting in glory and why?
I love Ezra because he brought spiritual reform to the children of Israel after exile.
