How Do I Start a Church in Nigeria?

If you want to start a church in Nigeria, I think you need to look at it
from two sides… the spiritual side and the practical side.

First, you need to know that God has actually called you to start a
church. Because being called into ministry is not automatically the same thing
as being called to pastor a local church. Starting a church means people are
going to come under your pastoral care, and that comes with responsibility. You
have to teach them, nurture them, pray for them, correct them, care for them,
and sometimes deal with situations you never expected.

So don’t just say, “I want to start a church because I want to be a
pastor.” You need to ask yourself, “Has God really called me to shepherd
people?”

Then, I would say… don’t rush to start with a Sunday service.

If you are already planted in a church, serve there. Learn. Watch how
things are done. Work with people. Learn what it means to lead a department,
handle workers, follow up people, organise meetings, deal with conflict, manage
money and all of those things. You need experience with people before you start
carrying people.

Then, when you are ready to begin, you can start small.

You can start with a prayer meeting. You can start with a Bible study.
You can gather a few people once a week and begin to build them. It doesn’t
have to be a big Sunday service immediately.

And because you are in Nigeria, you also need to think about the
practical side. Where are you going to meet? How much will the space cost? Will
the location allow church activities? What about sound, chairs, toilets,
parking, security and your neighbours? These things matter.

You don’t need a huge auditorium to start, but you need a place that is
suitable for what you are doing.

Then there is the legal side. If you are establishing the church as an
organisation, you should look at registering it properly. The Corporate Affairs
Commission handles registration of Incorporated Trustees, which is the
structure commonly relevant to associations such as churches. CAC says the
process involves reserving the proposed name, completing the relevant
registration form, providing documents such as the constitution and trustee
details, and paying the applicable fees.

CAC currently says at least two trustees are required, subject to its
legal requirements, and its published checklist includes trustee
identification, photographs, declarations and publication of notice in two
daily newspapers, one of which must be a national newspaper. (Code of Conduct
Bureau)

So you don’t just think about the pulpit. Think about the structure too.

And please… don’t start begging people for money because you want to
start a church.

If you don’t have money, start according to your capacity. Maybe you
start in a small space. Maybe you begin with a weekly gathering. Maybe you use
what you already have. As people are added, the capacity of the ministry can
grow.

But don’t put yourself under unnecessary financial pressure just because
you want your new church to look like an established church.

You also need to think about leadership from the beginning. Who is going
to help you? Who can you trust? Who can lead worship? Who can handle follow-up?
Who can help with administration? Who can help you care for people?

Because before you know it, the few people who started with you will
become ten, twenty, fifty… and if you didn’t build leadership capacity from
the beginning, everything will still be coming back to you.

So, if I were starting a church in Nigeria, I would think about it like
this:

Be sure of the calling. Get planted and learn. Start small. Build people.
Find a suitable place. Put the right structure around the ministry. Register
properly when appropriate. Develop leaders. And grow according to your
capacity.

You don’t need to start big.

You need to start well.