Nigeria Content Online

When Abiodun
Kumuyi, wife of the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Christian
Ministry passed on April 11 2009, very few sensed that she had
unobtrusively left behind lofty precepts far beyond the precincts of
church business. Fewer still were aware that although these ideas were
bred in a humble religious cradle they represented an answer to the
suffocating sophistication of a secular man.

Apart from her
husband Pastor W.F. Kumuyi, their two children Jerry and John along
with a cluster of brethren who worked with Biodun or watched her at
close quarters there was probably no other person (or group) in the
church that had an inkling of the great work she was doing as she paced
the grounds of Deeper Life Bible Church, Gbagada, Deeper Life Christian
Centre, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and International Bible Training
Centre, Ayobo, and as she travelled worldwide with her spouse.

The majority of
Deeper Life Church members and of the larger world may be forgiven if
we did not discern her contribution in her lifetime.

This world of
decadent values is given to recognising only the voluble and
voluminous. Our age contemns those who shroud what they do in
simplicity and meekness. Society approves the showy and upbraids the
lowly. It enlists a juggernaut to crush those who stand for
self-effacement.

But to be sure
Sister Biodun Kumuyi did not seek man’s approbation. There’s no record
she did, nor is there any that she lamented the lack of social
recognition. She couldn’t have, otherwise we would charge her with
being a closet Pharisee.

Starting with her
involvement with the Christian Women Mirror Magazine, Mummy (as she was
fondly called by the church folk) assembled a team of keen
professionals who of course were in the first instance genuine
believers. They shared her vision of delivering a monthly journal that
would cater for the interest of the women in the church.

We must quickly
address a point here to draw an enduring bestowal in this field.
Although the magazine started in October 1992 as a forum for the
sermons of the pastor, Biodun moved beyond that vision to accommodate
other features needed to build a woman into an all-round Christian
homemaker. Under her supervision as she heeded the plan of God for the
magazine, the publication became a quiet weapon of evangelism.

By the time Biodun died last year Christian Women Mirror had become a must-have in almost every Christian home!

Although it’s a
Deeper Life Christian Ministry effort, it has ceased to be a
denominational journal. The reason is because its contents are
Catholic, rooting fundamental Biblical teachings into everyday
practical use for the woman, her home, church and society.

Absolute credit for
this success must of course be given to God. But He used Biodun Kumuyi
as a vessel. He considered her a worthy of the vision. It was a high
calling which would have instilled in others a false sense of
self-esteem and achievement. Others would have flaunted the success as
a personal one. The manifestation of this elsewhere would be the ornate
display of the photograph of the woman behind the pastor. But Biodun,
out of deference to what the Bible teaches about the place of woman in
church, operated silently behind the scenes.

This style in no
way reduced her impact or influence. It rather was responsible for the
giant strides of her work, both in church, among the women and in the
society. It couldn’t have been otherwise.

Her modus operandi had divine approval!

Her work in the
Women Ministry of the Church was no less phenomenal. She was reputed to
have designed, planned and executed enriching programmes for women. For
this class of citizens who the society and government had neglected or
marginalised, the programmes offered hope and a sense of worth and
belonging.

Countless testimonies have streamed in since the woman’s death of how she demonstrated a squared understanding of the Bible.

In her usual quiet
and unassuming way, she was able to reach out to a many widows and
trained large numbers of fatherless children. She started women in
small-scale business through a scheme whereby they took loans and paid
back as their businesses grew. They didn’t pay any interest and for
some she wrote off their loans. Those who were genuinely struggling
with financial problems had a listening ear with her.

It is obvious that
death can’t destroy this noble pitch of servant hood, discipline,
humility and submissiveness wrought in a churchyard.

In turn these
affirmations of Sister Biodun’s work represent a stinging vote of
censure on our governments and institutions whose enormous resources,
aren’t deployed to the service of the common man, but rather are
ploughed into the coffers and interests of a selfish thieving class.

Ojewale, a Media Executive lives in Onibukun, Ota, Ogun State.