Why Big Churches Have Little Impact on National Life By Yemi Success, MD

WHY BIG CHURCH BUILDINGS IN NIGERIA HAVE LITTLE IMPACT ON NATIONAL LIFE

Size Without Power

Yemi Success, MD

Big Church buildings are  rising like mushrooms in the heart of poverty. 

Today, new ones are being built.

Young people are everyday catching visions to be President-founders.

Marble floors, golden pulpits, and LED screens that could run a football match. 

Nigeria has some of the biggest church buildings in the world, with pomp and style.

100,000 capacity. 150,000 capacity etc.

But step outside those gates, and you face a nation in crisis.

Why?

The Kingdom of God is not brick and mortar.

The Kingdom of God cannot be built with Dangote’s Cement.

It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). 

Nigeria’s mega-churches may impress heaven’s tourists, but they rarely disturb the gates of hell. This must change.

The impact of a Church is not measured by the pews, it is measured by the society. 

It is measured by cultural shift.

The state of our streets reflect the state of our pulpits.

‘You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless’ - Matthew 5:13 NLT

1. God Measures Influence, Not Infrastructure

Jesus never built a synagogue. Yet, within three years, He shifted the eternal destiny of humanity. 

You don’t need steel and glass to shake a nation. 

You need Kingdom culture.

In Acts 17:6, the apostles were accused of “turning the world upside down.” They had no buildings. They had no budget. But they carried the King’s agenda.

Now ask yourself: Why are we building towers when we should be building altars?

Why are we raising funds when we should be raising men?

Why are we changing lights, when we should be changing the nation?

2. Form Has Replaced Function

Drive through Lagos on a Sunday morning.

The streets are empty. Churches are full. But by Monday, corruption returns, louder than the worship songs.

Why?

Because you’ve taught people how to sit in pews, but not how to take the Kingdom to boardrooms. 

You’ve trained choir members, not reformers. The church is producing worshippers, but not witnesses.

The story was everywhere recently; a young Choir master had chopped off the head of his fiancée, probably for ritual purposes (or organ harvesting).

He would have become the highest thither and a ‘model’ for young people.

Because the standard is no longer character, it is money.

No one asks. No one disciples. 

No one invades Monday with the same zeal that fills Sunday.

Nigerian Christians have learnt to perfectly separate Sunday from Monday to Friday. 

This is not Kingdom. This is performance.

3. Prosperity Without Purpose

Many churches preach prosperity. But you must ask: Prosperity for what?

God never blesses people just to consume. 

He blesses people to be a conduit, a channel.

You are only a steward, not the owner.

You came empty, you will die empty.

God blesses to establish His covenant on earth (Deuteronomy 8:18). 

Yet Nigeria is rich in tithe payers, and poor in systems. 

Your offerings built monuments. But your nation still imports basic items including pencils.

Nigeria has over 100,000 registered churches.

Think about that for a minute.

Yet ranks low on every development index: education, healthcare, security, innovation. 

The faith is loud, but the fruit is missing.

You cannot microwave national transformation with Sunday sermons.

The process of transformation is long, tedious and laborious.

You cannot wish it by shouting ‘This week is your week’.

4. The Illusion of Influence

Some of the most powerful politicians in Nigeria are members of mega-churches. 

They take the front seats, get prayed for, and return to office to loot.

What happened?

You gave them religion. But not responsibility. 

They do not see themselves as kingdom carriers.

You handed them blessings, not blueprints.

No maps and burdens for national transformation.

The moment they gift you SUV for your birthday, you are okay, settled.

Apostle Paul said, “I did not come with eloquence… but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). Today, we’ve reversed it. We come with eloquence and aesthetics. But no impact.

You must ask: How can politicians pray in tongues and still sign corrupt contracts?

Because you’ve discipled them in charisma, not character.

They open meeting with opening prayers, then lie throughout the meeting.

5. Revival is Not a Building Project

You cannot outsource revival to an architect.

They may raise you big buildings, but they cannot raise you genuine impact.

Solomon’s temple was majestic. But it eventually became a den of thieves. 

The temple was destroyed till its location became unknown.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem because religion had choked revelation.

What if Jesus came to Nigeria today? Would He visit the cathedrals or walk through the slums?

You know the answer.

In one community in Jos, a small group of believers started teaching girls how to code. 

No pulpit. No offering. Just Kingdom vision. 

Two years later, teenage pregnancy dropped. School attendance rose. That’s revival. 

Hidden. Humble. Holy.

6. From Seating Capacity to Sending Capacity

The true test of a church is not how many sit inside. It’s how many are sent outside.

Ephesians 4:12 says the role of leaders is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. That means sending people into every sphere: business, politics, education, media.

Imagine this:

 - If every usher became a mentor to street boys.

  - If every pastor raised a civil servant who refused bribes.

  - If every Church building becomes a classroom from Monday to Friday for unprivileged children at no cost. And it becomes a shelter for the homeless at night.

  - If every church cleaner taught hygiene in the slums. 

 - If every church-owned bus, transported children to school on weekdays.

   - If every deacon started a farm to feed widows.

 - If every women’s fellowship sponsored one girl out of child marriage.

  - If every church department had a national transformation goal.

   - If every offering built libraries, not just Church gadgets 

These involve real labour, raising and training genuine people. 

You don’t need more buildings. You need more builders of culture.

The Kingdom of God is not a weekend event. It’s a daily invasion of heaven’s agenda into earthly systems.

What if you stopped trying to fill buildings and started filling potholes, prisons, and policy gaps?

Then—and only then—will Nigeria see what it looks like when Thy Kingdom comes.

‘For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God’ -The Bible.

The creation is not waiting for the Presidency, the senate or the governors. No, they are waiting for God’s children to manifest.

From Monuments to Movements

Jesus did not die to fill pews. He died to fill the earth with His glory.

You are not called to manage services. You are called to manifest Kingdom. Until the streets reflect the sermons, the church is failing.

So, next time someone boasts about a 100,000-seater auditorium, ask them:

“How many lives did you seat at the table of justice this week?”

“How many policies did you write from a Kingdom perspective?”

“How many children escaped poverty because of your faith?”

The answer to Nigeria’s crisis is not in the ceiling height of our churches.

It is in the Kingdom depth of our discipleship.

Let’s stop building for God.

Let’s start building with God.

The nation is waiting.

By ‘Yemi Success, MD

June, 2025