Welcome to MFM Benson Youth Church

Friday, 24 February 2017

MFM Blessing Region Benson Youth Choir

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

How Pastors Perceive Domestic Violence Differently

When it comes to domestic violence, Protestant pastors want to be helpful but often don’t know where to start.

Most say their church would be a safe haven for victims of domestic violence.

But many don’t know if anyone in their church has been a victim of domestic violence. And only half say they have a plan in place to help if a victim comes forward.

Those are among the findings of a new report on churches and domestic abuse from LifeWay Research, based on a phone survey of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors.

The study was sponsored by Autumn Miles, a radio host and speaker whose church was caught off guard when she told them about her domestic violence experience.

“If a woman comes forward and says, ‘I need help—I am being abused,’ a church needs to respond,” she said. “There’s a lot to lose if churches get this wrong.”

Most pastors (87%) already believe that “a person experiencing domestic violence would find our church to be a safe haven.” Eleven percent somewhat agree. One percent are not sure.

And most pastors (89%) also believe their church regularly communicates that domestic violence is not okay.

Yet almost half of pastors say they don’t know if anyone in their church has been a victim of domestic violence in the last three years (47%). A third say a church member has been a victim of domestic violence (37%). Fifteen percent say no one has experienced domestic violence.

Church size plays a role in whether pastors know of a domestic violence victim. Pastors at bigger churches—those with more than 250 attendees—are most likely (65%) to know of a victim of domestic violence in their church. Pastors at smaller churches—those with fewer than 50 attendees—are least likely to know of a victim (20%).

Pastors in the West (45%) and Midwest (42%) are more likely to know of a victim than those in the South (33%).

McConnell said he suspects there are more victims of domestic violence in churches than pastors realize. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost a quarter of American women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) have “experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner.” Given those numbers, there are likely victims of violence even in a small church, McConnell said.

“Statistics on sinful activities consistently show that church attendees act better [than non-attendees] but are not without sin,” he said. “It is naïve to assume a church could remain immune to domestic violence.”

This lack of experience or awareness might explain why many churches don’t have a plan to assist victims of domestic violence, McConnell said.

Only about half of churches (52%) have a plan to assist victims of domestic abuse. Forty-five percent have no plan. Two percent of pastors aren’t aware of a plan.

Most churches with 250 or more people have a plan (73%). So do many Methodist (63%) and Pentecostal (66%) churches. Fewer Baptist (52%), Presbyterian/Reformed (45%), Holiness (45%), Lutheran (44%), or Church of Christ (41%) churches have one.

Among the resources churches offer to victims:

Three-quarters have a referral list for professional counselors (76%).
Two-thirds have finances to assist victims (64%).
Sixty-one percent can provide victims a safe place to stay.
About half have a referral list for legal help (53%).
Half have someone in the church who has experienced domestic violence victims can talk to (49%).

Churches also offer other assistance like referrals to shelters or state agencies, pastoral care, and support groups.

The kind of help offered to domestic violence victims can vary by denomination.

Baptists (66%) and churches with more than 250 attendees (68%) are more likely to offer victims a safe place to stay. Lutherans (55%) and Methodists (54%), as well as churches with fewer than 50 attendees (55%), are less likely.

Baptist (71%), Presbyterian/Reformed (67%), and Church of Christ (67%) churches are more likely to have financial resources to help victims of domestic violence than Methodist (53%) or Lutheran (49%) churches.

Bigger churches are most likely to be able to connect a victim with someone who has experienced abuse (65%). Pentecostals (61%) are more likely than Presbyterian/Reformed (43%), Methodist (42%), and Lutheran (35%) pastors to do the same.

The issue of divorce is one roadblock for churches that want to help victims of domestic abuse.

If a church member files for divorce and cites domestic violence as a cause, pastors often respond with skepticism. Three out of five say they’d investigate the claims (60%), even though more than half say they would believe the charges (56%). About the same number would say divorce was the best option (59%).

The study showed 43 percent of pastors are unwilling to say whether or not they would believe abuse took place.

Lutheran (70%), Methodist (63%), and Presbyterian/Reformed pastors (62%) are most likely to believe domestic violence took place if a church member files for divorce and cites domestic violence as a cause. Baptist (49%) and Pentecostal (40%) pastors are less likely.

Baptist (70%), Pentecostal (70%), and Holiness (76%) pastors are more likely to investigate claims of domestic violence. Lutherans (52%), Presbyterian/Reformed (47%), and Methodists (39%) are less likely.

A 2014 LifeWay study found domestic violence is rarely discussed in Protestant church settings. In that study, 4 in 10 pastors said they rarely or never addressed the issue. Another 22 percent discuss the issue once a year.

Julie Owens, a North Carolina-based consultant who has designed domestic violence prevention programs for churches and the Department of Justice, said churches want to be safe havens for victims. But there’s no way for a victim to know a church is a safe place if the pastor never discusses the issues.

Church leaders had a hard time believing Autumn Miles’s claims were true—in part because they didn’t think domestic violence could happen in the church.

Launching investigations into cases like Miles’s can do more harm than good, Owens said. If a pastor talks to an alleged abuser, the abuser will often deny the claims and then retaliate against the victim, she said.

And abusers often know how to manipulate pastors, she said. Abusers will ask for forgiveness and say they want to reconcile with their spouses—and that’s what pastors want to hear, she said.

“It can be a lot easier to believe the abuser than to help a victim,” she said.

Ensuring a victim’s safety has to come first, she said. That often means connecting victims to outside resources like counselors, shelters, and law enforcement. Pastors and churches, she said, aren’t always equipped to deal with the complicated needs of domestic violence victims.

“Churches underestimate the spiritual, psychological, and emotional damage done by domestic abuse,” she said.

Ignoring the issue in public settings can undermine a church’s efforts to help domestic violence victims, said McConnell.

“You can have great resources in place to help victims—but if no one knows they exist, those resources won’t do any good,” he said.

Methodology: The study was sponsored by Autumn Miles. The phone survey of Protestant pastors was conducted August 22–Sept. 16, 2016. The calling list was a stratified random sample, drawn from a list of all Protestant churches. Quotas were used for church size. Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest of the church called. Responses were weighted by region to more accurately reflect the population. The completed sample is 1,000 surveys. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups

(culled from Christianitytoday.com)

Sunday, 12 February 2017

MFM BENSON REGIONAL YOUTH RETREAT

Happening now!!!

Dr. D.K. Olukoya MTU Foundation

Introduction

The General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries has an unquenchable passion for the youths and this has inspired him to float many programmes to steer away the youths from the path where the devil always feed on their innocence. Programmes such as the establishment of youth churches, Dr. D.K. Olukoya Bible Quiz, Dr. D.K. Olukoya Football Club, GEN 2:18 Club, and so on have been floated just to help the youth to attain their divine purpose. A lot of these youths have also relied on the generosity of the General Overseer to finance their education. Fortunately, the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries now has a University of its own where the dreams of youths in the church can find expression and where expectedly the responsibility of the General Overseer to these youths will increase. As a way of assisting the General Overseer to carry this gargantuan responsibility, this institution known as Dr. D.K.Olukoya Mountain Top University Foundation was created.

Essence of the Foundation

The Foundation is conceived as an organ that will actualize the vision of the General Overseer to bring the University within the reach of an average Nigerian and by extension an average member of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, anywhere he or she may be found in the world. Before the approval of MTU, it is a known fact that the General Overseer of MFM commits a huge sum to payment of school fees and other incidental charges for members of the church. Now that the church has a university of its own expectations are high and demands on the General Overseer to permit members to enroll into the University on zero budget are likely to increase. This has to be properly managed for two reasons. First, people, especially MFM members, already know Dr. Olukoya to be a generous and burden-bearing man; he cannot afford to do anything that will be contrary to this now. Two, his compassionate nature cannot be allowed to impede the progress of the University and especially the move to make it a world-class University whose proper funding must as a matter of necessity come from the fees payable by the students and which the less privileged members of the MFM family may not afford. The Foundation provides the leverage by setting up standards that must be followed to enable the underprivileged members of the church to benefit from the “church’s” University. And this is very significant in order to avert the kind of disenchantment that some members of churches that had established faith-based universities now hold against the leadership of their churches as a result of their inability to afford the fees of the universities established by their churches.

Objectives of the Foundation

The following are the values which the Foundation will provide:

To serve as a bridge between the church (MFM) and the school (MTU)
To finance some MTU needs of members of MFM
To relieve the General Overseer of the burden of education sponsorship for MTU students
To portray MFM in positive light
To provide a veritable platform for evangelism
To attract huge membership to the MFM church
To guard against distracting MTU from its divine mission of working towards becoming a world-class university

Standard Operational Procedures

The foundation operates with the following modalities:

Adopt-a-Student Scholarship Scheme

Donations from Dr. D.K. Olukoya MTU Foundation Partners and Friends
Grants and donations from national and international organizations

Eligibility Conditions

A beneficiary must have been issued MTU admission letter
A beneficiary must have spent a minimum of 2 years as a member of MFM
A beneficiary shall provide 2 references from senior persons in MFM
A beneficiary shall sit for MTU Foundation Selection Test
A beneficiary shall not only pass the MTU Foundation Test but shall also meet the cut-off point

Sunday, 29 January 2017

The Mystery of First Fruit

Text: (Genesis 4:3, Proverbs 3:9, Romans 11:16)
Minister: Dr.D.K. Olukoya (G.O. MFM Worldwide)

There is a mystery strategy from heaven that has the capacity to multiply your financial worth within days.

From heaven, there's this strange power of putting you in the right place at the right time with the right people.

I will like to introduce you to a mystery from heaven that is beyond what your education, abilities, handwriting, and career, etc can do for you.

Read more.

Sunday, 25 December 2016

Beautiful Christmas Wishes To You All

Sunday, 18 December 2016

6 Things Young People Can Do To Change The World

Young people aren’t just the leaders of tomorrow – they’re making huge changes to the world around them, right now. Whether it’s through social media or ‘hashtag’ activism, writing online or in their paper about a cause, or taking part in a protest, there are many ways that young people can ‘be the change’ and make a difference to the world.

1. Volunteer

Many young people volunteer in some way these days. It’s not just for adding experience to your CV – whether it’s a teaching or sports project, to animals and conservation work, to a hospice or a community center, you can make a real difference!

BECOMING FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT

Mr Tolu Bodunrin (Financial Inclusion Expert)

A Presentation training delivered by Mr. Tolulope Bodunrin (Financial Inclusion Expert) for MFM Benson Youth Church during the annual youth week (Nov. 25-27th) tagged, Kingdom Ambassadors.

One of the major goals you and I have in life is financial independence and freedom. Achieving financial freedom is getting to the point where we don’t have to worry about money anymore. Money is important for an effective living; nothing can take the place of money in the area in which money works. In this series, of presentation training, I’d like to expose and equip our youth with vital points that can aid in transforming our lives for a better financial freedom.

KEY 1: BELIEVE YOU ARE WEALTHY!
A. True wealth actually starts from the inside out.

It is first within than without. You cannot prosper beyond the level of development that has taken place inside of you. You become wealthy when you believe that you have the ability to become wealthy. All things are possible to him that believes. What you believe determines what you do. You will always take actions that will turn your belief into reality.

To acquire the money desired, you must believe that you have the God-given ability to make money. When you believe that you can make money, you will begin to do the things that will attract money, rather than give excuses.

Read more.