Disagreements and quarrels between pastors and elders in CAC are legion and widespread. A lot of elders believe and constantly claim that they “own” the Church, while pastors are mere tenants. A lot of pastors disagree with this claim. They argue that the Church belongs to no one but God, and that elders should give pastors enough room to administer the Church. Investigations by CA Magazine actually reveal, that this logjam between pastors and elders may have been one of the major reasons why the early leaders of CAC changed the governing body of the Church from the General Executive Council (which membership included both pastors and elders) to the Supreme Council (which consists only of pastors) in 1968.

Some elders openly boast that the fate of the pastors in charge of their assemblies are in their hands, and that they could ensure that any pastor was removed from their assembly any time they want.

There is this story of a particular assembly where the elders were at loggerheads with the pastor-in-charge. So they colluded with a certain lady who openly alleged that the pastor was having an affair with her. When the pastor was confronted with the allegation at the Church Board meeting, he wept, declared his innocence and cursed his accusers. 

The evil plot became exposed when all the elders that planned it started dying mysteriously one after the other, remaining only one. Eventually the lady also suffered a terrible sickness and was told somewhere that the sickness would kill her unless she went back to confess a false allegation she had made against a man of God!

But pastors or ministers are not the only culprits responsible for the cracks in the walls of the Church. In those days, employers of labor used to prefer to employ CAC members, because of their renown for honesty and forthrightness. A CAC member then could be safely trusted in the workplace. No kobo of his or her employer would ever stray into his or her pocket; such dishonesty by a CAC member was an abomination. It was impossible. But the story has changed now. Many employers of labor, even employers who are CAC members themselves, now prefer to employ even a muslim, or at best a member of another Church denomination, to employing a member of CAC. One would feel sorry for the Church when one listens to some employers of labor recount their ordeals in the hands of cheating or fraudulent employees, who happen to be bona fide CAC members!

Some assemblies prefer to go and hire masons and laborers who are non-members, to come and construct their Church edifices for them, instead of hiring their members for the same task. If challenged, members of the building committees of such assemblies usually recount their several bad experiences in the hands of their members whom they had hired in the past.

Over the years, there has been a mass exodus of members of the Church, especially among the youths, to other denominations. A large number of them leave in search of spiritual fulfillment, which they feel is lacking in present-day CAC. They accuse their pastors of holding tenaciously to tradition in their doctrines and order of services, but in the process preventing a fresh move of the Holy Spirit in this end-time. They therefore go out in search of denominations where they believe there is a fresh move of the Spirit. On their part, their pastors accuse these youths of being worldly and going out in search of Churches where their holiness could be compromised. However, many youths are still in the Church, though it is not clear if they stay because they are fulfilled or simply because they are forced to stay by their parents or guardians. But quite a lot of those who stay are either indifferent to what is happening or down-right angry and restive, pointing accusing fingers at practically all the  Church’s leaders for causing and prolonging the crisis in the Church.

The cracks in the walls of CAC are so many, one could go on and on. However, the worst crack yet is that of the revolution of 1990. A group of pastors ordained in the previous year (1989) came together under the guise of offering to render financial assistance to their dear Church. CA Magazine research investigations reveal that this group had earlier made the same offer during the presidency of Pastor E.T. Latunde, but the great man of God had shunned them, telling them that the CAC leaders did not need their monetary assistance. However, after the death of Pastor Latunde, they succeeded in winning over the new president, Pastor J.B. Orogun. But barely a year after their ordination as pastors, this group came out in their true colours and announced the beginning of a “revolution” in CAC. They succeeded in winning three of the four trustees of the Church to their side (that is, Pastors Orogun, Babajide and Olutimehin). They stormed the Pastors Conference of 1990 at Okesa Ilesa and demanded for a change in some administrative details of the Church. The Pastors’ Conference ended in a fiasco. The group then rushed to court and obtained a Court Order, which they served on the Church’s leaders, thus throwing the Church into a crisis which it is yet to recover from. Since that time till now, court cases, newspaper publications filled with lies, half-truths and naked propaganda, police harassments, allegations of forgery and bribery, allegations of relationship with Satanic powers, and so many vices never mentioned in the past have now become the order of the day in CAC. A minister of the Church is now careful which CAC assembly he visits, where he sits and whose hand he shakes in greeting. Alas, when did things become this bad in CAC?