Funmi Olaitan, Ibadan

An end may be in sight to the 27 years of leadership crisis in Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), as the President, Supreme Council faction of the church, Pastor Gabriel Lagunju, on Tuesday, said the two feuding factions had resolved to settle their differences amicably.

It would be recalled that the crisis between the factions of the church started since 1990 culminating in legal tussles.

But unlike previous years when both sides maintained a rigid stance, Lagunju while delivering the presidential address at the week-long annual Pastors' conference holding at CAC, Ile Aanu, Alasepe Prayer ground, Ikire, said the process of amicable resolution of the crisis had begun in earnest.

At the conference entitled, "The Impact-driven life and ministry", he stated, "I want to inform this gathering that within the last two months, God Himself had initiated chains of positive actions within both Supreme Council and General Executive Council prompting us to sit down together to genuinely propose various steps towards unification of the entire mission".

He said, "representatives from each of the two councils have been meeting to propose a jointly acceptable terms of settlement which would eventually be tendered in court before a genuine unification could be achieved".

"This is the juncture at which prayers of genuine CAC members are needed that this latest move would not be turned upside down by the devil who had always engaged deceit and hypocrisy to nullify earlier peace moves".

"The 27 wasted years of the mission's crisis are enough for us to seriously sit down together, consider the various damages the devil had done to the body of Christ, and think of the way forward to our glorious future. This is the only way by which Apostle Ayo Babalola and other founding fathers could be happy with our present generation in CAC".

While calling on the country's leaders to address the issues of insecurity, economic doom, natural disasters, threats to life and property and disintegration, he said that problems facing the country become more complex when one hears stories of corruption within the judiciary.

In view of the economic crunch, Pastor Lagunju appealed to the three arms of government at all tiers of government to remember and to always consider the fate of the common man who voted them into power.

He stated further that during the outgoing year, the mission approved additional coordinating councils and special districts.

While encouraging the thousands of pastors at the conference to concentrate on the spiritual benefits of the meeting, Pastor Lagunju described the December 2016 general council meeting held at Iwo, Osun State as very fruitful and rewarding.

The leadership of the church observed a minute silence for 10 pastors of the mission who died in the last one year.