



































Tonemic Substitution


 

 

24 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 

 
24 

 CHURCH-BASED MUSIC PROGRAMME AND YOUTH 

EMPOWERMENT IN NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM MOUNTAIN OF 

FIRE AND MIRACLE MINISTRIES, LAGOS 

 

Tosin Samuel Ajose Ph.D.  

 

Abstract 

ver the years, many Christian religious institutions have been 

part of the interventions in combating unemployment among 

youths in the country by initiating several empowerment 

schemes through skill acquisition in diverse vocations. Despite the 

growing interest of young people in the creation and consumption of 

music in our contemporary society, the inclusion of music in the various 

skill acquisition programme has been neglected. Therefore, this paper 

seeks to highlight the remarkable contributions of Mountain of Fire 

and Miracles Ministries (MFM), Lagos, in the development of the human 

socio-economic capacity of the youths in the church through her 

various musical skill acquisition programme. The study adopts a 

qualitative research design and data will be content analyzed. This 

article recommends that other churches should invest in artistic skills 

acquisition programmes–specifically music, as a productive and 

sustainable form of empowerment among youths in Nigeria.  

Keywords: faith-based music education, youth empowerment, religion 

and development, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries 

 

Introduction 

The effort of religious institutions in empowering people–socially, 

economically and spiritually is gaining attention among the league of 

O 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts (ARMA) Vol. 15 2021 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

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scholars in religion, social work and development studies. These 

scholars have explored the intersections between religion and 

empowerment in different historic and geographic settings.  

 

Development is known to be holistic when it affects the various layers 

of society. That is when there is a remarkable improvement in the 

condition of living of people. The development brings about 

empowerment–socially, economically, psychologically and politically. 

Simply put: when people are empowered, there will be development. 

Even though the developmental efforts of religious institutions have 

welcomed mixed responses from within and outside academia, the place 

of religious organizations in engendering or stifling development cannot 

be overemphasized particularly in Africa. Olakunle et al. comment, 

“from the days of the missionaries to the present, the church in Africa 

has focused its development strategy in two areas: education and 

health care. On the contrary, the intolerant nature of religious actors 

and the destructive tendencies they exhibit during conflicts have been 

voiced by scholars as anti-development (cited in Ogbonnaya, 2012:9-

10).  

 

With reference and in addition to the two development strategies by 

the missionaries above, there are emerging developmental initiatives 

by several religious institutions in Africa. For instance, many Christian 

organizations are now involved in setting up and managing mega financial 

firms, state-of-the-art medical facilities and educational institutions 

of world-class status. All of these is in a bid to articulate the spiritual 

and social relevance of the Christian message in a society where the 

state socio-economic framework has collapsed (Sanneh, 2003; 

Obadare, 2016).   

 

The role religion plays in empowering people especially the youths has 

been of growing interest in scholarship on youth development. Youth 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 26 

empowerment for social and economic productivity is of urgent concern 

globally particularly in developing worlds. This concern is worth noting 

for various reasons. First, because of the increase in the youth 

population in the world. For instance, it is reported that are about 1.2 

billion youths (12-24 years) make up 16 per cent of the world’s 

population and 90 per cent of the youths live in developing countries 

(United Nations, 2019). Second, the rate of social deprivation evident 

through unemployment as well as social vices among the youths 

especially in developing nations are disturbing.  

 

In Africa and Nigeria in particular, religious communities have 

continued to facilitate various empowerment and development 

intervention programmes that are aimed at improving the quality of life 

of their adherents. Such programmes include skill acquisition in soap 

making, shoemaking, fashion designing, computer training to mention a 

few have been established by religious communities including churches 

to productively engage their youths to make them be gainfully (self-) 

employed. In a study by Ogunyemi and Adenuga (2019), they identified 

and assessed youth empowerment programme in neo-Pentecostal 

Churches in Nigeria. They found that youth empowerment programmes 

by the church include leadership training, marriage and marital 

relationship, music, ICT and multimedia and medical welfare. They 

submit that these programmes contribute to the reduction of 

unemployment among youths in Nigeria. It should be pointed out here 

that the inclusion of socio-religious programmes such as leadership 

training, marital relationship and pastoral training as types of 

empowerment programmes appear to be problematic. How do we 

empirically prove that training in marital relation guarantees social and 

economic productivity?  

 

However, the passing reference to music training as a framework for 

youth empowerment in the neo-Pentecostal context by Ogunyemi and 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 27 

Adenuga (2019), and Offiong (2010) calls for deeper inquiries into the 

place of music in engendering and sustaining development among people. 

Therefore, this current study probes whether churches (mainline or 

Pentecostal) consider church-based music programmes as a tool for 

empowering their youths. In what specific ways have these 

programmes contributed to youth empowerment? What are the 

implications of faith-based creative interventions for sustainable 

development in growing economies like Nigeria?  

 

In responding to these questions, this article highlights the 

contribution of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) 

music education programme to youth empowerment in Nigeria.  

Specifically, it discusses the organizational structure and goals of the 

MFM Music programme and highlights the ways by which youths have 

been empowered through the church’s music programmes. Finally, the 

study presents lessons that can be drawn from faith-based 

empowerment interventions particularly through creative activities 

and how these interventions can be utilized as a viable model for 

sustaining developments among the teeming youth population in 

developing societies in Africa including Nigeria. Data for this were 

gathered through observation of the music activities–specifically 

training and performance of MFM and interviews and personal 

interactions with youths who have benefitted from the music 

programmes of the church.  

 

This study offers new perspectives for rethinking the place of 

religious-based efforts concerning youth empowerment especially in 

the areas of creative arts. It calls the attention of religious actors to 

the entrepreneurial potentiality of church-based music education and 

how it contributes significantly to increased employment among youths. 

By presenting the Nigerian experience and MFM in particulary, this 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 28 

study contributes to the increasing literature on faith-based 

communities, youth empowerment and sustainable development. 

 

In what follows, the article reviews relevant literature on music and 

youth engagements and then, though briefly, traces the origin and 

development of church music education in Nigeria. Afterwards, an 

overview of Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries within the neo-

Pentecostal space in Nigeria was discussed. Furthermore, the activities 

of MFM music programmes and how they engender empowerment and 

development–religious, social and economic among the youths of the 

church were examined. Finally, implications of church-based youth 

empowerment interventions in the areas of creative arts for 

sustainable development in Nigeria were discussed. 

 

Music and Youth Engagements 

Music permeates every aspect of human lives hence its utility by 

everyone. Both young and old engage with music almost daily. Music has 

been found to occupy a significant part of the lives of young people 

(Arnett, 1991; Ross, 1994; Brown, 2006), and it influences their 

thoughts, shapes their worldview and aspirations. Young people 

interact with music at different layers: listening, performing or 

composing; in formal or informal settings. For listening, several factors 

have been found to alter musical experiences and engagements among 

young people (Boal-Palheiros and Hargreaves, 2001). While listening to 

music is the most engaged form of music by young people, social, 

environmental and technological conditions affect how they listen to 

music. As Boal-Palheiros and Hargreaves (2001:103) submit, “even 

though many children do not engage in performance, either in informal 

or formal settings (playing with friends, singing in a choir, or attending 

instrumental lessons), the vast majority of them regularly listen to 

music”. This implies that young people spend most of their time 

listening to music. According to Miranda (2013:5), young people, 



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especially, devote huge amounts of time and money to music listening. 

Studies have shown that on average, adolescents listen to music for up 

to three hours daily and accumulate more than 10,000 hours of active 

music listening throughout adolescence (Boal-Palheiros and 

Hargreaves, 2001; Roberts et al., 2009; Miranda, 2013). This 

submission is further reaffirmed by William et al (2018) that middle 

and high school students are active consumers and performers of 

music.  

 

In terms of performance, young people get involved in music through 

singing or playing musical instruments whether in informal or formal 

settings. Within the educational context, performance opportunities 

are presented through concerts, music competitions, talent hunts and 

recordings to mention a few. Performance offers young people the 

platform to express their musicality and portray their social identity. 

Studies have associated engagement with religious music and the 

formation of social identity by young people. Colville Fletcher (2015), 

investigated the religious engagement of music and identity work 

among students in Catholic schools in Austria. The study highlights the 

importance of religious music to various aspects of adolescents’ 

identity work.  How religious settings contribute to the everyday 

musical engagements by young people especially in the non-western 

environment is yet to be explored in extant literature especially on 

faith-based music education programmes. This is a gap this article 

seeks to fill. 

 

Church Music Education in Nigeria 

Church music education in Nigeria can be traced to the advent of 

European missionaries into Africa and Nigeria in particular. There is 

substantial scholarship on the efforts of the missionaries in 

entrenching European Christian musical tradition during their mission 

work in Nigeria (Edet, 1964; Okafor, 1988; Adegbite, 1992; Kwami, 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

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1994; Owoaje, 2014; Udok and Odunuga, 2016). One of the methods 

used was the introduction of music training in mission schools. The 

training was facilitated by headteachers, mainly Europeans- who also 

doubled as priests in the Church. The training scheme included the 

singing of hymns, playing of the harmonium organ and reading of solfa 

notation.   

 

With the emergence of Nigerian musicians who have had formal 

training in music, church music education witnessed significant change. 

Notable among these musicians were Robert A. Coker, T.K.E. Phillips, 

Fela Sowande, Akin Euba, Laz Ekwueme, Joshua Uzoigwe to mention a 

few. These musicians championed various musical revolutions in terms 

of music education both in secular and sacred settings. For example, 

many of these musicians started composing in idioms that challenged 

the known choral tradition which does not favour African stylistic 

expressions. Speaking of T.K.E Philips, Owoaje (2014:39) remarks,  

Phillips, having studied music formally was able to theorise on 
Yorùbá music.  He saw the pentatonic nature of Yorùbá 
traditional music, particularly the songs that J. J. Ransome-Kútì 
parodied.  He then began go preach the message of pentatonism 
amongst Yorùbá church musicians through his augmented choir1. 
When he composed his versicles and responses in 1926, he 
based all of the melody on the pentatonic scale as a 
demonstration of the possibility of composing tunes that 
conform to the tonal pertern of the Yorùbá translation of the 
English vesicles and responses.  This was later to be further 
extended by many of his protégées; Fela S ̣ówándé being one of 
the most significant of his protegees. Even though the Christ 
Church Cathedral was an elite church, Phillips was sufficiently 
influential to introduce elements of Yorùbá music to the music 
of Christ Church cathedral. 



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 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 31 

With the increase of trained musicians in the Nigerian space, some 

churches considered investing in church music education. Arguably, 

church music education started in Nigeria towards the end of the 80s. 

It was about this time churches started setting up music training 

programmes with a focus on instrumental pedagogy. Although not much 

is known about the efforts of mainline churches, however, the 

contributions of Evangelical and neo-Pentecostal churches to the 

growth and development of Church music education in Nigeria is 

replete.  One leading example is the Apostolic Faith Church based in 

Anthony Village, Lagos. It was reported that one of her formal General 

Overseer, Late Rev Soyinka went to the church’s international 

headquarters in Portland Oregon, USA, where he learnt a few 

instruments in one week and later came back to Lagos to teach his 

church members. To date, the church has a sustained training 

framework in the musical training of its members. Members especially 

choristers are taught rudiment of music, sight-reading, voice training 

and instrument playing. Averagely, choristers spend between two to 

four years of intensive music training before joining the central choir 

and orchestra of the church. At a time in Nigeria, the Apostolic Faith 

choir and orchestra was a reference point to excellent church music. 

Their annual musical concerts – Easter and Camp meeting attracted 

guests both from within and outside the countries. The Church music 

education programme caters for children, youths and adults and it is 

exclusively reserved for church members.  

 

Another example is the Deeper Life Christian Church (DLC), one of the 

mega-churches in Nigeria. As Falaye (2015:23) notes, ‘the growth of 

such a ministry today as one of the largest churches in Nigeria, Africa 

and the world, a mega-church with branches in several countries of 

Africa, Europe, USA, Asia, Indian Ocean, to mention a few….’ The 

church was founded by Pastor W.F. Kumuyi, a former academician with 

PhD degree in Mathematics. (See Falaye 2015 for details). The church 



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music education in DLC can be seen as a ‘carryover’ of the musical 

experience of Pastor Kumuyi from the Apostolic Faith Church where 

he had his early Christian experience and training before he ceded.   

 

Music education in DLC is almost similar to what obtains in The 

Apostolic Faith Church as both churches cater for both the young and 

adult. The musical training which paid more attention to instrumental 

music initially started centrally at the church’s headquarters in 

Gbagada, Lagos and later was decentralized owing to membership 

growth as well as the establishment of more branches of the churches. 

While Apostolic Faith Church organized regularly concerts open to the 

public, Deeper Life Church did not organize any publicized concerts. 

One event that appears like a concert, which this author witnessed, 

was in a week-long programme organized by the church during which an 

evening was devoted to musical performances by the Youth Choir and 

Orchestra of the church.  

 

Music training in DLC were offered on different musical instruments 

except for percussion instruments. The exclusion of percussion 

instruments from the training scheme can be linked to the church’s 

stance on worship and bodily expression in dance which the church 

believes can be influenced by the playing of percussion instruments like 

the trap drums and some Nigerian traditional instruments including the 

gangan (hour-glass drum). Like Apostolic Faith Church, DLC taught 

their members rudiments and theory of music and encouraged them to 

take professional music examinations such as Musical Society of 

Nigeria (MUSON), ABRSM and Trinity Guildhall Music.  The 

contributions of these church-based music programmes to music 

education in Nigeria has not been given substantial attention in the 

existing literature. While the music education programmes of the 

churches mentioned earlier seem to be witnessing a backward trend 

due to lack of interest by the younger generation and poor institutional 



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 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 33 

support systems, neo-Pentecostal churches like Mountain of Fire and 

Miracle Ministries (MFM) appears to be making giant strides as far as 

church music education is concerned in contemporary Nigeria.  

 

Youth Engagements in Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries 

The MFM church can be classified under the broad domain of 

Pentecostal notwithstanding other sub-categorizations including neo-

Pentecostal. The church started with a group of about twenty-five 

people at the residence of the General Overseer, Dr D.K. Olukoya, in 

Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria in July 1989. The praying group grew into a full-

blown church in 1994 when it started Sunday services. From Olukoya’s 

home, the church later moved to No. 60, Old Yaba Road, Ebute-Metta, 

Lagos and was later offered and purchased an abandoned slum located 

at No. 13, Olasumbo Street, Onike, Yaba which currently serves as the 

International Headquarters of the church.  The name of the church 

“Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries”, was reported to be revealed 

to the founder in a prayer meeting, which according to Ayegboyin 

(2005) implies that the church is considered to be a mountain higher 

than any problem that one may have. ‘Fire’ in the name of the church is 

indicative of both the presence and power of God that can be invoked 

to consume, roast, and burn their stratagem to ashes. 

 

As one of the fastest-growing churches of this generation the church 

boasts of spreading to the United States, Canada, the rest of Europe, 

the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. On every continent, MFM is visible and 

greatly impactful (www.mountainoffire.org/about). Part of the church 

mission and vision is to propagate the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ 

and to train believers in the art and science of spiritual warfare; thus, 

making them an aggressive and victorious army for the Lord. This 

explains why the church is renowned for spiritual warfare prayer 

styles.  



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The religious activities of MFM are a prototype of those of the African 

indigenous churches (AICs) especially in terms of worship and this can 

be traceable to the Christian upbringing of the founder in Christ 

Apostolic Church. Dr. Olukoya, a molecular genetics expert, started his 

Christian experience in the Christ Apostolic Church, acclaimed to be 

Nigeria’s first indigenous Pentecostal church, as a young person where 

his father served as a pastor. Like other AICs, MFM believes in the 

power of prayer, the Holy Spirit, and spiritual warfare against the 

‘other’ world. They believe that some malevolent entities are 

responsible for retrogression in human lives hence the need to “kill 

them before they kill you”.  Like many Christians, one phraseology that 

expresses the natural–supernatural connection by MFM members is the 

spiritual controls the physical. 

 

The MFM fits into the classification of Ukah (2007) as newer 

Pentecostal churches because of its specific theological dispositions 

including prosperity gospel, faith healing and deliverance. The latter 

significantly characterizes the spiritual operation and vision of the 

church: “that is why we would always have a deliverance ministry 

wherever we are. If you do not believe in deliverance, you are not 

supposed to be in MFM” (Church’s website) [Emphasis original].  In 

addition to doctrines as Ukah (2007) noted, business-like 

organizational structure, economic activities and ownership of religious 

camps are other features of neo-Pentecostal churches and MFM 

operates all of these activities. 

 

With its international headquarters located near the University of 

Lagos–one of the country’s famous tertiary institutions, the church 

attracts the followership of many young people. There is a discernable 

interest and investment–spiritual, social, economic, educational, 

personal and corporate by the church leadership in the young people 

and this, arguably, account for the visible presence of youths in the 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 35 

church. For example, there are branches of the church exclusively 

designed for and attended by youths and young adults. The worship 

style including music allows for more flexible and dynamic practices 

which resonate with the worship preference of contemporary youths.  

The age-framed churches, built and equipped with the state-of-the-

art facilities, are led by young pastors to attend to the spiritual cum 

social needs of its young worshippers.  

 

Different programmes are organized by the church to cater for the 

spiritual growth, marital engagements and academic success as well as 

economic prosperity of the youths. Social events such as arts and 

crafts, technological activities including cartooning, video editing and 

sports are a regular feature by the church. The MFM leadership finds 

every opportunity to motivate its members particularly the youths and 

football is one of such opportunities. The church manages a football 

team and hosts several football tournaments among its youths in 

Nigeria. Besides using football as a means of engaging and empowering 

the youths, it is also utilized for evangelistic purposes by the church. 

As Ajani (2013) noted, “the use of football game as a way of reaching 

the youths in the society for Christ is indeed innovative” (p. 97). 

However, there is no empirical evidence to support the claim by MFM 

church that their football activities offer them the opportunity to win 

souls to Christ. Ajayi believes, the ‘allegiance’ of some of these youths 

to the MFM is only superficial, as long as that has the privilege of 

playing the game, which they believe could be a stepping stone to their 

dream football teams” (p. 98). 

 

Although the church is known for aggressive and ‘war-like’ prayer 

activities, however, musical activities are visibly vibrant in the life of 

the church. Ayodeji (2020) reveals the place of music as one of the 

significant elements in Yoruba Pentecostal Christianity by focusing on 

rituals, rites and worship in MFM. His work investigates how music 



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intersects Christian rites from the opening to the closing activities of 

the church with members of the congregation playing various roles 

during worship. Similarly, Ajani (2013) notes that music particularly 

singing permeates the church services. He remarks, “one of the 

hallmarks of the MFM is the love for hymn singing” (p. 183). In our 

observation of MFM programmes, services are largely participatory 

during singing and praying. More often than not prayers are offered in 

a caller-response manner.  In Ayodeji’s observation, “their prayer 

formulae involve calling of ‘prayer points’ by the anchor Pastor and 

these are then fervently repeated by congregants. In other words, 

prayer among Yoruba Pentecostal churches often a take a call and 

response format” (2020:45). Like in many AICs, vigorous handclapping 

and dancing usually accompany boisterous singing in MFM. Except for 

drums–foreign or indigenous, musical instruments such as electronic 

keyboards, guitars, and other wind instruments offer accompaniment 

during worship. The exclusion of drums from worship in MFM demands 

some explanations. First, some of the holiness Pentecostal churches 

including MFM consider drums and by extension drums, as capable of 

distracting worshippers during service hence trap drums (jazz drums) 

were not allowed in their services. Second, these church leaders, just 

like the European missionaries, hold the view that African traditional 

instruments particularly drums are linked with cultic worship in 

traditional religion settings and should be banned in Christian worship. 

 

While some holiness Pentecostal Churches, for example, the Redeemed 

Christian Church of God, a leading Pentecostal Church in Nigeria, have 

permitted the use of Yoruba traditional instruments such as bata, 
dundun, omele, and sekere, others including Deeper Life Bible Church 

and Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries still prohibit the use of 

drums in their worship services. However, we noticed the use of virtual 

drums–as sequenced drum loop in MFM even when the church’s stance 

on drumming is very clear. This practice demands some questions: Why 



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 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 37 

are ‘live’ drums replaced with virtual drums if drumming distracts 

worshippers? What is distractive and ‘worldly’ about the medium–

drums or the expression–drumming? Since the medium and expression 

of drumming are humanly initiated, to what extent does the sound of 

drum remains a sacred one especially regarding Christian worship? 

These questions are not within the purview of this study however, they 

should demand responses from scholars in religion and 

ethnomusicologist. 

  

Musical performance in MFM is favourably disposed to Western 

classical music tradition and this is traceable to the musical 

background of the General Overseer who himself plays the Organ and 

the trumpet and has once served as a chorister in one of the CAC 

churches in Lagos known for excellent musical performances. Large 

choir and orchestra are a striking feature in MFM with youths and 

children making up the larger percentage. The engagements of youth 

in the music ministry of the church is worthy of scholarly 

investigations. Furthermore, as earlier mentioned, MFM seeks various 

ways to motivate and empower the youth population of the church and 

two prominent activities have taken centre stage in this regard: 

football and music.  

 

The MFM church has a very broad range of musical activities that its 

members especially the youths involve themselves in. Besides improving 

spirituality through creative–music activities, how music serves as a 

tool for empowerment–social, social and economic among youths in a 

faith-based context is the focus of this article. This article explores 

church-based music programmes and youth empowerment in Nigeria by 

focusing on MFM music programmes. It asks, how is church-based 

music training programme different from non-church-based music 

programmes? In what ways has MFM music programmes engendered 

empowerment–socially and economically among its youth and what 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 38 

lessons can religious institutions learn in considering artistic activities 

such as music in their various empowerment programmes in 

contemporary Nigeria. The central goal of this study is to offer a clear 

argument for the inclusion of music training in youth empowerment 

programmes in a church-based context as it is capable of achieving 

sustainable development in contemporary Africa. 

 

Methodology 

In exploring music programmes and youth empowerment in a church-

based context, the study employed qualitative research methods. In-

depth interviews were conducted with key officials as well as 

interviews with youths involved in the music programme of the church. 

Youths selected for the study were those who participated in various 

music training programmes of the church. To mitigate the challenge of 

physical distance and that of covid-19 protocols, virtual interviews 

were conducted with some respondents particularly those residents 

outside Nigeria, notwithstanding scheduled in-person interviews with 

key officials. Various visits were made to the church’s headquarters 

where worship, music training and performance activities were 

observed. Archival materials including the church’s website, print and 

electronic publications and other media sources also provided data for 

the study.  

 

Profiling Mountain of Fire and Miracle Music Ministry 

Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries has a very broad range of 

music programme that is being run under the church’s music ministry–

MFM Music Ministry (hereafter referred to as MFMM). Over the 

years, the music ministry of the church has witnessed significant 

growth and development in terms of membership, administrative 

structure and musical programmmes. The music ministry of the church 

has developed with the church in all ramifications. As church 

membership increased, so did the music of the church. The church that 



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started with about twenty-five members now boasts of hundreds of 

thousands of worshippers all over the globe.  Similarly, the church’s 

music ministry began with nine persons and has now grown to over 

20,000 members; both singers and instrument players.   

 

The membership demography of MFMM is a unique one. Unlike many 

churches especially (neo-)Pentecostal churches, MFMM is comprised 

of people of different ages, social, educational and economic 

backgrounds. In one of the services, we observed at the church’s 

headquarters, we saw children as young as five years and adults as old 

as 70 years and above performing in various music ensembles of the 

church. The music ministry of the church is largely dominated by 

youths and young adults. The average age of members of the music 

ministry is about 30-40 years. Members of the MFMM can be said to 

be educated across various levels of education from primary to 

University and are working as professionals, traders, artisans, IT 

experts, school teachers, University lecturers and musicians.   

 

The music unit attracts both the low, middle and upper class–though 

few–of the society. Some explanations need to be made here. The 

influx of young people particularly students can be traced to the 

proximity of the church to some notable institutions of learning in 

Lagos including the University of Lagos, Yaba College of Technology and 

Federal College of Education. Also, the location of the church’s 

headquarters in Yaba–an area believed to be largely occupied by the 

middle-class of colonial and postcolonial Lagos, the church and its music 

unit by extension, attracts members of varied social status–low and 

middle class.  

 

Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, in the opinion of the author, 

has a very elaborate structure for its music programme when compared 

to other churches–historic and Pentecostal in Nigeria. Corroborating 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 40 

the author position, Adedeji (2020: 66) notes, “not all Yoruba 

Pentecostal operate such elaborate organizational structures MFM”. 

The MFMM is led by a Regional Overseer (Music) and assisted by ten 

departmental directors. See Adedeji (2020) for detailed information 

on MFMM structure and operations. Broadly, the MFMM can be 

categorized into two units: performing and educational groups. The 

performing units are those who are responsible for performing music–

vocal or instrumental in the church. The vocal groups include the Senior 

Choir, Youth Choir, Male Choir and Gospel Choir while the Orchestra– 

Divine Symphony Orchestra, Guitar Choir and Saxophone Band, 

comprise the instrumental sections of MFMM.  

 

The MFM Music School is solely responsible for providing music 

education and coordinating music examinations in the church. As a 

department in MFMM, the music school serves as a capacity developing 

a centre for the church in the areas of music education. The school 

offers training in both vocal and instrumental to interested members 

of the church for almost free of charge except for a token paid for a 

qualifying examination organized by the church for those who wants to 

register for the external examination–ABRSM.  This training serves as 

a form of empowerment especially for the young people who are a large 

part of the beneficiaries of the programme. 

 
Fig. 1: MFM choir & orchestra performing @ the church’s headquarters 

Source: https://web.facebook.com/mfmmusicministry/photo 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 41 

The establishment of MFM Music Conservatory is a testament to the 

fact the church places a premium on church music education in Nigeria. 

Both members and non-members of the church have immensely 

benefitted from the tuition the conservatory offers. Arguably, MFM 

is the only church that can boast of a full-grown faith-based music 

conservatory in Nigeria apart from the Musical Society of Nigeria 

(MUSON) School of Music, Lagos.  The MFM music conservatory 

offers music training of high standard as obtained in other music 

institutions across the globe. The conservatory plays host to some 

excellent musicians–home and abroad in concerts or master classes. 

Past students of the conservatory are pursuing higher degrees in 

various institutions and are known as excellent musicians in the US, 

Canada, UK and other parts of the world. Omo Bello, a French-Nigeria, 

who has been described as one of the world’s most sought-after 

sopranos has a music training background from MFMM.  One can submit 

that the church has been at the forefront of promoting and sustaining 

quality music education from colonial till postcolonial Nigeria. 

 

Church-Based Music Programmes and Youth Empowerment in MFM 

The concept of empowerment has remained fluid because it means 

different things to different people and it has been used in a broad 

range of discipline and historic as well as geographic contexts. While 

it is an “attractive and powerful concept” (Zambrano, 2007: 75), its 

meaning is still unclear and the definition remains different and 

abstract (Pick et al., 2007). Some literature submit that empowerment 

is both a process and result, that is, it is a means and an end (Kampe, 

2012; Xavier et al., 2016). In broader terms, youth, despite the 

complexity in the dimensionality of the notion of empowerment among 

scholars, there are three connecting threads that extant research has 

associated with empowerment: power, participation and education 

(Xavier et al., 2016). For the sake of scope and space, this section 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 42 

discusses how education, in this case, music education in MFM 

engenders empowerment–social, economic and spiritual among youths.  

 

As earlier mentioned, MFM has over the years empowered its youths 

through a deliberate and conscious investment in the areas of music 

and sports. The church founder believes that “Music and sports are 

veritable tools for youths to channel their energies in order to 

contribute their quota to nation-building all over the world” (Olukoya, 

2017). In a collegiate music festival organized in his honour at the 

University of Lagos in August 2017 where the author participated, Dr 

Olukoya remarked that he would do anything to take away youths from 

the street. For him, music education is not just a cliché but a process 

that is capable of improving individual lives and boosting the economy. 

Little wonder why the church invests heavily in music training 

programmes for the youths as a form of empowering them socially and 

spiritually. Studies have identified training on musical instruments as 

one of the forms of empowerment programmes among youths in faith-

based organizations (Oghenekwho & Tonunarigha, 2019; Ogunyemi & 

Onanuga, 2019). Though these studies failed to discuss in-depth how 

music training provides empowerment for the youths, this article 

focuses on the extent to which music serves as a means of 

empowerment among youths in growing economies like Nigeria. 

 

With reference to economic empowerment, youths in MFM through the 

music programme can be said to have been empowered. The youths have 

acquired skills in playing different musical instruments and deploy 

these skills for both religious and social engagements. These youths 

provide musical services for individuals, educational as religious 

organizations as instrument instructors and performers–singers–

instrumentalists for a fee. Many of these youth are sought after in the 

city of Lagos and elsewhere in Nigeria.  In an online conversation with 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 43 

Miracle Agbor, a singer and violinist, trained in MFM, she recalled how 

MFM music programme has empowered her financially.  

 

The kind of training you get from MFM for free… if you were to pay 

for such training outside, you will be paying a lot of money. And now 

after receiving that training for free, it’s not only helping you become 

a musician you also have the platform because of what you’ve learnt, 

you teach other people and make income for yourself…. And I 

remember that the first job that I got as a result of having just grade 

3 certification in music theory and singing that was what I used in 

getting a teaching job in a primary school then. So, you are not only 

receiving you also have an income to start making a platform for 

yourself. (Interview, June 29, 2021).  

 

The account of Mary above is similar to the experiences of many young 

musicians in contemporary Nigeria. These youths receive their music 

training from the church and use their musical skills to make a living 

both within and outside the church. It is insightful to offer the 

economic opportunities that the youths in deploying their musical skills. 

The cost of offering music instructions in Nigeria varies from one 

location to another. In Lagos, for example, private music instructors 

charge between N20,000 and N30,000 per month for an average of 

two lessons per week. In some highbrow settlements like Lekki, 

Victoria Island, Banana Island areas in Lagos, music instruction costs 

as high as N20,000 per hour/child. It means that a music instructor 

with five students will earn up to N100,000 per week which is way 

beyond what some blue-collar job workers earn per month. One of my 

respondents, Owolabi Oloruntoba, a pianist/keyboardist, trained in 

MFM narrated how he was enrolled, though unwillingly, by her mother 

into the music training of the church. He explained how the training 

has empowered him to be self-sustaining financially. In his words, “I no 

longer depend on my parents for money as I now make money for 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 44 

myself. Before the covid-19 lockdown, I do private music lessons for 

twenty-five thousand (N25,000) per hour and I also teach in a school. 

MFM is empowering young people and I think other churches should 

learn from them” (personal communication, July 2021).  

 

As performers, these youths feature at different events such as 

concerts, weddings, funerals, birthday anniversaries and book/product 

launches to mention a few. These performances are well renumerated. 

In the author’s experience with some musicians who were trained in 

church-based music programme particularly MFM, these musicians–

mostly string players charge a very high amount to perform even in 

church events. When asked why they charge an exorbitant fee for 

performance, they responded that it is from the performance earnings 

they pay their house rents and school fees, feed themselves and look 

good. Some of them even confirm sponsoring their siblings throughout 

their education and at the same time looking after the welfare of their 

parents. The preceding narratives further establish the fact that 

church-based music programmes offer viable means of economic 

empowerment among youths in Nigeria.  

 

Socially, many of the youths have risen to stardom both at local and 

international music spaces. For instance, one Omo Bello, a French-

Nigerian, who has been acclaimed as “one of the world’s most sought-

after soprano singer and as carved out a striking reputation on the 

operatic stage all over the world” (British Broadcasting Corporation, 

2016), had musical training from MFM. In 2018, the MFM’s Shalom 

Chorale, one of the branches of the based in the United Kingdom, won 

the BBC Gospel Choir of the year. The chorale comprises mainly of 

youths who are studying or leaving in the United Kingdom. In 2018, the 

Mountain Top Chorale–MFM conservatory choir, participated in the 

World Choral Games held in South Africa and won a gold medal in their 

category.  As earlier noted, the unreserved commitment of the church 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 45 

founder to developing youths accounts for the chorale’s achievement 

at such a global stage. A newspaper editor writes “a man [Olukoya] who 

has created such an inspiring environment by being a mentor, has also, 

made unreserved financial commitments, by providing such talents with 

opportunities for further development through music studies” 

(Guardian Newspaper, 2018).  Not only can youth empowerment 

especially in the areas of music be locally relevant but it can also make 

a significant contribution at the global level as we have seen in the 

MFM experience.  

 
Fig. 2: Mountain Top Chorale @ World Choir Games in Sochi, Russia, 2016 

Source: https://web.facebook.com/mfmmusicministry/photo 

 

Empowerment is multifaceted and affects different aspects of 

humanity. In the same vein, the music training programme of MFM not 

only empowers the youth socially and economically but also empowers 

them spiritually. For the youths, the training develops them musically, 

morally and spiritually which they believe embodies empowerment in its 

totality. Like one of my respondents puts it,  

one good thing about church-based music programme is that 

they don’t only give you, provide you with the efficiency you 

need to be a great musician. They also build a structure that is 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 46 

faith-based. You learn morals. Music is very wide…... and it’s easy 
to get lost in the other side of music if you don’t start up with 
your morals and your faith and all that. So, I personally prefer 
church-based music programmes because they don’t only teach 
you the music you need but also help you build good morals you 
need. Nobody wants to hire someone with bad character… you 
know. So, it doesn’t only build you musically it builds you 
spiritually, it gives you the spiritual context. 

 

Religion and spirituality have been associated with empowerment (Kiit 

and Nielsen, 1999), therefore, the church-framed empowerment 

programme embodies spiritually transformation and development. 

Since man is tripartite in nature–spirit, soul and body, empowerment 

within a religious context should also affect these areas of people. 

Empowering youths through musical engagements is an effort that 

MFM leadership considers very important and do this by providing 

platforms where “young ones showcase their talents in Godly music 

through idioms of well-arranged classical, Negro spirituals, native airs 

and contemporary idioms” (Akinselure, 2018). We contend here again, 

that music particularly in a faith-based context offers the framework 

for sustainable well-being–spiritual and social.  

 
Fig. 3: Shalom Chorale performing at the finals of BBC Gospel Choir 

Competition, 2019 

Source: https://web.facebook.com/shalomchorale 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 47 

Summary and Conclusion 

Several lessons are to be learnt from the MFM model of youth 

empowerment through the areas of music training among youths. First, 

research has shown that music occupies a larger part of young people’s 

lives and it provides them a platform for expression. Therefore, youths 

can be meaningfully engaged through music training programmes in 

faith-based organizations. In the opinion of the author, empowerment 

programmes that exclude music by churches are not wholistic.  

 

Secondly, youth empowerment through musical initiatives has the 

potentials for sustainable poverty reduction, job and wealth creation 

as well as value reorientation.  Hence, more efforts should be put in 

place by churches and other faith-based organizations to develop 

enriching music programmes that will empower their youths 

economically. As seen in the MFM model, youths were developed and 

empowered through musical skills which became a source of earning 

living for themselves. It, therefore, implies that the church can help 

realize the sustainable development goals project under goal 1– no 

poverty.  

 

Thirdly, faith-based music programmes help to develop lifelong skills 

in people which is capable of empowering them to be relevant both at 

local, national and international levels. Youths in MFM, through its 

music empowerment programme, have been brought to the limelight and 

stardom in the music scene locally and globally. While not demeaning 

other forms of youth empowerment programme by faith-based 

organizations, music empowerment initiatives offer the platform for 

creative expressions which attracts global attention. As these youths 

move to the global stage, they project the Nation’s culture and arts. 

 

Fourthly, faith-based organizations such as MFM have continued to 

support the government’s effort in empowering the teeming youth 



Ajose, S. A.: Church-Based Music Programme and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria: ... 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts Vol.15 (2021) 48 

population and channelling their God-given potential into National 

development. No nation can develop without developing human capacity. 

Conscious and deliberate decisions should be made into investing in 

youth empowerment specifically in artistic programmes like music by 

the church. This will not only increase and improve the music workforce 

of the church but will significantly add value to the social, economic 

and spiritual lives of youths in Nigeria.  

 

Beyond contributing to the literature on faith-based institutions and 

youth development, this article advocates that the consideration and 

inclusion of music programmes as forms of empowerment programmes 

for youths have valuable contributions to human development in Nigeria 

in particular and Africa in general. 

 

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