The Relevance of the Nigerian Church through its Responsibility to the Society and Community Development

The relevance of the Church to society and community cannot be underestimated if the Church wants to fulfil Christ’s mandate of great commission and be obedience to the instruction of Christ as stated in Matthew 5:16. More so, society and community where church located may sometimes face with diverse challenges and hardship such as poor social amenities, poverty, social and moral deviant, several health challenges that will require the church to show good work. The Nigerian church plays a vital role in promoting development through its various responsibilities: This development including spiritual growth and empowerment, support for community infrastructure (e.g., healthcare, education), community engagement and outreach, investment in community development projects, participation in community development initiatives, engagement with local authorities and stakeholders among others. Therefore, this paper aimed to look at the relevance of the church, as a faith-based organisation to the development of society where the church is located and operates in Nigeria. Also, this paper examined how the church can be relevant in the society and ensure there is development in such society where the church is located. The paper adopted a systematic literature review and a historical analysis. The paper reveals that Nigeria churches has make significant contribution to social responsibility, there is room for improvement, particularly in address systematic issues and promoting sustainable development within the Nigeria society. The paper concluded that the church adopting and embarking in social responsibility will be of great advantage in fulfilling the great commission. This paper, therefore, recommended that the church should make conscious effort to be actively involved more in social responsibility which can have direct impact to the immediate society in which the church operate and this will result to expected growth of the church and expansion of the kingdom of God.