Archbishop Prof. Osaze Williams, the General Overseer of The Halcyon Days International Church, says the dire need for global peace can only be achieved through the world’s reconciliation with Christ. In this interview with Christian Benefits, Prof. Williams, a chartered accountant and the Principal of one of Nigeria’s leading accounting firms and Global Prelate of the International Fellowship of Ecumenical Ministries (IFEM), shares how a melodious song he heard in a dream led him from a pagan home to Christ in 1977. He also shares how IFEM is raising individual ministers and ministries through empowerment schemes in this interview with Christian Benefits. Excerpts.

How would you like to be introduced now?

My name is Osaze Williams. I would rather be introduced as a born-again man than as Archbishop, Professor, or Doctor, which I am entitled to use. However, the most important thing to me is that my name is written in the Book of Life.

Can you share with us briefly about your rebirth encounter?

I gave my life to Christ in 1977 at the Scriptures Union (SU) in the secondary school at St. Thomas’ College, Ibusa, Edo State when I was about 13 years old. When I got to school, I came across a young man named Monday Osaigbovo. He used to sing with a melodious and glorious voice the story: Ever I know. Who story. Praise the Lord, it’s true. For Jesus died for me as well as you. Tell me that old, old story. Even in my dreams, I would hear that voice. So, I decided to follow him. Later, I realized that it was not him I was actually following, but the voice that was calling me. And then it came to a point where I said, ‘Okay, let Him reveal Himself to me.’ I started asking Him many questions. Then I had a dream in which Jesus was selecting people. He didn’t select me. I asked, ‘Why didn’t He select me?’ He replied, ‘Because you doubt; you are carrying doubt in your mind, so I cannot select you.’ I woke up from that dream weeping until morning. I knew something significant had happened to me. Early the following morning, I was the first person to go to church. I became very excited. Everything about me changed. From a life transformed by faith to a ministry of reconciliation, this testimony recounts a journey of divine guidance, miraculous provision, and a call to empower others through God’s glorious peace.

How would you describe your lifestyle before this encounter?

My parents were pagans. They didn’t know anything about Christ, so I was a pagan until I encountered and accepted Christ in 1977.

Let’s discuss the transformation that you experienced shortly after you gave your life to Christ.

Things I didn’t understand before suddenly became clear to me. I felt free to speak well. I gained all kinds of unusual understanding. In my exams, the lowest I scored was 90%. It was so obvious that something had changed. This was even noticed by my parents. Before my father died, he called me and said that the God I was serving, I should hold onto Him strongly.

How would you describe your walk with Him over the years since 1977?

I have been walking with the Lord for about 37 years now. My walk with the Lord over the years has been one of increasing grace. You discover that the more steps you take towards Him, the more obedient you become; the more He exposes you, the more He advances you, the more He strengthens you, the more He engraves you, the more He enables you. It’s just for you to take that one first step of obedience. Then He gives you grace to obey the next level. As Jesus said, ‘Let’s go to the other side.’ The disciples obeyed at that point, until they saw the wind and the tempest. Then Jesus appeared, calmed the storm, and increased their faith in Him. He then gave them grace again to perform miracles. For me, it was a miracle to gain admission to study accounting.

Share with us your route to becoming a distinguished chartered accountant

We were prepared to be teachers in those days. We were not prepared to become accountants. Therefore, the subjects that I offered in the training college had nothing to do with commerce. However, I said I wanted to study accounting because one young man was influencing our lives, encouraging me to become an accountant. I wanted to be like that man. But accounting was not something I felt I could study because the mathematics we were being taught then was just arithmetic, which is a branch of mathematics. I started studying for GCE on my own. My parents lacked finances, so it wasn’t easy. In the nine subjects I took in that GCE, I only achieved credits in English and Mathematics and a P7 in Economics, which cannot admit one into any university. Actually, I didn’t prepare well for the GCE; I just trusted in the Holy Spirit to help me. When the results came out, I was disappointed. For the first time since my rebirth, I dropped my Bible. There have been two occasions in my life when I had to drop the Bible. I told God I wanted to study accounting, and He approved it, but I thought that without passing the GCE, my chances were closed.

Are you saying that on these two occasions you backslid from the faith?

I’ve never at any point backslid. There was nothing to backslide into. The only thing I could have backslidden into was maybe fornication, but those days, we were real SU (Scripture Union). I have always been straightforward with Christ without having to backslide once. Eventually, I was admitted into the University of Benin for Physical Health Education. I had one distinction and five credits in my teacher’s grade two certificate—one of the best results in those days. Someone told me that the Federal Polytechnic Bida, Niger State could accept a teacher’s grade two certificate for accounting, so I should apply. That was how I applied to the Federal Polytechnic, Bida for accounting studies.

As a young convert, who did you look up to as your role models in the faith?

Back then, we didn’t know big names other than friends in the faith with whom we grew up together, like Monday Osaigbovo at St. Thomas’ College, Ibusa, whom I mentioned to you. He was one brother who stood out. After we left school, there was nobody like him with whom to always go to church. Sometimes, you discover that the church was always asking for offerings, time, and so many things that you didn’t have. Since you don’t have these things, you feel odd among them, and it acts as a discouragement and distraction. Although I was a generous person back then, I wasn’t a giver. You can be generous and not be a giver. These were the circumstances and the situation. The following year after my admission into Federal Polytechnic, Bida, the polytechnic stopped admitting applicants with a grade two certificate for accounting studies.

At what point in your walk with Christ did you receive the call into ministry?

At age seven, I would go behind the doors talking to nobody in particular. Most of the things I said at that time have come to pass, including this ministry. One day, the Lord said to me, ‘Come and look.’ I looked into a mirror and saw myself dressed as a priest. Much later in life, I became very zealous for God. That’s how I’ve always been till 2004 when I was ordained as an assistant pastor at Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel). I was a minister in Winners Chapel until 2015 when I felt God’s leading to start a new work for Him. I looked for ways to avoid the call for many reasons. I told myself I wasn’t qualified, that I didn’t have the talent, and that I didn’t have the calling, etc., until it became compelling. Then I said, ‘Let me just give it a try.’ While trying to give it a try, I started putting all kinds of demands: if it is God that’s calling me, He should provide the space. And He provided the place where the church is now.

What informed the name, The Halcyon Days International Church?

Halcyon is a Greek word. It means God’s glorious peace, as established in 2 Corinthians 5:18 and onwards. God was in Christ reconciling the world back to Himself.

Could that be the mandate of the ministry?

Yes, that’s the mandate: reconciling the world to God. That’s the mission of Christ’s ambassadors: to reconcile with Him in order to be able to carry out this assignment. The mission is repeated in Colossians 2:20-23. So, The Halcyon Days International Church is a ministry of reconciliation. Peace is a function of reconciliation. The day you reconcile with Christ, crises will be over in your marriage. The day you reconcile with Christ, crises will be over in your finances. We are also mandated to reconcile this nation (Nigeria) and the entire world. The day this nation and the entire world at large reconcile with Christ, crises will be over all over the world.

What are some of the church programs in line with this mandate?

One is ministering to widows, the physically challenged, those in hospitals, and those in prisons. We have a prison ministry. We have not been able to fulfill all of them at the volume that we want to, but at least we have started. Then, of course, at the base of it, we also know very clearly and strongly that all kinds of people will come to this ministry. God has said He will make them mighty men of power: those who were rejected, those who have no home, those who have no hope, and those who are in all kinds of distress. God has said He will make them mighty men of power. We have come to realize that initially we were tied to a higher ministry. It’s not just the obedience that matters; it is the motive. God always sees the motive before anything else. You can be obedient out of the wrong motive, and then you just miss it all.

Now, tell us about the International Fellowship of Ecumenical Ministries (IFEM).

International Fellowship of Ecumenical Ministries (IFEM) is all about true and sincere empowerment of individual ministers and ministries. Our drive is we rise by raising others. We organize individual ministers and ministries to engage in enterprises that they can pursue to bring in income. In so doing, we encourage a bigger and greater society. We seek to involve them and change their mindset so they are not always focused on offerings and the people’s pockets for their sustenance. We are seeing pastors fighting over offerings. IFEM’s impact involves ministering to widows, empowering members through business ventures, and expanding the network’s reach across various locations. IFEM recently visited Edo State and empowered some individuals with N75,000 each for business ventures. IFEM has donated some acres of land in one West African country to provide farming oppoetunies for some ministers that will yield financial resources for the sustenance of their respective ministries and families.