Education, when properly understood, is more than the transfer of knowledge; it is the deliberate shaping of lives, values and destinies. This philosophy lies at the heart of Seed of Messiah Group of Schools, an institution established in 2001 from what its founder describes as a divine instruction to raise children as seeds for God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, the school has sought to combine sound academics with Christian values, discipline, leadership, compassion and responsible living. Its experience includes nurturing children from diverse backgrounds, supporting families facing financial challenges, encouraging students to take responsibility and creating an environment where faith is integrated into everyday learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this interview with Christian Benefits<\/em>‘ Funmi Olarinde for its 2026 Annual Supplement on Christian Faith-Based Schools, the founder. Rev. Mrs. Rose N. Okogbue, reflects on the inspiration behind the school’s establishment, its approach to raising the total child, the importance of parental partnership, memorable experiences in the lives of students and the institution’s vision for future expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seed of Messiah Group of Schools started in September\/October 2001 as a nursery and primary school. The name was given to me through a prophecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God asked me to raise a seed for Him in the lives of children. He told me that from the special deposit He had placed in me, I should multiply it in the lives of children. He made it clear that I had to use the gift and calling He had given me for this specific purpose. I took the instruction seriously and left what I was doing to answer the call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our vision and mission are to raise the total child\u2014physically, mentally, academically and spiritually fit and sound, as well as spiritually alert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also seek to raise children who are morally upright and socially responsible. These are the values we deliberately instil in them. Over time, they become part of the children’s lives and grow naturally within a conducive environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through prayer, worship and the study of the Word of God during our morning assemblies, the Lord has been helping us to build a strong Christian foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We encourage the children to share the love of God and to love one another. When children experience something good, they naturally desire more of it, and we have found that creating a loving and conducive environment produces positive results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a child is rebuked or corrected, we make sure the child understands why. We also encourage children to take responsibility for their actions and apologise when they are wrong. As a result, taking responsibility and apologising have become natural processes in the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We discourage rough play and encourage the children to love and respect one another. This approach has worked for us over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Academic excellence is one of our core values. Right from the classroom and during assembly, the children are taught to take every aspect of their education seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We remind them that their parents make sacrifices to pay their school fees, and they must reciprocate those efforts by studying hard, doing their homework and completing their projects diligently. Of course, we also expect them to perform well in their examinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We do not condone laziness or compromise our standards. We continually strive to equip the school with the facilities required for effective learning and employ qualified teachers who can deliver quality education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We give our students responsibilities such as leading study groups, coordinating projects, organising reading activities and taking on other leadership assignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On one particular occasion, we were scheduled to have a general prayer meeting, but the senior students chose to arrive late. I was angry and initially intended to punish them, but I forgave them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While we were worshipping, the Lord impressed it upon me to call them \u201cwonderful children.\u201d I told them that, in the eyes of God, they were wonderful and therefore should not behave otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lord then instructed me to give them greater responsibility by allowing them to administer certain aspects of the school with me. I handed some responsibilities over to them, including helping to curb noise-making and enforce rules and regulations. It really helped us, and the results were encouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parents have a very important role to play. Unfortunately, there are situations where some parents compromise the school’s efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, when a student is disciplined, the child may report the matter to the parents, and some parents have gone as far as rebuking the teacher in the presence of the student. In some cases, parents have even threatened to have teachers arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When this happens, some teachers naturally withdraw from such a child, and the child may feel empowered to become more wayward and disobedient. This creates unnecessary conflict between the home and the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But when parents and the school agree on the need to train and discipline the child properly, the result is much better. We must work together to ensure that our children grow into responsible adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During PTA meetings, we invite counsellors and resource persons to speak on issues relating to the training and nurturing of the total child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Issues that have become common concerns are discussed openly because raising a child is a collective responsibility. When the school and parents reason together and work in harmony, we achieve a greater impact on the children, and the positive results will eventually benefit everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The widespread use of phones has done considerable damage where there are no limits or boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some children spend so much time on their devices that it takes away the time they should devote to assignments, projects, reading and other productive activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Children need to be taught to observe reasonable limits so that technology can truly be a blessing rather than becoming a destructive device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our Christian foundation is firm, and it has been a major blessing to us. It has also attracted many parents to the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The impact of the foundation can be seen in the lives of many of our former students. During our graduation ceremony in July, we invited some of our former students who have become doctors, engineers and nurses. One of them became a professor this year, which was a landmark achievement for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of our former students are also still involved in music, choreography and other creative activities they learnt during their formative years in the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we started the school, one of our teachers told me that a woman who had come to make enquiries the previous day had brought her child, but the child had a physical disability. The teacher wondered why the woman had not told us earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I saw the child on the floor, I became emotional. I instructed the three teachers to treat the child with special love and ensure that the child did not feel different from the other children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The child was crying because he could see other children walking and playing. I prayed, \u201cLord, they brought this child because of Your name, Father. Please make the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We started nurturing the child with love and care, and there was a remarkable transformation. Before one year had passed, the child started walking. He became one of the happiest children in the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have always tried to obey every instruction we believe God has given us, and God has given us wonderful parents who have supported the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another instruction God gave me was to anoint the children once every term. We always inform the parents before this is done, and some give their consent while others do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a child who suffered from asthma. I regularly anointed her and prayed for her. She continued with us until she was promoted to the college section, after which her parents withdrew her from the school. Sadly, she died less than a year later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, people do not appreciate what God is doing because it comes through very simple means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also provide partial scholarships. For example, teachers’ children may receive a 50 per cent tuition concession, while some parents experiencing financial difficulties, particularly those with three or four children in the school, may also receive rebates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During last year’s anointing service, after we had finished with the lower classes, a student came to inform us that Amina was \u201cbarking like a dog.\u201d When we checked, we discovered that it was true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We took her to the chapel and prayed for her, and the barking stopped. Her father subsequently took her to an Alaf, and the problem returned. The family came back to call us, and we went to pray for her again. The barking stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During our graduation ceremony, I usually give the children Bibles. On that occasion, however, the father initially said I should not give his daughter a Bible. This was the same girl who had experienced the unusual barking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the prayer session, the father came back and personally collected the Bible for his daughter. Through the experience, Amina and her mother were led to Christ, and both are now born again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the children are aware of the presence of God in the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have our fellowship sessions, where we share the Word of God and recite memory verses. These activities help us to monitor the children’s spiritual development and check excessive or inappropriate behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parents must also be mature, stable in their Christian values and disciplined. You cannot effectively instil biblical principles in a child when the child sees the opposite being practised at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have to work hand in hand because our children are watching and observing us. They may not confront us, but what they see can take root in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, doing the right thing is not comfortable. The Bible asks, \u201cIf the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do?\u201d We must therefore pay attention to the foundation we are laying for our children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A child may remain with us from nursery through secondary school, but eventually the child will go to university, undertake NYSC, get a job, marry or relocate. At that point, it is the character developed in the child that will guide and build his or her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Character should not be something a child merely puts on; it should become part of who the child is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please give your child a standard and clear limits. Children need boundaries to help them grow into responsible adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By God’s grace, we desire to establish more branches and develop a boarding-school programme. With boarding facilities, enforcement of our rules and regulations will become easier because students will be expected to comply with the standards of the school within a structured environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also have plans to establish a hospital and a Bible school, which will be affiliated with the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the strength and grace of God, and by His mercy, we believe these plans will become reality. Our ultimate desire remains the same: to raise children who are academically excellent, spiritually grounded, morally upright, socially responsible and prepared to make a positive impact on their generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Education, when properly understood, is more than the transfer of knowledge; it is the deliberate shaping of lives, values and destinies. This philosophy lies at the heart of Seed of Messiah Group of Schools, an institution established in 2001 from what its founder describes as a divine instruction to raise children as seeds for God. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5294"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5301,"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294\/revisions\/5301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianbenefitsmagazine.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}As a starter, briefly introduce Seed of Messiah Group of Schools to our readers, children and parents.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What are the vision and mission of the school?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you integrate Christian values and biblical principles into the daily life of the school?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you ensure academic excellence in the school?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you develop leadership and a sense of responsibility among the students?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How important is the cooperation of parents in the proper upbringing of children?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How does the school work with parents to promote the holistic development of the children?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What is your view on children’s use of smartphones and other digital devices?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What impact has the school’s Christian foundation had on its students and alumni?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Can you share an experience that demonstrates the school’s commitment to children with special needs?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What role does prayer and spiritual intervention play in the life of the school?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Can you share another testimony of how the school’s Christian environment has affected a child?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What other programmes do you use to strengthen the spiritual lives of the students?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What message do you have for parents about their responsibility in raising godly children?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What are your plans for the future expansion of Seed of Messiah Group of Schools?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"