Reverend Marjorie Esomowei is an ordained minister and co-pastor of Triumphant Church International London England
Reverend Marjorie Esomowei is an ordained minister and co-pastor of Triumphant Church International London England. Marjorie and her husband of almost thirty years, Reverend Clem Esomowei minister together having Apostolic oversight of Churches and outreaches in the United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa and Nigeria. She is the president and founder of the dynamic WISDOM FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL, the founder of the prolific WISE WOMEN AWARDS. And the founder of the COMFORT HOME ORPHANAGE. Pastor Marj is a very dynamic, proactive, ingenious and resourceful woman. A natural leader whose abilities have been enhanced with over 30 years of being in leadership both in the Ministry and the market place. Pastor Marjorie is well known, in the Christian and Charitable community of United Kingdom, Europe and Africa. She is a sought after International conference speaker.Recently listed on the Keep the Faith magazine hall of Most Influential Black Christian Women in Great Britain and recognised as a community champion by the African Women in Europe awards. Pastor Marjorie continues to pursue her God given goals of serving her generation. She shares her inspiring journey with me in this interview.
Growing up
I was born and bred in Port Harcourt, Nigeria to Chief O W Amachree and Madame Comfort Kemmer. Growing up was an experience that is hard to forget. Though my nuclear family was a small one, I grew up in the midst of a wider family network, that flourished in love. We all (Extended family) lived very close by to each other and it was one big family. Church was a vital part of our lives and education was also a very vital part of the family. My dad was an educationist and took so much pride in his work and my mum was an entrepreneur.
My mum often told me “ I am yet to see anyone die from hard work”. My mum thought me the essence of hard work and the dignity of labour. I didn’t have a “silver spoon in the mouth” childhood but we weren’t poor either.
Daily prayer and bible reading was a part of our lives. It was a must to attend, no matter how sick you were or pretended to be. lol “ kids will always be kids”
I cannot remember a year from when I was 5 years old when my mum didn’t complete the 40 days prayer and fasting and cannot remember a Wednesday or Friday when she didn’t fast the six to six fast. This is where my hunger and desire to pray long hours was birth. I have a heritage of a praying mum.
With regards to my charitable work with the Back to school, Widows in Need and the Comfort Home Orphanage, I believe that the root goes back to my child hood. Our house was always full of extended family members whom my parents took care of. Easter and Christmas times were seasons of distribution of goods, clothes, food and essentials from my mum to almost our entire street. I joined her frequently in those distribution rounds and it was just natural for me to continue in that same spirit of giving. We didn’t have too much growing up but we always gave and gave.
More about the organisation, Wisdom for Women International
Wisdom for Women International, now an Interdenominational Women ministry started out as the women ministry arm of Triumphant Church International (TCI) but today stretches it’s influence and outreaches outside TCI by working with women across various denominations and Churches as well as serving the women of Triumphant Church International in all the branches.
At Wisdom for Women International, i am committed to raising and supporting women to achieve their full potential in Christ Jesus.My joy is to see complete restoration and transformation in the lives of women from every Nation, tongue, tribe, race and culture through our conferences, projects, events, programmes, media and messages.
Life as a Minister of God, a Pastors wife, Mum and also an advocate for women
I sit back sometimes and think, how did my parents cope with a hyperactive child which I definitely must have been?
You are right! There is so much happening around me with all the conferences, events, etc. It’s a wonder how we cope as a ministry and how I cope as an individual.
Like the proverbs 31 woman, I have my set of balancing skills. I only do what God tells me to do at any given time and not a lot more. I always have God given goals that I have prayerfully set each year and for each five years ahead. That way I only pursue my God given assignment and I am never in unhealthy competition with anyone. I keep my eyes on my own goals. God will only give us strength for what He has asked us to do. .Doing that automatically takes off over 50% of the stress that most people face competing with each other. Thirdly, because my head works by processes, I have a template for almost everything I do! For instance as we travel quite a bit for missions and speaking engagements, we have a checklist for everything up to bathroom slippers and hair net,( the ladies would understand) I don’t forget things because I use my check list. It takes off the stress of always reinventing the wheel each time. Almost 99% of schedules around me work by checklists. That’s how my head processes things and it does work for me!
Decision to start the Wise Women Awards
I heard God clearly say to me in 1994 to do the Wise Women Awards and to celebrate Christian women who are taking the gospel out of the four walls of the Church into their community in very practical ways! At this time I was not a Pastor, I was a banker! It took almost 10 years for the vision to be birth. The Wise Women Awards is a God given mandate. Its a God thing!
When it’s a God thing, you are compelled to do it no matter how challenging it is. People do not know how much Christian women are doing in our community. A whole lot of work is being carried out outside the Church by ordinary Nigerian Christian Women. Our mandate is to show case these women and let their light shine to our world.
Challenges...
Our initial challenge was getting people to believe and run with the vision but as we began to articulate the vision better and communicate it better, those barriers began to break and our frustrations began to wane.
Wisdom for Women International is seen as a one stop shop for the 21st century Christian woman with very many cutting edge ministry outreaches and ideas. We had to prayerfully break the barriers of the cocoon of routine women ministry. It took time to break out of the box and get people to understand that as much as we ran the WISE Women Pray, we also needed to meet the other needs of women like the Wise Women Awards. We didn’t want to blend and that was a challenge.
These are two of our major hurdles which we have successfully crossed.
Other projects and activities
Our key activities and projects are the WISE WOMEN PRAY annual residential prayer retreat. By the grace of God we have recorded incredible testimonies from this program including opening of deaf ears and deliverance from many long standing issues Our outreach at the red light districts of Den Haag where we have one to one face to face evangelism with the sex workers. We have done this consistently for over a decade. We also have the Wise Women Awards in Europe and Nigeria and The Comfort Home orphanage which we are building in Port Harcourt Nigeria and our city wisdom for women conference and Our City Wisdom For Women Conference and Widows in need project and back to school project where we and about 350 children back to school.
Greatest reward
Two years ago during our WIN project , just before we started the distributions, the widows brought out some tubers of yams, stockfish and laid them in front of the stage as presents for me. It was their widows mite but it made me cry for days and I will never forget their gesture as long as I live. That was a great reward!
Do Nigerians appreciate women who are making impact enough?
There is always room for improvement. We appreciate the much being done but more can be done to show appreciation to the women in Nigeria who against all odds are touching lives within their community. They deserve more government grants to ease off the financial loads they carry. Many of these women are practically rubbing pennies together to do their work.
Factors that help sustain a Marriage, and the cause of several broken homes in recent times...
There are key pillars for any successful marriage. Notice I didn’t say perfect marriage. First of all, the family must have a family altar where they pray together daily at a time suitable for the family, open and transparent communication, Forgiveness, unconditional love from the man, submission from the woman, great sex life, wisdom which is the principal thing, and also unity because that is where the commanded blessing is released.
The greatest enemies of homes today are of course, satan and his cohorts but mostly because many homes are allowing third parties into their homes.
I am a Woman of Rubies
Virtue is an endowment from above and that’s what makes a woman a woman of Rubies.
By the grace of God, many people have commented on the fact that the Lord has endowed me with many caps like the woman of Proverbs 31, He has blessed me with great wisdom as a life strategist, mentor and coach to many, an author of several books, a loving wife, whose husband has great confidence in her, a Pastor and a benefactress and philanthropist to many.
“I do sometimes feel like I am a merchants ship” And as verse 17 states, I do set about my work vigorously; my arms are strong for my tasks.
Final word for women out there
My message is “beloved, you are bigger than the fire place, you are bigger than the kitchen, you are bigger than any other room, you are bigger than your make up, you are bigger than your past, you are bigger, far bigger than your pain and bigger than everything that has ever happened to you.
See value in yourself and remember God made only one kind of you. You are the original and every other is a counterfeit. You are the original, so you do not let your past drown your dreams”.
Hello, my name is Nathaniel Ayobami . I'm a 22 year old student Nigeria .
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