Cleric Urges Religious Leaders To Match Preaching With Practical Efforts

A Plateau State-based cleric and founder of Grace Dimensions Ministry, Maseke Daniels, has admonished religious leaders to make caring for the poor and vulnerable a central part of their ministry.

He said prayers and preaching should be matched with practical efforts to alleviate the hardship of the faithful.
In an interview in Jos, Daniels said his ministry would distribute 5,000 bags of rice next month to families, with 2,500 bags earmarked for Muslims and another 2,500 for Christians.

According to him, the planned intervention would expand a pattern of food assistance associated with the ministry.

LEADERSHIP reports that in August 2025, Daniels distributed 2,000 bags of rice to Muslims and Christians in Jos, with 1,000 bags allocated to each group. The initiative was presented as an effort to support vulnerable people at a time of economic hardship.

Similarly, in March 2026, he visited the Jos Central Mosque during Ramadan and donated rams and food supplies to members of the Muslim community.

He described the initiative as part of his ministry’s commitment to supporting people regardless of religious affiliation.

According to him, the interventions reflected his belief that religious faith should translate into practical assistance for people struggling to meet their basic needs.

“When you pray, expect God to answer,” he said. “But when you pray, it was God who also ordered us to feed the people. It was God who also ordered us to take care of the widows, the orphans.”

“We cannot continue to pray and keep our arms folded. We will pray, but we will also work.”

‘There’s no true religion without giving’, Mr Daniels said his approach to charity was rooted in his interpretation of the teachings of Jesus Christ, particularly the biblical injunction to care for widows, orphans and other vulnerable people.

He said religious leaders should not limit their responsibilities to preaching but should also address the material needs of people in their communities.

“There’s no true religion without giving,” he said.

“You have to feed his sheep. And feeding his sheep is of two kinds: spiritually and physically.”

According to him, religious leaders have considerable influence over families and can use that influence to shape attitudes and behaviour beyond places of worship.

“If we have 10 families come to church and I’ve been able to impact them with the right knowledge, I’m not impacting just the 10 fathers or 10 mothers, I’m actually impacting the whole family,” he said.

He said religious leaders, therefore, had a responsibility to promote compassion, knowledge and responsible conduct among their followers.

‘We cannot continue to pray and keep our arms folded’ Mr Daniels said prayer remained central to his faith but should not become an excuse for failing to act when people are in need.

He said technology, innovation and prayer all had roles to play in addressing social problems.

“God can’t do it alone; you also can’t do it alone. So it’s a combined work. We are His outstretched arm of help,” he said.

The cleric said the principle was particularly important at a time when many families were struggling with the rising cost of basic necessities.

He said religious communities could help ease such hardship through food support, education, skills development, and other forms of assistance.

Charity beyond religious lines, he said, his charitable activities were not restricted to Christians, arguing that hunger and poverty do not discriminate on the basis of religion.

“If you were hungry and your neighbour was a Muslim and was ready to give you food, would you take it? Would you discriminate at that point in time?” he asked.

“We don’t preach Christianity or Islam. We preach God, we preach love, we preach Jesus.”

The cleric said some of his staff members, including his driver, are Muslims.

His previous rice distribution and Ramadan outreach have similarly supported Muslims, while the planned 5,000-bag distribution is expected to be divided equally between Muslim and Christian beneficiaries.

He also spoke about the Mercy Daniels Foundation, which he said assists people in need irrespective of their religious background.

“We have what we call the Mercy Daniels Foundation, where we reach out to people and help them in our own little way,” he said.

“It is open to anybody. However, you need to prove to us that you are genuine and you need those things.”

He said such interventions were intended to provide practical support to people who could use the assistance to improve their livelihoods.

The wider charitable activities associated with his ministry have also included educational support. In March 2026, the ministry was reported to have paid tuition fees for 40 indigent students from the University of Jos, Plateau State Polytechnic and the National Open University.

Pastor Daniels said his commitment to helping vulnerable people began before his ministry became widely known.

He claimed that he and his wife had twice sold their wedding rings and that he had also sold properties to raise money to send people to school and empower others.

He said support from partners in Nigeria and abroad had subsequently helped expand his charitable activities.

“These people who partner with me are the reasons why I can do what I am doing,” he said.

Pastor Daniels said he had also spent extended periods in prayer, including 120 days on a mountain in Ekiti State and 100 days in Abuja.

He said prayer remained a major source of his inspiration and motivation.

Appeals for greater social responsibility Mr Daniels also urged members of the public to moderate criticism of religious leaders who receive financial support from their followers, saying some clerics also use their resources to assist people in need.

He said religious leaders had an important role to play in addressing social problems because of the trust and influence they command among their followers.

The pastor, who described himself as a prophet, said his passion for helping the poor and vulnerable stemmed from his understanding of Jesus Christ’s teachings.

He that religion should not end with worship or words of encouragement when people are struggling to feed their families

For Pastor Daniels, caring for the poor is part of the practical expression of faith, a position he says his ministry has sought to demonstrate through food distributions, educational support and other interventions.