Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sword of the Spirit Ministries

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep‎. Liz Read! Talk! 21:59, 28 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Sword of the Spirit Ministries[edit]

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Sword of the Spirit Ministries (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)
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Non-notable religious congregation, largely relying on primary sourcing. Seems to be a functioning church, nothing for notability. Oaktree b (talk) 14:06, 7 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Relisting comment: "Keep" argument doesn't make much sense...
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, ✗plicit 14:25, 14 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Keeping the delete I suppose? Oaktree b (talk) 15:16, 14 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • keep. Keep it has the likelihood to improve and it's a notable organization in Nigeria, I feel it should kept. Whinehardy (talk) 8:12, 14 July 2023 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Whinyharedy (talk • contribs)
  • Keep This church is discussed in academic sources on Nigerian Christianity, including Steve Brouwer, Paul Gifford, Susan D. Rose, "Exporting the American Gospel: Global Christian Fundamentalism" (Psychology Press / Routledge, 1996), p. 174–175, which discusses its October 1990 "Operation GAIN" five-day religious crusade in Sokoto, Nigeria, and the harm which the anti-Islamic rhetoric of that crusade did to Christian-Muslim relations in Nigeria. I can't explain the contradiction between that book's claim that this happened in October 1990, with the article's claim that the church was founded in 1993, but the book is from a respectable academic publisher, so I'm inclined to think it is more likely to be accurate. Anyway, I think this church is definitely notable, and the impression that it isn't is due to the WP:BIAS problem of the difficulty of finding reliable sources (especially online) on events and institutions in African countries, even when those reliable sources actually exist. SomethingForDeletion (talk) 09:48, 15 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    Further to the above, as well as being covered in the academic literature, this church is also regularly covered in the Nigerian media. See for example https://tribuneonlineng.com/nigeria-needs-restructuring-to-avert-retrogression-bishop-wale-oke/ – and consider also that the Guardian Newspaper (by which I mean the Nigerian one not the UK one) covers their leader (Bishop) frequently enough it has a whole tag for articles featuring him – https://guardian.ng/tag/bishop-francis-wale-oke/ – I'm sure if someone looked at offline archives of Nigerian newspapers there would be heaps more coverage. SomethingForDeletion (talk) 06:07, 20 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz Read! Talk! 23:35, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment - Leaning keep; I do expect there are probably good offline sources given the large number of passing mentions elsewhere. I don't see any really excellent sources directly on the subject of this organization. Most of the academic sources look like passing mentions to me. Here's the full extent of the relevant material from the book mentioned above about Operation GAIN, which consists of a few substantive sentences: Brouwer, Steve (1996). Exporting the American gospel: global Christian fundamentalism. Internet Archive. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-91711-7. In October 1990, Sword of the Spirit Ministries of Ibadan, with preachers from London's Kensington Temple and Elm Pentecostal Churches of Scotland, launched their Operation GAIN with a five-day crusade in Sokoto, the historic seat of Nigeria's caliphate. … The operation was "directed at destroying the enemy's strongholds and deceits in Sokoto"; the preaching "unveiled the enemy's oppressive weapon of deceit in the lives of the people"; and by the end "well over 4, 500 adults had been delivered from the devil's clutch". Suriname0 (talk) 17:42, 25 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep per SomethingForDeletion and above.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 06:30, 26 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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