Meet Reverend John Udo-Okon
General Superintendent & Senior Pastor of Word of Life Fellowship Of Churches International, Mott Haven Fridge Network Food Distributor
Irene Madrigal
Meet Reverend John Udo-Okon, a community organizer, pastor, and Mott Haven Fridge Network Food Distributor. John began his career as a pastor in 1987, working to serve the local community of his home country, Nigeria. During this time period, John conducted frequent missionary work in Northern Nigeria and worked alongside the Sudan United Mission-Christian Reformed Church on a national project to promote the development of Christian-themed arts, for stage, television, and film productions.
He would later immigrate to the United States in 1997 to join his wife, Pastor Felicia Udo-Okon and the two settled with their family into a small one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx. In 1999, after receiving a calling from God, John opened a church in the living room of his Bronx apartment. The church was named Word of Life Christian Fellowship International as a homage to their home church in Nigeria. Almost instantly, Word of Life’s congregation began to rapidly grow in size and number, prompting John and Felicia to seek a new location to accommodate the expansion.
“One day, the Lord spoke to me again and said ‘go to East 214th Street and Holland Avenue.’ Usually, when I have such [a vision], I believe that there’s something God wants me to do… So I went and I was standing at the corner of the street when somebody walked up to me and said ‘do you need a place for a church?’ I asked him if he had one and he said yes.” From this interaction, John secured the new location for his church where he remained for a year, before being called once again by God, this time to serve in the South Bronx. For the next few years, John and his congregation would conduct outreach into the local community to provide counseling.
In 2003, John experienced a life-changing moment that has since come to define his ministry. While driving from the church one evening, John and Felicia came across a well-dressed man digging through the trash on the street corner. “When you travel to some of these third world countries, you know that when somebody is poor, they are really poor. So to see somebody clean [looking through the trash] it didn’t make sense.” Perplexed by the situation, they spoke to the man, who informed them that he was looking for food and in response, John gave the man $5. From this singular incident, John became inspired to begin a formal program serving the hungry in the neighborhood.
Initially, the program aimed to feed 800 people per month by soliciting donations from its church members as well as providing educational information and referrals to combat hunger and provide residents with access to services that would empower them towards becoming self-sufficient. In the years since, Word of Life has grown into a multi-service agency that serves as a powerful anchor and voice of change within the South Bronx community. Today, the organization’s community food pantry serves an average of 8,000 household members monthly while also offering Youth Enrichment Programs, School Summer Meals, Food Stamp Screening, HIV/AIDS Outreach, Women Infant and Children referral, Health Insurance Enrollment, Immigration Services, Cloth Bank, and Vaccination Outreach. Moreover, Reverend John believes in the importance of providing community members with the means to secure their own food, as opposed to solely relying on pantries and donations. To help facilitate this, Word of Life is currently working with local Bronx community members to establish home gardens so that everyday residents can begin to grow their own produce.
Besides his work through Word of Life, Rev. John has also served as a member of Community Board 2 for the past 15 years, where he most recently held the position as the chair of the board’s Franchise, Licensing, and Permits Committee. Most importantly of all, Reverend John is committed to combating rising rates of bad credit among Bronx residents, which consequently has resulted in denied access to adequate housing and resources on account of their score and rising costs. “There is a silent gentrification going on,” John said. “The buildings are supposed to be affordable… The people that live in the community are supposed to be able to live in it but because of all these conditions, we end up not benefiting.” In support of this issue, John along with other community organizers have worked to sue the New York State Attorney General, given that it remains illegal in New York for non-lawyers to advocate for somebody else on legal matters.
Should this rule be reversed, social workers, case managers, pastors, and other individuals who have an understanding of the ins and outs of the system would be able to advocate for low-income members of their community, allowing them to bypass needing to purchase an expensive lawyer while still ensuring they receive the support they need to stay out of debt. Ultimately, for individuals interested in becoming more involved in their local community to fight against injustice, John believes it is best to give what you can whenever you can—whether it be money or simply just your free time.
Learn more about Word of Life International and how you can help!
Make a contribution to our driver program to help Reverend John continue distributing food to those in need!
