Bishops, Pastors and Church leaders
attending the Lousanne Congress 2013 holding at Wisdom Cathedral, Abuja
has unanimously agreed that Christianity in Nigeria is under heavy
attacks and assaults by ethnocentrism, militancy, homosexualism,
materialism and worldliness.
They warned that if the church failed to address these issues, they
will lose their saltiness and the nation may go extinct. The conference
attendees came short of calling the Nigerian church a disappointment in
response to their how far they have carried on the mission of
evangelization.
In his keynote address, the chairman of Nigeria-Lausanne Congress,
Rev Prof Yusufu Turaki, averred that “the church has become a mission
field for ravenous and ravaging pagan, secular and militant
gospels…These gospels include the new age religions, cults and
occultism. The second is the gospel of secularism, post modernism,
humanism, autonomy and Godless democratic forces…the third being the
gospel of militancy and revolutionary forces, Islam and homosexuality”
He asked the church to determine whether it is triumphant or at the
verge of defeat.
Prof Yusufu identified two types of missions “One driven by God and
another driven by Satan” and he also identified two types of Gospels “
the gospel of salvation in Christ: the whole church taking the gospel to
the whole world and the gospel of death in Satan, the whole pagan ,
secular and militant forces taking the gospel of the death to the whole
world” Identifying the two types of mission fields, Prof Yusufu said
that ” the unreached peoples groups: the pagan world; reached by the
Christian gospel of Christ and the Christian groups; the Christian world
reached by the pagan, secular and militant gospel of death in Satan”
Rev Prof Yusufu described the church as the centre piece of God’s
foreign policy exemplified by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
and asked Christian leaders to emulate the missionary pioneers who took
after Abraham, the prophets and the apostles and brought the gospel to
Africa. According to him, the missionary pioneers had the burden that
one day Africans will embrace the gospel and that the growth of
Christianity in Africa is the fruits of their labor.
Berating the lowered moral standards and attitude exhibited by the
Nigerian Church, he asked whether “the church should embark upon
expansion or preservation and what should be the strategies for
expansion or preservation” explaining that it is obvious that the world
is already converting the church and quenching the flow of the spirit.
Prof Yusufu condemned the prevalent rate of corruption in Nigeria and
identified thirty six types of corruption in Nigeria which include” the
demand and receipts of gifts as bribes before action is taken on normal
duties; grafts; encouragements of Ghost Workers; tribalism; nepotism;
favoritism; falsification of figures; willful delay of workers’ salaries
to make extra amount in the bank” He also identified the four
instruments of pagan, secularist and militant gospels which he called
idols as ” revolution, nationalism, material prosperity and guaranteed
security” and stated further that the four global civilizing forces
include the quest for global advance in science and technology, global
capitalist and market economy, global democratic system and global
communications.”
He finally tasked the conferences to decide whether to change the
message of the gospel, or change the method of dissemination or stick to
the old pattern, a question the conferences are attempting to resolve.
Prof Yusufu described Nigeria as being governed by ethnocentrism and
primordial tribalism, regionalism, sectionalism and religious bigotry
and asked Christians to rise above such sentiments if the nation will be
evangelized.
Rev Gideon Para-Mallam , Chairman LOC of Lausanne Nigeria Congress
2013 while welcoming the participants explained that the Lausanne
Congress on World Evangelism (LCWE) first held in 1974 was hosted by Rev
Billy Graham with other church leaders around the world under the
theme’ let the earth hear his voice’ In 1989 Lausanne held in Manilla
while the last Lausanne conference was in Cape Town South Africa in
2010. He stated that other African countries have held their Lausanne
Congress and that Nigeria must lead in global evangelization. He asked
the church to inculcate the three components of the gospel, actions,
words and power and be real witnesses for Christ in honesty, not in
hypocrisy.
In his address the National President of Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria (PFN), Rev Dr Felix Omobude wondered how a bribe taking
Christian can transform the nation. He asked whether Christians are
raising the types of leaders that can transform he nation. The National
President of Christian Association of Nigeria( CAN), Pastor Ayo
Oritsejafor condoled with the family of Solomon Lar, especially the
widow, Prof Mrs Lar, who was to take a session during the conference,
before the husband died. Oritsejafor represented by the President of
Church of Christ in Nations, Rev. Dr. Soja Joseph Bewarang said that
only a transformed church can transform the nation.
The prelate of Presbyterian Church, Rev Prof Mba Uka gave the closing
remarks and thanked God for successful first day deliberations while
the Director, National Issues of CAN and former Chaplain of State House
Chapel, Rev Dr Williams Okoye, gave the opening speech, encouraging the
participants to seek answers to the problems of Nigeria. The
participants broke into issue groups to attempt to carve a way out
towards the restoration of the church wallowing in worldliness in order
to preserve the essence of the gospel.
Some participants and resource persons include Rev Prof Mba Uka , Rev
Williams Okoye, Rt Rev Nemuel Baba, Rt Rev Dr CyrIL Okorocha, Rev
Obinna Akukwe, Prof Mary Lar, General Martins Luther Agwai( rtd), Prof
Jerry Gana, Prof Danny McCain, Rev Dr Felix Omobude, Rev Dr Soja
Bewarang, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor,Rev Gideon-Para Mallam , Rt Rev Dr
Nicholas Okoh among others
No comments:
Post a Comment