The immediate past primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, His Grace, the Most Revd. Nicholas Okoh has frowned at the recent happenings in the country, as he condemned the attitude of some dirty politicians, who he said is
He lamented the deteriorating state of security in the nation, stressing that it is a threat to the growth and development of the country.
Archbishop Okoh made this assertion at the formal opening of the church of Nigeria’s recently concluded Standing Committee Meeting, Held at the church’s national Secretariat, St. Matthias House, Gudu District, Abuja.
” It is a privilege and something comforting that we are here together, particularly for me that on this side of eternity. We still have the privilege to associate with you.
It would have been otherwise. So, we praise God and I look forward to a happy time with you all.
This meeting is held at a critical time in our story as a country. As you know a major threat, we have in this country is insecurity and upon it depends on everything whether we make progress or we retrogress. As it turns out many people are running around gathering in houses, in the open, and some in secret places, and what are they designing?
How they can outsmart other people to grab power, if they succeed and they are the right people, then we are blessed, but if they succeed and are not the right people, then we are put in harm’s way”.
The formal primate, therefore, called on the body of Christ to ensure they serve as good counselors to the country, urging them to be honest and truthful
“Therefore, I urge this important body of Christ to make sure that we go straight to the business of counseling our country. We should not dwell on generalization. We should be specific, we should be direct, and we should be powerful in our words.
There are many people outside who are looking for guidance and the position we adopt is what will direct them”.
Archbishop Okoh further called on the church leaders to shun every form of ungodly competition which are detrimental to the growth of the church.
“So, I want to encourage you not only the primate and his wife but our bishops and their wives.
Don’t forget that even though the church is not in competition, you can’t avoid competition.
Every day, we are in competition with other churches, with other bodies, with other ministers, and the relevance of the Anglican church is at stake in this meeting, so it is your duty to ensure that we remain focused, that we remain relevant, that we remain powerful, under God.
If we do so, we command the respect of the Nigerian populace, and we retain our integrity as a church”.
He also advised them to shun the temptation of trying to connect to the wrong people and source, as he called on those seeking powers from unorthodox forces to desist from it and retrace their way back to Christ.
“Let me advise our brothers and bishops that in the present circumstance, we are in, the temptation is very high to try to imitate other powerful people or ministers around, in order that we may be hailed by people.
So, some seek powers from very unorthodox forces, very unacceptable sources, in fact, they serve themselves not God, and not the people. You must resist this temptation; you must resist it if we must remain a church.
Sometimes, you are put in the situation to say “is it people you want or godliness? What do you want?
You have to declare what you want, first, to yourself and then to the church under your leadership.
I know that so far, our primate has tried to define himself and to define the Anglican church. I urge you to do the same, that you define your church and differentiate your church by what you say, by what you do, and what your followership and led believe and do.
Please, let us not introduce any strife into our church, it has dragged us down in many ways in the past.
Let us together move forward and glorify the name of the Lord”.
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