METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA - Online Study Bible

WORTHY IS THE LAMB
METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA
METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA
DISCOVER TO RECOVER SEMINAR
FOR ALL MINISTERS, LAY PRESIDENTS, STEWARDS, AND TREASURERS
OF ALL LOCAL CHURCHES, CIRCUITS AND DIOCESES
AND
ORIENTATION SEMINAR FOR CONFERENCE
AWARDEES
Sir Jimmy Coker, KJW Rt. Rev. Dr. Sunday Onuoha
Lay President of Conference Connexional Secretary for Evangelism & Discipleship
Rt. Rev. (Dr.) C. Raphael Opoko, TFG
Secretary of Conference
His Eminence, Dr. Sunday Ola. Makinde, GPJ, CON
Prelate
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Table of Content
1. Title Page 1
2. Table of Content 2
3. Vision and Mission of the Church 3
4. Programme of Event 5
5. Introduction 6
Part A Discover to Recover 9
6. Key Note Remark on Discover to Recover 10
His Eminence, Dr. S. Ola. Makinde, GPJ, CON
7. Challenges of Effective Communication System
within Methodist Church Nigeria 12
Rt. Rev. (Dr.) C. Raphael Opoko, TFG
8. Codified System-A tool Towards the Actualization
of our Vision and Mission 24
Sir Jimmy Coker, KJW
9. Evangelism and Church Growth 33
Rt. Rev. Dr. Sunday N. Onuoha
10. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living a more
Fulfilled Life - Bro. A. S. Ogamba, FCSM 42
Part B Orientation Seminar 51
11. Programme of Event for Awardees 52
12. Understanding your Call as a Conference Awardee
and Agent of Church Stability 53
Sir Jimmy Coker, KJW, Lay President of Conference
13. Ethics of Methodist Conference Awardees 60
Most Rev. L. S. Ayo Ladigbolu (S)
14. Vessel of Honour for Effective Evangelism 65
Bro Emma Oha
15. Functions of Conference Awardees 73
Sir Col. Bola Ogunsanwo, Secretary of Council of Knight
16. Appendix 1 Conference Bank Account 78
17. Appendix 2 Church Statistics 80
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18. Appendix 3 2008/2010 Seed of Faith 83
19. Appendix 4 2008/2010 Tithe of Tithes 85
20. Appendix 5 Pensions and Widows Allowance 88
21. Appendix 6 Names, Phone Numbers and
Email Addresses of Conference Officers 91
22. Appendix 7 Names of 2011 Awardees 95
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THE VISION AND MISSION
THE CHURCH
VISION
To be one of the largest and spiritually vibrant
Churches in Nigeria
MISSION
To consistently win more souls for Christ,
Develop spiritually fulfilled members and
Remain very active in serving humanity.
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9.00 a.m. - 10.00 am Registration
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
10.00 a.m. - 10.20 a.m. Devotion by Host Bishop
10.20 a.m. - 10.30 a.m. Introduction
10.30 a.m. - 10.40 a.m. Prelate’s Short Remark
10.40 a.m. - 10.50 a.m. Participants Departs to various Lecture Halls
10.50 a.m. - 11.10 a.m. Key Note Remark on Discover to Recover
His Eminence, Dr. S. Ola. Makinde, GPJ, CON
Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria
11.10 a.m. - 11.50 a.m. Challenges of Effective Communication System
within Methodist Church Nigeria
Rt. Rev. (Dr.) C. Raphael Opoko, TFG
Secretary of Conference
11.50 a.m. - 12.00 noon Short Break
12.00 noon - 12.40 p.m. Codified System-A tool Towards the Actualization
of our Vision and Mission
Sir Jimmy N. Coker, KJW, Lay President of Conference
12.40 p.m. - 1.20 p.m. Evangelism and Church Planting
Rt. Rev. Dr. Sunday N. Onuoha
1.20 p.m. – 1.30 p.m. Short Break/Awardees Returns to main auditorium
1.30 p.m. – 2.10 p.m. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living a more
Fulfilled Life - Bro. A. S. Ogamba, FCSM
2.10 p.m. – 2.40 p.m. Interactive Session (Questions and Answers)
2.40 a.m. – 2.45 p.m. Vote of Thanks
2.45 p.m. – 2.55 p.m. Closing Prayer/Benediction
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INTRODUCTION
We are indeed grateful to the Almighty God who has made it possible for us
to be alive in His vineyard of Methodist Church Nigeria. Our God has
continually sustained us as a Church since the inception of the new
dispensation of administration that began in November 2006.
It is a known fact that the process of the repositioning of our great Church
culminated in the acceptance of the 2006 constitution of Methodist Church
Nigeria which was ratified at Uyo Conference of the Church.
At that Conference, the emergence of a new leadership of the Church became
a reality. Most Rev. Dr. Sunday Ola. Makinde and the Rt. Rev. (Dr.) Chibuzo
Raphael Opoko were elected the Prelate and Secretary of Conference
respectively, whilst Sir Remi Omotoso was the transitional bridge between
the outgoing and the incoming leadership of the Church as the Lay President
of Conference.
His Eminence in different foray promised to continue to build and improve
upon the foundation led by His predecessor by consolidating on the
repositioning process and ensuring great passion and deep commitment in
the Evangelism and Discipleship programmes of the Church. The Conference
Connexional Secretary for Evangelism and Discipleship otherwise known in
our everyday usage parlance as the “Bishop of Evangelism” the Rt. Rev. Dr.
Sunday Ndukwe Onuoha began the coordination of the evangelism and
discipleship programmes.
In the year 2009, Sir Jimmy Nathaniel Coker was elected the Lay President of
Conference, which also brought an added vigour, strength and greater
dynamism in the administration of the Church.
One of the greatest strategies among many was the introduction of the
Discover to Recover Programme with an integrated programme of
Orientation for Conference awardees preparatory to the award.
Discover to Recover is a programme designed by this administration to
ensure that our Church leaders and members are informed in order to be
transformed. It is an opportunity not just for seminar for knowledge
acquisition sake, but also to provide opportunity for an interactive learning
exposure and experiences between the core leadership of the Church at the
conference level at one hand and the leaders and members at the other
levels of the Church at the other. Benny Hinn said that “the deeper you go
into relationship with God, the higher you will be operating”. The bible
records in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”.
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The Ibos have a proverb – “Akarue, Egerue”. When you inform correctly,
the people will listen correctly”. If you are not informed, you will be
deformed said a jester. Discover to Recover is therefore designed to keep
everyone informed of the happenstances in the Church. It offers opportunity
for people to ask questions that would undoubtedly clarify some
assumptions and misleading or distorted information they have received or
continued to receive.
What is Discover in the context of usage? To discover means to find out
something not already known. It is to get hold to necessary information on
what will assist you become librated, restored, transformed, reformed and
redeemed. It is to gain more insight, acquire more skills and gain more
knowledge on the pathway to recovery.
To discover means to uncover or to explore. The Samaritan woman ran to
call her neighbor to come and see a “man who told me everything I did” Cp.
John 4:29. We discover through grasping information, by observation and by
doing. A child raised up her hand to recite Psalm 23. Curiously, the Teacher
asked the 4½ year old child to proceed and she mattered, “The Lord is my
shepherd, that’s all I want”. This is not just discovery, it is also a revelation.
To recover means to return to former sate of any status. David recovered all
in 1Sam. 30. King Hezekiah was totally restored of his health when he cried
out to the Lord God Almighty.
Discover to Recover therefore is the ability to grasp information by
observation, participation, digging or excavating.
The programme has been designed to afford members and leaders the
opportunity through an interactive and participatory session to gain more
insight about the Church and what obtains in it.
It is an opportunity for members to see the progress of work of God in the
Church unless you are informed, you will not be reformed but you will be
deformed.
We have in this booklet lectures prepared for both the seminar for
Conference awardees and the Seminar for Ministers and Stewards of the
Church. There are eight topics altogether for both seminars.
Each Lecturer has 40 minutes to present the paper, answer questions
arising from the topic presented and possibly have a 5 minute relaxation
before the next paper.
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Let me on behalf of the Prelate appreciate all the Resource persons who
presented the papers. The Lord will reward you abundantly.
In this booklet, information on Conference Bank Accounts, Church Statistics,
analysis of 2008/2010 Seed of Faith, 2008/2010 Tithe of Tithes, pension and
widows allowance, names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of all
Conference Officers and the names of all approved 2011 Conference
Awardees have been clearly put to assist us in our operational links and
network. This booklet therefore, is a great resource document.
May God bless His Church and all of us as we make use of this resource
booklet.
Rt. Rev. C. Raphael Opoko, TFG
Secretary of Conference
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PART B
DISCOVER TO RECOVER
FOR ALL MINISTERS, LAY PRESIDENTS, STEWARDS, AND TREASURERS
OF ALL LOCAL CHURCHES, CIRCUITS AND DIOCESES
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KEY NOTE REMARKS ON DISCOVER TO RECOVER
By
His Eminence, Dr. Sunday Ola. Makinde, GPJ, CON
I greet you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I say: A Happy and
Blessed New Year.
We all know that we repositioned this Church in 2006 towards attainment
of spirituality, evangelism and culture change. This repositioning reflected
in the new Constitution which was approved in 2006. Methodist Church
Nigeria is the first Denomination in Nigeria, a fact which nobody can dispute
historically and academically. Our repositioning is set up in our Vision and
Mission:
Our Vision: To be one of the largest and spiritually vibrant
Churches in Nigeria.
Our Mission: To consistently win more souls for Christ, develop
Spiritually fulfilled members and remain very active
in serving humanity.
Without culture change, spiritual and social rebirth, we cannot achieve much
in our Vision and Mission. There is so much indiscipline which we need to
cure in this Church. This Seminar is necessary for us to know our duties as
Leaders in Methodist Church Nigeria, both lay and clergy.
The only source of income in our Church is derived from the Local Churches.
Unfortunately, this is where there is leakage and wastage of funds. This is
where disobedience to Conference, Diocesans and Circuits’ directives are
most pronounced. The Conference, Dioceses and Circuits exist by
representation from Local Churches. If the Leaders of our Local Churches
get it right, Methodist Church Nigeria will get it right as well. The Conference
is the last port of call for all Methodist Church Nigeria Church workers at old
age. Let us equip it now.
It is imperative for our Local Church Officers and Circuit Officers to go for
refresher courses on how to do their work at our Theological Colleges either
for one week-end or we send the teachers to the Dioceses to give the desired
training. Training and refresher courses, for our Lay Leaders, will eliminate
honest mistakes and too know attitudes of some of our Leaders.
There is a need for our Leaders to know what Conference stands for in our
Connexional system. Conference pays Conference workers, maintains the
Headquarters, the Theological Colleges and our Social Institutions.
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Conference pays the monthly pensions of our retired Ministers while she
pays allowances to widows of our deceased Ministers. Conference pays
annual levies to our National, Regional and International Ecumenical bodies.
The only income generating project we have is the Wesley House building
which is aging rapidly. We spend a lot of money to maintain it. We spend a
lot of money to accommodate our workers who are in Lagos, Ibadan,
Umuahia and Sagamu respectively.
The Seminar ‘’Discover to Recover’’ is designed for you to know the
expenses of the Conference, Dioceses and Circuits and how to use our
Connexionalism to meet the expenses without grumbling. We are paying all
workers on Diocesan basis. We are thinking on how we can pay our
Archbishops and Bishops at Conference level first. If we succeed, we will try
the payment of all our workers at Conference level. Meanwhile, the main
source of income for meeting the enormous expenses of Conference are:
1(a) Seed of Faith - =N=50.00 per week per member
(b) 10% of the tithes we realize every Sunday
2(a) For WUSTO – The various annual levy of individual members.
(b) 10% of all collections including Harvest but without tithes.
If our members are faithful to GOD and this exercise, Conference will not be
solvent. All we need are faithful, selfless, dedicated and GOD-fearing lay and
ordained Leaders who will be faithful in remitting to Conference the correct
Seed of Faith (SOF), Tithe of Tithes, special Sunday collections and WUSTO
collections. Unfortunately, some of our members are not faithful in this
respect. They often forget that nothing is hidden from GOD and that He is a
rewarder of whatever we do, good or bad.
We have redesigned and published a new Journal to meet our modern
challenges. Above all, My Brothers and My Sisters, if we are faithful servants
of GOD and we believe that we shall give an account of our stewardship to
GOD one day, our Church will achieve her Vision and Mission to the glory of
GOD. I ask: Are you a faithful Steward or Minister?
You are welcome to this Seminar. GOD bless you as you participate.
With my Apostolic blessings.
His Eminence, Dr. S. Ola. Makinde, GPJ, CON
Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria
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CHALLENGES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
WITHIN METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA
By
Rt. Rev. (Dr.) C. Raphael Opoko, TFG
1. PREAMBLE
It has been discovered experientially and practically that effective
communication is partially or non existent in Methodist Church
Nigeria. Compliance to demands of conference occasioned by the
collective decision of all stakeholders of the church have never
received sixty percent rate. This percentage undoubtedly has been
very generous. This is a great challenge to our church and calls for a
radical holistic overhaul and change to enable us achieve our vision
and mission as a church.
Communication can not be effective if it is not a two-way approach
that has the feed back loop as the connecting bridge.
Communication is both giving and receiving information and utilising
the information both given and received realistically to ensure the
running of a smooth organisation such as our church. Any lack of it
could only bring chaos, frustration and lack of progress.
The preamble gone, I have been given a topic: “Challenges of effective
communication system within Methodist Church Nigeria. No doubt
there are challenges of effective communication systems in other
spheres of human endeavours or organisations, which may not be
different from the experiences in Methodist Church Nigeria. But the
context of our paper or focus is our great church which came to Nigeria
in 1842.
There is no doubt a myriad of challenges exist in our communication
system from the pulpit to the pew and from one local church, circuit,
church group or organisation to another. These effective
communication challenges no doubt have led to disunity, frustration,
dissatisfaction, complacency, retardation of growth, migration of
members to other denominations and more.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 There are many areas of challenge in a church that seeks genuine
growth. We find ourselves encompassed with fast growing new
generation churches whose seeming “modern” ways attract a large
number of our younger and middle generation. Be that as it may, we
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must however appreciate our heritage as well as value the age in
which we find ourselves and face the challenges squarely.
2.2 The challenge of an effective communication system within a church
such as ours is one we must address urgently as a church, for our
continuing to ignore them will be more perilous to us as a church. We
are already paying a very steep price by the fact that so many of our
young people are disenchanted with the communicating skills of our
preachers (lay and Clergy), causing them to migrate to other seemingly
vibrant churches around us. As a church much depends on our ability
IN ONE ACCORD to realize quickly our shortcomings and together
seek for and apply solutions that will enable us bridge the gap of the
identified shortcomings to ensure meaningful progressive advances.
2.3 In this paper therefore we shall seek to discuss frankly the state of
communication in our church, what the problems are and proffer
probable solutions to these problems. This paper will not go into
classical and academic issues of communication. However, it may seek
a fresh approach to communication both within and outside our
Church. It is our sincere hope that by the end of discussion God would
have given us new direction to enable us discover, to recover by
ensuring that an effective communication system is not just put in
place but also practiced through our change in culture and attitude.
3. DEFINITION OF TERMS.
To proceed, we must define the operative words of the text of our
paper such as Challenge, Effective and Communication.
3.1 WHAT IS CHALLENGE?
The word “challenge” in the context of this paper conveys such
happenings in the church that negatively impact on us. Those
communication needs that dare, confront, defy, test and try us as an
organisation.
3.2 EFFECTIVE.
The word “Effective” connotes such other words as efficient, valuable,
successful, useful, effectual, helpful etc. The word presupposes a
communication that would be helpful and successful in our Church.
3.3 WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?
The web accessed via internet defines Communication as the sending
and receiving of ideas, thoughts or feelings from one person to one or
more persons in such a way that the person receiving it understands it
in the same way that the sender wants him/her to understand. In the
context of this paper, communication simply means the transmission
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or reception of a message from one person to another or group of
persons to another.
It may be from the Conference headquarters to the Dioceses or from
the Secretary of Conference to the Bishop or any other individual.
Everyone needs information for one reason or the other.
Communication can be undertaken by oral, documented or electronic
form from one person or group to another person or group. It may be
within an organization or group of people, community or even family.
The web also conveys that communication ensures the flow of
information. It is the key in any relationship at any level, ranging from
between married couples to between nation states. Communication no
doubt makes a difference between success and failure, war and peace,
and indeed life and death. It is inevitable, necessary and
indispensable in life.
The lack of effective communication can put the individual or group at
a disadvantage and make life for either the individual or group almost
impossible and frustrating. In light of the foregoing communication is
vital to each living entity and any organization that underrates the
importance of effective communication does so at its own peril.
Communication, like every other aspect of human life and endeavour is
dynamic, hi-tech and developing at a fast rate. We must buckle our
shoes to keep up with the latest technological developments to
position our church and ourselves to face the emerging challenges.
Let us take a historic overview of the role communication has played
in our Church. We will simultaneously examine the present day
challenges and proffer solutions.
4. THE REMEMBRANCER AND AFTER
4.1 After Methodist Church Nigeria became an autonomous entity in 1962
the challenge of ensuring that every methodist across the nation feels
part and parcel of one national church seeing beyond the local society
which each member belonged existed. Every Methodist needed to feel
the presence of conference, to hear what conference had to say, and to
have opportunity to respond on burning issues.
I believe that these needs among other factors may have informed the
birth of the Remembrancer magazine which served as the major
organ of communication between the leaders and the led across the
conference area. We do not as at present have a full history of this
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magazine, but it was evident it served some purpose during the regime
and administration of Patriarch Bolaji Idowu of blessed memory.
4.2 During the years of crisis while the Remembrancer remained possibly
the main and consistent source of information, both sides of the
conflict utilised the print and electronic media to further its cause. The
newspapers were never short of interviews, articles and paid adverts.
There were also other publications made by both sides seeking
seemingly to discredit the other and defend its point of view. We
cannot deny that this left the Church divided, weak and derided
causing many to leave the Church as a result of the misinformation
that characterised the crisis. Well publicised court cases also added
fuel to fire, Methodist Church Nigeria became well publicised and
popular, but for the wrong reasons.
4.3 When Methodist people came back together in May 1990, the
challenges of reconciliation were overwhelming, managing and
clearing up misinformation became more difficult. Rebuilding the
Church though a herculean task was one taken with the attention it
deserved. While the Remembrancer gave way to Methodist News,
the challenge of communication became even greater and merely
publishing a quarterly magazine amounted to a drop in a bucket in the
light of the demands of the ever inquisitive new generation. This paper
therefore shall attempt to identify certain areas which need attention
if we are to meet up with these demands and seek to discover how
best to address these areas in a way that will produce results.
5. THE CHALLENGES FOR THE NOW
Methodist Church Nigeria is a nationwide church that runs a
Connexional system. This implies among other things that we run a
central church government in which power devolves from the
centre to the constituent units. The downward side of this however
is that decision making starts with ratification from the grassroots first
and works its way up to the top. Members at the grassroots however
feel the need to know what Conference is doing and to feel the impact
of Conference which is the Central Government of the church and to
which every member is obligated to contribute to financially every
week through a Membership Dues known as Seed of Faith. The
average Methodist member wants answers to two key questions: -
Firstly, how is their money being spent, and Secondly, what does
Conference hold in store for them.
5.1 Our method and pace of evangelism has left large areas of the country
either with a weak Methodist presence or no Methodist presence at all!
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The question that arises is, how can we make our presence more
effective in these places? Our attitude to Media Evangelism stands to
question here. Our Dioceses and circuits are located across the nation,
have they discovered their pivotal role in information dissemination at
the grassroots? Our members should not be in dark as to what is going
on at the Circuit, Diocese, Archdiocese, and Conference as long as these
various levels of Church Government play their roles as channels of
communication down to the local level.
5.2 The use of Media Evangelism is one of the areas in which we must have
a rethink. We are not on the radio or television in many places, aside
from the Lenten talks we partake in many places how many
programmes do we have on the electronic media? What do we still
need to do to push forward on this front?
5.3 In the area of Print Media, what do we need to do to ensure that
Methodist News comes out with greater frequency and with wider
and more effective coverage? What can we still do in the area of
Print Media to further ensure the flow of information both within our
church and from our church to the outside world?
5.4 The quality of the pulpit. This is a great challenge. Our
communication has been more or less weak. Non enthusiastic and
apathetic sermons are preached daily from our pulpits. Life changing
and transforming sermons are absent from our pulpits. Some have
used the pulpit to settle scores with either the ministers or members
who disagree with us. Many of our preachers do not even study the
bible neither do they open themselves to the leading of the Spirit.
The consequence is that many of our productive and financial young
members have taken flight to deserts with oases of living spring. Some
of our messages are not contextualised. They are not made relevant to
the needs and experiences of our members. Pastoral ministry is fast
disappearing. Most times we ask members to pay this and that without
ascertaining from them the state of their working environment, their
business and even care for their families.
Some times messages are ambiguous. Besides, you can not give what
you do not have. If your life is not transformed, you can not become an
agent of transformation. You got to be filled in other to fill others. It
must be noted that effective communication cannot exist from the
pulpit where the pew is more enlightened on the subject matter.
Where this exists, there will be lack of effective communication.
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5.5 Hoarding of information. This is the greatest bane of the church.
Information dissemination is very poor. There seems to be no system
in place or made known to all and sundry. This is the essence of
discover to recover programme of the church. Many at time letters
sent retire either in the Archdiocesan, diocesan headquarters or in the
circuit headquarters. Funds are spent to send letters only for the said
letters to have individual offices or even inside bibles as their archive
documents that are forgotten.
Many at time leaders will attend conferences, Connexional councils,
Diocesan and circuit councils without adequately passing on the
information to the people at the area of their operation.
Some deliberately withhold information, while some indulge in it due
to laziness or lack of enthusiasm. This may be due various reasons that
could be adduced to a seeming protest or lack of interest.
Communication sometimes could be a complicated process as it deals
with relationships, cultural imperatives, language demands, individual
attitudes and the numerous meanings of various words that we use as
well as environmental social variables such conflict with organisational
goals, mission and core values. Some bring up their individual
differences to bear upon organisational needs and matters.
5.6 Lack of keeping abreast with Information and computer
Technology (ICT). Decisions in various forays of church meetings
have been made that each headquarters of our church from local to
conference levels embrace ICT technology. Each needed to provide
computers and printers and install modems for internet facilities
where possible. Each minister is supposed to own a lap top as much as
possible and be computer literate. Each minister of various categories
was supposed to have created e-mails. But some of our diocesan and
circuit headquarters do not have e-mails. This has resulted in huge
expenditure profile of the cost of communications.
The conference headquarters came up with the Lap Top ownership
scheme where you supplied with a laptop and the payment spread
over the year. This met with opposition by our own Methodist people,
while two major denominations who got the idea from us have
exploited this programme. The other part of arrangement of acquiring
cheap modems can not go on due to the lack of adequate patronage.
Where do we go from here?
5.7 Lack of enthusiasm in cheap mobile communication. An average
Methodist minister that uses mobile phones spend in a month an
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average of N5, 000.00. You may wish to begin to record the N50.00,
N200.00, N400.00 and sometimes N750.00 or other denominations
you frequently buy, you will discover that you will spend more than
the stated N5, 000.00. The church came up with an aggressive cheap
Glo Cug group to which many people are reluctant to embrace. You
must discover to recover. Lets take for an example this scenario:-
400 conference leaders (from Prelate, Archbishops, Bishops, Lay
Presidents and other categories of officers) of the church who usually
spend an average of N4000.00 monthly to make calls would spend a
total sum of N1, 600,000.00 per month.
If the same number acquire the Glo Cug Sim card, they would pay each
N1,000.00 monthly and a total aggregate sum of N400,000.00
monthly leaving a credit saving balance of N1,200,000.00 per
month. You can imagine how much the church would gain per year of
eleven months granted that the first month; the same individuals used
the sum of N3, 000.00 each to acquire the Sim cards.
The church from only the same people would have saved whopping
sum of N13, 200,000.00. Indeed “my people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge”. Discover to Recover is the essence of this seminar.
It is imperative to state that due to hoarding of information many
ministers have not heard of this cost effective form of communication
started by the church. We are paying out from church related pockets
millions of Naira every month on mobile network communication
alone. Only some of the leaders know exactly why they do not want to
encourage their ministers to embrace scheme. Some of our leaders
have embraced it. Their family members are using the network and
they are saving huge in comparison with their previous expenditure
profile.
Our chief executives have unlimited budget for communication as it is
funded by the church. What about ministers of other categories who
cannot afford the needed fund to call the members of their families?
We must not perish after this seminar.
6. BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: Let me represent here
what was culled from the internet as the barriers to effective
communication.
The choice of words or language which a sender uses (called
'encoding the message') will influence the quality of communication.
In the English language, there are about 500 basic words that are used
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everyday. These 500 words have over 10,000 different meanings.
Because language is a symbolic representation of a phenomenon, room
for interpretation and distortion of the meaning exists
Misreading body language, tone, and other non-verbal forms of
communication
Ignoring non-verbal language, Selective hearing, Hesitation to be
candid, Distrust, Value judgment, Power struggles, Unreliable
transmission (due to noise or inconsistent sending)
Defensiveness (a typical barrier in a work situation, especially when
negative information or criticism is involved)
Distorted perception (How we perceive communication is affected by
experiences. Perception is also affected by the organizational
relationship two people have. For example, communication from a
superior may be perceived differently than from a subordinate or
peer.)
Guilt, Distortions from the past
Stereotyping (assuming the other person has certain characteristics
based on the group to which they belong without validating that they
in fact have these characteristics)
Cultural differences (Effective communication requires deciphering
the basic values, motives, aspirations, and assumptions that operate
across geographical lines. Given some dramatic differences across
cultures, the opportunities for miscommunication in cross-cultural
situations are enormous.)
7. TIPS FOR EFECTIVE COMMUNICATION.
This is for all who are involved in communicating information to one
another or to group of people. Preachers of all categories would find
these tips very useful. In the course of my search for credible
contents for this paper, I encountered these communication tips while
browsing the internet and decided to reproduce them here for your
perusal and benefit.
7.1 Be clear, focused, and brief. A good communicator knows what he is
talking or writing about. Being clear about the topic being discussed is
essential for effective communication. A vague discourse will bore the
audience, and the net result is wasted effort and frustration for oneself.
What you say should also be crisp and to the point. Digressing
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frequently will lose you your audience and will also give the
impression that you are unsure of yourself, losing your credibility.
7.2 Know your audience. What you say and how you say it should be
tailored for the kind of audience you are addressing.
7.3 Be sincere. Say something only if you genuinely feel it is important for
you to say it.
7.4 Be positive. If you are not convinced of the worth of your utterances,
nobody will. The more passionate you are about something, the more
your words will ring with the truth of your convictions.
7.5 Reach out to your audience. Provide your listeners the chance to
clarify doubts or to give feedbacks. Bridging the gap between yourself
and your audience will help make you even better at communication in
the future.
8. MEETING THE CHALLENGES
8.1 The challenges seem daunting, but at the same time we are People of
Faith. We Methodists can confront and overcome. We have a role to
play in ensuring that the Church moves forward. Let us contribute our
quota in this era of repositioning to move our church forward in line
with our Vision and Mission and to explore all areas of communication
to the fullest to enable us take our rightful place in the Christian Fold.
8.2 The church and her leaders at every level must seize every
opportunity to ensure information is disseminated by all possible and
available means, starting from the word of mouth, printed material,
radio and television and, of course, the internet, which has now taken
over as a major means of communication. With one click of a mouse,
information made available on the net can be accessed anywhere in
the world at any time.
While Conference is working on a website, we must encourage local
Churches, circuits and Dioceses that have the means to establish web
sites thereby enabling anyone to access information about the Church
anywhere at any time. We are aware that certain churches in Lagos
such as Hoare's Memorial Methodist Cathedral Yaba, Lagos and Wesley
cathedral Olowogbowo, Lagos, have made moves in this direction.
8.3 Every Diocese located in State Capitals should endeavour to sponsor a
television or at least a radio programme on a regular basis, local
churches can even do the same. This has a two way effect, firstly it
publishes our message in every home in the state, and secondly, it
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keeps our members abreast with developments in their church. Special
mention and commendation must be made to the Diocese of Uyo in
this regard. The Diocese has maintained a programme, Methodist Half
Hour, on air in Uyo for some time now. This has been an effective
means of evangelism in Akwa Ibom State and has created a state-wide
awareness of Methodism. Can we not follow this lead in this area? May
I suggest that Dioceses in places like Lagos, Ibadan and Port Harcourt
can partner together to sponsor a programme on television in these
cities.
8.4 No matter how small a worshipping community is, it cannot ignore the
role it can play in communication and information dissemination.
While Dioceses can publish newsletters on quarterly basis, local
churches can actually transform their bulletins to News bulletins and
include spiritual materials that can edify the lives of members and
non-members alike. One of the easiest means of passing the message
of the Gospel around is through the printing and distribution of tracts;
I dare say that even small local churches can sponsor this. It does not
take a millionaire to print tracts! This is definitely one of our weak
points and we must address it aggressively.
8.5 A word must be said here about conference publications. The
indebtedness has reached a sum in excess of N20, 000,000.00. This
includes the recently circulated journal record of public worship.
Failure to remit payments for conference publications over the years
has adversely affected the consistency of these publications. Worse hit
has been Methodist News. I appeal to all dioceses, circuits and local
churches to ensure prompt remittance of all payments for all
conference publications and to please forward all outstanding
payments to put the Media and Communication Department in a better
position to meet the daunting challenges of these present times.
8.6 We must not be afraid of change, and this is what the whole process of
repositioning is all about. If we are to actualise many of these high
aspirations the church seeks to achieve in the area of Communication,
we must be ready to change our outlook in many areas of our Church
life. We must be ready to accept the challenges our present generation
demands and take them on headlong. If we move by faith and not by
sight we are bound to succeed.
8.7 We must revaluate our curriculum in our training institutions to make
them more robust to relate to the needs of our members where ever
they find themselves. Our ministers must be exposed to attend
seminars and collaborate with institutions abroad for sabbatical
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experiences for our lecturers. The current leadership of the Church
instituted a partial scholarship programme where those studying their
postgraduate and doctoral programmes receive the sum of N50,
000.00 and N100, 000.00 respectively. As at date we have more than
35 ministers who are currently in these two programmes both home
and abroad since the inception of this programme a year ago.
We need each circuit to contribute the N10, 000.00 per quarter to this
fund to enable the administration continue and expand the scholarship
programme. Indigent students have been sponsored by the church.
Two other students who are doing medical studies have been given full
scholarship by the church.
8.8 SATELLITE BROADCASTING
With the introduction of satellite television via DSTV, HI TV, MY TV,
JOY TV, DARSAT, to mention a few, it now became possible to
broadcast to the whole world once the right technology was applied.
Many churches and faith based organizations took advantage of this
and either brought up airtime on existing satellite broadcast networks
or establish satellite station of their own or join existing networks.
This has been done by several charismatic denominations in Nigeria as
such as Deeper Life, Lords Chosen, Christ Embassy to mention but a
few.
If we want to reach the largest number with the message of Christ, if
our Vision of being one of the largest and most spiritually vibrant
churches in Nigeria is to become a reality and not just high sounding
words, we must see ourselves going on satellite in the nearest future,
and if this is to happen the groundwork is to start now. We can do it
through the help of God! Nothing is impossible to him who believes!
9. CONCLUSION: A NEW DAY?
If Methodist Church Nigeria is to witness a new day, we must be ready
to change our individual and corporate attitude to communication.
Information must flow freely from the top and opinions from the
grassroots. I am attaching names, phone numbers and e-mails of key
officers of Conference for ease of contact. (Appendix 6 on page 95)
While every Methodist is in a position to know what is going on in the
Church, every Methodist must also ensure that he plays his or her role
and contribute his quota in passing the message of Christ to all
through contributing to publications and broadcasts. Each Methodist
must be a Soul Winner. Webcasts and podcasts are also viable options.
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From the village market place to the cybercafés, the Methodist
presence must be felt and message must be heard! Can we do this in
our time? Yes! We Can! I SEE A TIME WHEN METHODIST CHURCH
NIGERIA WOULD EXPAND BY MULTIPLICATION AND NOT BY
DIVISION OF EXISTING CIRCUITS WHO JUST FOR THE SAKE OF
CREATION OF DIOCESES COME TOGETHER AND APPLY FOR A
DIOCESE. I SEE A TIME, AND IT IS NOW, WHEN METHODIST
PRESENCE WILL BE FELT IN ALL CRANIES AND CORNERS OF THIS
NATION. YES! WE CAN. WE CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH HIM
THAT STRENGHTENS US. Amen.
Thank you.
Rt. Rev. (Dr.) C Raphael Opoko, TFG
Secretary of Conference
23

CODIFIED SYSTEM – A TOOL FOR THE ACTUALIZATION OF
OUR VISION AND MISSION
By
Sir Jimmy N. Coker, KJW
The Vision and Mission of the Church
The 40th / 5 th Biennial Conference 2006 of Methodist Church Nigeria held in
the Diocese of Uyo adopted the Vision and Mission statements of the Church
as follows:
Vision
To be one of the largest and spiritual vibrant Churches in Nigeria.
Mission
To consistently win more souls for Christ, develop spiritually fulfilled members
and remain very active in serving humanity.
The Concept of Codified System:
Codified System involves the allocation of remittance codes to all Dioceses,
Circuits, Local Churches and Preaching stations throughout the Conference
Area. The System makes it possible to:
i. Readily ascertain the source and purpose of every payment that is made
into Conference bank Accounts across the country.
ii. To identify Circuits, Local Churches and Preaching Stations throughout
the Conference Area and thereafter the membership strength of the
Church.
Need for Codified System:
The problem of reconciling remittance records held in some Dioceses with
that of Conference Headquarters has remained unresolved over the years.
We have traced the cause of the usual variances in the remittance records to
the non-submission of remittance notifications / payment confirmations to
Conference Headquarters as and when payment is made to Conference bank
accounts by the remitting Dioceses. It follows that remittances that are not
confirmed by the remitting Dioceses are categorized as unidentified
remittances by the Accounts personnel of Conference Headquarters merely
to balance the books, since such payments cannot be credited to any Diocese.
It therefore becomes imperative to work a way out of this perennial
problem, once and for all, as well as devicing the need of having the correct
statistical data for all our Churches.
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Scheme take-off:
In pursuance of a permanent solution to the problem, the Codified System of
payment was conceived. Consequently, the Conference Connexional Council
(CCC) at its meeting on Thursday, 17 th December, 2009 gave approval to the
introduction of the Codified System. The scheme eventually took off
effectively in February 2010.
Allocation of Remittance Codes:
As stated earlier, all Dioceses, Circuits, Local Churches and Preaching
Stations have been allocated remittance codes.
Types of remittance and their codes are as stated below:
Remittance Code
a. Seed of Faith S
b. 10% of Tithes T
c. WUSTO Payments
i. 10% of other Collections )
ii. WUSTO Levies ) W
iii. Prelate’s Special WUSTO Appeal )
d. Miscellaneous Income M
(See Appendix)
Composition of a complete Remittance Code - Example:
Let us use Satellite Methodist Church, Satellite Town and Lagos as an
illustration. Please, note the following important details:
o The Local Church is in City Mission Circuit in the Diocese of Lagos
Mainland.
o Diocese of Lagos Mainland is allocated Code “D03” that is, Diocese
No. 3 in the Conference Area (non-hierarchical)
o City Mission Circuit is allocated Code “C3” that is, Circuit No. 3 in
the Diocese of Lagos Mainland.
o Satellite Methodist Church is allocated Code “LC4” that is, Local
Church No. 4 in City Mission Circuit.
o Let us assume that the Local Church intends to pay its Seed of Faith
in the bank
Now, let us assemble the full remittance Code for use in Satellite
Methodist Church: D03 / C3 / LC4 / S
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Where:
D03 is the Diocesan Code
C3 is the Circuit Code, as Circuit No. 3 in the Diocese
LC4 is the Local Church Code, as Church No. 4 in the Circuit
S indicates that the payment is for Seed of Faith
Need to fund Conference Headquarters adequately
Conference Headquarters requires adequate funds for the following:
Day to day running of Conference Headquarters as a corporate entity in
Nigeria, with responsibilities nationally and internationally on behalf of
the Church.
Payment of emoluments of the staff of Conference Headquarters
Running of Conference Theological Institutes and other Conference
establishments including payment of their emoluments.
Support for educational advancement of the clergy.
Payment of Pension to retired Ministers as well as Widows’ Allowances.
There is constitutional requirement for 20% budget provision for
Evangelism and Discipleship, 5% for Welfare and 2% for Youth.
Organizing Conferences, Conference Connexional Council and
Committees of Conference meetings where far-reaching decisions are
taken.
Sustenance of Wesley University of Science of Technology, Ondo
(WUSTO)
Interactions with Ecumenical Bodies and other allied activities.
Sources of Conference funds
Background Information
Prior to year 2000, Conference was funded through the payment of varied
sums of assessment levied on each of the Dioceses throughout the
Conference Area for the running of Conference Headquarters on yearly basis.
During the era regrettably, most Dioceses were often in default which posed
serious challenge to the work of Conference as a result of insufficiency of
funds. It then became imperative that another mode of Conference funding
had to be introduced to replace levies of assessment on Dioceses.
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Consequently, the concept of Conference membership fees, otherwise known
as Seed of Faith came into being in January 2001 and has since then formed
a major mode of Conference funding in place of assessment levies.
a. Seed of Faith
Section 410 (a) of Methodist Church Nigeria 2006 constitution listed
Annual Membership fees (Seed of Faith) among other collectable funds in
all its local churches and preaching stations in the Conference Area.
Seed of Faith effectively commenced in January 2001 at the rate of N5.00
per member per week and remained so till December 2002. Sequel to
the decision at the 2002 Conference held at the Diocese of Ibadan, it was
moved up to N10.00 per member per week with effect from January
2003 and remained so till December 2008. Again, the 2008 Ilesa
Conference gave approval to an increase from N10.00 to N20.00 per
member per week with effect from January 2009. Lastly, the 2010
Conference held at Methodist Theological Institute, Umuahia gave
approval to another increase from N20.00 to N50.00 per member per
week with effect from January 2011.
b. 10% of Tithes
Section 411 Sub-section I also went further to mandate Local Churches
and Preaching Stations to remit at least 10% of Tithes collected and the
entire Seed of Faith to the Conference Headquarters in accordance with
procedure set down by the Conference Connexional Council from time to
time.
The slow pace of the Seed of Faith, in its second year of existence, to
rapidly and sufficiently meet the financial obligations of Conference
Headquarters, as expected, necessitated the decision of the 2002 Ibadan
Conference in approving the 10% of Tithes remittance as the second
Conference funding concept. The remittance took effect in January 2003
and from that period till date.
c. WUSTO levy / 10% of other offerings
Collections in aid of the establishment of Wesley University of Science of
Technology (WUSTO) took off in all our Churches in 2004. Levies
ranging from N500 to N100,000 were stipulated for various categories of
members. As in the case of Seed of Faith, the response in respect of
WUSTO levies was adjudged slow and low to satisfy the yearning of the
Church in its quest to meet the conditions precedent to obtaining
provisional licence for the establishing of the University from the
National Universities Commission. The Church therefore, at its 2006
Uyo Conference took the following decisions:
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i. That 10% of other offerings from all Local Churches be remitted on
regular basis to Conference in aid of WUSTO.
ii. That the already established WUSTO levies should run for 10 years.
The 10% of other offerings took off effectively in January 2007.
d. Prelate’s Special Appeal (for WUSTO)
In May 2009, His Eminence, the Prelate of the Methodist Church Nigeria
launched a Special Appeal for funds for the sustenance of WUSTO, in
addition to existing levies and offerings indicated in © above.
Importance of Seed of Faith and 10% of Tithes in Conference Funding
We need to ask ourselves these questions: What is the impact of Seed of
Faith and 10% of Tithes in the funding of Conference Headquarters? What
position does Seed of Faith / 10% of Tithes occupy in satisfying the financial
needs of Conference Headquarters? The answers of these questions are very
simple.
Every year, Seed of Faith and 10% of Tithes account for not less than 80% of
the total income expectation of budget, while other sources of income, put
together, hardly account for the remaining 20%.
Merits of the Codified System:
Delay in the payment of remittances to Banks has been reduced at the
Local Church level. Under the Codified System, it has become
mandatory for the Local Church to make payment of its remittance to
Conference Account directly and send confirmation of payment to
Diocese thereafter.
To a great extent, it reduces the cost of remittance to the barest
minimum with the opportunity provided by the on-Line banking.
The promptness of remittance from the Local Church has had a positive
impact on the availability of funds in Conference bank accounts at all
times.
Many ‘hidden’ Local Churches have been brought to the mainstream of
the Church with the allocation of remittance code to every Local Church,
even including the up-coming ones: the preaching stations.
Codified System has now provided the opportunity to know the number
of Local Churches / Preaching Stations abound in the Conference Area.
There is optimism that our income expectation in Seed of Faith, 10% of
Tithes and WUSTO will grow higher as the awareness and perfection of
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the Codified System will increase as we enter the second year of the
scheme.
Diocesan Responsibility:
We wish to reiterate that the role of the Diocesan Headquarters in
collating and summarising all payments made by the Local Churches,
Circuit by Circuit, and despatching same to Conference Headquarters on
monthly basis is still in force. This is the only means of cross checking
the entries on the Bank’s statements by Conference Headquarters
Accounts personnel.
Furthermore this shall enable the Bishops to monitor and appraise the
remittances of their various Local Churches and Circuits based on the
initial target set for them.
It has also been observed that a number of Dioceses that were hitherto
forwarding their monthly remittance documentations to Conference
Headquarters have stopped doing so since the emergence of the
Codified System. Contrary to lay down policy of submission of
documents to the Headquarters.
Challenges encountered:
We still have some Local Churches that have not complied with the
requirement of the Codified System of payment. Representatives of
some Local Churches making payment at the Banks are still in the habit
of signing their names on deposit slips. This is very wrong. All that is
required to be written at the column is the remittance code of the
Local Church. This is the only way to verify the source and purpose of
the payment when we receive Bank statement at Conference
Headquarters.
Similarly, some Local Churches do lump together different types of
remittance on one deposit slip when paying to Bank. Each remittance
type has its distinct Code for payment. Therefore, lumping of various
payments on one Bank Deposit slip has fallen away with the
introduction of the Codified System.
The Dioceses too account for non-codification of some of the
remittances in our books. Often times, remittances are delayed and in
the process of releasing the arrears of remittance for payment through
Bank, the Dioceses would simply bulk the remittances of different types
(a practice that has been out-lawed) with a single cheque thereby
rendering the Codified System ineffective.
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On the part of the Banks, there is inconsistency in capturing the
remittance codes of the depositing Local Church into their system. We
have observed over time that the Banks only display the remittance
codes on the bank statement if cash deposits are made and ignore the
codes whenever cheque deposits are involved. This partial compliance
runs contrary to their assurance of total compliance with the modalities
given by us at the inception of the system. We have taken the Banks up,
one by one, and they have assured us of improvement.
The importance of statistics and money in Church affairs:
Statistics and Money have great relevance in the affairs of any organisation,
the Church inclusive. No Budget or Planning process can be prepared
without supportive Statistics to achieve the set goal: e.g.
State of the Economy
Number of workers in the payroll of the organisation.
Number of Branches
Membership strength
Gender statistics
Number of New Recruits / Resignations
Number of Materials / Equipment needed.
In Methodist Church Nigeria, the statistics that are most relevant to the
planning processes at Conference Headquarters are Membership Statistic
and Remittance Performance Statistics of Dioceses, Circuits and Local
Churches. As for Membership statistics, we as a Church are yet to know how
many Methodists we are in Nigeria. Up till today, we continue to receive
complaints of over-estimation of Membership population from some
Dioceses, even where figures used for the statistics by Conference
Headquarters were culled from the Synods Agenda booklets of the agitating
Dioceses.
Membership Statistics:
The essence of Membership Statistics can be derived from the Holy
Bible in Mathew 14: 20-21 where the people that came for Jesus
teachings were said to be about 5,000 men. The people were all fed with
twelve baskets full of remnants.
The birth of Jesus Christ was linked with the time of the first census in
Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Augustus. In order to fulfil
their civic obligation to the state, Joseph and Mary proceeded to
Bethlehem, their birth place, for the census registration. While in
Bethlehem Jesus was born in a manger (Luke 2: 1-7). It is therefore not
30

out of place for a big Christian body like ours to give Statistics (human
or material) a proper attention as a valuable tool for development.
Worship Journal:
This journal is to enhance proper record keeping of statistics and financial
returns which are ingredient of good stewardship and accountability. For
the avoidance of doubt each page of the journal is to be used for one worship
service only i.e. 8.00am service one page, 10.00am service one page and
6.00pm service one page.
Ministers are to ensure that accurate records are duly recorded and the
journal kept within the custody of Church.
Remittance Performance Statistics:
It is very essential to have the statistics of the remittance of Seed of Faith,
10% of Tithes and WUSTO from Dioceses from time to time with a view to
measuring performance at a particular period in respect of the volume of
financial support to the Conference Headquarters from each Diocese.
Financial responsibilities of Conference Headquarters are enormous.
(Please refer to “Why do we need to fund Conference Headquarters
adequately” above) The greatest challenge to the work of Conference (God
forbid) could be inadequate funding. It is therefore essential that Dioceses
continue to perform their statutory role of funding the Conference
adequately at all times, bearing in mind that Money is the answer for
everything – (Ecclesiastes 10: 19b) and when all Methodist members
perform their financial roles in the Church, we are God’s fellow workers; we
are God’s field, God’s building. – (1 Cor. 3: 9).
Apart from funding the Headquarters, it is also a biblical injunction to pay
our Tithes as in:
(1) Malachi 3: 10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may
be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I
will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much
blessing that you will not have room enough for it”
(2) Deut.: 14: 22 Be sure to set aside a Tenth of all that your fields produce
each year.
As well, it is biblical to pay Seed of Faith as in Ecclesiastes 11: vs 6 “Sow your
Seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not
know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally
well.”
Finally, in our financial obligations to the Church, we should:
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i. Exhibit faithfulness with God as Abraham did ( Genesis 22: 16 – 18)
ii. Have the Fear of God (Psalm 19: 9) and
iii. We should be honest at all times (Phil. 4: 8, Acts 5: 4)
My Fraternal greetings.
Sir Jimmy N. Coker, KJW
Lay President of Conference
32

EVANGELISM AND CHURCH GROWTH
By
Rt. Rev. Dr. Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha
Introduction:
Evangelism, sharing the goodness news about Jesus Christ the Saviour, is the
key ingredient in planting new churches that will grow through consistent
discipleship.
This paper is not produced as a Wagnerian, Feeney, or John Apeh review of
Church Growth and definitely not a summary of the composite exposures we
have all had in the process of training or seminar for Evangelists. This is the
era when consumerism and market forces have commandeered independent
thinking, and subjected the church into another arena for the interaction of
market forces from the subject under treatment to the generation of funds.
This paper will be an attempt to advance our conversation as we pursue our
aim of growth towards the vibrant and largest church in Nigeria still
committed to the simple gospel of Christ and our proud Wesleyan heritage.
What is Evangelism?
Evangelism is preaching the Good News about Jesus Christ in the power of
the Holy Spirit leaving the result to God.
i. Evangelism is God’s business
ii. We are participants in God’s work
iii. We are privileged to be participants in God’s business
In a simple language, one may describe it as taking advantage of
opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Evangelism is
not a method or a programme. Often, when the word “Evangelism” is
mentioned, many people get mental pictures of putting up a tent, going door
to door, moving from one street to the other, distributing tracts, waving a
Bible on a street corner and so on. Some of these methods are valid and good
ways to reach the unreached or those who need to hear the Good News
about Christ, the Saviour.
The Word ‘Evangelism’ does not appear in the Bible but the word
‘Evangelist’ does. So, who is an Evangelist? In a simple definition, an
Evangelist is a preacher of the gospel. In the scriptures, Jesus Christ gives a
command to His disciples to “go into the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature” Mark 16:15. This command given to the first century
disciples and passed on to us as believers is “The called Great Commission”.
It is also written in Matthew 28:18-20;
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“…Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you…”
Hence, the primary task of an Evangelist is to share what he/she knows
about Jesus Christ with others.
Jesus’ instruction to all believers is to go and share the gospel with everyone.
The work of an Evangelist therefore is for every Christian, who is expected to
preach the gospel and as well make disciples for Christ. The responsibility of
making disciples is indeed time intensive. It means investing oneself in the
lives of others in order to help them understand how to follow after Jesus
and obey his teachings. It is also our responsibility as Christians to bring the
Good News of the loving and saving presence of God through Jesus Christ to
our world.
What is the purpose of Evangelism?
Sharing what we know about Jesus Christ is for the purpose of leading
people into a personal relationship with God. It is a way of building
relationships between people and God. It is God’s greatest desire to spend
the rest of eternity with man. This awesome truth that people must know,
can only be communicated to them through faith sharing.
Some methods of Evangelism
There are many valid and effective ways to reach people with the Good News
about Jesus Christ. The under listed methods though not exhaustive will
provide a starting point for all believers and churches that desire to embark
on an effective Evangelism:
Using Personal Testimony
Outreach/ Outdoor Evangelism
Door to Door Evangelism – Soul Winning (One household at a time)
Using gospel tracts for Personal Evangelism
Revival and Crusade
Free medical services
Benevolence Ministries
Prison Ministry
Media
Phone calls
Letter writing
Text Messages
Evangelism – divine-human partnership Ministry.
The Bible clearly indicates the importance of human participation in
evangelization (Matt 28:19-20; Rom 10:1).
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The doctrine of the Incarnation describes the mystery of God becoming flesh,
taking on human form and experiencing life as a person (John 1:14). In the
wisdom of God, which so often appears to us as mystery, God chose to
experience humanity fully. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, was both fully human
and fully divine. In Christ, God experienced what it means to be human (2
Cor 5:19). He felt joy, hardship, temptation, pain, anxiety, frustration and
humiliation. Jesus Christ was also fully divine. In Jesus Christ, we see, though
difficult to comprehend fully, perfect humanity and divinity. Jesus Christ was
God/human.
That should not surprise us, for God foreshadowed that plan in the life of
Jesus Christ. God worked in the world through his own Son. Jesus, with his
life and ministry, brought the presence of God from heaven to earth. The
Incarnation reminds us that God is not a distant landlord, uninterested in the
world. In Jesus Christ, God became a human player in human history. When
we minister on behalf of Jesus Christ, we, through the power of the Holy
Spirit, continue what God began in him (John 20:21).
Where do we see evidence of this divine-human partnership in our ministry?
Take a typical part of a pastor's ministry: hospital visitation. What happens
when we go to the hospital and hold the hand of a sick church member, and
he or she is comforted? Someone might say that the caring touch and
compassion of another human being comforts the patient. An incarnational
understanding of ministry, however, will not let us stop the explanation
there. We believe that we mediate the presence of God. We don't understand
how it takes place, but God's Holy Spirit comforts the patient through our
presence (Matt 18:20), a divine-human encounter.
Evangelism, being an aspect of ministry, demonstrates this divine-human
character. Evangelism begins with, is sustained by and ultimately ends with
God. We do not convert people. We do not "win" anyone to the Lord. We do
not make Christians. God does. Therefore, evangelism is a divine task, though
it has a human dimension. We are workers with God (1 Cor 3:9); God
chooses to work through the gifts of people. We do not merely report events
that took place two thousand years ago. We are recipients of the gospel and
heralds of good news that is available now. We have experienced and we
celebrate God's grace, and we long for others to join our celebration.
Preaching is a divine-human endeavour. The Holy Spirit works with the
preacher as sermons are prayed about, planned, composed and preached.
The Holy Spirit also works in the lives of our hearers. Sunday after Sunday, a
faith community gathers to encounter the presence of God. People come to
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church to sing the hymns, to pray the prayers, to read the Scriptures, to
listen to the Word of God. They come to hear the choir sing, they come to
hear us preach. More importantly, they come to meet God, to experience
God's presence, to feel God's comfort, to offer to God a word of thanksgiving.
The Role of Holy Spirit in Evangelism
It has been said that Evangelism is preaching the gospel of Christ in the
power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the result to God. What, then, is the role
of the Holy Spirit in evangelism and preaching? The Holy Spirit works in the
life of the preacher/Evangelist and in the lives of hearers. As a group of
people gathers to hear the Word proclaimed, God is already working through
His Spirit in their midst. In every gathering, there are probably those who
have never responded in any way to the gospel. The illuminating power of
the Holy Spirit enables such people to understand truth as it is proclaimed.
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, calls people to Christ and effects regeneration.
We recall Paul's words:
For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
However, how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed?
Moreover, how are they to believe in one of whom they have never
heard? In addition, how are they to hear without someone to proclaim
him? (Rom 10:13-14)
Church Planting/Growth
Church planting is the result of effective Evangelism. Sharing the Good News
about Jesus Christ as earlier noted is the key ingredient in Church Planting.
When an individual begins to intentionally target a particular area with the
message of the Gospel he or she will have to set in motion the same
dynamics that was experienced by the first century church. Peoples’ lives
will be transformed by the working of the Holy Spirit and there will be a
need for ongoing Bible Study, teaching and encouragement among the new
believers. An organizational structure will need to come into being for the
benefit of the new believers and the surrounding community.
Today, many church planting models that exist include taking members from
an existing congregation and transferring them to a new location to plant
another church. While this has proven successful in our church and some
other denominations, it is not always desirable or the best church planting
exercise. If our church must take the bull by the horn, the example of Paul,
one of the greatest church planters of all time must be followed. This is one
of the reasons for what are called the “Pastoral Epistles.”
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Status Quo
We love referencing others as our standard of Evangelism, and Church
Growth efficiency without noticing that they are really “doing our own
thing”. When these weepy references about great things happening at
“Redeemed”, “Gospel Faith” or “CAC” are made, nobody is able to produce
any style they apply which has not been in existence before them. Existing
models were simply adapted to their unique circumstances, and consistently
practiced without grumbling, since leadership in most of these places are
basically autocratic. Their successes were based on lack of alternatives. In
our own case, hardened members arrive clutching their worn out
constitutions to Church Council meetings and refusing to adopt change. If
members are poor, and cannot travel two buses to church, they start new 10member
groups in their neighbourhoods. This principle is not “Redeemed”
but adoption of our “Wesleyan” class meeting model to initiate the planting
of a new church branch. How many Dioceses, Circuits, Churches have totally
refused to outreach into more manageable and easy to reach locations?
Some never do, until when they desire to become Dioceses, and must meet
the minimum requirement of Circuits. Lack of Church Growth, may be
symptomatic of fear of the future, and loss of influence. Every big fire started
small - a flicker in an unseen corner. In the process of stagnating together,
our minor bruises fester into incurable sores. When the tension builds, some
are forced to leave and seek spiritual peace elsewhere. A church that
multiplies its members through mainly family orientation and affiliation,
suffers most in such a situation. There may be so much tension in some
churches that the Minister arrives to inherit lack of enthusiasm so prevalent
that his very Sunday messages are self censored.
Growth and Spiritual Life
There is a perception in certain quarters that spirituality must be exhibited
in a particular way, and through certain prescribed programmes that
inability to do that will automatically receive little co-operation. These
proponents are usually dual members of our church and “x” or “2x” other
churches. They may have been returnees from an “x” church. We are
Methodists, and we cannot be more “Redeemed” than the “Redeemed” or
“CAC” than the “CAC”. None of the two mentioned above, or others joining
together with them can be more Methodist than we are!!! In the Eastern
MCN, where morning and evening prayers are a long tradition with class
registers marked at times, do they have complaints about poor attendance at
Vigils, Prayer Meetings or defection to Mountains and the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressways to pray? With very vibrant Youth Fellowships, it is obvious that
the Churches are usually 60-70% Youths, and future of the church and
leadership assured. The Women’s Fellowship is so exclusive that Induction
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services are special to those to be inducted. Youth drain from our churches is
obviously a geographical issue. The societies that are thriving in other places
are for adult men and women, and to host their monthly meetings beyond
the purse of a typical youth or working class man.
The Discipleship Bible Study, Daily Reflection and other materials being
produced by the church to aid discipleship are high in quality, and we must
continue to shy away from the exotic type of Christianity that comes and
goes out of fashion every ten years. In fact, those who plead for this exotic
Evangelical thrust are the ones so easily blown away by every wind of
doctrine. You cannot sustain growth with such individuals as members.
Growth and Social Action
It was said that Methodists never arrived any where to preach the gospel
empty-handed. They brought along schools, hospitals and orphanages.
Theirs was holistic evangelism. In the midst of a mammon-possessed
Christian age, some are busy devising ways we can join in the fray. Nobody
remembers that the Methodist must give more than she receives. It is a type
of evangelism that has worked before and is sustainable. Can it be replicated
in this age?
Types of Growth
Another important question for us to answer here is - “Why is it so
important to have a healthy reproducing church?” The answer to that
question is double.
First of all, that is what a truly biblical church is like. It is a growing and
reproducing church.
Second, a healthy church leads to three kinds of necessary dynamic growth.
Quantitative growth – growth in the number of true disciples.
Qualitative growth – growth in the quality of true disciples.
Organic or infrastructural growth – the growth of healthy
structures within the church energizing both the growth in
number of conversions and the quality of those who are
converted.
Let us explain each of these three elements:
1. Quantitative Growth – what does God’s Word say?
i. This kind of growth is very predominant in the Acts of the
Apostles.
Acts 1:15 “a group numbering about a hundred and twenty”
Acts 2:41 “about three thousand were added to their number
that day.”
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Acts 2:41 “And the Lord added to their number daily those who
were being saved.”
Acts 4:4 “But many who heard the message believed, and the
number of men grew to about five thousand.”
Acts 6:1 “In those days when the number of disciples was
increasing (multiplying).”
Acts 6:7 “The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased
(multiplied) rapidly.”
Acts 9:31 “the church…grew in numbers, living in the fear of the
Lord.”
Acts 16:5 “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and
grew daily in numbers.”
ii. This kind of growth continues to be mentioned in Paul’s
letters.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every
way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the
whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which
it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the
body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephes. 4:15-16
(ESV)
2. Qualitative Growth – what does God’s Word say?
i “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. In addition,
awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were
being done through the apostles. Moreover, all who believed
were together and had all things in common. In addition, they
were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing
the proceeds to all, as any had need. Moreover, day by day,
attending the temple together and breaking bread in their
homes, they received their food with glad and generous
hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And
the Lord added to their number day by day those who were
being saved.” Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)
ii. Then there is all the teaching found in the Epistles on the quality
of life of new believers and its importance.
3. Organic or Infrastructural Growth – what does God’s Word say?
Organic growth must accompany quantitative growth as seen in
the early Church’s amazing growth.
“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a
complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their
widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. Moreover, the
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twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not
right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute,
full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But
we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
Moreover, what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose
Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and
Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a
proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed
and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to
increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem,
and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:1-7
(ESV)
i. There is the need for specialized ministries
ii. Each should be encouraged to grow his/her potentials
iii. The church must be proactive and willing to manage human diverse
opinions.
iv. Every local community must employ a strategy that works.
Conclusion
Let us say Statistics is the only method for evaluating growth, and
Evangelism the vehicle for its achievement. What do you do with a Minister
who has been so greatly empowered to evangelize, and yet oversees a
diminishing church only appealing to the few remaining rich members in
order to pay his assessment promptly? There lies the dilemma. It would
seem as if performance is mainly measured by the ability to pay Assessment,
WUSTO, and Seed of Faith etc. Is there a place in our system for a Minister
whose excellence is purely drawing people to God and discipling them into
strong Methodist Christians? Can the Church afford Resident Evangelists in
Dioceses who are not attached to any church, and are known to be very
skilled in Evangelism and Church Planting? Do we expect all Ministers to be
equally endowed, since they all attended the same Seminaries? What set
John apart from his brother Charles Wesley? Have we seen the zeal of the
Whitfields, Dwight Moodys, Spurgeons, and Billy Grahams etc? Did any of
them desire to become Bishops or were they just satisfied doing that which
sets them apart from other mortals? When you set a benchmark on success,
expect everybody to gravitate towards it. However, when men are called to a
duty, equipped for it, and encouraged, wonders are bound to happen. To
become instruments for Evangelism and Church growth becomes a holy
desire.
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Practical Reflection
1. Raise ministers who are ready to step out.
2. Identify Lay Leaders who are ready and encourage those who are not
willing.
3. The Church is a kingdom business and the managers must be profit
oriented.
4. The existing Churches must have moral transformational influence.
5. All the Churches must offer hope to the hopeless world: Develop
ministries.
6. What can we offer to the society?
7. How can we be relevant in a changing world?
8. The Church is a place of prayer.
9. How do we sustain the Churches?
10. Avoid conflicting and contradictory messages.
11. Are we ready and willing for a change?
12. Gospel for the poor – Good News to the poor.
13. Think big and start small.
14. Where are those willing to take risk for the sake of the gospel?
Rt. Rev. Dr. Sunday Onuoha
Bishop of Evangelism
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HOW TO STOP WORRYING
AND START LIVING A MORE FULFILLED LIFE
By
Adindu Steve Ogamba
Methodist Church Nigeria has discovered that the peace, health and
wellbeing of her members have direct consequence on the spiritual and
numerical growth of the Church. This is because only the mind that is at
peace can exercise true worship and contribute meaningfully to the growth
of the church. That is why Christ said in John 14: 27, peace I leave with
you, my peace I give to you. Peace of mind is consequential to any thing one
wants to achieve in life. Therefore for Methodist Church Nigeria to achieve
her mandate of repositioning the Church, it has become imperative that
members have to be adequately equipped. That is why the theme discover to
recover is most suited at this particular time. I have therefore chosen a sub
theme that addresses one of the challenges.
How to stop worrying and start living a more fulfilled life
Matthew 6: 25-31, Luke 12: 22-31. Therefore I say to you do not worry
about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink or about your
body what you shall put on.................... Which of you by worrying can add one
cubit to his span of life..........
What is worry?
To keep thinking about a problem or something bad that might happen so
that you cannot relax or feel happy. You can’t sleep, eat, your nerves shaken
and confidence gone. Most times the problems or the bad things we think
about are just imaginations, illusions they do not happen. Even the ones that
happen we do not possess the capacity to change or alter them. The
emotions of worry, hatred and envy are driven by primeval vigour and the
dynamic energy of the jungle. Such emotions are so violent that they tend to
drive out of our minds all peaceful, happy thoughts and emotions.
What causes worry and stress?
Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise
and forget. We are here on earth with few more decades to live but we loose
many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that in a year’s time will
be forgotten. We worry over so many things, when thunder comes we worry
that we would be killed by lightening. When hard times come we worry that
we won’t have enough to eat. We worry about marriage, children, our wives,
our career, virtually everything under the sun. Let us examine the record and
ask ourselves; what are the chances that what we are worrying about will
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ever occur. Obviously circumstances alone do not make us happy or
unhappy.
It is the way we react to circumstances that determines our feelings. Jesus
said that the kingdom of heaven is within us. That is where the kingdom of
hell is too. We can all endure disaster and tragedy and triumph, we have
surprisingly stronger inner resources that will see us through if we make use
of them. We are stronger than we think. I conceive that a great part of
miseries of mankind are brought upon them by the false estimates they have
made of the values of things and by giving too much to their whistles.
What worry may do to you
Fear causes worry. Worry makes you tense and nervous and affects the
nerves of your stomach and actually changes the gastric juices of your
stomach from normal to abnormal and often leads to stomach ulcers. You do
not get stomach ulcers from what you eat; you get it from what is eating you.
Fear, worry, hatred, supreme selfishness and inability to adjust ourselves to
the world of realities are largely the cause of stomach illnesses and stomach
ulcers.
Most of our hospital beds are occupied by people with nervous problems. Yet
when these nerves are studies under high power microscope under post
mortem conditions, the nerves in most cases are very healthy. Most of these
nervous troubles are caused not by physical deterioration of the nervous but
by emotions of futility, frustration, anxiety, worry and fear.
Seventy percent of all patents who come to physicians could cure themselves
if they only get rid of their fears and worries. This does not mean that the
illnesses are imaginary. The illnesses are real and sometimes very serious. I
mean such sicknesses as stomach ulcers, toothache, heart disturbances,
insomnia, some headaches, and some types of paralysis.
Worry can put you on a wheel chair for life with rheumatism and arthritis.
Dr Russell L Cecil, a world recognised authority on arthritis has listed four of
the commonest conditions that bring on arthritis;
Marital ship wreck
Financial disaster and grief
Loneliness and worry
Long-cherished resentment
These four conditions are far from being the only causes but are the most
common.
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Worry, fear, nagging etc can cause tooth decay by upsetting the calcium
balance in the body. Any person who didn’t stop worrying is inviting all the
diseases mentioned because they are cousins and first cousins.
Few things can age and sour a woman and destroy her looks as quickly as
worry. Worry curdles the expression. It makes us clench our jaws and lines
our faces with wrinkles. It forms a permanent scowl. It can turn the hair gray
and in some cases make it fall off. It can ruin the complexion and bring on all
kinds of skin rashes, eruption and pimples.
Business men who do not know how to fight worry die young. During the
last stock market tumult in Nigeria about three years ago, when the stock
market went down, a man worried himself into diabetes. When the stock
went down, the sugar in his blood and urine went up. The Lord will forgive
us our sins but the nervous system hardly does.
Those who know how to keep the peace of their inner selves in the mist of
tumult of the modern day city are immune from nervous diseases. Can you
keep the peace of your inner self in the mist of tumult? Most of us are
stronger than we realise. We have inner resources that we have probably
never tapped. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable
ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavour. If one advances
confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavours to live the life he
has imagined, he will meet success unexpected in common hours.
Matthew 5 ;44-48 I say to you love your enemies and bless those you
curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who
spitefully use you and persecute you.
When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us; power over
our sleep, over our appetite, over our blood pressure, our health and
happiness. Whenever we see our enemies our heart skips and cortisol,
epinephrine and norepinephrine hormones are produced which makes us
susceptible to all forms of diseases. Our enemies would dance with joy if they
know how much they are troubling us, lacerating us, and getting even with
us. Our hatred is not hurting them at all but our hatred is turning our own
days and nights into a hellish turmoil.
When Jesus said, Love your enemies he was not only teaching sound ethics
but also teaching twenty first century medicine. When he said forgive
seventy times seven, Jesus was telling me and you how to keep from high
blood pressure, heart trouble, stomach ulcers, and many other ailments.
When Jesus said love your enemies he was also telling us how to improve
our looks. Some people’s faces have been wrinkled and hardened by hatred
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and disfigured by resentment. All the cosmetic Christendom won’t improve
their looks half so much as would a heart full of forgiveness, tenderness, and
love.
Hatred destroys our ability to enjoy even our food. The bible puts it this way,
“Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred
therewith”. Wouldn’t our enemies rub their hands with glee if they knew
that our hatred for them was exhausting us, making us tired and nervous,
ruining our looks, giving us heart trouble and probably shortening our lives.
Even if we can’t love our enemies, let us at least love ourselves. Let us love
ourselves so much that we won’t permit our enemies to control our
happiness, our health and our looks.
What makes you tired? Worry
I am deeply convinced that our peace of mind and the joy we get out of living
depends not on where we are or what we have, or who we are, but solely
upon our mental attitude. Nothing can give you peace but yourself.
Here is an outstanding and significant fact, mental work alone can’t make
you tired. This sounds absurd. Scientists have found out that blood passing
through the brain when it is active shows no fatigue at all. If you look from
the veins of a day labourer while he is working you will find it full of fatigue
toxins and fatigue products. If you take a drop of blood from a mental worker
it would show no fatigue toxins whatsoever at the end of the day. The brain
can work as well as swiftly at the end of eight hours or twelve hours of effort
as at the beginning. The brain is tireless.
Psychiatrists say that most of our fatigues are derived from our mental and
emotional attitudes. In fact exhaustion of purely physical origin is rare. Dr
A.A Bills says that Hundred percent of the fatigue of sedentary worker in
good health is due to psychological factors that is emotional factors.
Emotional factors as boredom, resentment, a feeling of not been appreciated,
hurry, anxiety, worry are what exhausts the sitting worker. These make him
susceptible to cold, reduce his output, and send him home.
We get tired and stressed because our emotions produce nervous tensions in
the body. Worry, tension, and emotional upsets are three of the biggest
causes of fatigue. The answer to the nervous fatigue is to relax while doing
your job. Tension is a habit, relaxation is a habit. Bad habits can be broken
and good ones formed. At the end of the days work if you are tired not
because of the work you have done but because of the way you did it.
An executive came back from work one evening utterly exhausted. She was
fatigued and had a headache so much that she wanted to go to bed without
dinner. Suddenly the telephone rang; it was her boy friend an invitation for a
party. Immediately her eyes sparkled and spirit soared. She rushed put on
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her clothes and dashed out for the party and danced till 3am and returned
home. She was not the slightest bit exhausted. The question is, was she
actually tired at the end of her work day? The answer is that she was tired.
She was tired because she was bored with her work and perhaps bored with
life. It is a well known fact that your emotional attitude usually has far more
to do with producing fatigue than physical exertion.
Experiment was conducted on some students who were given tasks that they
have little interest in. The students felt tired and sleepy, complained of
headaches and eyestrain, felt irritable. In some cases even their stomach was
upset. Were all these imagination, the answer is no. Metabolism tests
conducted on students showed that the blood of the body and the
consumption of oxygen actually decrease when a person is bored and the
whole metabolism picks up immediately as soon as he begins to feel interest
and pleasure in the work.
The lesson to be learnt is that our fatigue is caused not by work but by
worry, frustration, and resentment. If you tend to act as if you are interested
in your job, it will tend to decrease your fatigue, tensions and worries.
Ways to conquer Worry
A man is what he thinks all day long. I know with conviction that the greatest
problem you and I have is choosing the right thoughts. If we can choose the
right thought, we will be highroad to solving all our problems. Our life is
what our thought makes it. If we think happy thoughts we will be happy. If
we think miserable thoughts we will be miserable. If we think fearful
thoughts we will be fearful. If we think sickly thoughts we will be sickly. If we
think failure we shall surely fail. If we wallow in self pity, everyone will avoid
us and shun us.
Men and women can banish worry, fear and various kinds of illnesses and
transform their lives by changing their thought pattern. There is nothing
wrong with your body or your mind. It is not the situations you have met
that have thrown you; it is what you make out of these situations. As a man
thinketh in his heart so he is. Our peace of mind and the joy we get out of
living depends not on where we are or what we have or who we are, but
solely on our mental attitude. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
If your cheerfulness is lost, sit up cheerfully act and speak as if cheerfulness
is already there. It is physically impossible to remain depressed while you
are acting out the symptoms of being radiantly happy. Let a man radically
alter his thoughts and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it
will affect in the material conditions of his life. Men do not attract that which
they want but that which they are.
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All that a man achieves is the direct result of his own thoughts. A man can
only rise, conquer and achieve by lifting up his thoughts and can only remain
weak, abject and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts. According to
The book of Genesis, God gave man dominion over the whole earth. This by
implication is dominion over thoughts, dominion over fears, over my mind,
over our spirit. The wonderful thing is that we can attain this dominion to an
astonishing degree, any time we want to, by merely controlling our actions
which in turn controls our reactions.
The habit of looking on the best side of every event is worth more than
millions a year. You are something new in this world. Never before since the
beginning of time is anybody exactly like you and never again throughout all
ages to come will there ever be anybody exactly like you again. Try to think
everyday how you can please someone. It is the individual who is not
interested in his fellow man that has the greatest difficulties in life and
provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individual that
human failures spring. I have found out that happiness is contagious, by
giving we receive and by helping others and giving out love we can conquer
worry, sorrow, self pity and feel like a new person. Doing good to others is
not a duty. It is joy for it increases your own health and happiness. When you
are good to others you are best to yourself. Thinking about others will not
only keep you from worrying about your self but will make you have a lot of
friends. What people want is little attention as human beings.
If you want to live a longer, healthier life then you need to develop the habit
of looking at the best side of every event – it's now a fact thanks to a study
from the two American Universities. Researchers followed and studied 1500
people for 7-years. All 1500 were in good health when the study started.
Researchers followed how they aged by measuring such things as weight
loss, walking speed, exhaustion and the strength of their grip.
What exactly did they discover? They found that people with the habit of
looking on the best side of every event were significantly less likely to show
signs of aging; they were less likely to become frail and were more likely to
be stronger and healthier than those who look on the negative side of every
event. If you have a doom and gloom attitude you're actually killing yourself
and at the very least – you're negative attitude is just making you weaker.
Researchers found that positive thinking and attitude, improved a person’s
health because it made it more likely that they would succeed in life. So not
only will a positive attitude help you be healthy and live longer – but it also
increases the likelihood that you will succeed. (Hebrews 11:1 Faith is
substance of things hoped for evidence of things not seen)
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Let us fill our minds with thoughts of peace, courage, health, and hope for
our life is what our thought makes it.
Instead of worrying about ingratitude let us expect it. Let us remember that
Jesus cured ten lepers but only one thanked him. Let us know that one of the
ways to find happiness is not to expect gratitude but to give for the joy of
giving. Count your blessings not your troubles. Let us not imitate others, let
us find ourselves and be ourselves for envy is ignorance and imitation is
suicide.
The Christian religion is an inspiring, health giving activity. Jesus said “I
came that ye might have life and have it more abundantly”. He preached
a kind of religion that gives hope and happiness. He talked more about fear
than he talked about sin. The wrong type of fear is a sin. Sin against your
health, sin against richer, fuller, happier, courageous life that Jesus
commanded ‘
This is the day the Lord has made we should be glad and rejoice in it”.
Religion is not only urging us to live righteous life to avoid hell fires in the
next world but also to avoid hell fires of stomach ulcer, angina pectoris,
nervous breakdown, and insanity.
Today Psychiatry is teaching what Jesus taught, why? Because psychiatrists
discovered that prayer and strong religious faith will banish the worries and
anxieties, the strains of fear that cause insanity. Today many Psychiatrists
are becoming modern Evangelists.
Today on the average, someone commits suicide every thirty five minutes.
On the average someone goes insane every hundred and twenty seconds.
Most of these suicides and tragedies of insanity could have been prevented if
these people had only had the solace and peace that are found in religion and
prayer.
Methodist Hymn 538 says;
What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and grief to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer
Many experts believe that prayer uplifts and calms the nerves and inhibits
cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine – hormones that flow out of the
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adrenal glands in response to stress. These flight or fight chemicals released
overtime can compromise the immune system, upping the odds of
developing a number of illnesses. Experts feel that the immune system is
nourished by sense of peace. Therefore something such as prayer that
provides comfort and peace would influence the propensity to get a disease
or how you recover from illness.
Recent scientific investigation shows that prayer can be used as a therapy
successfully like medication. People who pray are less likely to get sick and
more likely to recover from illness and are better able to cope with illnesses
than those who don’t pray. I am interested in what religion does for me. It
brings me spiritual values. It gives me a new zest for life, more life, richer,
more satisfying life. It gives me faith, hope and courage. It banishes tension,
anxieties, fears and worries. It gives purpose to life and direction and vastly
improves happiness. It gives an outstanding health. It helps to create an oasis
of peace amidst the whirling sands of life.
Faith is one of the forces by which men live and absence of it is collapse. A
mere man can easily be defeated but a man alive with the power of God
within him is invincible. We and God have business together; in opening
ourselves to his influence, our deepest destiny is fulfilled. Prayer is the most
powerful form of energy one can generate. Prayer is a source of luminous
self generating energy. In prayer human beings seek to augment their
infinite energy by addressing themselves to finite source of all energy.
Lord make me an instrument of thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me show love.
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, hope
God grant that I may not seek so much to be consoled but to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life
I will conclude with this story of a woman who had known little in life except
sickness, sorrow and tragedy. Her first husband died shortly after her
marriage. Her second husband deserted her and eloped with a married
woman. She had one son and was forced to give him up when he was four
years old because of poverty, and illness. She lost track of him and never saw
him till thirty one years later. The dramatic turning point in her life occurred
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one day. Walking down town one day she slipped and fell and was
unconscious. Her spine was so injured that the doctor expected her to die. If
by miracle she lived that she will never be able to work again. Lying on what
was supposed to be her death bed one day opened her bible and was led by
divine guidance to read from saint Matthew’s Gospel: and behold they
brought to him a man sick of palsy lying on a bed and Jesus ....... said unto the
sick of the palsy; son be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.............Arise,
take up thy bed and go unto thy house. He arose and departed to his house.
These words of Jesus produced within her such strength, such a faith, and
such a surge of healing power that she immediately got out of her bed and
worked.
Amen
Adindu Steve Ogamba, FCSN, FICCON, CChem, MIPAN
Consultant Analytical Chemist and General Manager
Fugro Nigeria Limited
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PART B
ORIENTATION FOR AWARDEES
FOR ALL AWARDEES AND THEIR SPOUSES
51

9.00 a.m. - 10.00 am Title Page
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
10.00 a.m. - 10.20 a.m. Table of Content
10.20 a.m. - 10.30 a.m. Vision and Mission of the Church
10.30 a.m. - 10.40 a.m. Introduction
10.40 a.m. - 10.50 a.m. Participants Departs to various Lecture Halls
10.50 a.m. - 11.10 a.m. Understanding your Call as a Conference
Awardee and Agent of Church Stability
Sir Jimmy N. Coker, KJW, Lay President of Conference
11.10 a.m. - 11.50 a.m. Ethics of Methodist Conference awardees
Most Rev. L. A. Ayo Ladigbolu
11.50 a.m. - 12.00 noon Short Break
12.00 noon - 12.40 p.m. Vessel of Honour for Effective Evangelism
Bro. Emma Oha
12.40 p.m. - 1.20 p.m. Functions of Conference Awardees
Sir Col. Bola Ogunsanwo, Secretary of Council of
Knights
1.20 p.m. – 1.30 p.m. Short Break / Awardees Returns to main auditorium
1.30 p.m. – 2.10 p.m. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living a more
Fulfilled Life - Bro. A. S. Ogamba, FCSM
2.10 p.m. – 2.40 p.m. Interactive Session (Questions and Answers)
2.40 a.m. – 2.45 p.m. Vote of Thanks
2.45 p.m. – 2.55 p.m. Closing Prayer/Benediction
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UNDERSTANDING YOUR CALL AS A CONFERENCE AWARDEE AND
AN AGENT OF CHURCH STABILITY
By
Sir Jimmy N. Coker, Lay President of Conference
1. PREAMBLE
Grace and peace from God the Father be upon you all in Jesus
precious name. On behalf of His Eminence, Dr. Sunday Ola.
Makinde GPJ, CON, Prelate Methodist Church Nigeria, I warmly
welcome you all to this maiden Orientation Seminar for
Methodist Conference Awardees and their spouses. As part of
our repositioned programme is to ensure that our Leaders at all
levels of leadership are adequately informed and knowledgeable
of their various offices or calling. This Seminar is therefore to
equip and prepare you for the services expected of you after
your investiture, when you must have assumed a new status
within the Church of God.
Every enterprise has its goals. Christ the Saviour preached the
good news healed the sick and educated the people and He has
set these for His bride the Church. The Church of our day must
accomplish these goals. Conference Awardees of the Church
must support the Church to succeed resoundingly in Preaching,
Teaching and Educating. The success must be of such magnitude
so that people can say we have never seen any thing like this
from our previous Awardees.
2. YOUR CALL
To be called is to be set apart after your investiture and given the
privilege and responsibilities in the body of Christ. It is a call to
divine service, stewardship, responsibility, leadership and
giving by the grace of God and leading of the Holy Spirit. It is
not a social title or retirement benefit.
Remember that whoever is called or chosen by God is called for a
certain purpose. God said in John 15:16 that “He is the one who
has chosen you”. Although you may have done some things in the
past for the Church, God has call you at this time because of the
potential He has seen in you that you can develop His Church. I
will expatiate further as we go on. Some of you may think you
have been called because of your money, do not forget that the
money you have has been given to you by God as Paul wrote in 1
Cor. 4:7. Both riches and honour come from the Lord and
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whatever we give is out of what the Lord has given us. (I Chron.
29:12a, 14b).
A story was told of how a young man visited and worshipped in
his Local Church and the Priest called for donations to complete
the Local Church building. The young man in his zeal for the
work of God pledged to roof a certain portion of the Church. As
he got home that Sunday, his people gathered to insist that he
must go back to withdraw the offer he made. The next Sunday
this young man in question went back to the Church to say he
wanted to speak on the donation he made earlier. When he got
up to speak his people assumed he was going to do as they had
requested but he announced that he was going to roof the whole
Church and not a portion as he had announced previously,
hereby confirming what Paul said in I Cor. 4:10 that we are fools
for Christ’s sake.
Taking you back to the purpose why God called you. Ensure that
you understand this purpose because if you do, God will equip
you to achieve it. If you complain that you do not have money,
God will give it to you, because He does not expect you to give
what you do not have. The problem is that when God has given
us the money we become very stingy even towards the Church.
Can’t we borrow a leaf from David who said he will not offer to
the Lord that which has cost him nothing (1 Sam. 24:24). To
further appreciate and understand your call, it may be necessary
to know the origin of Methodist Church Nigeria Conference
Awards.
3. CONFERENCE MERIT AWARDS
Methodist Church Nigeria the oldest denomination in Nigeria
since 1842 introduced the conferment of various Conference
Awards on its members during the 31 st Annual Conference of
Methodist Church Nigeria held at Port Harcourt Civic Centre
from the 6 th – 16 th April 1992. That Conference approved four
categories of awards namely, Knight of John Wesley KJW; Knight
of Charles Wesley KCW, Officer of the Order of Wesley OOW and
Member of the Order of Wesley MOW. These awards are for
persons that have distinguished themselves in the service of God
and humanity especially in the field of Evangelism. However,
Knight of Charles Wesley is reserved for those that have made
tremendous contribution towards the promotion of musical
work in the Church and society. The introduction of John and
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Charles Wesley Awards was also another bold step taken by
the Church to immortalize the name of our revered founder
Rev. John Wesley and his brother Charles the great hymn
composer. The first batch of awards was given in 1993 and
there after the Service of Investiture has been arranged to hold
once in every two years on Arch Diocesan basis. Each Diocese is
expected to nominate a maximum of two persons for Knight of
John Wesley, one for Knight of Charles Wesley, two each for
Officer and Member of the Order of Wesleys respectively. Male
Knights are to be addressed with the title ‘Sir’ while female
Knights are to be addressed with the title ‘Dame’ while the wives
of Knights are addressed as Ladies. Other awardees could be
referred to as Elders
4. QUALITIES OF A CONFERENCE AWARDEE
This is what I may term as the twelve (12) Golden Rules for
Awardees.
i. A Conference Awardee must be a Communicant (Full
member)
ii. Must accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and personal Saviour
iii. Must be a Husband of one wife. Tim 3:2b
iv. Must be blameless in conduct, of sound unquestionable
spiritual and moral disposition and character ( 1 Tim. 5:7)
v. Must be a cheerful giver, donating in cash and in kind for the
progress and promotion of the work of God. ( Titus 1:8 and
Rom 12:13).
vi. Must show leadership qualities and play leadership role in
the life of the Church.
vii. Must not be member of any secret or unquestionable society.
viii. Must be a soldier of Jesus Christ, a true and ardent defender
of the word of God and Methodist Church Nigeria in
particular.
ix. Must not be given to wine 1 Tim. 3:3.
x. Must at all times support God’s servants and those in need
Matt. 10:41.
xi. Must speak the truth and promote peace and harmony
(John 8:32)
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xii. Must have contributed to the promotion of musical work or
musical excellence for Knights of Charles Wesley.
5. SOME THINGS A GOOD AWARDEE MUST DO
a ATTEND ALL DIOCESAN FUNCTIONS
Do not be too busy that you cannot see your Bishop or
Priest from time to time and also ensure that nothing takes
you away from your Local Church Council meetings,
Circuit Quarterly meetings, Synods and other major
Diocesan Services or functions.
b ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE CHURCH
People often claim to be too busy that they will not expect
any position or responsibility in the Church they forget
that God owns the life we live. The story was told of a
woman who on her own offered to be washing Church
vestment including choir robes. One weekend she refused
to wash the vestment as she use to do. That same day she
had an accident and died. Some people said she would
have died long age but for the services she rendered to the
Church.
c LEARN TO GIVE WITHOUT GRUDGING
God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7) while in Acts 20:35
we are told that “it is more blessed to give than to receive”.
You are also to inspire and motivate people to give
cheerfully.
d BE MORE SERIOUS WITH PAYMENT OF YOUR TITHES,
SEED OF FAITH AND WUSTO LEVY
It has been discovered that some Awardees do not
effectively pay their Tithes and Seed of Faiths not to
mention the WUSTO levies. Remember the Lord’s
Commandment Mal. 3:10 that we should bring all the
Tithes into God’s house so that He will open the windows
of Heaven and pour out His blessings.
e YOU MUST WITNESS FOR CHRIST AT ALL TIMES
It is the duty of every Christian to witness. In Matt. 28:19-
20 Christ gave the Great Commission. We must not be
afraid or ashamed to witness for Christ. (Psalm 119:46;
Acts 18:9b). It is our responsibility that Christ must be
exalted in all things, glorified in all places, known by all
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men and acceptable to everyone, irrespective of colour,
race or nationality, the name of Christ must be honoured
all over. This is the sacred responsibility committed to our
charge, it is a mission that must be fulfilled, and the
consequences of doing otherwise can be terrible; let us
therefore bow our will to His will even as we are accorded
this special status.
f IMAGE /INFORMATION AGENT OF THE CHURCH
If you are in Government or public service you must at all
times communicate with the Bishop on policy trust of the
government and how the Church can always benefit. You
are also to act as the image maker of the Church within
your environment.
6. A CONFERENCE AWARDEE AS AN AGENT OF CHURCH
STABILITY
Awardees must be good bridge builder and not a destroyer. The
scripture is the spiritual sword of God and this is represented by
the Bible given to each Awardee during the Investiture service.
The Bible is not to decorate your shelves but to use it to terrorize
the kingdom of darkness within the Church and society at large.
There is power in the word of God. Jesus overcame Satan with
the word of God at the beginning of His ministry on earth Matt
4:1-10. The word of God as the spiritual sword should be rooted
in the heart of every Awardee and by so doing you can be
successful in this noble call to serve God and humanity as an
agent of stability and peace. God’s word is a thorough equipping
tool providing doctrines, reproof, correction and instruction so
that every one may be equipped for every good work Col. 3:16.
God’s word will keep you away from sin and give you life and
light Psalm 119:130. Do not involve yourselves in acts that
causes disunity in the Church for you shall be attracting God’s
wrath. Awardees are not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly
nor stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers but
his delight is in the law of the Lord Psalm 1:1-2.
One great thing about most of our Conference Awardees have is
their leadership asset. No doubt many of you are very successful
in your various vocations and are therefore expected to use your
wealth of leadership experience and knowledge to unite the
Church and not to scatter or destabilize the gathering of God’s
people. Awardees are leaders that should lead people to Jesus
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Christ and not to Satan. For united in Christ the Church shall
firmly stand but divided due to selfish reasons the Church shall
fail to grow and positively influence the world. My worthy
Awardees, you are being challenged to know the word of God in
your head, store it in your heart and sow it among yourselves
and hereby influence your environment and the Church of God.
Good Awardees are to serve as agents of reconciliation and
peace to the Church whenever there is dispute or
disagreement. Christ, the Prince of Peace must be seen in the
lives of Awardees daily.
7. WORD FOR WIVES OF AWARDEES
It is worth of note, that this is the first time wives of Methodist
Awardees are so publicly recognized alongside their husbands.
As earlier stated above wives of Knights shall be addressed as
Ladies after the investiture of the husband and this title calls for
extra responsibility. The essence of bringing our wives to this
seminar is to give them the much desired sense of belonging
and thereby energized them as catalyst that will accelerate
the active participation of their husbands in the activities of
the Church.
It has always been said that the woman is like the neck that
turns the head to the direction it goes consciously or
unconsciously. When your husband the head is elevated to this
new status in the Church of God, your role as the neck of that
head is very important. Your husband’s honour is also your
promotion from God and calls for duty on a higher level. You
must give wise and godly counsels to your husband and also
support him towards any good cause as well as inspire him to
devote more time and resources for God’s work. You must
ensure that your home is very conducive where he must have
rest of mind to attain his ideal and keep to his vows Proverbs
31:11.
You as Wives of Conference Awardees must be fervent in prayer
and constantly reading and understanding the Bible through
attendance to Bible Class, House Fellowship; Sunday school and
Sunday Services. Spiritual knowledge will make you excel in
home making as you can bring up your children in the fear of the
Lord. Praying mothers produce children who become great
in the Church and things of God. Samuel was the son of
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praying Hannah. No success is complete without Christ as the
Church is a composition of the home unit.
Wives must personally commit their lives to Christ, for the
greatest achievement as a Christian mother is to bring up
children who are devoted to the Church and God and this you
can do through Jesus Christ who is your Life, Strength and
Wisdom.
8. CONCLUSION
Award is all about selfless service which requires your
willingness to serve and obey Christ. In turn it enables you to be
useful and useable servant to God. The cost is enormous but the
gain unquantifiable. Your investiture will mark the beginning
of a new chapter in your life as you become more focused in
your Christian race.
Ask God to give you the grace to make yourself available for use
as a vessel of honour, fighting the evil forces against the Church
and its members. When you achieve this your Christian life will
become exemplary and the joy of the Lord will be your portion.
Remember that you are doing the work of your Creator, the
righteous Judge and great Rewarder. Be rest assured that your
labour will not go unrewarded. Therefore “whatsoever you do
in words and in deeds do them not as unto men but as unto the
Lord”. Col. 3:23. May God grant you His grace to keep this charge
as we sing MHB 578 stanzas 1 and 2
1. A charge to keep I have,
A God is glorify,
A never dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.
2. To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill
O may it all my powers engage
To do my Master’s will
My fraternal greetings.
SIR JIMMY N. COKER, AMP, KJW
Lay President of Conference
59

First Words
ETHICS OF METHODIST CONFERENCE AWARDEES
I said to the boastful,
Do not deal boastfully;’
And to the wicked,
Do not lift up your horn
Do not lift up your horn on high;
Do not speak with a stiff neck.
By
Most Rev. L. S. Ayo Ladigbolu
For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south
But God is the Judge;
He puts down one
And exalts another
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap
To set them among the princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory
The Lord lifts up the humble,
He casts the wicked down to the ground
A man’s pride will bring him low
But the humble in spirit will retain honour
If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me;
And where I am there My servant will be also.
If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour
(Psalm 75:4-7; I Sam. 2:7-8; Psalm 147:6; Daniel 2:20-21;Prov. 29:23;
John 12:26)
The scriptures make it clear that honour, promotion, and recognition
come from God. The Lord knows how to handle and humiliate the
proud. He also knows how to bestow honour on the humble. He is the
One who is capable of lifting the beggar from the ash heap and set
them among the princes.
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Our Saviour Jesus Christ also makes it clear that honour can be a
reward for faithful services rendered to God. Those who openly or
secretly honour God are sure to receive honour in return. From the
foregoing, we can conclude that the decision of Methodist Church
Nigeria to establish a system of rewarding excellence, devotion,
sacrificial and selfless service, exemplary leadership, fidelity to the
faith once delivered to the saints, and unreserved commitment to the
utilization of gifts and talents for the promotion of the Kingdom—is
in conformity with the teachings and admonition of the Word of God.
How it All Began
This author carried the burden of a Methodist Merit Award. He
prayed and talked about the need for Methodist Church Nigeria to
have a system of recognition and appreciation for its devoted and
faithful members serving the Lord in various capacities in the
congregations all over the Conference Area. The matter was tabled
for discussion at the Conference level in 1990. The GPC (now CCC)
appointed late Archbishop J.N. Dimoji to head an exploratory
committee on the matter. Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu was appointed as
Secretary of the Committee. Following recommendations from the
Committee, Conference decided to adopt an Appraisal and Merit
Committee as one of its statutory working committees.
It should be noted that prior to this time (1990-1992) both the
Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Nigeria (Anglican
Communion had introduced a single tier system of honorary awards
for their distinguished members with uniforms/regalia to match for
each denominational awardees.
The first Protestant/Evangelical Church in Nigeria since 1842
decided not to adopt the mono-type kind of merit award practised by
her Catholic and Anglican sister denominations, but a system that is
multi-dimensional and at the same time creative.. Methodist Church
Nigeria adopted three categories of merit awards with the highest
being the Knighthood. This flexibility has made it possible to
recognise excellence at three levels. It also provides wholesome
challenge for the DIGNITARIES in other categories to aspire to reach
the next level.
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Categories of Awards
The approved categories are:
(i) Member of the Order of the Wesleys (M.O.W.)
(ii) Officer of the Order of the Wesleys (O.O.W.)
(iii) Knight of John Wesley (KJW)
(iv) Knight of Charles Wesley (KCW) for excellence in music and
liturgical matters
(v) Award for the Best Diocese
(vi) Methodist Peace Prize (For public individuals or organisations)
that represents the best in holistic Christian/ Wesleyan ideals of
probity, accountability, diligence, leadership, selfless service,
unique contributions to society, innovations in service delivery,
and general socio-ethical responsibility
This award category has been less publicised, and it has been sparingly
given. So also is the Prize for the Best Diocese in the Conference Area.
In all award categories (i-iv), the Dioceses have the authority to screen
and nominate recipients, subject to the approval of the Archdiocesan
Councils and final endorsement by Conference
To accord the awards the appropriate recognition, Conference
resolved that they be presented every other year at a Special Service
presided over by the Prelate. The service is to include presentation of
the (printed) Citations of the Awardees, as well as the presentation of
certificates and medals of honour to all awardees in all categories.
Knights of John and Charles Wesley are to be adorned with special
regalia designed for their offices
In order to maximise their contributions of ideas and expertise to the
growth and development of the Church, an annual forum has been
created for the topmost category of dignitaries called the Council of
Knights.
Qualifications of a Conference Merit Awardee
1. He or she must be a devoted and committed member of the
Church (See membership qualifications in the Constitution
2. He or she must be a person of sound, unquestionable spiritual
and moral disposition and character
3. A lover of peace, who is also an instrument for achieving peace
62

4. Must have been a Church planter, and instrumental in founding
new Methodist churches, or in effecting church expansion
5. Must have shown leadership qualities and play sterling
leadership roles in the life of the church
6. A cheerful giver who donates generously in cash and kind for the
progress and promotion of the work of God.
7. A soldier of Jesus Christ and a true and ardent defender of the
work God and the Church, and Methodist Church Nigeria in
particular
8. Must have contributed to the promotion of musical work and
excellence in the development of liturgy and Church music
Roles (General)
The following roles have been assigned to all Awardees by the Church:
1. To promote in every way possible the positive image of the
Church both locally and globally
2. To be in the vanguard of the outreach programmes of the Church
3. They are automatically members of Synod in their Dioceses
4. They are to have a Forum which will facilitate their interaction
with the Administration for consultations to promote the
programmes of the Church (This is currently applicable to the
Knights)
5. To contribute to the Endowment programmes and projects of
the Church at all levels
6. To be present as a matter of duty at Merit Award services in
their Archdioceses whenever such services are held
Roles (Ceremonial)
Conference Awardees of all categories are to be present at all
Conference services taking place in their areas. The Knights are to
appear in their regalia
The qualifications, roles and responsibilities of Conference Awardees
should not be limited to what we have outlined in this short
discussion. The needs, opportunities, and challenges of our dynamic
and ever-changing world should lead us to discover fresh and new
ways of serving the Lord. We can also learn from the experiences of
other churches to fine-tune our own system in such ways that we as
Methodists can more proactively and progressively match forward
from honour to greater honour, and from glory to higher glories as
pacesetter since 1842.
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Final Words
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, and that
whatever you ask the Father in My Name He may give you.
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s
building
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the
power may be of God and not of us
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own
understanding
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path
…And which of you having a servant ploughing or tending sheep, will say
to him when he has come from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to
eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper,
and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and
afterward you will eat and drink’?
Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were
commanded him? I think not
So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are
commanded to do, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done
what is our duty to do.
(John 15:16; I Cor 3:9; 2Cor. 4:7; Proverbs 3:5-7; Luke 17:7-10)
Most Rev. L. S. Ayo Ladigbolu
Retired Archbishop of Ilesa
64

VESSELS OF HONOUR FOR EFFECTIVE EVANGELISM
By
Evangelist Emmanuel O. Oha
INTRODUCTION
“Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this
seal: The Lord knows those who are His, and, let everyone who
names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and
silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honour and some for
dishonour.
Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the later, he will be a
vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master,
prepared for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:19-21) NKJV.
From other translations of the bible, we gain more insight into the
meaning of the word “Vessels of Honour”.
From the Good News Bible the word Vessels of Honour is translated as
“used for special purposes”.
“If anyone makes himself clean from all those evil
things, “he will be used for special purposes”,
because he is dedicated and useful to his Master,
ready to be used for every good deed”.
Life Application Study Bible puts it this way:
“If you keep yourself pure, you will be “a special
utensil for honour use” your life will be clean, and
you will be ready for the Master to use you for every
good work”
Also Parents Resource Bible explained it thus:
“If you stay away from sin, you will be like “One of
these dishes made of purest gold”, the very best in
the house so that Christ Himself can use you fro his
highest purposes”.
And Revised Standard Version translates it as;
“If anyone purifies himself from what is ignoble,
then he will be “a vessel for noble use” consecrated
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and useful to the master of the house, read for any
good work”.
In all the translations, we observed that God desires that anyone:
Who purifies himself,
Who stay away from sin,
Who makes himself clean from all evil things, and in effect stay
closely to God by keeping himself pure could be used for Christ
noblest purposes.
The Christian is greatly prized as God’s choice possession. He belongs
to God at a very special cost, the blood of Christ. He serves Christ
because he belongs to Him and he had purifies himself from evil.
The bible is filled with examples of how God loves to use imperfect,
ordinary people to do extraordinary things in spite of their
weaknesses. The duty of the person is to stay away from sin and to
stay close to God.
Paul urged Timothy to be the kind of person Christ could use for his
nobles purposes. In this seminar, we are encouraged not to settle for
less than God’s highest and best.
Every genuine believer is a vessel of honour, expensive utensils, and
instrument for honourable uses.
In the context of this paper every noble vessel is expected to win
souls for the God. We are expected to populate the kingdom to God
and to depopulate hell.
EFFECTIVE EVANGELISM
Evangelism is the proclamation of the gospel of the crucified and
risen Christ, the only redeemer of men, according to the scriptures,
with the purpose of persuading condemned and lost sinners to put
their trust in God by receiving and accepting Christ as saviour though
the power of the Holy Spirit…”
Effective
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary international Student’s 7 th
Edition defines effective as “Producing the result that is wanted or
intended, or producing a successful result”.
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Evangelism
Greek ‘euangelion’ which means “good news”. Evangelism itself is the
proclamation of the historical, biblical, Christ as saviour and Lord,
with a view to persuading people to come to Him personally and so
be reconciled to God (Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization
1974).
Evangelize
“To evangelize is to present Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy
Spirit, that men shall come to put their trust in God through Him, to
accept Him as their saviour, and serve Him as their king in the
fellowship of His church” (Archbishops’ committee 1981).
“To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for
our sins and was raised from the dead according to the scriptures,
and that as reigning Lord, He now offers the forgiveness of sins and
the liberating gift of the spirit to all who repent and believe”
(Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization 1974).
Also to evangelize mean’s further declaring the good news thereby
leading sinners into righteousness, rescuing the perishing, turning
sinners to saints, snatching people from hell fire and bringing the lost
to Christ.
In this orientation,
God will sanctify, set someone apart, make him or her ready for an
honourable purpose in Jesus Name.
He will satisfy the thirsty ones with holiness in Jesus Name.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this lecture is to turn every awardee, steward, and
every Methodist into soul winners club. As the second coming of
Christ draws near, there is the need for every Christian irrespective of
rank to develop passion for lost souls and be willing to evangelize at
home, at work, at play, and in-transit.
OBJECTIVE
To understand what effective Evangelism is and how it usually
develops.
To transform the participant into an effective soul winner aimed
at fulfilling the great commission as the main business of the
church.
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To develop a sense of urgency as God’s people to reach the lost
that will lead them to a lifestyle of prayer and daily witness in
the light of Christ’s second coming.
ROLE FUNCTIONS OF A VESSEL OF HONOUR
Accepting Assignment
Every vessel of honour is shaped for serving God. God told
Jeremiah “Before I formed you in the womb, I know you; before
you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to
Nations” (Jeremiah 1:5) NKJV
You are placed on this planet for a special assignment. God has
formed very creature on this planet with a special area of
expertise. Each of us was uniquely designed and shaped to do
something significant. You are saved to serve. You are not and
observer in the Methodist organogram. You are in the church to
make specific contributions towards evangelism in the following
areas either through direct involvement or sponsorship:
Mass crusades
Tele-evangelism
Film evangelism
Radio evangelism
Literature evangelism (tracts etc)
Cassette evangelism
Prison evangelism
Sports evangelism
Personal evangelism
Medical outreach evangelism
Bus/train evangelism
Special events evangelism – luncheons
Open air evangelism (markets etc)
Web/internet evangelism
Other Areas Include:
Bible translations
Bible distributions
Sponsorship of missionaries etc.
You weren’t created just to consume resources, to eat, breathe, and
take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life.
You were made to add more souls to God’s kingdom.
68

God wants you to accept your assignment out of joy and deep
gratitude for what he has done for us.
Using God’s Investment In Your Life For Effective
Evangelism
Vessels of honour are expected to use God’s deposit in their lives
for evangelism.
“What you are is God’s gift to you, what you do with yourself is
your gift o God” (Danish Proverb).
Methodist people are not inferior to others; the problem is the wiling
heart to respond to the need of the church. It was when I began
accepting opportunities to speak that I saw the results, received
confirmation from others, and realized that God has gifted me to do
this. Until you are actually involved in serving, you are not going to
know what you are good at.
Methodist faithfuls should re-visit the fellowship of professionals in
order to mentor for successor ship. These fellowships include:
Old Boys and girls of Renown Institute
Methodist Lawyers Fellowship
Methodist Health-Care Workers Fellowship
Fellowship of Methodist Engineers Fellowship
Methodist Accountantship.
Methodist Business Men’s Fellowship
Annual Conference of Methodist Medical Doctors.
Annual Conference of Methodist Nurses etc.
The Aims Include
To declare Christ for all and all for Christ throughout the
conference areas of Methodist church Nigeria.
To raise both financial and human resources for church planting,
nurturing and infrastructural development in the rural areas.
To facilitate health care services in the rural communities
thereby using this medium to win souls! “For when a soul is saved
in the village a missionary is born”.
To face the task of empowering the youths to face the challenges
and vicissitudes of youthful living, particularly in the moral,
social, intellectual and spiritual spheres. “For when you save a
youth, you save a generation”.
To provoke operation win a professional colleague in the
Methodist Church Nigeria.
Understanding our Challenge of the Contemporary Church
69

How do you see your world, country and states?
How relevant is your church to your society today?
What is your role in evangelizing the world of today?
Let us look at global challenges.
Table I
Table II
10 Most Populous Countries
2008 2050
1. China – 1.330B
2. India – 1.148B
3. USA – 303M
4. Indonesia – 245M
5. Brazil – 192M
6. Pakistan – 167M
7. Bangladesh – 153M
8. Nigeria – 146M
9. Russia – 141M
10 Japan – 127M
Major Religions of the World
70
1. India – 1.628B
2. China – 1.437B
3. USA – 420M
4. Nigeria – 299M
5. Pakistan – 295M
6. Indonesia – 285M
7. Brazil – 260M
8. Bangladesh – 231M
9. D. R. Congo – 183M
10. Ethiopia – 145M
Christianity: 2.1 billion
Islam: 1.5 billion
Secular/Non-religious/None-religious/
Agnostic/Atheist 1.1 billion: 1.1billion
Hinduism: 900million
Chinese Trad. Religioons 394million
Buddhism: 376million
Primal-indigenous: 300milliion

Table III
Nigeria Population
Population 146 million
Christianity: 49% = 71,540,000
Our challenge: To bring Jesus to everyone in Nigeria
Are you convinced?
Are you willing to sharpen history?
Are you ready to invest both human and financial resources?
PROTECTING YOUR CHURCH
“In this age Satan uses the world’s ideals, morality,
philosophies, psychology, desires, government, culture,
education, science, art, medicine, music, economic systems,
entertainment, fashions, mass media, religious, sports,
agriculture etc to oppose God and His people, His world and
righteous standards” (1 John 2:15-16).
It is your job to protect the church from the sinister forces of the
devil. Nothing is more valuable to God than his church. It is your
responsibility to stand firm in line with Paul’s statement in 2
Corinthians 10:4-5 which states as thus:
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty
in God for pulling down strong holds, casting down
arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, brining every though into captivity
to the obedience of Christ”.
The church is in a spiritual struggle against Satan and sin. The spirit
with which the church is filled, is like a warrior wielding the living
word of God, delivering people from Satan’s dominion and
conquering every power of this dark world (Eph. 6:10-15)
Multitudes are in the depths of darkness and have to be reached.
They must be brought up to the light of the gospel. The greatest work
on earth is to preach the good news and the greatest need in the world
is the need for the gospel.
71

Understanding Youth of Today
Every vessel of honour needs to invest his/her resources on the lives
of our future leaders – youth.
You need to understand young persons need:
We must first listen to them.
They need to discover their identity – their purpose.
To be loved
To be given the opportunity and freedom to discover who they
are.
While there may be same general trends, each young person is
unique and deserves individual attention.
Youth need a guide, a coach, a mentor whom they can trust to
help them develop the discipline, skills and character to meet the
challenges of life.
Your resources are needed to develop a system where the older
youth can mentor younger ones.
SUMMARY
Brethren, it is not possible to put on this paper all that constitute the
role functions of the vessel of honour as it relates to effective
evangelism. However, let us resolve to be involved physically by
either going as an individual or as part of a mission team.
Give sacrificially to the department of evangelism, agencies,
missionaries and infrastructural projects towards church planting
in the rural communities.
Pray for global-church efforts, missionaries and missions to the
unreached.
Be men and women of good character and integrity.
Practice holiness and holy living and encourage others to grow in
Christ through our exemplary lives.
Be consistent in prayer and worship.
Systematically study the scriptures through adult Sunday school,
mid-week service and family devotions.
May the peace of God be with you all!
Thanks for listening.
Evangelist Emmanuel O. Oha
Diocesan Lay President of the Diocese of Agbani
72

FUNCTIONS OF CONFERENCE AWARDEES
BY
SIR COL. BOLA OGUNSANWO
INTRODUCTION
1. In defining who a Conference Awardee (CA) is, this Paper has decided
to look into the standard Programme of Service of Investiture of CA.
The Service is referred to as “Recognition of Service and Award of
Merit”. Part of the Declaration of Purpose of the Service says:
“These persons have been found worthy both in
character and Christian discipline. They have put
to use their God given talents, time and resources
to promote God’s work in their various
Communities, Churches and the Nation at large”.
2. An item of the Programme is called “Presentation of Recipients” –
where the awardees are presented to the Prelate, Methodist Church
Nigeria (MCN) by the Secretary of Conference. Part of the Presentation
reads thus:
“In accordance with the decision of Conference
that members and friends of MCN who had
distinguished in faith and work of the Church
should be recognized and honoured, these persons
have been chosen from the Conference Area and
particularly the Archdiocese of …………. to be so
honoured at this Service. This is in recognition of
their selfless services to God and humanity
through MCN”.
3. The Declaration of Purpose and the Presentation statement in
paragraphs 1 and 2 summarized the definition and qualities of a CA as
someone who has given selfless service to God and humanity in
character, Christian discipline and promotion of God’s work through
the use of the person’s God given talents, time and resources.
4. After the Presentation, the Prelate would direct that the Awardees be
examined by a minister of the Episcopal rank. The examination
consists of a set of 4 questions as follows:
a. Have you given time and thought to consider the significance of
this award and the greater responsibility the honour attracts?
73

. Have you resolved to keep your life untarnished and undefiled as
long as you live, by daily and constant study of the scriptures
and prayers and by surrendering your life completely to God?
c. Will you from this moment and forever order your life and
general bearings to be example to God’s children in your
community, local Church and the world?
d. Will you continue to lead and serve God’s people with your life,
talents, time and resources to the end of your life?
5. The answers of a CA and yours in a few hours time to these questions
are “I have”, “I do so resolve” and “I will”. Let us at this point ponder at
the questions and answers. The following must strike us as the import
of the examination.
a. An MCN CA is a role model as a child of God in every area of life
(1Tim 4:12b, 1Pet 5:2-4).
b. The Song of an awardee from the day of investiture till the end of
his/her life should be:
“I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Saviour
I surrender all”
c. A CA must be a student of the Bible and strong in prayer.
d. There is no retirement for a CA in using his/her talents, time and
resources for God. It is until “death do us part”.
6. It is the aim of this Paper to draw the functions of a CA from the
Purpose, Presentation and Examination.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CONFERENCE AWARDEE
7. Submission to Christ in Word and Deed. A CA is committed to the
task of obedient submission to Christ in word and deed. He/She must
be in the vanguard of surpassing others in all acts that promote
Christian ideals and the spread of scriptural holiness throughout the
land. Section 17c of the 2006 Constitution of the Church gave “regular
attendance at and observance of the means of Grace provided by the
Church” as one of the criteria for the membership of the Church. If it
and “constancy, faithfulness and single mindedness in the fellowship of
the Church” are criteria for membership, they become stronger criteria
for membership of the privileged class of CA. It means that a CA must
be in the forefront of attendance of Bible Study, Prayer meeting,
74

Crusade, Convention etc and at times ought to function as a conductor
and/or leader.
8. Example to Believers. It is imperative for a CA to be an example to
the believers in every area of life. A CA cannot be two faced i.e. be one
thing in the Church and another thing outside. In any case examination
in para 2c has said it all – “an example in the community, local Church
and the world”. A Biblical personality that fits this function is Philip
one of the 7 laymen chosen by the brethren on the advice of the
Apostles to help in administration. The Bible recorded that Philip who
later became an Evangelist had 4 daughters who were virgins and who
prophesied (Acts 21:9). Philip, it was, who led the Ethiopian senior
government official to Christ (Acts 8:30-37). Philip is an example to all
CA. He functioned as a good father, a layman who had completely
submitted to Christ in word and deed (Acts 6:35).
9. Defender of the Faith. A CA must function as a bold defender of the
faith in his/her loyal service to the Church and the cause of Christ’s
kingdom. The main weapon for a defender of the faith is the word of
God. The function of a CA as defender of the faith has a strong link with
his/her function of submission to Christ, the Captain of all defenders of
the faith. Our hymn MHB 821 asks all soldiers of the Cross to stand up
for Jesus who leads his army from victory to victory till every foe is
vanquished. A good example of a defender of the faith is Stephen who
was martyred in defence of the faith.
10. Bridge-Builder and Ambassador of Peace. A CA must function as a
bridge-builder and ambassador of peace among all arms of the Church.
He/She must collaborate with Ministers and elected Lay Officers in all
tasks of reconciliation, peace and concord both in his area of residence
as well as throughout the entire Conference Area. The Prelate
Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence Dr Sunday Ola Makinde CON
GPJ once said that if conference award had been in existence the crisis
the Church went through would not have happened. He is of the
opinion that CA, as bridge-builders and ambassador of peace, would
have stepped in. All CA must seek peace and pursue it” (1Pet 3:11b).
11. Performance of Task. A CA must be available to the Church for the
performance of any task at all levels of the Church and at International
levels. Such tasks may or may not be related to his/her exalted
position. After all, at the Covenant Service on the first Sunday of the
year all CA did bind themselves with Christ in the following words
“Christ has many services to be done; some are easy, others are
difficult; some bring honour, others bring reproach; some are suitable
75

to our natural inclinations and temporal interests, others are contrary
to both”. Our Lord had set an example by washing the feet of His
disciples.
12. Christian Charity and Philanthropy. A CA is a model of Christian
charity and philanthropy. He/She must be a generous supporter of
Church programmes and an untiring initiator. He/She should be a
promoter of developmental and evangelistic ideals and projects. This
is the most difficult function of a CA. Now that he/she had been made
known to the Conference as a model of Christian charity and
philanthropy, another level of operation has been opened i.e. the
Conference level. Before the conference award, a CA had mostly been
operating at Local, Circuit, Diocesan and Archdiocesan levels
supporting developmental and evangelistic ideals and projects
receiving various Diocesan awards. He/She must be ready to do the
same at Conference level now that his/her Diocese had considered
him/her worthy of a conference award. For instance, if the awardee
had been supporting WUSTO and paying the levies of a Circuit or
Diocesan Officer, he/she must be ready to move up to the CA levy level.
Of course extra financial demands would be placed on him/her and
he/she is expected to willingly meet such demands within his/her
resources. Age does not come in. it is the opinion of this Paper that it
should be the older the more willing it should be. After all, our Lord
enjoins us not to store up our resources on earth but in heaven and by
all calculations the elderly ones are most likely to reach heaven first.
13. Accommodating Ecumenical Ventures. A CA is not to function only
as champion of the cause of Methodism in Nigeria but must be
sufficiently open-minded to accommodate ecumenical ventures and
inter-Church activities so as to promote better understanding and
Christian unity (Jn 17:21).
14. Adviser. A CA must function as a ready adviser to Ministerial and Lay
Leaders of the Church on all matters relating to the progress of the
Church and the expansion of Christ’s Kingdom.
CONCLUSION
15. The earlier paragraphs of this paper (1-4) showed that a CA had been
carrying out these functions before being singled out for the award.
The award is so competitive because only 7 people can be selected in a
Diocese. The award (especially, KJW, OOW and MOW) is in recognition
of the awardee’s selfless and outstanding service and an
encouragement for more on a higher scale. It is not to be looked at as a
“retirement benefit”.
76

16. When demands are made on an awardee’s time and/or resources, the
statement “Ha, ha! am I the only one?” must not be uttered by him/her.
Such a statement is ungracious, ingratitude to God, the giver of all good
things and a negation of the promise made before God and all
witnesses of the awardees’ investiture that he/she would continue to
lead and serve God’s people with his/her life talents, time and
resources to the end of his/her life.
17. Permit me to use this opportunity and my position as the National
Secretary of the Council of Knights of John Wesley and Charles Wesley
to address a touchy issue on segregation and discriminatory attitude
to the Orders of the Wesleys. I make bold to say that all awardees are
the same. What we have is precedence and not superiority and/or
class distinction. If this is true, then “why the Council of Knights and
not Council of CA?” This question must have been at the back of the
mind of the Prelate, when in an address to the 10 th Annual Conference
of the Council which was held at MTI Umuahia 22 nd -24 th October, 2010
wrote as follows: “Wait a minute, what are you doing to interact in
your Diocese with other awardees of the Church i.e. Officers of the
Order of the Wesleys (OOW) and Members of the Order of the Wesleys
(MOW)? Your interaction with them on Diocesan level will promote
love, harmony and sense of belonging”. The Council unanimously
accepted the suggestion and decided that an Association of Conference
Awardees must be established at all Dioceses. The beauty of this
occurred at the burial ceremony of an OOW at Ago-Iwoye on Saturday
12 th February 2011. All Conference Awardees present (Knights and
Order) at the burial service came out, surrounded the casket, sang
MHB 913 and read an oration. It is expected that the various Chapters
of the Council would report on the progress made on the
establishment of the Associations which must hold regular meetings
after her inauguration by the various Bishops.
18. Thank you and God bless the Association of Conference Awardees at
all the 59 Dioceses in the Conference Area and Trinity Church Council.
Sir Col. Bola Ogunsanwo, KJW
National Secretary, Methodist Council of Knights
77

APPENDIX 1
CONFERENCE BANK ACCOUNTS
S/N Conference
Fund
Bank Account Name Account No.
1. Seed of Faith Afribank Nigeria Plc I, Methodist Church 0281173464613
Marina Branch, Lagos Nigeria
0231020001605
Union Bank of Nigeria Methodist Church
Plc, Tinubu Branch, Nigeria
Lagos
302010015988
First Bank of Nigeria
Plc, Marina Branch,
Lagos
2. 10% of Tithes Afribank Nigeria Plc,
Marina Branch, Lagos
Union Bank of Nigeria
Plc, Tinubu Branch,
Lagos
First Bank of Nigeria
Plc, Marina Branch,
Lagos
3. WUSTO Union Bank of Nigeria
Plc, Tinubu Branch,
Lagos
First Bank of Nigeria
Plc, Marina Branch,
4. Crosses &
Lagos
Afribank Nigeria Plc,
Medals
Marina Branch, Lagos
5. Communications Afribank Nigeria Plc,
Marina Branch, Lagos
6. Education
Guaranty Trust Bank
Plc, Marina Branch,
Lagos
Zenith Bank Plc, Lagos
Central Branch, Lagos
Island, Lagos.
Afribank Nigeria Plc,
Marina Branch, Lagos
78
Methodist Church
Nigeria
Methodist Church
Nigeria
Methodist Church
Nigeria
Methodist Church
Nigeria
MCN WUSTO Fund
MCN WUSTO Fund
MCN Crosses and
Medals
MCN News
MCN Publications
MCN Education Fund
MCN Cliff College
0281173464613
0231020001605
2302010015988
0231020016129
2302010537353
0281173464648
0281172687511
2167918303111
6012611608
0281173464516

S/N Conference Fund Bank Account Name Account No.
7. Scholarship Afribank Nigeria Plc, Prelate’s Scholarship 0281173464591
Scheme
Marina Branch, Lagos Scheme
8. Jos Crisis
Afribank Nigeria Plc II,
Computer Laptops Marina Branch, Lagos Methodist Church
Nigeria
0281173860616
9. MCN Prelate’s Access Bank Plc, 30 Methodist Church 015010003512
House
King George 5 Road
Onikan Branch, Lagos
Nigeria
10. MCN GLO – CUG
Project
11. Directorate of
Evangelism &
Discipleship
12. World Methodist
Council (WMC)
Fidelity Bank Plc,
Adeyemo Alakija,
Victoria Island, Lagos
Wema Bank Plc, Mokola
Branch, Ibadan
Guaranty Trust Bank
Plc, Marina Branch,
Lagos
79
Methodist Church
Nigeria
Methodist Evangelical
Movement
Methodist Church
Nigeria
08241010008570
0311031990012
2167918303110
13. Housing Scheme Afribank Nigeria Plc,
Marina Branch, Lagos
MCN Housing Scheme 0281175342612
14. Miscellaneous Afribank Nigeria Plc, Methodist Church 0281173464613
Income e.g. Lay Marina Branch, Lagos Nigeria
Preacher’s Sunday,
0231020001605
Literature Sunday, Union Bank of Nigeria Methodist Church
Conference Harvest Plc, Tinubu Branch, Nigeria
Sunday;
Conference Medical
Lagos
2302010015988
Sunday, Law & First Bank of Nigeria Methodist Church
Polity Sunday, Plc, Marina Branch, Nigeria
Social Services
Sunday; Conference
Delegates
registration;
Conference -
Organized Special
Services collections
Lagos
15. Tailoring Factory Zenith Bank Plc, MCN Tailoring Factory 6019203031
Limited
Herbert Macaulay
Branch, Lagos.
Limited

Appendix 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF CIRCUITS & LOCAL CHURCHES OF DIOCESES AND POPULATION
S/NO ARCHDIOCESE/DIOCESE CIRCUIT
80
LOCAL
CHURCH
TOTAL
POPULATION
1 TRINITY CHURCH COUNCIL 3 21 6,699
LAGOS ARCHDIOCESE
2 LAGOS 10 39 5,100
3 LAGOS MAINLAND 7 31 8,050
4 IKORODU 11 42 6,382
5 BADAGRY 5 43 7,400
6 LAGOS WEST 5 18 3,395
7 LAGOS CENTRAL 4 18 3,781
TOTAL 45 212 34,108
RIYE DIOCESE
8 EGBA YEWA 11 95 7,943
9 REMO 9 25 5,960
10 IJEBU 7 38 3,906
11 REMO CENTRAL 5 16 4,655
TOTAL 32 174 22,464
IBADAN ARCHDIOCESE
12 IBADAN 9 66 4,944
13 OGBOMOSO 6 72 6,746
14 AGODI 5 44 3,756
15 ELEKURO 7 32 3,576
TOTAL 27 214 19,022
ILESA ARCHDIOCESE
16 ILESA 16 57 8,036
17 IFAKI 9 29 4,327
18 IGBOBINI 7 20 5,585
19 KWARA 12 31 2,911
20 OWO 8 28 2,872
21 EDO DELTA 5 19 1,569
22 OSOGBO 6 25 3,645
23 AYEDUN 8 18 3,507
TOTAL 71 227 32,452

CIRCUIT
81
LOCAL
CHURCH
TOTAL
POPULATION
24
KADUNA ARCHDIOCESE
KADUNA 12 43 7,711
25 OTUKPO 10 94 6,820
26 IGEDE 13 162 22,339
27 JOS 9 27 5,014
28 KANO 5 16 2,249
29 APA 12 111 6,600
30 ENONE 13 123 13,102
31 MAKURDI 5 20 5,151
TOTAL
ABUJA ARCHDIOCESE
79 596 68,986
32 ABUJA 10 47 4,301
57 NYANYA 4 24 4,355
TOTAL
CALABAR ARCHDIOCESE
14 71 8,656
33 CALABAR 5 39 5,495
34 ORON 11 70 6,784
35 IKONO 13 65 12,056
36 UYO 10 22 5,853
61 OYUBIA 5 45 3,233
62 ADADIA 8 8 4,860
63 EKET 6 13 4,017
TOTAL
IKOT EKPENE
ARCHDIOCESE
58 262 42,298
37 IKOT EKPENE 13 40 13,757
38 PORT HARCOURT 10 61 9,997
39 IKOT ABASI 17 102 7,863
40 BORI 10 75 12,940
41 ESSIEN UDIM 6 34 7,429
42 MBIASO 9 35 7,208
58 D / LINE 4 20 3,027
64 NKEK ABAK 7 20 3,923
66,144
TOTAL 76 387

CIRCUIT
82
LOCAL
CHURCH
TOTAL
POPULATION
ENUGU ARCHDIOCESE
43 ENUGU 12 42 16,749
44 ABAKALIKI 18 180 30,662
45 ONITSHA 7 45 6,590
46 AGBANI 19 75 11,092
TOTAL 56 342 65,093
OKIGWE ARCHDIOCESE
47 OKIGWE 15 59 11,650
48 ISIUKWUATO 12 36 6,306
49 NNEOCHI 10 34 10,814
50 IHUBE 6 24 5,460
TOTAL 43 153 34,230
UMUAHIA ARCHDIOCESE
51 UMUAHIA 6 32 8,206
52 OWERRI 11 38 5,403
53 ABA 14 46 15,826
54 NDORO 9 30 6,446
55 UZUAKOLI 9 42 6,963
56 ITEM 4 21 3,082
59 UMUAHIA WEST 4 23 4,830
60 UMUAHIA EAST 5 40 4,556
TOTAL 62 272 55,312
GRAND TOTAL 563 2,910 455,464

S/N
ARCHDIOCESE
/ DIOCESE
2008 –
Adult
population used
Total
Expected
@ Actual
#10
per week
Appendix 3
METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA
SEED OF FAITH SUMMARY
2008 - 2010
2009 - Adult
population used
Total
Expected @ Actual
#20
per week
83
2010
(PROVISIONAL)
- Total
population used
Total
Expected
@ Actual
#20
per week
=N= =N= % =N= =N= % =N= =N= %
1
TRINITY
CHURCH
COUNCIL 2,080,000 2,571,405 124 4,493,844 3,813,365 85 6,966,960 4,294,947 62
ARCHDIOCESE OF
LAGOS
2 LAGOS
LAGOS
2,600,000 2,972,328 114 3,326,964 3,462,341 104 5,304,000 3,573,031 67
3 MAINLAND 5,460,000 6,654,042 122 7,494,240 8,328,420 111 8,372,000 5,746,113 69
4 IKORODU 3,120,000 3,824,177 123 3,795,996 4,767,088 126 6,637,280 4,810,730 72
5 BADAGRY 1,040,000 1,363,000 131 3,335,280 2,358,450 71 7,696,000 1,980,225 26
6 LAGOS WEST
LAGOS
1,560,000 2,540,997 163 2,006,160 3,221,201 161 3,530,800 3,134,020 89
7 CENTRAL - - 0 0 0 0 3,932,240 2,929,556 0
TOTAL 13,780,000 17,354,544 126 19,958,640 22,137,500 111 35,472,320 22,173,675 63
ARCHDIOCESE OF
RIYE
8 EGBA YEWA 2,600,000 1,715,240 66 4,793,364 2,004,568 42 8,260,720 1,864,225 23
9 REMO 3,120,000 2,142,215 69 4,119,444 1,812,575 44 6,198,400 2,248,110 36
10 IJEBU
REMO
1,560,000 1,026,837 66 2,237,040 1,267,126 57 4,062,240 1,270,921 31
11 CENTRAL - - 0 2,452,320 1,108,470 45 4,841,200 1,368,930 28
TOTAL 7,280,000 4,884,292 67 13,602,168 6,192,739 46 23,362,560 6,752,186 29
ARCHDIOCESE OF
IBADAN
12 IBADAN 2,600,000 2,047,327 79 2,918,244 2,876,520 99 5,141,760 2,779,368 54
13 OGBOMOSO 2,600,000 1,113,560 43 4,118,400 1,241,275 30 7,015,840 1,091,740 16
14 AGODI 1,560,000 1,319,253 85 2,610,396 2,705,380 104 3,906,240 2,241,286 57
15 ELEKURO 1,560,000 1,046,295 67 2,714,400 956,565 35 3,709,040 1,106,295 30
TOTAL 8,320,000 5,526,435 66 12,361,440 7,779,740 63 19,772,880 7,218,689 37
ARCHDIOCESE OF
ILESA
16 ILESA 3,120,000 1,460,902 47 5,182,320 1,844,776 36 8,357,440 2,118,850 25
17 IFAKI 3,120,000 1,531,305 49 4,434,564 1,838,660 41 4,500,080 1,064,810 24
18 IGBOBINI 1,560,000 891,838 57 3,754,404 1,478,881 39 5,808,400 1,322,120 23
19 KWARA 1,040,000 422,405 41 1,799,196 570,740 32 3,027,440 711,178 23
20 OWO 1,560,000 627,560 40 1,780,476 825,230 46 2,986,880 727,620 24
21 EDO DELTA 1,040,000 995,975 96 970,320 1,131,420 117 1,631,760 1,227,315 75
22 OSOGBO 1,040,000 486,600 47 1,713,924 495,725 29 3,790,800 802,974 21
23 AYEDUN - - 0 0 0 0 3,647,280 888,035 24
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
12,480,000 6,416,585 51 19,635,204.00 8,185,432.00 42 33,750,080.00 8,862,902.00 26
KADUNA =N= =N= % =N= =N= % =N= =N= %
24 KADUNA 2,080,000.00 2,004,505.00 96 4,374,240 2,224,085 51 8,019,440 2,671,250 33
25 OTUKPO 6,240,000.00 2,824,011.00 45 4,185,996 3,040,559 73 7,092,800 2,592,415 37
26 IGEDE 5,200,000.00 2,337,785.00 45 12,708,804 3,242,905 26 23,232,560 3,721,625 16
27 JOS 1,560,000.00 755,765.00 48 2,808,000 1,029,256 37 5,214,560 990,759 19
28 KANO 1,040,000.00 671,287.00 65 1,309,356 834,860 64 2,338,960 882,054 38
29 APA 3,640,000.00 1,353,605.00 37 3,671,196 1,397,592 38 6,864,000 1,734,200 25
30 ENONE 2,600,000.00 1,134,210.00 44 7,206,156 1,825,675 25 13,626,080 3,387,585 25
31 MAKURDI 0 0 0 3,375,840 1,616,999 48 5,357,040 1,540,474 29
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE
22,360,000.00 11,081,168.00 50 39,639,588.00 15,211,931.00 38 71,745,440.00 17,520,362.00 24
32 OF ABUJA 2,600,000.00 5,254,548.00 202 4,539,600 7,297,343 161 9,002,240 7,350,374 82
ARCHDIOCESE OF
CALABAR
33 CALABAR 2,080,000.00 2,122,783.00 102 3,146,004 2,859,735 91 5,714,800 2,420,465 42
34 ORON 2,600,000.00 2,287,238.00 88 5,260,320 3,516,800 67 10,417,680 3,498,395 34
35 IKONO 2,600,000.00 2,298,247.00 88 4,089,276 2,865,009 70 12,538,240 2,614,005 21

36 UYO 4,420,000.00 2,563,995.00 58 5,667,996 3,640,040 64 15,319,200 3,491,040 23
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
IKOT EKPENE
11,700,000.00 9,272,263.00 79 18,163,596.00 12,881,584.00 71 43,989,920.00 12,023,905.00 27
37 IKOT EKPENE
PORT
3,640,000.00 3,232,215.00 89 11,224,716 5,032,961 45 18,387,200 5,270,090 29
38 HARCOURT 2,340,000.00 5,082,110.00 217 8,085,996 5,787,798 72 13,544,960 7,946,304 59
39 IKOT ABASI 2,600,000.00 1,761,130.00 68 4,379,436 1,747,710 40 8,177,520 2,291,155 28
40 BORI 3,120,000.00 1,158,423.00 37 7,360,080 2,171,925 30 13,457,600 2,944,403 22
41 ESSIEN UDIM 1,560,000.00 1,382,080.00 89 3,234,396 1,297,550 40 7,726,160 1,555,615 20
42 MBIASO 1,560,000.00 1,610,915.00 103 4,219,284 1,416,545 34 7,496,320 1,650,540 22
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
ENUGU
14,820,000.00 14,226,873.00 96 38,503,908.00 17,454,489.00 45 68,789,760.00 21,658,107.00 31
43 ENUGU 3,120,000.00 1,755,365.00 56 8,859,756 1,331,940 15 17,408,960 5,206,972 30
44 ABAKALIKI 5,200,000.00 1,547,256.00 30 18,442,320 1,748,459 9 31,888,480 2,657,870 8
45 ONITSHA 2,080,000.00 1,227,950.00 59 4,694,556 2,418,851 52 6,853,600 2,901,760 42
46 AGBANI 2,080,000.00 1,171,876.00 56 6,875,436 1,328,103 19 11,535,680 1,055,672 9
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
12,480,000.00 5,702,447.00 46 38,872,068.00 6,827,353.00 18 67,686,720.00 11,822,274.00 17
OKIGWE =N= =N= % =N= =N= % =N= =N= %
47 OKIGWE 5,200,000.00 1,680,710.00 32 7,207,200 2,156,640 30 12,116,000 1,885,280 16
48 ISUIKWUATO 2,080,000.00 601,490.00 29 4,446,000 729,387 16 6,558,240 522,660 8
49 NNEOCHI
OKIGWE
3,120,000.00 963,710.00 31 7,597,200 1,472,518 19 11,246,560 1,649,650 15
50 NORTH 0 0 0 3,551,604 572,610 16 5,678,400 897,400 16
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
UMUAHIA
10,400,000.00 3,245,910.00 31 22,802,004.00 4,931,155.00 22 35,599,200.00 4,954,990.00 14
51 UMUAHIA 4,680,000.00 7,327,345.00 157 11,008,404 7,387,360 67 18,295,680 6,802,732 37
52 OWERRI 1,560,000.00 1,679,780.00 108 3,380,004 2,096,110 62 5,619,120 2,021,640 36
53 ABA 3,640,000.00 3,988,645.00 110 9,286,164 5,672,055 61 16,459,040 4,456,410 27
54 NDORO 2,080,000.00 820,720.00 39 4,475,124 1,398,695 31 6,703,840 1,174,881 18
55 UZUAKOLI 3,120,000.00 1,289,600.00 41 4,775,676 1,665,029 35 7,241,520 1,626,288 22
56 ITEM 1,560,000.00 459,800.00 29 1,950,000 558,125 29 3,205,280 568,495 18
TOTAL
MTI, UMUAHIA
MTI
16,640,000.00 15,565,890.00 94 34,875,372.00 18,777,374.00 54 57,524,480.00 16,650,446.00 29
57 Chaplaincy
GRAND
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 478,790 0
TOTAL
134,940,000.00 101,102,360.00 75 267,447,432.00 131,490,005.00 49 473,662,560.00 141,761,647.00 30
84

Appendix 4
METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA
TITHE OF TITHES SUMMARY
2008 - 2010
S/N
ARCHDIOCESE/
DIOCESE 2008 2009 2010 (PROVISIONAL)
Actual Actual Expected Actual %
=N= =N= =N= =N=
1
TRINITY
CHURCH
COUNCIL
3,696,834 4,721,886 5,672,262 4,886,152 86
ARCHDIOCESE OF
LAGOS
2 LAGOS
LAGOS
3 MAINLAND
4 IKORODU
5 BADAGRY
4,026,562
10,205,236
4,008,990
361,413
4,426,429 5,311,715 3,476,244 65
12,151,829 9,915,892 9,150,093 92
4,047,412 4,856,898 5,117,915 105
1,072,060 1,286,472 1,544,013 120
6 LAGOS WEST
LAGOS
3,292,355 3,732,206 4,482,247 4,041,727 90
7 CENTRAL - - 4,666,302 3,338,891 72
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
RIYE
8 EGBA YEWA
9 REMO
10 IJEBU
21,894,556
2,257,687
2,994,247
827,250
11 REMO CENTRAL -
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
IBADAN
12 IBADAN
13 OGBOMOSO
14 AGODI
15 ELEKURO
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
ILESA
6,079,184
2,786,334
1,036,470
1,411,065
740,620
5,974,489
25,429,936 30,519,526 26,668,883 87
2,661,165 3,193,398 2,476,919 78
2,119,480 2,543,376 2,128,503 84
754,778 905,734 720,431 80
1,309,390 1,571,268 1,598,975 102
6,844,813 8,213,776 6,924,828 84
3,084,718 3,701,662 2,957,559 80
1,043,945 1,252,734 1,019,597 81
1,720,966 2,065,159 1,474,772 71
778,435 934,122 885,589 95
6,628,064 7,953,677 6,337,517
85
80

16 ILESA
17 IFAKI
18 IGBOBINI
19 KWARA
20 OWO
21 EDO DELTA
1,555,203
964,470
763,850
465,259
644,020
1,141,188
1,801,590 2,161,908 1,887,715 87
1,315,640 868,322 952,995 110
1,069,394 1,207,376 1,045,205 87
508,445 610,134 731,690 120
699,675 839,611 676,265 81
1,316,073 1,579,288 1,271,929 81
22 OSOGBO
720,768 771,465 925,758 1,061,483 115
23 AYEDUN - - 710,446 652,525 92
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
KADUNA
24 KADUNA
25 OTUKPO
26 IGEDE
27 JOS
28 KANO
29 APA
30 ENONE
6,254,758
1,739,460
1,626,107
904,050
227,014
464,254
452,910
290,199
31 MAKURDI -
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE
32 OF ABUJA
ARCHDIOCESE OF
CALABAR
33 CALABAR
34 ORON
35 IKONO
36 UYO
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
IKOT EKPENE
37 IKOT EKPENE
PORT
38 HARCOURT
5,703,994
6,251,814
1,622,853
1,524,777
595,035
354,000
4,096,665
1,030,170
6,430,520
7,482,282 8,902,843 8,279,807 93
2,662,320 3,194,784 2,768,108 87
1,234,061 1,520,962 1,532,478 101
1,085,375 1,302,450 1,515,776 116
716,459 859,751 654,229 76
558,680 670,416 831,228 124
472,842 567,410 302,865 53
352,360 422,832 656,285 155
1,216,679 1,460,015 1,135,734 78
8,298,776 9,998,620 9,396,703 94
7,099,786 8,519,743 9,489,597 111
1,964,809 2,357,771 2,420,180 103
1,891,335 2,269,602 2,135,180 94
577,787 693,344 853,007 123
563,300 675,960 869,040 129
4,997,231 5,996,677 6,277,407 105
1,628,365 1,954,038 1,473,693 75
7,591,144 9,109,373 9,357,978 103
86

39 IKOT ABASI
1,092,967
1,004,335 1,205,202 1,105,385 92
40 BORI
445,640 2,095,099 2,514,119 2,803,357 112
41 ESSIEN UDIM 641,000 510,870 613,044 571,610 93
42 MBIASO
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
ENUGU
43 ENUGU
44 ABAKALIKI
45 ONITSHA
46 AGBANI
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
OKIGWE
47 OKIGWE
48 ISUIKWUATO
341,980
9,982,277
2,733,383
1,170,150
1,920,186
1,099,389
6,923,108
1,052,440
451,879
49 NNEOCHI
OKIGWE
499,550
50 NORTH -
TOTAL
ARCHDIOCESE OF
UMUAHIA
51 UMUAHIA
52 OWERRI
53 ABA
54 NDORO
55 UZUAKOLI
56 ITEM
2,003,869
4,613,298
1,343,334
4,237,800
487,380
970,530
199,685
389,620 467,544 549,525 118
13,219,433 15,863,320.00 15861,548.00 100
2,232,935 2,679,522 4,712,970 176
1,383,351 1,490,053 1,917,287 129
2,439,178 2,927,014 2,812,253 96
1,106,031 1,327,237 984,684 74
7,161,495 8,423,826 10,427,194 124
1,423,240 1,708,104 1,377,208 81
583,188 699,826 373,739 53
841,921 1,010,305 1,375,295 136
316,800 380,160 552,410 145
3,165,149 3,798,395.00 3,678,652.00 97
5,226,393 6,271,672 5,215,785 83
1,642,670 1,852,206 1,707,297 92
5,661,018 6,793,222 5,099,551 75
762,039 914,447 732,780 80
1,151,026 1,381,231 1,073,323 78
205,320 246,384 257,180 104
TOTAL
MTI, UMUAHIA
11,852,027 14,648,466 17,459,162.00 14,085,916.00 81
57 MTI Chaplaincy - - 0 522,280
GRAND TOTAL
90,713,575
109,697,317 131,321,827 122,836,484 94
87

Appendix 5
METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA
2010 PENSIONS AND WIDOWS PAYMENTS
S/N Archdiocese/ Diocese Jan. / Dec. 2010
N
1 Trinity Church Council 180,000
Lagos Archdiocese
2 Lagos 955,512
3 Lagos Mainland 1,265,298
4 Ikorodu 1,631,646
5 Badagry 328,767
6 Lagos West 967,500
7 Lagos Central 75,000
Total 5,223,723
RIYE Archdiocese
8 Egba Yewa 1,267,875
9 Remo 1,025,751
10 Ijebu 895,875
11 Remo Central 496,398
Total 3,685,899
Ibadan Archdiocese
12 Ibadan 1,173,516
13 Ogbomoso 722,250
14 Agodi 1,338,012
15 Elekuro 1,318,770
Total 4,552,548
Ilesa Archdiocese
16 Ilesa 1,542,684
17 Ifaki 3,947,982
18 Igbobini 334,512
19 Kwara 262,512
20 Owo 90,000
21 Edo Delta 0
22 Osogbo 315,000
23 Ayedun 96,261
Total 6,588,951
Kaduna Archdiocese
24 Kaduna 234,000
25 Otukpo 737,622
88

26 Igede 667,512
27 Jos 0
28 Kano 0
29 Apa 745,524
30 Enone 157,500
31 Makurdi 75,000
Total 2,617,158
32 Abuja Archdiocese 247,500
S/N Archdiocese/ Diocese Jan. / Dec. 2010
N
Calabar Archdiocese
33 Calabar 110,250
34 Oron 1,599,657
35 Ikono 406,512
36 Uyo 156,000
Total 2,272,419
Ikot Ekpene Archdiocese
37 Ikot Ekpene 1,859,657
38 Port Harcourt 933,261
39 Ikot Abasi 663,183
40 Bori 337,500
41 Essien Udim 0
42 Mbiaso 39,375
Total 3,832,976
Enugu Archdiocese
43 Enugu 468,000
44 Abakaliki 195,000
45 Onitsha 0
46 Agbani 162,000
Total 825,000
Okigwe Archdiocese
47 Okigwe 1,125,792
48 Isuikwuato 672,246
49 Nneochi 282,024
50 Ihube 0
Total 2,080,062
Umuahia Archdiocese
51 Umuahia 2,334,470
52 Owerri 1,005,000
89

53 Aba 808,524
54 Ndoro 721,512
55 Uzuakoli 1,144,512
56 Item 789,375
Total 6,803,393
57 Youth Work 270,000
58 Episcopal Members 7,565,163
Grand Total 46,744,792
90

Appendix 6
NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF CONFERENCE OFFICERS
1. Conference Treasurers
Mr. A. A. Adesanya
08023050480
Mrs. Adetutu O. Osindero
tutbuks@yahoo.com
08023233035,
01-8513627
Mr. Onwuka Orji
rubiesconsult2005@yahoo.co.uk
08033007839, 08094840514
2. Technical Advisers
Engr. Okechukwu Ogala
okeyogala@galconengineering.com
08034120868
Architect I. I. Etteh
eiietteh@yahoo.com
08022900093
Sir Marshal Chima Orji, KJW
shallchi@yahoo.com
08060315973
3. Property Advisers
Sir Adebonojo Badejo, KJW
bonajobadejo@yahoo.com
01-4819893, 01-7740200
Hon (Chief) Dosu Fatokun
oladosu@hyperia.com
01- 4819893, 08033332184
Bro. Deola Olufon
deolaolufon@hotmail.com
08023024911
Arc. Akin Osho
akinfunmbiosho@yahoo.com
08033044607
91
4. Legal Advisers
Hon. Justice Ekerete Akpan Ebienye
ekeresemae@yahoo.com
08033567064, 08057558976
Sir Francis Foluso Aremu
foluaremuco@yahoo.com
08067529696
Bro. Kayode Adeluola
kayodeadeluola@yahoo.com
01-8937650, 080-30725177
5. Medical Adviser
Dr. Funmilayo Fashoro
tfash2000@gmail.com
08023093391
Dr. J. B. Puddicombe
sirdepuddy@yahoo.com
08023008118
6. Strategic Planning Officer
Sir Benjamin B. Oshadiya
08022901213
7. Adviser on Conference Investments
Sir Kehinde Smith, KJW
xmith@aol.com
08024444400
Bro Ladi Smith
ladi.smith@siao-ng.com
08034748092
8. Registered Trustees
His Eminence, Dr. S. Ola. Makinde, GPJ, CON
prelatemakinde@yahoo.com
01-2711998, 08053697000
His Eminence, Dr. Sunday Mbang, CON
08023058801, 08032291037
Most Rev. M. U. Ogo

08037469180
Most Rev. L. Ayo Ladigbolu
apewolad2002@yahoo.com
08034075414
Most Rev. M. K. Stephen
kehindestephen@yahoo.com
08023006885
Rt. Rev. Dr. C. Raphael Opoko, TFG
Bishcropoko2010@hotmail.com
socmethodistlagos@yahoo.com
01-2702563, 08053697007
Sir Remi Omotoso
remiomotoso@yahoo.com
01-8151471, 08035251415
Dame Helen Olufolake Adewusi
01-8934026
Evangelist Helen Adoga
07038188352
Sir Sunday U. Akpan
08022906588
Sir Chief Jimmy N. Coker, KJW
jimmynathcoker@yahoo.com
084-788025,
08053697001, 08033395404
Sir Prof. Tunde Adeniran, KJW
stagevictory@yahoo.com
08060856403
Most Rev. Dr. J. Oche Job
josephochejob@yahoo.com
08058452323, 07062123015
Ezinne Felicia Orjison
08058452323, 07062123015
9. Fellowships
Prince Dr. Sam E. Ejiofor
National President, Men’s
Fellowship
ohamadikeigbonine@yahoo.com
08052516661
Mrs. E. A. Makinde
92
National President, Women’s
Fellowship
prelatemakinde@yahoo.com
08037021165
Mr. Chimaobi Reginald Ekemedo
National President Youth’s
Fellowship
cekemedo@yahoo.com
08063828091
10. Wesley University of Science and
Technology
Prof. ‘Tola Badejo
Vice Chancellor
Wesley University Science
Technology, Ondo (WUSTO)
mbadejo@yahoo.com,
wustondo_vc@yahoo.com
08038251321, 08088636900
The Rev. Oluwatosin Godwin Soniran
Chaplain, WUSTO
revsoniran(2008)@yahoo.com
08060685482
11. Bookshop
Sir Ndukwe Ajala
ndy@soulmateltd.com
08023239997
Rev. Iyabo Buko
Executive Director
jotobuko@@yahoo.com
08023040274
12. Tailoring Factory
Sir Gabriel A. Legunsen
Chairman, MCN Tailoring Factory
adelarin@yahoo.co.uk
08023226180, 01-8183152
Very Rev. Samson Okere
Manager
mcntailoring@yahoo.com
01-8792439

13. Coordinators of Fellowships
Very Rev. Engr. (Dr.) D. A. Moradeyo
Conference Men’s Work Coordinator
revmoradeyo@yahoo.com
08055623833
Very Rev. Opeyemi Awe
Conference Youth Work Coordinator
mailyouth@gmail.com
14. Heads of Theological Institutions
Very Rev. S. Olu Owoseni
Sub-Dean, Immanuel College of
Theology
owosenisam@yahoo.com
08033846822, 08088131026
Very Rev. J. O. Adeogun
Rector, Methodist Theological
Institute
Sagamu
adeolajua@yahoo.co.uk
08055847075
Very Rev. S. E. U. Ngwu
Rector, M.T.I. Umuahia
ngwuseu2006@yahoo.com
08066580116
Very Rev. John Ali Shettima Chibok
The Principal
Methodist Theological College,
Zonkwa
veryrevjohnshettima@yahoo.com
Very Rev. Innocent Ekeke
Project Director, Leprosy Centre
01-2711998
15. Conference Headquarters Officials
Rt. Rev. Dr. Sunday N. Onuoha
Connexional Secretary for
Evangelism and Discipleship
evangelizingthegospel@yahoo.com
sundayvisionafrica@yahoo.com
01-2702714, 08053697020
93
Very Rev. Dr. S. Ola. Onadipe
Director of Administration
Adm_methodist.ha@post.com
revsolaonadipe@yahoo.com
01-2702564, 08053698261
Mr O. A. Onaselu
Director of Finance
dofmcn@yahoo.com
01-2702565, 08053697021
Very Rev. Edoka Amuta
Prelate’s Chaplain
revedoka@yahoo.com
08077223910, 08038554529
Very Rev. A.K.O. Ogunrinde
Deputy Director, Evangelism and
Discipleship
evangelizingthegospel@yahoo.com
01-2702714, 08027656533
Very Rev. Ken Egbochue
Deputy Director, Administration
revken2005@yahoo.com
08028124665, 08053697022
The Rev. Ebenezer A. Oluwatoba
Administrative Officer I
adegboyen@yahoo.com
08053697031, 08034004883
Rev. Ranti Thompson
Administrative Officer II
rantithompson@yahoo.com
08053697038, 08056265979
Very Rev. P.O Olukunga
Education Secretary
mcneducationdepartment@yahoo.com
01-2702713, 08034739941
Very Rev. D. K. Olufemi
Legal Secretary
askthelegalsecretary@yahoo.com
01-4622053, 08053697025

Very Rev. C. M. Eziuku
Estate Officer I
mcchizuky@yahoo.com
01-2702715, 080350348046
The rev. Leonard C. Agiriga
Estate Officer II
revagrig@yahoo.com
01-2702715, 08039353037
The Rev. Busuyi Agunbiade
Protocol Officer
agunbiadebusuyi@yahoo.com
08035477439, 08053697080
The Rev. Taiwo Ogunfile
Head Communication Department
revotg@hotmail.com,
taiwoogunfile@yahoo.com
08035541965, 08053698304
Deaconess Anietie Akpan
Women’s Work Coordinator
anieteakpan@yahoo.com
01-2702566, 08053697034
Deaconess Ibironke Oworu
Health Secretary
ibiyemioworu@yahoo.com
94
01-2702566, 08037228248
The Rev M. I. Iganga
Fund Accountant
michaeliganga@yahoo.com
01-2702565, 08053697028
The Rev. Akin Akinbode
Evangelism Officer
rvakinbode1@yahoo.com
08053697029
Rev. Oladapo Daramola
Media& Public Relation Officer
ddaramola@yahoo.com
08053698286, 08024145369
Mr. Joshua A. Aduroja
Income Monitoring Coordinator
joshuaaduroja@yahoo.com
08023165910, 08053697032
Mr. Oluwaseun Ogedengbe
Insurance/Pension Officer
seunoged@yahoo.com
08023028894, 08053697036

Appendix 7
LIST OF NOMINEES FOR 2011 HONORIFIC AWARDS
ARCHDIOCESE OF LAGOS
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES DIOCESE
1. ELDER OLUDARE AKINTOMIDE - DIOCESE OF BADAGRY
2. BARR. EBENEZER MAUTIN OGABI - DIOCESE OF BADAGRY
3. LATE CHIEF M. O. ONAFOWOKAN (POST-HUMOUS)-DIOCESE OF IKORODU
4. ELDER OTUNBA AYODELE ELESHO - DIOCESE OF IKORODU
5. PRINCE MICHAEL ADEDEJI ADEWOLE - DIOCESE OF IKORODU
6. LATE MAMA MABEL OYE WILLIAMS (POST-HUMOUS)-DIOCESE OF LAGOS
7. ENGR. ABIMBOLA SYLVESTER CARZIM- DIOCESE OF LAGOS
8. BRO. FESTUS OLUMUYIWA COKER - DIOCESE OF LAGOS
9. BRO. HON. DOSU FATOKUN - DIOCESE OF LAGOS CENTRAL
10. BRO. CHARLES A. TORTON - DIOCESE OF LAGOS CENTRAL
11. BRO EMMANUEL AFOLABI AKINTAN - DIOCESE OF LAGOS CENTRAL
12. MR. TIMOTHY ADEREMI OLUKOGA - DIOCESE OF LAGOS CENTRAL
13. SIS. OBAFUNMILAYO OLUWAYEMISI JOHNSON-DIOCESE OF LAGOS MAINLAND
14. BRIG.-GEN. MOBOLAJI OLUFUNSO JOHNSON RTD.-DIOCESE OF LAGOS MAINLAND
15. OTUNBA BOLAJI OLUGBENGA ONABADEJO- DIOCESE OF LAGOS MAINLAND
16. MR. AKINSOLA LAWANSON - DIOCESE OF LAGOS MAINLAND
17. BRO. JOHN OLUSEGUN AKINDELE - DIOCESE OF LAGOS WEST
18. BRO. JOHNSON OMONIYI - DIOCESE OF LAGOS WEST
19. BRO TOKUNBO MACAULAY - DIOCESE OF LAGOS WEST
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
1. BRO. SAMUEL ADEAGBO AREMU - DIOCESE OF IKORODU
2. BRO. BABATUNE. O. OSINOWO - DIOCESE OF LAGOS
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
1. SIS. BENAS M. KONIGBAGBE - DIOCESE OF BADAGRY
2. BRO. OLANIYI AWOBONA - DIOCESE OF IKORODU
3. SIS (CHIEF) ABIGAIL OLANIYIBO OREMOSU- DIOCESE OF IKORODU
4. BRO ADESEMOORE AFOLABI BADEJO - DIOCESE OF LAGOS
5. ENGR. OLADIMEJI OSINOWO - DIOCESE OF LAGOS
6. BRO. KAYODE EPOYUN - DIOCESE OF LAGOS CENTRAL
7. BRO. ABIODUN ABIMBOLA BAIYEWU - DIOCESE OF LAGOS CENTRAL
8. MR. DAVID CLEGG - DIOCESE OF LAGOS MAINLAND
9. MR. WUSU HODONU OLUYINKA - DIOCESE OF LAGOS MAINLAND
10. BRO. AREGBESOLA AKINOLA - DIOCESE OF LAGOS WEST
11. BRO AKINSANYA EMMANUEL - DIOCESE OF LAGOS WEST
12. EVANG. INNOCENT ANYAELE OKORIE - DIOCESE OF TOGO
95

MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
1. SIS OLUSEYE YETUNDE ADESINA - DIOCESE OF IKORODU
2. MRS. OLUFUNKE OLUYEMISI JAIYEOLA - DIOCESE OF IKORODU
3. JOSHUA OKUNLADE AJALA - DIOCESE OF IKORODU
4. BRO. SAMUEL TOLA AYODELE - DIOCESE OF LAGOS
5. SIS COMFORT TAIWO ODUNEWU - DIOCESE OF LAGOS
6. SIS JOSEPHINE IYABOWALE OLOTEWO - DIOCESE OF LAGOS CENTRAL
7. SIS VICTORIA OLUFUNKE OGUNTUASE - DIOCESE OF LAGOS CENTRAL
8. MR. JOSIAH AKINGUNSADE AKINMUSIRE - DIOCESE OF LAGOS MAINLAND
9. SIS ADEGOKE FLORENCE - DIOCESE OF LAGOS WEST
10. PROF. GABRIEL OGUNLEYE - DIOCESE OF LAGOS WEST
ARCHDIOCESE OF ILESA
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES - DIOCESE
20. ENGR. GABRIEL AYODELE OWOLABI - AYEDUN
21. DR. KAYODE LAWRENCE OBEMBE - AYEDUN
22. ENGR. AYO OJO - AYEDUN
23. BRO. IDAHOSA SOLOMON ERO - EDO-DELTA
24. BRO. NSA OKIN EYO NSA - EDO-DELTA
25. CHIEF ABIGAIL OLUBUMMO OWOEYE - IFAKI
26. BARR. SOLOMON OLANREWAJU DADA - IFAKI
27. PRINCESS CATHERINE OLADUNNI ODU - IGBOBINI
28. MR. FADENI OLADAPO SEIDEMI - IGBOBINI
29. BRO. AKINDELE OLOYEDE JACKSON - IGBOBINI
30. CHIEF MICHAEL ADE OJO - ILESA
31. EZEKIEL OLAYINKA OLATUNJI - ILESA
32. BRO ADEBAYO AYODEJI - ILESA
33. PROF. CLAUDIUS OMOLEYE DARAMOLA - KWARA
34. SURV. AMOS BOSEDE OLAKUNBI OJO - KWARA
35. DR. JACOB SUNDAY OPAKUNLE - OSOGBO
36. CHIEF TIMOTHY AGBOOLA ADEBAYO - OSOGBO
37. CHIEF SAMUEL AYODELE ADETUYI - OWO
38. CHIEF PIUS OLUWOLE AKINYELURE - OWO
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
1. CHIEF ROBERT AKINOLA AROWOYELE - IGBOBINI
2. DR. MICHAEL BABATOPE ADEGBOYE - ILESA
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
1. HON. JULIUS AKINYEDE AWODUMILA - AYEDUN
2. SAMUEL OLAJIDE ANIFOWOSE - AYEDUN
3. SAMUEL OLOWONEBI IJIMAKINWA - EDO-DELTA
4. ENGR. SIMEON UGWALASI OKPARA - EDO-DELTA
5. BRO. RUFUS ALABA ADELUSI - IFAKI
96

6. CHIEF DEBORAH TINUOLA AINA - IFAKI
7. CHIEF MAKINDE THEOPHILUS ADETAYO - IGBOBINI
8. CHIEF ARTHUR AKINLOOSE OWOGBO - IGBOBINI
9. HON. MOSES OLA GBOTOSO - ILESA
10. HON. GABRIEL AJIBADE ASOMUYIDE - ILESA
11. MR. ALLI EMMANUEL ADEKUNLE - KWARA
12. MRS. SARAH MALOMO OJUOKAIYE - KWARA
13. CHIEF OYEWOLE AMOS IDOWU - OSOGBO
14. ENGR. AKINYEMI ISAAC FARINRE - OSOGBO
15. HON. OLA JONES JEJELOLA - OWO
16. CHIEF JOHN OLUSOLA OGUNLEYE - OWO
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
1. BRO. ISREAL ADEBAMIGBE ANIFOWOSE - AYEDUN
2. EBU SUNDAY ONWUBUIFEOHA - EDO-DELTA
3. ARIOMERIBI JOHN OMERU - EDO-DELTA
4. MRS JANET OLUFUNKE AKINBO - IGBOBINI
5. AYADI ELIAS ADELEYE - IGBOBINI
6. JAMES ABIODUN AJELABI - ILESA
7. EVANG.(MRS.) SASEUN ADEBOWALE OLABISI - ILESHA
8. BRO. ALBERT ADEBAYO AWODELE - OSOGBO
9. CHIEF (MRS) RACHAEL OLADOYIN ADUN - OWO
10. ENGR. MATTHEW KARIGIDI - OWO
ARCHDIOCESE OF IBADAN
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES DIOCESE
1. CHIEF GABRIEL OLABAMIJI ADEAGBO - AGODI
2. DR. OLUMUYIWA AKINLOLU OKE - AGODI
3. ENGR. DAVID OLADIMEJI ISHOLA - AGODI
4. ENGR. ABIOLA DAVID OLANREWAJU - ELEKURO
5. HON. JUSTICE SAMUEL ADELEKE FALADE(RTD)- ELEKURO
6. BRO. CHRISTOPHER OLADELE BOLADE - OGBOMOSO
7. MOSES ADEYEMI OLANIYAN - OGBOMOSO
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
1. BRO. SAMUEL TAIWO EGBEWUMI - ELEKURO
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
1. CHIEF(MRS) SERIKI MARGARET TOLAPE - AGODI
2. CHIEF RICHARD OLALERE OMOTOSHO - ELEKURO
3. ENGR. OLUSOLA BABATUNDE MORENIKEJI - ELEKURO
4. BRO. EZEKIEL AFOLABI ADEBUKOLA - OGBOMOSO
5. HON.EMMANUEL ADEBAYO AKANBI - OGBOMOSO
97

MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
1. MRS. OLAROTIMI OLUFUNMILAYO OLUKEMI - AGODI
2. CHIEF ADEROJU SOLOMON TAIWO - ELEKURO
3. SAMSON ADEWUYI ADEPOJU - ELEKURO
4. BRO. GEORGE ADETUNJI ADISA - OGBOMOSO
5. BRO. SAMUEL OYEBANJI OGUNSOLA - OGBOMOSO
ARCHDIOCESE OF UMUAHIA
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
6. ELDER CYRIL NDUBUEZE AZUBUIKE - ABA
7. ELDER CHIEF SUNDAY ONYEMA NMEREOLA - ABA
8. BRO. NWEKE UMEZURIKE - ITEM
9. ELDER ONOH GEORGE EKE ONOH - ITEM
10. ELDER E. A. NKULO - NDORO
11. CHIEF HON. O.A ONYEKWERE - NDORO
12. CHIEF MICAH ONYEBUCHI - UMUAHIA
13. BARRISTER NGOZI EBELE CHIKWENDU - UMUAHIA
14. CHIEF(HON) ABEL CHIKWENDU OKOROAFOR - UMUAHIA
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
1. ELDER FRIDAY NKEMKA EHILEGBU - NDORO
2. VERY REV. JOHNSON OGBONNAYA IRONKWE OKOCHA-UMUAHIA
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
3. ELDER CHARLES OGBONNAYA OGBUAGU - ABA
4. UDEALA JOSEPH NWANKWO JAMES - ITEM
5. ELDER IGWE EMMANUEL AGBAEZE - ITEM
6. ELDER SYLVANUS MADU - NDORO
7. ELDER JOSHUA KAMEN NGADI - NDORO
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
8. EVANG. MICHAEL NJOKU - ABA
9. HRH JERRY AKPALA IGWE - ITEM
10. SIS UGO EKE - ITEM
11. SIS UGO EKE - ITEM
12. CHIEF NATHANIEL OGBONNA OKORO - NDORO
13. CHIEF OSUAGWU CHRISTIAN UGWUNNABUNWA- UMUAHIA
ARCHDIOCESE OF ABUJA
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES DIOCESE
1. AMBASSADOR ADEREMI OLAGOKE ESAN - ABUJA
2. BRO. CHIGOZIEM BOB OGUBUIKEH - ABUJA
3. CHIEF OLASUNKANMI J.SHOBOWALE - ABUJA
4. ARC. CHINEDUM. E EKEH CHINEDUM. E EKEH - ABUJA
98

KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
5. BARR. ETEFIA SAMMY UDO - ABUJA
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
6. MARTHA OKON EFFIOK - ABUJA
7. BABALOLA S. BABATUNDE - ABUJA
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
8. CHIEF OLAIYA TITUS ADEREMI - ABUJA
9. Mr. Ejikemeuwa Matthew Onuegbu - Abuja
10. DAVID OCHOLA - ABUJA
ARCHDIOCESE OF OKIGWE
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES DIOCESE
1. EMMANUEL ONYEBUCHI JONAH NKEM - ISUIKWATO
2. MRS. CHRISTIANA ISIAKU RUFUS OBI - ISUIKWATO
3. MRS. GLADYS IKE - NNEOCHI
4. ELDER ABEL NWACHUKWU IROESOGBUSI - OKIGWE
5. ELDER IHEANYICHUKWU P. OKEUGIRI - OKIGWE
6. MR. IKE ONYECHERE - IHUBE
7. MR. MONDAY UZODINMA UDEOGU - IHUBE
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
8. MR. AMANDU NDIFEKWEN CHIGBO - ISUIKWATO
9. ELDER DR. CHIEF ABEL NWANKWO OOW JP - OKIGWE
10. EZINNE REGINNA NNOROM - OKIGWE
11. CHIEF ANUSIONWU OKORO - IHUBE
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
12. MR. MBA HUMPHREY JEREMIAH - ISUIKWATO
13. MR CHIGBU IKWULAGU - ISUIKWATO
14. ARC. SUNDAY NWOSU OKORO - NNEOCHI
15. ELDER CHUKWUNENYE NDUKWE - NNEOCHI
16. ELDER ERIC UKAGHA EKEBUISI - OKIGWE
17. LATE EVANG. BENJAMIN M. AZUBUIKE (POST-HUMOUS)-OKIGWE
18. HON. IROHAM ONYEAKAGBUSI AKABUEZE - OKIGWE
19. HRH EZE JOSEPH OKAFOR OKORIE - IHUBE
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
20. STEVE OBINECHE OMEOGA - ISUIKWATO
21. MR. ONYEBUCHI UKAGHA - ISUIKWATO
22. ELDER CHUKWU DIKE NWANKWO - NNEOCHI
23. HRH EZE EMMANUEL CHUKWUNYERE OHIA - NNEOCHI
24. HRH ELDER EZE IHEUKWUMERE N.MADU - OKIGWE
25. ELDER ALEXANDER OBISIKE ABIA - IHUBE
26. BRO. GODSON CHUKWUNONYEREM OHANEZIM- IHUBE
99

ARCHDIOCESE OF ENUGU
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES DIOCESE
1. DR. ONYEBUCHI AZUBUIKE ANARIO - ABAKALIKI
2. OKECHUKWU STANLEY UGBA - ABAKALIKI
3. HRH ABEL OGBONAYA NWOBODO - AGBANI
4. BARR. DAVID OGBODO - AGBANI
5. AMAGU DAVID NGENE - ENUGU
6. BRO. JAMES O. UCHE - ONITSHA
7. BRO. MURPHY MADUBUIKE - ONITSHA
8. CHUKWU EMMANUEL ODIONYENAKA - ONITSHA
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
9. ENYI JOHNSON ITUMA - ABAKALIKI
10. BRO. OSMOND NWEKE IGWE - ABAKALIKI
11. CHIEF DENNIS OBIAKOR ANYA - ENUGU
12. CHIEF KENNETH NNAMANI OKENWA - ENUGU/KANO
13. DENNIS IHEANYICHUKWU UGWA - ENUGU
14. ELDER SHEDRACK EBERE SUNDAY EDEH - ONITSHA
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
15. EZE ABEL OGBUZURU - ABAKALIKI
16. EZINNE ODEH GRACE NWAKAEGO - ABAKALIKI
17. MRS UCHENNA NEBIEN UJAH - AGBANI
18. HON. MICHAEL NWATU OKO - AGBANI
19. EZINNE PATIENCE NGENE - ENUGU
20. EGBULIWE NZEDIEGWU - ENUGU
21. MR. OBASIKWE NGOZI UBA - ONITSHA
TRINITY COUNCIL
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY
1. MAJOR ABAYOMI WILLIAMS (RTD) - TINUBU
2. PROF. ABA OMOTUNDE SAGOE - TINUBU
3. ENGR. SAMUEL BABASHOLA FRAZER - TRINITY
COUNCIL
4. JOSEPH ABIODUN OTOKI - TRINITY
COUNCIL
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY
5. ADESEGUN OLUMUYIWA AJANAKU - TRINITY
COUNCIL
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY
6. BRO. PETER AKINBOLA OSUNBUNMI - TINUBU
100

7. OYENOLA FOLAGBADE MATTHEW - TRINITY
COUNCIL
8. MR. MARAIYESA JACOB OLADLE - TRINITY
COUNCIL
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY
9. MRS.OLUTOYE OLUWAKEMI ESTHER NIKE - TRINITY
COUNCIL
10. OTUEKONG BASSEY TOM UDOH - TRINITY
COUNCIL
ARCHDIOCESE OF CALABAR
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
1. ELDER ALDERTON EWA EWA - CALABAR
2. PROF. EDET OKON NKPOSONG - CALABAR
3. BRO. EFFAH PHILLIP AKPAN – - IKONO
4. MR. EDEM J. ATTAI - IKONO
5. ELDER(MRS) CHRISTIANA O NWUP - IKONO
6. MRS. GRACE AWANA - ORON
7. DR. EDET JONAH ATTIH ORON
8. CHIEF OKON EDET ESSANG ORON
9. OBONG ENOCH ENO UDOFIA - UYO
10. ELDER A. OLOWOKERE ANWANA UYO
11. ELDER EDEM EKPENYONG UDOH UYO
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
12. ELDER OKON BENSON SHOWELL - ORON
13. ELDER NANA TOMMY ETUK - UYO
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
14. MRS. BISI OLUFEMI UYA - CALABAR
15. CHIEF KAISI ODOKWO - CALABAR
16. ELDER(MRS.) GRACE N. OKONNA - IKONO
17. ELDER OKON UDOFIA - IKONO
18. ELDER E. OLU ONONOKPO - ORON
19. ELDER GEORGE TOM AKPAN - UYO
20. ELDER ENGR. BASSEY UDOFIA ITON - UYO
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
21. MRS. ARIT SUNDAY UDO - CALABAR
22. ELDER NNANA ISAIAH - CALABAR
23. OBONG JOSHUA U AKANG - IKONO
24. ELDER MONDAY A. UKPONG - IKONO
25. ELDER(MRS) ALICE OKON ANTEH - ORON
26. ELDER(MRS) ARIT E INYANG - ORON
101

27. DIST. ELDER JOSEPH JOB UDOMBAT - UYO
28. ELDER ETEKAMBA U. UMOREN - UYO
ARCHDIOCESE OF IKOT EKPENE
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES DIOCESE
1. ELDER MANILA KOKI - BORI
2. ELDER CHIEF ABEL TORUE ABALUBU - BORI
3. HRH MENE CHARLES BANABIP SAMSON WIKINA-EMA- BORI
4. ELDER UDO AKA EKANEM - ESSIEM UDIM
5. ELDER(ENGR.) JOSEPH UDOM AKPABIO - ESSIEM UDIM
6. ELDER UDO KIERAN AKPAN - IKOT ABASI
7. ELDER(DR) INI HANSON AKPABIO - IKOT ABASI
8. MR. DAVID EKANEM ESSIEN - IKOT EKPENE
9. SIR NDARAKE E. EKANEM - IKOT EKPENE
10. ENGR. OKURE S. OKURE - IKOT EKPENE
11. ELDER FRANCIS BEN UMOEKA - MBIASO
12. BARR.FRIDAY ESSIET EKPETY - MBIASO
13. CHIEF JOHN O. AIKU - PORT-
HARCOURT
14. ELDER (DR.) UZOUKWU NELSON UWAGA - PORT
HARCOURT
15. ELDER BANDELE TOLULOPE WICKLIFFE - PORT
HARCOURT
16. ELDER ISAAC IKECHUKWU UNAKWE - PORT
HARCOURT
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
17. ELDER PRECIOUS KPOOBARI EREBA - PORT
HARCOURT
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
18. HON. GODWIN BAATEE BAZARI - BORI
19. ELDER CHIEF ROBINSON NDONAKE NKWAGHA - BORI
20. ELDER(ENGR.) SUNDAY UDO AKPAN - ESSIEM UDIM
21. ELDER SUNDAAY AKPAN UMOREN - ESSIEM UDIM
22. ELDER(MRS.) EDITH ENO ETTETE - IKOT ABASI
23. ELDER SUNDAY JONATHAN UKONSEK - IKOT ABASI
24. DR. IFIOK EMMANUEL EKAEBE - IKOT EKPENE
25. ELDER MICHAEL EKPENYONG ODONG - MBIASO
26. MRS. ASIMMA EFFIONG UDOH - MBIASO
27. BRO. DUMBOR EREBA - PORT
HARCOURT
28. ELDER CHUKWUMA OKORONKWO OKEREKE - PORT
HARCOURT
102

29. ELDER MRS EDNA OKPO - PORT
HARCOURT
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
30. ELDER(HON) SUYIEKEKERE INOKON - ESSIEM UDIM
31. MRS. ABIGAIL GEORGE BROWN - ESSIEM UDIM
32. ELDER MARCUS EDWIN ENENE - IKOT ABASI
33. DOMINIC UDO - IKOT EKPENE
34. ELIJAH AKPAN ESSIEN - IKOT EKPENE
35. MR. EFFIONG PHILLIP UDOUSORO - IKOT EKPENE
36. ELDER DR. VICTOR OKON EBONG - IKOT EKPENE
37. DR. EMMANUEL J. AKPAN - IKOT EKPENE
38. CHIEF UDIONG AKPAN UMOREN - MBIASO
39. ENGR. CHARLES AKPAN USUA - MBIASO
40. ELDER BASSEY OKON ESUA - PORT
HARCOURT
41. ELDER (DR.) SUNDAY OGECHUKWU DIKE - PORT
HARCOURT
ARCHDIOCESE OF KADUNA
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES DIOCESE
1. BRO. OGBOLE ISEGBE - IGEDE
2. MR. JOHN OGWUCHE - KADUNA
3. ENGR. EBENEZER ADEBAYO SOETAN - KADUNA
4. PROF. FRANK CHARLES CAREW - KANO
5. BARR. (MRS) MARY ABOUNU - MAKURDI
6. HON. JOHN NGBEDE - MAKURDI
7. BRO. STEPHEN A. ECHE - OTUKPO
8. MRS EIMONYE ROSEMARY ORI - OTUKPO
9. MR. ELIJAH EKA UNEGBE - OTUKPO
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
10. CHIMEZIE CHUKWU IJIOMA - KANO
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
11. MR. MICHAEL ABIODUN OLANREWAJU - KADUNA
12. DR. OLATUNDE FEMI-OJO - KANO
13. ELDER ELISHA ONYENEKEYA UCHEIBE - KANO
14. MR. CLETUS SULLEMAN OKO - OTURKPO
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
15. MRS JULIANAH EKENMA IKEANYI - KANO
16. MRS. OLUREMI NKEIRU BOSAH - KANO
103

ARCHDIOCESE OF RIYE
KNIGHT OF JOHN WESLEY (KJW)
NAMES DIOCESE
1. BRO. OLANIYI ADEJUMO OLATIDOYE - EGBAYEWA
2. BRO SUNDAY BAYEWU OLADIPO - EGBAYEWA
3. HON. JUSTICE OLUKAYODE SOMOLU - EGBA-YEWA
4. CHIEF MRS. TITI AJANAKU - EGBA-YEWA
5. CHIEF SAMUEL OLUGBEMI OGUNGBE - IJEBU
6. PRINCE (DR.) SAYO SOYEWO - IJEBU
7. OLORI ADEFOLARANMI OLUDAYO ADESANYA - REMO
8. DR. TUMINU ADEGBOLA FAKOYA - REMO
9. KEITH PHILLIPS (REMO) - MCB CONFERENCE U.K
10. BRO. MICHAEL OLUSEGUN SONAYA - REMO
11. OBA MICHAEL ADENIYI SONARIWO
(AKARIGBO OF REMOLAND) - REMO
12. HON BABTUNDE OLAJUBU RUNSEWE - REMO CENTRAL
13. PRINCE RICHARD ADEYEMI SHITU - REMO CENTRAL
14. BRO. MACAULAY ADEBISI LEGUSEN - REMO CENTRAL
15. BRO. CLAUDIUS OLAKUNLE BALL - LAGOS
KNIGHT OF CHARLES WESLEY (KCW)
16. BRO. SESAN OLABIRAN - REMO
OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (OOW)
17. SIS BYKOTA EBUN JOHNSON - EGBAYEWA
18. CHIEF ALBERT DUROJAIYE ASIPA - EGBAYEWA
19. DR. TAIWO EDUN - IJEBU
20. CHIEF ABAYOMI AWODIPE - REMO
21. PRINCE JOSEPH OLUSEGUN SODIYA - REMO
22. PRINCESS GRACE BISIOLA OLUWOLE - REMO CENTRAL
23. BRO. EMMANUEL ADEOYE SOBANDE - REMO CENTRAL
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF WESLEY (MOW)
24. CHIEF OLUSOJI JOHN IDOWU - EGBAYEWA
25. BRO SUNDAY DAVID KOJEKU - EGBAYEWA
26. CHIEF (MRS) PATIENCE OLUWAGBEMINIYI OLIWO, JP- REMO
27. SIS. WINIFRED AMIKE OKELANA - REMO
28. GRACE OLATUNDE GISANRIN ADEBAYO - REMO CENTRAL
29. BRO. AMOS OYEDOKUN (SEXTON) - REMO CENTRAL
30. BRO. FELIX ADEMOLU ASHAYE - REMO CENTRAL
104