Nigerian Baptist holds 104th convention, wants Chibok Girls rescued

The Nigerian Baptist Church said it has concluded plan to hold its 2017 Session of the convention which would be hosted by the FCT (Abuja) Conference.

It is the 104th Session of the Convention with the theme “Moving Forward: Overcoming the Challenges of Life through Jesus Christ” as found in the Book of John 16: 33.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday Reverend Dr. Israel Adelani Akanji Said over 30,000 delegates drawn from Nigeria, Africa and other parts of the world will attend the convention, which will commence on Saturday, April 22, 2017 with an Opening Service at the National Stadium, between 10 am and 1pm.

According to him, the Convention will continue until Thursday, April 27 when activities will be brought to a close also at the National Stadium, Abuja where there will be a Glorious Morning Encounter and Inspection of Royal Ambassadors and Girls Auxiliary squads.

He said that various other activities have also been billed to hold at other centres including Baptist churches around the Abuja Conference and the National Christian Centre.

“This theme was carefully chosen with the leading of the Holy Spirit and it should be clear to all that it is an apt theme at this point of our national life when our country is witnessing various forms of challenges from every corner.

There is the issue of economic recession confronting the country; hunger, poverty, high unemployment and mounting level of corruption.”

“The Nigerian Baptist Convention is the second largest Baptist convention affiliating with the Baptist World Alliance, and the third largest in the world after the Southern Baptist Convention, USA, and National Baptist Convention, USA.

Conservatively, the Nigerian Baptist Convention has a population of three million baptized believers and a worshipping community of more than six million. Our churches are affiliated with the Nigerian Baptist Convention.”

Speaking further, he stated that the Nigerian Baptist Convention is made up of Churches and associations, which make up conferences; and constituting subsidiary organizational structures.

The Nigerian Baptist Convention, has grown into over 10,000 Churches with about 3,000,000 baptized members and up to 6.5 million worshipping members spread across the nation.

“What started in 1850 by Thomas Jefferson Bowen, as a foreign missionary project of the Southern Baptist Convention of the United States of America, formally emerged as the Nigerian Baptist Convention in 1914; 63 years after the missionary work started.

The Convention has since been completely self-governing, self-propagating, self-sustaining and self-supporting.”

“In the course of its missionary enterprise, the Nigerian Baptist Convention has started and supported other Baptist Conventions in West Africa; notably in Ghana (now the Baptist Convention of Ghana), and in Sierra Leone, now the (Baptist Convention of Sierra Leone). In Nigeria alone, this denominational entity has metamorphosed into thirty-one Conferences (ecclesiastical regions).”

“The work has spread to several other African nations including Republic of Benin, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, Mozambique, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and South Sudan. The United Kingdom and the United States of America are also experiencing the influence of its growth and expansion.”

“As a national corporate body, the Nigerian Baptist Convention has the task of sharing the truth of salvation to all and sundry through our Churches, Associations, Conferences and Ministries.”

“A new World Bank report has categorized Nigeria among countries where 80 percent of citizens have no access to electricity. The power sector was privatized a few years ago with the promise that the move would improve power supply situation.

As it has turned out, things are getting from bad to worse with Nigerians paying more for darkness.”

“As a religious leader, it is also glaring to me that more of our people are falling into poverty. While we commend the Federal and state governments for striving to pull Nigeria out of current recession, we appeal that more should be done so that the results of their efforts would become glaring in the shortest possible time.”

“According to National Bureau of Statistics, from 8.2 percent in July 2015, unemployment rose to 13.9 exactly one year later. Also, inflation rate, which was at 9.2 percent in July 2015 rose to 18.72 percent in January 2017 before moderating slightly to 17.78 in February.”

“Some of the things that never happened before in our land are beginning to become a trend. For instance, in the last one month or so, incidences of suicide have been on ascendancy. This clearly is a result of frustration and hopelessness.”

“It is a good thing that government has launched the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. We hope that in implementing this plan, great effort would be made to court both foreign and domestic investors as a way of ensuring that enough jobs are created to lift our people out of poverty.”

“Nigeria is still being classified as one of the most dangerous places to be a Christian in the world.

It is noteworthy that Federal Government has made concerted efforts to beef up security and we see evidence in the routing of Boko Haram terrorists from most of their entrenched locations in the North East. Recently however, they appear to be regaining their boldness.”

“We hope that more would still be done to restore the shattered peace of the region. We are also glad to remember the proclamation of President Buhari that the war on Boko Haram would not be considered won until abducted Chibok girls are all recovered. Similar to this is the Fulani herdsmen menace of rampage in all parts of the country. It is time to move with the realities of the time.”