Qua Iboe Church and United Evangelical Church: Where parties must shield their swords
(An Outsider Recommendation)
By Gospeloma Edoho
The over 20 years case between the QUA IBOE Church and United Evangelical church needs no lawyer but just understanding, from the History you’ll see that in a moment. We need not give place to the devil, because the gates of hell will never prevail against God’s Church; His people and His mission in the earth.
The aforementioned Churches are a Christian denomination in Nigeria, existing since 1887. The church was founded by an Irish missionary, Rev. Samuel Alexander Bill one of the earliest of many missionaries who served the southern Nigerian Region with his Qua Iboe Mission now known as Mission Africa (Mission Africa is now based in Belfast).
The Mission and Church were initially named after the place where the missionary began his work, at then part of Eket (now a local government area known as Ibeno) near the Qua Iboe River in the present day Akwa Ibom State. What people do not know including many of recent generation is that actually the Church was not named after the river; rather the river was named after the Church.
The missionaries came in through the Atlantic Ocean and entered the mangrove village called “Akwa Obio” (Big Town), today, that village is called “Mkpanak”. The days that church was founded, that village was called Akwa Obio. The river had no name since it was just a fishing settlement of the Eket people, so “Qua Iboe” or “Kwa Ibo” is an adulterated pronunciation of “Akwa Obio”, since Akwa means “Great” and Obio means “Town”, the same pronunciation for ” Igbo” giving contestation of the argument for Igbo migration as its traditional origin.
Whereas the place was called great because Eket was the center of development after Calabar the seat of colonial administration then giving its rich beach. The State “Akwa Ibom State” is named from the river actually during state creation and Uyo was chosen as a centre to spread development round other areas. The saying that every mistake in London is a style in Africa further weakens our cultural uniqueness and aboriginal names, so instead of our people in that village, correcting the white people, they rather decided to mimic.
Like “Ekid” is the original name of “Eket” the later was vocabulary mistake of the white man. So over the years – about 140 years as one of the earliest churches in this country, people didn’t know the church well enough outside the state. Yet, the mission had extended its scope to overseas doing its evangelism left the church.
Now, the church and mission have been entirely independent entities since 1984, but the two continue to work together closely. Today Mission Africa (formerly known as the Qua Iboe Mission until 1986 and subsequently Qua Iboe Fellowship until 2002) primarily works in Nigeria, and extended to Burkina Faso, Chad and Kenya while maintaining headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Its current Chief Executive Officer is the Reverend Dr Paul Bailie.
The change of name was intended to convey the broader scope of the Mission, since it is no longer confined to one little area of Nigeria. The official legal name of the mission is now Mission Africa (then Qua Iboe Fellowship). It is a registered company in Belfast (R611) and recognised by the British tax authorities (HMRC) as a charity, XN45493.
Mission Africa also supply staff to the interdenominational Theological College of Northern Nigeria (TCNN) and the ECWA Theological Seminary, Jos – JETS which is the main seminary of the Evangelical Church of West Africa. Note that like ECWA’s Serving In Mission (SIM) formerly known as the Evangelical Church of West Africa had extended its scope, the reason it changed its name to “Evangelical Church Winning All” but maintained the acronym “ECWA”, that said!
Rev. Samuel Bill travelled to Nigeria to commence a work amongst the Ibeno people in 1887. The mission base, Akwa Obio (Big Town) where also the Qua Iboe River was named after the church was founded with the name vocabulary alteration, became the name to the independent interdenominational mission that Bill founded. Like say “the Corinthia church” of Bible days who do not bear those names today anywhere. The Revival in a short while had extended to reaching far north to the Igala and Bassa people in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.
Bill is a contemporary of Mary Slessor. The Story of Revival in Nigeria cannot be told without the revival outburst in southern Nigeria that introduced the “Spirit Movement.” In some ways this pre-Pentecostal movement paralleled the numerous cases of speaking in tongues during this revival, unlike the later clearly Pentecostal groups that coalesced in the 1930s and 1940s (including the Apostolic Church and the Assemblies of God), these earlier revival movements were among groups without any distinct focus on spiritual gifts or on speaking in tongues as evidence of Spirit baptism. Abundant praise and thanksgiving followed. Idols and other occult materials were burned. One participant prayed, “Lord, we thought this new religion was white man’s wisdom, but thou hast visited us thyself and we thank and praise thee” (Ayodeji Abodunde, A Heritage of Faith, p. 413). Missionary J. W. Westgarth testified, “People were suddenly seized and, as if in a panic, began shaking or shouting in a greater or lesser degree. This fear and anxiety generally gave place to peace and ecstatic happiness after confession of known sin.” Westgarth described an unusual visitation of the Holy Spirit in the mission.
That said, i can go on and no yet, to allow strive to make unworthy our Revival history is to play down high valued experiences for human self ego. This memory is still strongly revered by many Nigerian Christians today. A theological college at Abak in southern Nigeria is named in Bill’s honour.
Qua Iboe Church had CAC registration certificate of many decades ago. It is now the same certificate numbers 498 of decades ago which has been transferred to United Evangelical Church. By all findings, What informed the change of the church’s name is simple and needs just understanding than fight and fault finding.
The local people understand that being a church on mission over the years of civilization, the church has not being able to evangelize again because the people they are trying to evangelize outside the local region kept asking one question. “What is the meaning of “Qua Iboe?” In which vocabulary is that in this world? In which language? Is it Igbo, is it Ibibio, Anang, Hebrew or Greek? Somebody can say Qua means water “Aqua”. So later around the 80s, when pastors, and evangelists where sent out, they could not penetrate many places in Nigeria because of that name, even to the extent that, the man who led a faction was sent to the mission field – the place called Agenebode in Northern Edo State in the midst of evangelism. Whenever he mounted a sign of the cross, a wooded cross for crusade mobilization, the local people would come and cut the cross and pursue him and his people. This happened a couple of times because of fear; a local name propagating a different territory is a form of conquest, the people do not understand how another indigenous name is brought to them in bid to change their religion; perhaps the fold being an orthodox “spirit movement”. Other Churches that had English names would go there, mount anything and conduct evangelism, nobody challenged them. The local people said they wouldn’t cooperate with the church until they explain to them what the name meant. Some started speculating them, “Who knows, those people live by the ocean. They said the church was founded by and name after the river. And you know the Akwa Ibom people believe in juju, they believe in mammy water”. This are simple knowledge reasons for understanding and not worth forming factions to protect ancient landmark whatsoever.
That was in the early eighties. The controversy continued. People were still going around spreading the false interpretation of Qua Iboe to mean, a name of a water goddess. The church was compiling these reports from the fields. In December, 1997, it was formally announced by the annual conference to make a change which was welcomed by the Mission oversea. A committee of 12 men met in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 and presented a final report after four years at the December 2001 international conference. It was there, that they suggested a couple of names. That is how the name – United Evangelical Church came out.
From 2001 till today the church would have in the vision of its founder made massive impact with the gospel other than fighting and going to courts for grievances. As it stands, the Mission Africa recognizes the new change. The churches has its headquarters at Uyo in Akwa Ibom State as United Evangelical Church while the one bearing Qua Iboe Church is headquartered at Ibeno the first station of the missionaries.
The scriptures in the epistles are so strong about taking matters between fellow believers to be judged by unbelievers.
1 Cor 6:1 “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2:Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren”
The Court is the world’s system. We are the ones to judge the world. Apostle Paul puts us in constant reminder so we ought not to walk in strife serving the Lord. In the Old Testament, the same was rule in relating with fellow believers.,
Prov. 25:8-9 “Do not hastily , bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another’s secret.”
Walking in love is in itself a sacrifice, where you do not consider much about faults but for the ministry of gospel; His gospel to all the world. 2 Cor. 6:3 “KJV:Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God…”
No sincere elder or youth; whether educated or not can fault the clams led out even if perpetuators acted dishonesty, already they’ll always be disagreements, “this one did this, this one did that, Its an hijack” but for the cause of the church; soul and life’s of men, the church can walk as one when folks decide to shield their sword.
A church that walks in strife has vain glory in its mind to fight for. Yet, forevermore our minds are opened to be adjusted & submerged to the reason for why our Lord Jesus Christ died! We do not walk in bitterness & strife., Amen
(The writer does not belong to any camp, not even as a member neither having parent as members, but written because of known history., and love for the church of Jesus) #Shalom
Photo Description:
Tomb of Rev’d Samuel Bill family
Logos of the Qua Iboe Church & United Evangelical Church.
