The Apostolic Church Nigeria warns members against abuse of spiritual gifts, unscriptural practices, sets for aggressive evangelism
The National President of The Apostolic Church Nigeria, Pastor S. E. Igwe has warned members against abuse of spiritual gift and unscriptural practices in the Church.
The President who gave the warning in a World Press Conference in Uyo during his presidential visit to Akwa Ibom Territory of the Apostolic Church Nigeria recently noted that the great commission remains the mandate for the church.
Apostle Igwe charged Christians in Nigeria to take soul winning seriously and leave off frivolities while lamenting that “about 50% of the Nigerian population are yet to be reached with the gospel of Salvation” He noted that The Apostolic Church in Nigeria is determined to embark on aggressive evangelism in the years.
The National President commended the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel for building worship center for Christians in the state which he described as a memorial for the Udom Emmanuel administration and urged the government to do more for the security of lives and property of the citizens of the state and also provide employment for the teeming youths.
He called for attitudinal change among Nigerians instead of structural changes as away of solving the myriad of challenges confronting the country and charged citizens to vote only people with the fear of God as leaders in different level of government in 2023.
Read the Address here:
AN ADDRESS PRESENTED BY THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH NIGERIA, PASTOR (DR.) S. E. IGWE AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE SECTION OF PRESIDENTIAL TOUR OF AKWA IBOM TERRITORY, ON SATURDAY, 8th MAY, 2021.
Gentlemen of the press,
OUR NEXT LEVEL IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH, NIGERIA
I welcome you to this press conference section of the Presidential familiarization tour of The Apostolic Church, Nigeria, Akwa Ibom Territory. My name is Pastor (Dr.) S. E. Igwe, the National President. It is about four years ago that I was inducted into office as the 3rd National President of The Apostolic Church, Nigeria, along with other principal officers, so it has become necessary to acquaint ourselves with the various Territories of the Church across the Nation as approved by the National Executive Council.
The first leg of this tour was done in 2019 in LAWNA Territory, which covers all States in Western Nigeria. We could not continue last year, 2020 because of the global pandemic of the coronavirus. Here we are, to the glory of God, all alive to continue God’s work, this time in Akwa Ibom State Territory.
This visit is intended to encourage the saints in the work of the Lord and align ourselves with the focus of the church leadership at this time. Recall that in 2018 we in The Apostolic Church celebrated one hundred years of the birth of the Church and Pentecostalism in Nigeria. In my centenary address, titled: The Apostolic Church, Nigeria at hundred: A reflective memoir for agenda setting, I outlined by way of reflection, WHERE WE CAME FROM, WHERE WE ARE, AND WHERE WE HOPE TO BE BY THE SPECIAL GRACE OF GOD. I will like to highlight salient points in that address during this familiarization tour.
WHERE WE CAME FROM:
The Apostolic Church was founded by the Holy Spirit through the Acts of the Apostles. Historically, the church as a denominational name emerged as one of the earliest Classical Pentecostal denominations in Europe at Penygroes, South Wales, United Kingdom, in 1916; as an aftermath of the 1904-1905 Welch Revival by Evans Roberts, with the Welch Pastor Daniel Powell Williams. In 1918, the Holy Spirit began an indigenous Pentecostal Revival in South-Western Nigeria, among Africans and by Spirit-inspired African leaders without the physical presence of any European or American leader.
This indigenous Pentecostal Revival ignited a nation-wide explosion in 1930, which spread like wild fire across Nigeria, with outpouring of the Holy Spirit, reminiscent of the Apostolic experience as recorded in Acts of the Apostles. As a result of persecution which ensued, characteristic of the early church, the leadership of the indigenous Pentecostal Group in Nigeria, previously called ‘Precious Stone’ or ‘Diamond Society’ but then affiliated to ‘Faith Tabernacle Congregation’, sent a ‘Macedonian Pentecostal call’ to the authorities of The Apostolic Church in Great Britain through correspondence.
The response to that call by the authorities of The Apostolic Church in Great Britain led to the coming down of European missionaries to give helping hands to the African indigenous Pentecostal Body, which upon mutual agreement decided to adopt the name of the Classical Pentecostal denomination from Europe. Consequently, The Apostolic Church Nigeria, emerged as the first Classical Pentecostal denomination in Nigeria. Three years ago the church clocked 100 years. Praise the Lord!
Those years were impactful though not without attendant challenges. Since they were the founding years of the church, there were issues of break-away that nearly threatened the corporate existence of the church but in all of these and other spiritual challenges the Lord stood by His church according to His promise (Matt. 16:18). The Apostolic Church is known for the Word, Prayers, Prophecy, Miracles, Healings, Evangelism, Sound Doctrine and in-depth Teaching on Heaven consciousness, dangers of hell and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
WHERE WE ARE TODAY:
The Apostolic Church Nigeria has made significant progress over the years. The church is standing tall as one of the leading Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria. Her strong doctrinal stance on practical Christian living of holiness, righteousness, salvation, and love has cut out a niche for her in the midst of observable compromising stance among Christian churches. The church’s belief in the totality of the Scriptures without additions or subtraction has made her members enviable in the society. The Apostolic Church Nigeria is administered through five (5) Territories, namely; LAGOS AND WESTERN/NORTHERN AREAS (LAWNA), CROSS RIVERS, IGBOLAND, MARITIME, AKWA IBOM and ANDONI sub-territory. Each of these Territories is headed by a Territorial Chairman who administers by the Territorial Executive Council. Each Territorial Chairman in-council in turn reports to the National Executive Council headed by the National President.
The church has also made significant progress on foreign missions. The missionary activities has led to the establishment of branches in Ghana, Benin Republic, Republic of Togo, Sierra-Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, South Africa, Uganda, Cameroun, Gabon, Canada, The United Kingdom, Tel-Aviv-Israel, and North America. Many of these mission fields have long been given autonomy while a few others are still being managed by the mother Church in Nigeria. The growth level of The Apostolic Church in Nigeria is exponential, leading to establishment of Assemblies and creation of Districts, Areas, and Fields across the Nation.
WHERE WE HOPE TO BE BY THE GRACE OF GOD:
Now we are two years gone into the second centenary of the Church, it behooves of us to ask ourselves what is our next level for the Church as we face the years ahead. Consequently, those seven-point agenda issues highlighted in my centenary address, which has also been printed and distributed to Territories, on the approval of the National Executive Council, are the issues that will take our focus in this visit and our vision for the years ahead, by God’s grace.
YOUTH PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT:
It has been observed that a society without active youth involvement is moving to extinction. Therefore, I appeal to leaders in the church and in the country to give the youths a chance and a sense of belonging. Government at all levels should galvanize economic policies that will cushion the hash effect of youth unemployment which has opened windows for insecurity, banditry, insurgency, activities of unknown gunmen and kidnapping in a country where we use to enjoy so much peace. We all should know that our youths are great assets that should be wisely harnessed and developed as leaders of tomorrow. We need to understand them and be ready to empower them physically, emotionally, educationally, socially and spiritually.
In this regard, it is noteworthy to appreciate the tireless efforts of the amiable Governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency, Deacon Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, not just on his giant strides to youth empowerment in the State but his love for Christ and the Church at large. Specifically for the on-going construction of the International Christian Worship Centre, a signature project that generations will benefit from and that will be a memorial for the Udom Emmanuel administration.
Therefore, we in The Apostolic Church Nigeria join hands with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in their publication in The Punch Newspapers of Tuesday, 27th April, 2021, to declare a vote of confidence on the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and his administration.
AGGRESSIVE EVANGELISM FOR SOUL-WINNING:
The Great Commission remains the mandate of the church. The Body of Christ in Nigeria should go back to soul winning and leave off frivolities. For us in The Apostolic Church Nigeria, the years ahead will be years of aggressive evangelism and soul winning, because about 50% of Nigerians are yet to be reached with the gospel of salvation.
In 2018 we were here in Uyo; 2019 we were at the city of Port Harcourt, as a Church and we all witnessed the mighty outpouring of the power of God in those cities, in salvation, healing, and deliverances. By God’s grace, this year we shall move to the city of Calabar to preach the gospel. Praise the Lord!
These city-wide outreach programmes are carried out by the Church as a nation in order to serve as a motivation for Territories, Fields, Areas, Districts and Assemblies to follow suit in evangelizing their locations for the Lord.
CHURCH PLANTING AND CHURCH GROWTH:
As we evangelize and win souls, we should also plant churches, more so, we do not want to lead people to Christ whom others will lead astray. I want to see The Apostolic Church, planted in every street and hamlet in Nigeria. As a Church we planted two Assemblies in Port Harcourt after the City-Wide Crusade, known as Crusade Assembly. That is the will of God and that is the focus of the Church authority. For that reason I gave a directive to all Areas to plant an Assembly every year. The result has been tremendous.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND DISSEMINATION:
Information management is key to the growth of any organization. My desire is that our leaders at all levels in The Apostolic Church should update themselves with modern trends of information dissemination, like the use of ICT, the social media and the internet. The purpose is to check-mate information abuse while improving information dissemination from the H/Qs to all Territories.
UNITY AND UNIFICATION OF THE CHURCH:
In His priestly intercessory prayers Jesus Christ prayed for the oneness of the church, John 17:1-26. The unity and unification of The Apostolic Church in Nigeria is not negotiable, therefore, let no one put any inhibition to it. The process is on as several steps have been taken by the National Executive Council to strengthen unity in the Church.
WARM AND CARING CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP IN THE CHURCH:
It is observed that one of the major reasons the church is losing members in Nigeria is lack of care for members. This Church should be seen as a home for all without any form of superiority over others by any group. I hereby call on church leaders to look after the spiritual, physical, material, educational and emotional wellbeing of members. Let brotherly love continue, Hebrews 13:1. It is this type of fellowship that sustained the Early Church, Acts 2:42.
AVOIDANCE OF ANY FORM OF DOGMATISM IN THE CHURCH:
In this context, dogmatism means holding tenaciously to personal opinion, traditional belief and practices which are not consistent with the Word of God. It should not replace our sound doctrine. Rather we should study the Word and leave off traditions of men. Unscriptural practices should be avoided. Abuse of spiritual gifts should be discouraged as this does not represent our true apostolic identity. Apart from our areas of strength these are areas we must put more effort to nurture rapturable church at the coming of the Lord.
CONCLUSION:
Fellow ministers, Church officers, our esteemed church members, and Gentlemen of the press, this is where the Lord is taking us to, the Church is forward looking. Therefore, I charge all our members and leaders to run along with this vision.
As I conclude, I wish to advice the State Governor to keep up his relationship with the Church. He should do more to alleviate the sufferings of citizens in the State by way of creating windows of employment and elimination of attacks on children, girls, women and the vulnerable in the State. We will continue praying for you.
Also, let me sincerely appreciate our pressmen for finding time to be at this press conference and for their attention. The Lord will increase your media houses in Jesus Name!
The Lord will do wonders among us. The Lord bless and keep you all in Jesus Name, Amen. Long live the Glorious Vision of The Apostolic Church, Nigeria. Thank you.
