A University Don, Evangelist (Prof) Temitope Jaiyeola who currently occupies the Mathematics Professorial Chair of Pastor Enoch Adeboye at the University of Lagos, and other speakers have affirmed that the Celestial Church of Christ has a bright future, upholding that, contrary to popular stereotypic perceptions, the church is not fragmented or disunited. This position was …
A University Don, Evangelist (Prof) Temitope Jaiyeola who currently occupies the Mathematics Professorial Chair of Pastor Enoch Adeboye at the University of Lagos, and other speakers have affirmed that the Celestial Church of Christ has a bright future, upholding that, contrary to popular stereotypic perceptions, the church is not fragmented or disunited.
This position was made known during a Summit organized by a special committee of the Celestial Church of Christ Ibara Cathedral, in Abeokuta on Saturday with the theme:Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow of the Celestial Church of Christ; as part of the activities marking the 50th Adult Harvest Anniversary of the Egba Regional Headquarters.
Prof.Jaiyeola during his lead paper, x-rayed the past, the present and projected the future of the church, highlighting a detailed and tabular comparative analysis of the growth patterns of the Celestial Church of Christ as a body, using basic statistical parameters fundamental to the missions of the church. He submitted that although the church, like every other church, has had its fair share of challenges and problems since it was founded in 1947 by Pastor SBJ Oshoffa, the church has a very bright future ahead of it.
Similarly, another Speaker at the Summit, Evangelist Korede Ogunmola, a Bible Teacher and Writer from Ibadan, emphasized that contrary to popular stereotypic perceptions about the Celestial Church of Christ, the church is not fragmented unlike some other white garment and non-white-garment churches in Nigeria.
Evangelist Ogunmola, toeing the path of Prof.Temitope Jaiyeola, with the use of historical review approach to his presentation on the administrative structures of the church affirmed that across the world, Celestial Church of Christ is a church where virtually all branches observe the same template of worship practices, tenets and principles without variations on the fundamentals as revealed by the Holy Spirit to the founder of the Church.
In his words: “Contrary to general stereotypes and wrong perceptions in many quarters, the Celestial Church of Christ remains one church without fragmentation although the church has its fair share of internal differences. It is not fragmented unlike some other white garment and non-white-garment churches”.
Evangelist Ogunmola noted that given the rapid expansion of Celestial Church of Christ to other cultures and countries of the world, the church cannot afford to discontenance the adoption of befitting technological innovations in the operations of the church. He however cautioned that this should be done without compromising the non-negotiable fundamental tenets of faith laid down for the Church through the Holy Spirit.
Another Speaker at the Summit, Evangelist (Prof) David Olusegun Orolu, who is the Head of Department , Celestial Church of Christ Seminary and Bible College, while delivering his lecture highlited the peculiar problems confronting the church in terms of integrating the youths into the mission of the church, stating that “The church has a lot of efforts to make to ensure that youths in the church are valued, empowered and involved in strategic decision making, properly counselled and exposed to fundamental social context issues”.
Prof. Orolu also noted that the family unit must lead the youths by good examples of servant-leadership values and style.
He also made advocacy for expansion of the operational structures of the church to include other social contexts issues such as sexuality, strategic investments in the talents/skills acquisition among youths, push for intergenerational format of Christian education that incorporates combined youth and parents study, provision of excellent adult leadership for the youths via constant training of youth leaders in addition to making conscious efforts to make worship experience a meaningful experience for the youths in the church.
He emphasized the need to ensure that the processes in the system of the church functional by incorporating the youth into the Parish Councils, to provide a platform for the mentoring of the youths.
OPEN TELEVISION Naija reports that a cross section of questions were entertained from participants at the Summit with Speakers responding to the germane questions and observations raised at the Summit, after which a Communique was issued by the Summit Committee.
Speaking with our correspondent after the Summit, the Chairman of the Summit Committee, Special Superior Evangelist Olusegun Aninkan, who is the Director of Academic Planning at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta, expressed satisfaction with the proceedings of the Summit, noting that all the Speakers at the Summit who were carefully selected on the strength of their impressive track records and service to the church, did justice to their presentations.
Evangelist Aninkan therefore affirmed that the future of the Celestial Church of Christ is indeed bright as no stones will be left unturned in ensuring that the well-researched recommendations of the Speakers at the Summit are circulated to the right quarters within the hierarchy of the church under the leadership of the Pastor and Spiritual Head of the church, His Eminence, Rev. Emmanuel Mobiyina Friday Oshoffa.
CREDIT: Open Television Naija
