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| With Ani Ekpo |
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| Conference |
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| Conference Speakers |
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| Old friend Engineer Emediong Samuel, former student at London Seminary |
On Monday November 20 last I was up very early to head to Heathrow and fly via Frankfurt to Port Harcourt in Nigeria. It took me the best part of the day to get there adn night had fallen when I arrived. The airport arrivals building is not there at the moment and so a makeshift tent is in use. The waft of warm air, the sound of the crickets, the rain and the air of confusion over prcdures all served to remind me of my previous trip 13 years before.
I was collected by my friend Pastor Aniekan Ekpo abkly assisted by a man I remember from before called "Japan" (he's good with motors). This time I was put in a hotel. Fairly basic but with en suite wet room and seatless toilet, a fan and an AC unit. electicity is as intermittent as ever but the hotel and the church have their own generators and the former would cut in fairly soon after any loss of power.
Apart from the introduction of motorised rickshaws in place of motobikes and the obvious upgrades in 'phone technology I could see little difference in the area. Rumuodara is as dirt poor as ever. The sight of a white man is still a novelty (I saw no other in the period of my seven day stay).
The church on the other hand now has its roof completed and a wooden ceiling so that on the one day it rained heavily the noise was very limited. There is also a day school and a seminary, which had not really arrived when I was here last. About 87 children come to the school. I enjoyed their little drumming band on my first morning, when I addressed the assembled children. Whenever asked to give an off the cuff address to children I always turn tothe story of Naaman, which is very child friendy and instructive.
After this, Pastor Ani, a local Baptist pastor and myself headed for a meeting of Acmin (Akwa-Cross Ministerial Network, see here) a ministers fellowship for ministers from Rivers State where we are and the neighbouring state. It was held in Rehoboth Specialist Hospital kindly made available by surgeon Professor Aniekan Ekere (see here). The meeting was in full swing when I arrived. Fairly Pentecostal in its ethos, it was mixed affair. Ani had asked me to speak and they listened politely. I spoke on What makes a Christian leader, stressing training and commitment.
The main reason for my coming to Nigeria was to give three addressesat a conference on the Reformation organised at the church (The Reformed Baptist Tabernacle). The conference was a two adn half day 15 session job and I spoke three times on various Reformation subjects. It is not easy to make oneself understood but I did my best. Numbers varied greatly over the sessions but we were just about into triple figures by the end. The other speakers varied in quality but some were very good. On the Friday it was native wear. I was kindly provided with a colourful shirt. The weather was good which may have helped attendance.
On the Saturday it was matriculation and graduation. There were also orindations. This seemd a rather unbaptist way of doing things but it is to do with Nigerian laws and the difficulty of establishing legitimacy. This was long and unusual day for me. Leaving students were given copies of Ryle on the Gospels courtesy of Banner of Truth.
On the Sunday I preached in the morning and spoke to the Sunday School children and the young people. That was again a privilege.
Throughout the time at the church photographs, formal and informal were being taken adn I must appeared in at least five hundred of these.
Although hard work it was good to be away from the computer for a while and to get some reading done. I thoroughly enjoyed the time there and learned a lot. The cultural differences are huge in some ways but the way Aniekan Ekpo and men round him are getting on with the work is most encouraging. I enjoyed meeting the men from the church and also Sammy, Jerry and Bulo, three young New Calvinists from Abuja, Lagos and Jos respectively.
My flight home was a night time one. It was good to be back.
The main reason for my coming to Nigeria was to give three addressesat a conference on the Reformation organised at the church (The Reformed Baptist Tabernacle). The conference was a two adn half day 15 session job and I spoke three times on various Reformation subjects. It is not easy to make oneself understood but I did my best. Numbers varied greatly over the sessions but we were just about into triple figures by the end. The other speakers varied in quality but some were very good. On the Friday it was native wear. I was kindly provided with a colourful shirt. The weather was good which may have helped attendance.
On the Saturday it was matriculation and graduation. There were also orindations. This seemd a rather unbaptist way of doing things but it is to do with Nigerian laws and the difficulty of establishing legitimacy. This was long and unusual day for me. Leaving students were given copies of Ryle on the Gospels courtesy of Banner of Truth.
On the Sunday I preached in the morning and spoke to the Sunday School children and the young people. That was again a privilege.
Throughout the time at the church photographs, formal and informal were being taken adn I must appeared in at least five hundred of these.
Although hard work it was good to be away from the computer for a while and to get some reading done. I thoroughly enjoyed the time there and learned a lot. The cultural differences are huge in some ways but the way Aniekan Ekpo and men round him are getting on with the work is most encouraging. I enjoyed meeting the men from the church and also Sammy, Jerry and Bulo, three young New Calvinists from Abuja, Lagos and Jos respectively.
My flight home was a night time one. It was good to be back.
2 comments:
We have a number of Nigerian believers in Larnaca. Some wonderful people amongst them. I have picked up with some west African Christians a hope that God is going to do special things in Africa etc. This can be distracting. Don't know if you came across this.
Yes, there is great optimism. It probably springs from the high profile Christianity has. Where I was, there are churches of various sorts every few doors plus some schools and hospitals with a Christian image and even some regular shops are like that. On Sunday morning it was gratifying to see shops closed and people with battered Bibles in hand heading to churches. All this, however, belies the fact there is much ignorance and superstitition and without a powerful revival there is no hope. What I saw in Nigeria is less marked but similar to some extent in S Africa and Kenya.
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