Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), The Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba, has called on the federal government to seek foreign assistance if it is unable to end the violent killings and persecution of Christians in the country.
The Archbishop made the declaration while speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the consecration of 15 new Bishops at the Cathedral of Church of the Advent, Abuja. The cleric addressed the issue of targeted killings of Christians in Nigeria.
Ndukuba confirmed the grim reality of targeted attacks, revealing that several pastors and their families remained in captivity after being abducted from their churches.
“The persecution of Christians and the violence that is going on in this land is not something that anybody can deny.
“As I am talking to you now, we have some of our pastors who are kidnapped with their families, taken from their church, and they have not been released.
“If our authority, the government, cannot handle it, it is good for them to seek for help. But at the due time, we will say what we should say,” he said.
The Primate while advising the newly consecrated Bishops, described their calling as one of sacrifice and service.
“When Jesus calls us to follow him, he calls us to die to serve. And also take up our cross, be ready to suffer, be ready to do God’s will,” he advised.
He expressed his prayer that they would be instruments in God’s hands to proclaim the gospel boldly and soundly and faithfully, describing them as change agents for their communities.
During the sermon, the Bishop of Kebbi, The Most Rev’d Edmund Akanya, delivered a forceful admonition to the Bishops-elect, charging them to be healers and bridge builders, that they should resist the temptations of office.
“Salt brings healing, and Jesus calls you salt. Do not go there and be fighting everybody. You have not been given that power to fight,” Akanya said.
He specifically identified money, women, and powerful members as perils that kill the salt of a church leader.
The Bishop also took a firm stand on global cultural issues, directly confronting liberal theological shifts within the worldwide Anglican communion.
“The revisionist agendas of the western world must be resisted by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You people must preach it and live it.
“Homosexuality, lesbianism, and all these lifestyles, they remain condemned by the Bible, and we stand by it. Nobody can change that,” he said.
He concluded by urging the new Bishops to be unwavering beacons of morality, to shine as stars in a crooked and twisted generation.
