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The Living Church-
The primacy of “global mission and evangelism” has been threatened by tensions in the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Nigeria said in an address July 23 while in Virginia. He called on Anglicans to both proclaim “the full gospel of Christ” and “continue to defend the family.”Speaking at the annual council of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, July 22–24 in Herndon, Va., Archbishop Nicholas Okoh urged CANA members to “declare that there is no one else” besides Jesus Christ to redeem people.“The main thrust [of Christian mission] continues to be the proclamation of the gospel, the faith once delivered to all the saints,” he said. To that end, CANA serves as “an important mission of the Church of Nigeria.”In a Christian Post interview July 20, Archbishop Okoh said that the Church of Nigeria founded CANA to keep the Anglican Communion from dividing.The archbishop also called on Anglicans to affirm monogamous heterosexual marriage as the normative context for human sexuality. “All other sexual relationships are a sad measurement of our brokenness, self-centeredness, and rebellion” against God, he said.He spoke of humankind’s continuing “rebellion against God’s absolute authority,” with one result being the persecution of those who oppose such rebellion.“The Western world has become afraid [of saying] that there is right and wrong,” he said, and has “disinherited its Christian inheritance.”By contrast, missionaries bringing the gospel and the Scriptures to Nigeria “widened [Nigerians’] understanding of what is right and wrong in God’s eyes” and influenced them to abandon practices incompatible with the Christian faith.more here-
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2010/7/26/nigerian-archbishop-bolsters-cana
From All Africa-
Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Nicholas Oko on Thursday in Awka, Anambra State capital, endorsed the ordination of women as deacons in specific areas in Anglican Communion.Interacting with Bishops, clergy and laity of the Province on the Niger at Emmaus House Awka during his Episcopal tour of Provinces in Nigeria, Archbishop Oko said women ordination for now would stop at deacons for specific purposes like hospital work and school services.He lamented the numerous demands for dioceses in the communion saying a new procedure for creation of a diocese will be out by September this year to checkmate the unhealthy demands for autonomous dioceses by those even without the requirements for an Archdeaconry.He emphasised that he is revisiting the priorities of the Anglican faith to recover the bible reading Anglicans are known for even as he decried the stereotypes in sermons often caused by lack of being educated in the scriptures. He warned tat henceforth no clergy without requisite educational qualifications will be ordained and appealed to the clergy to further their studies.More here-
http://allafrica.com/stories/201006090324.html
From All Africa-
Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh became Primate-elect in September 2009. He took over from Primate Peter Akinola who retired from service early this April.He was ordained as a priest in 1979.Before his elevation to the topmost job in the Church of Christ (Anglican Communion), Okoh, 57, had been a Lieutenant Colonel in the Nigerian Army who voluntarily retired when he was invited to become a Bishop in 2001. He became Archbishop in 2005 and is currently chairman of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission.By his election, Okoh, a civil war veteran, becomes the first non-Yoruba to become the head of the Anglican Church. He follows a line of distinguished former Primates like Olufosoye Adetiloye and Akinola who were all giants of the church. It is the foot-prints of these men that Primate Okoh would now follow and possibly surpass.We welcome the election of Primate Okoh to this elevated position in the Anglican Church. More so, as his election addressed a sore point within the Anglican Communion that has seen parishioners chaff under the headship of shepherds they felt did not share their culture and who they felt ensured that they were marginalized in church affairs.This situation led to instances where, within the same communities, rival Anglican Churches emerged to cater to the different ethnic groups that established them.More here-
http://allafrica.com/stories/201004260248.html
From This Day (Africa)
The new Anglican Primate for Nigeria, Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh, has formally taken over from former Primate, Peter Jasper Akinola, in a smooth succession that speaks volumes to the polity. Primate Okoh becomes the fourth Primate of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria following in the footsteps of former Primates Olufosoye, Adetiloye and Akinola, who all in their time played crucial roles in shaping the fortunes and following of a church that used to be the official church of the colonial government in Nigeria. We congratulate the new Primate and wish him a peaceful and beneficial tenure of office; both for the church and the country. We also wish his predecessor, Primate Akinola, a well deserved, restful and healthy retirement. He blazed a trail in defense of biblical values on sexuality globally.He made an indelible mark in the dignified resistance he led against the ordination of gay bishops in the Pentecostal Church in the US; in the face of dithering on the part of the leadership of the global Anglican Communion vested in the Archbishop of Canterbury in the UK. In standing against homosexuality as unbiblical, Primate Akinola spoke the mind of millions of Anglicans globally and especially in Africa.On the home front, Primate Akinola consolidated the establishment of the Anglican Church in Abuja as the focal point and centre of worship of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria. Lagos used to be the epicenter of the Communion. He also expanded the dioceses to 155 and created the concept of Auxiliary Bishops to drive evangelism nationally. He empowered the youths to take active positions in the church by limiting the ages of leaders of the powerful Anglican Youth Fellowship to between the 13 and 40 years. More importantly, he spoke stridently against the burning of churches during religious riots and tasked the authorities to protect all Nigerians even as he called for religious tolerance on all sides.Such are the big shoes that new Primate Okoh steps into and we are hopeful he can wear them fittingly. This is because the new Primate, aside from his known leadership qualities, has a military background having spent all his life spreading the gospel in military barracks all over the country.http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=170929
From The London Times-
I'm not sure I ever got round to blogging on this, but readers here may recall the recent presidential address to his diocesan synod by Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, which The Times ran an exclusive on and in which he called for an end to the Anglican wars over sexuality. The Bishop declared himself He declared himself 'in sympathy' with Lord Alli’s amendment to the Equality Bill lifting the ban on civil partnerships taking place in religious buildings, including churches. Peter Ould is among the many who have posted counter arguments.The latest to comment is the new Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh.In his sermon at the four-hour installation service, which took place at the Anglican cathedral in Abuja last Thursday, Archbishop Okoh said: 'The present crisis in the Anglican Communion, at the moment huge sums of money are being spent to undermine marriage. We are unable to accept this. The recent presidential address to his diocese by the Bishop of Liverpool is not acceptable to us. He argued that in the past people had to live side by side in the church, who held opposite views on war.'In the same way he is saying, if some people say that same-sex relationships are okay, they can carry on, and if some say they are not okay, they can carry on too. The danger is of establishing two authorities in the Church, one of the Bible and the other the canon of a deviant subculture. We refuse to accept it. For whom does the Bishop of Liverpool speak? For himself and his diocese, but he does not speak for the Church of Nigeria. He also spoke of a direction for the Anglican Communion. We do not know if he has the authority to speak on that. If the Communion Covenant is intended to carry the spread of the homosexual lifestyle thoughout the communion, it is doomed to fail.More here-
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2010/03/nigerian-anglican-primate-speaks-out-on-fear-of-women.html
From Nigeria-
The new Primate of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh yesterday took over the leadership of the Church with the promise to intensify the fight against homosexuals in the Communion.In his first sermon after the inauguration, Archbishop Okoh who took over from Most Rev. Peter Jasper Akinola also promised to continue aggressive evangelism and the fight against poverty.He warned that the recent Jos crises must be resolved to avoid Nigerians descending into a state of nature, adding that those who masterminded the mayhem must be brought to book.He called on the church to collaborate with government in providing job opportunities to the masses.Archbishop Oko commended President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua for the peace initiative and steps taken to address the Niger-Delta situation which he said defied the efforts of past administrations.He stressed the need for the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan's led government to address the urgent need of power, unemployment and poverty that are ravaging the country.The new Primate reiterated the need for the church to do more in the area of education in order to inculcate in students, the proper morals and decorum that according to him is lost in products of government owned schools.http://allafrica.com/stories/201003260327.html
