BUILDING THE CHURCH THROUGH THE FAMILY

          The topic above has two principal components, the Church and the family. This paper discussion intends to show the nexus between the family and the Church in God’s plan for humanity.

THE BIBLE

          God has revealed Himself to mankind through His Word.  Millions of people have been impacted, challenged and continued to be blessed by the message contained in the Holy Bible.

          The  Bible contains the inspired Word of God suitable for teaching, for reproof, conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience and for training in righteousness in holy living, in conformity with God’s will in thought, purpose and action (2Tim3:16). This God given resource will therefore be the principal source of this discussion.

THE FAMILY  

          The family is derived from the Latin word familia and in human context is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity (by recognized birth) affinity (marriage) or co-residence/shared consumption (Nurtured kinship).  Members of the immediate family may include a spouse, parent, sibling, son, daughter. Members of the extended family may include grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew and niece.

          The family is very important in God’s eyes.  He has a special concern and cares for the family institution which He created for various purposes amongst which are:-

          1.       For a Man and Woman to love each other unconditionally.  

2.       That members of the family may provide for the physical and emotional needs of each of its members.  

3.       To procreate and populate the world.

          In God’s view, the family is the place where people are schooled and moulded for life (Jim and Judy Kemp 2012).

EXCERPTS OF THE GRADUATION PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE CHAIRMAN BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF ECWA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IGBAJA ON Friday, 1st November, 2013

 Gentlemen of the Press

 

2.     I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

3.     It is with great pleasure that I address you today on behalf of the board of governors of ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja, on the occasion of our 2013 graduation ceremony.

 

4.     We give honour and glory to God for giving us the grace to get to this stage of releasing our graduands who have successfully gone through an approved programme and are adjudged capable of being recognized and certified by ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja.

 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ECWA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, IGBAJA

 

The Beginning

 

5.       Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Theological Seminary, Igbaja, started as a Bible College in 1941 with eighteen students as an institution of the Sudan Interior Mission (now Society for International Ministries) for biblical and pastoral training. According to Late Rev. Olatayo.

6.       Rev. W. G. Crouch started the only SIM Bible School taught in English with appropriate subjects in 1941 at Igbaja. The institution was called “Seminary.” It had 14 male students in its first class ever.

7.       They were drawn from various professional backgrounds.

 

AN ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF ETSI DR. SAMSON A. OPALUWAH, ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 49TH GRADUATION CEREMONY ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2013

In the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I welcome everyone here present at this very important ceremony – the 49^th Convocation programme of this great Institution, ETSI.  Please permit me to specially welcome the leadership of the ECWA – the President, Rev. (Dr.) Jeremiah Gado, the ECWA General Secretary, who happens to be our Guest Speaker today, Rev. (Prof.) Samuel Kunhiyop, and all members of their team.

2.       It gives me a great pleasure to on behalf of Board of Governors of ETSI, give this address which I can appropriately call my inaugural address to this august assembly as the new Chairman.

3.       I however can’t afford to continue with this address without first and foremost acknowledging the great work of the immediate past Board of Governors under the most enviable leadership of Prof. Luke Dayo Edungbola.  This is a team that has aptly left its mark on the solid sand of progress in this Institution.  I invite this assembly to please rise and applaud God for the excellent administrative and advisory work this enviable team  had done. May the good Lord reward you for all your labour.

4.       Let me also acknowledge the current hard working management team of the Institution under the visionary leadership of Prof. Julius Lawal, the Provost.  It certainly won’t be an overstatement to assert that this team has, within the last one year, given the Institution a face-lift that beats human imagination.  The development, spiritual and physical, are all there for us to see.  This team also deserves our applause.  So also do the Academic, Faculty and indeed all members of staff deserve commendation for their commitment and zeal to serve.

5.       Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I don’t intend to bore you with the background history of ETSI.  The man who knows it better, the Provost, has already adequately done that.  He has also presented to us a comprehensive update on the academic achievements and the Institution’s future plans to further strengthen this area, especially the efforts to add the NCE programme and courses for the award of PhD to the existing curriculum.  Not the least, I congratulate the 250 students that are graduating today.  They are in this order: 3 each from the Women Bible School and Certificate in Pastoral Studies Class; 12 will be awarded certificate in Theology; 10 Diploma in Pastoral Studies while 17 are graduating with Diploma in Theology.  For the Bachelor of Arts Degrees we have 32 in Christian Education, 38 in Pastoral Studies, 24 in Theology, and 10 in Missions.  At the Master of Arts level, we have 8 graduands in Divinity; 12 in Christian Education, 6 in Missions and Evangelism, 2 in Theology (Old Testament), 1 in Systematic Theology, and 14 in Theological Studies.

Acceptance Speech At PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURERS’ GROUP MANUFACTURERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (PMG-MAN) DAY OF RECOGNITIONS

Engr S.A Opaluwah receiving his award 

I give God the glory for this event. 

I wish to most sincerely thank the leadership and members of the PMG-MAN for this award. 

I have closely interacted with the members and leadership of the PMG-MAN in the course of my duty tour at the Federal Ministry of Health where I was the Director of Procurement. I believe that this event is a consequence of that period of my public service. When I was informed of today’s event, I was very surprised in the sense that while I knew and interacted with members of PMG-MAN, defended their cause, both at home and at some international fora, I was merely doing my duty as a government official in the Health Ministry and also a patriotic Nigerian. 

You can therefore understand my surprise for being recognized for something I enjoyed doing. I am most deeply appreciative. With the advent of the Obasanjo administration on 29th May,1999, the country’s public expenditure profile came under the searchlight of international finance institutions.  Nigeria was then saddled with a huge public debt profile, both local and foreign, that stifled development and made life intolerable within our polity. 

The Man: Engr S.A Opaluwah!

Engr. Samson Ameh Opaluwah is a Construction Engineer, a Professional Builder, a Facility Manager and a Procurement Expert. Born on October 1st, 1954 at Idah in Kogi State of Nigeria, Engr. Opaluwah is married with one wife and five children{ four ladies and one man}  He is presently the Director of Procurement in the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Abuja. 

He attended Ahmadu Bello University Zaria {1975-1978} where he obtained a BSc. first class honours degree in Building, Leeds University, England {1981-1983} and St. Clement University, West Indies between {1998- 2002} for the MSc. & PhD. degrees in Civil Engineering & Management respectively. 

He was a member of the management team at Benue Cement Company Plc. Gboko who took over the management of the company from the expatriate managers in the eighties and brought the company to the stock exchange as a blue chip investment in 1990. Engr. Opaluwah joined the Federal Public Service in 1999, in the Presidency, as the pioneer Director of Maintenance at the National Hospital Abuja where he supervised the Facilities Management of the then newly installed state-of-the-art hi-tech medical equipment, infrastructure and facilities of the apex-referral Hospital and produced the first documented Maintenance Policy in the public sector in Nigeria. 

The Chief G.Y. Aduku I Know

Arc G.Y. Aduku

I consider it a great privilege and an honour to be asked to write a brief on a person I consider as my mentor and a leading light in the Construction Industry under whom I cut my teeth professionally in 1979 as a young graduate of Building.  As is the case even today, so it was then that when the news broke that I had obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Building from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University a lot of interest about me was generated in Igala-land. 

 It was under this circumstance that late Chief A. J. Ali who was the Chief Administrative Officer of the Anyigba Agricultural Project where I wanted to settle down and work advised me to meet Chief G. Y. Aduku for advise on my career and possible employment opportunities. I undertook the Trip to Kaduna in August 1979 and never returned to take up the offers of employment in the Benue State Government and the Anyigba Agricultural Project. 

It is pertinent to say that his influence on me which started at first sight was such that when in October of the same year, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) offered me the position of a pupil Engineer, I declined the offer and remained with Chief G. Y. Aduku in Archcon Nigeria Ltd, Kaduna.  In Archcon Nigeria Ltd, we were one family of professionals of various disciplines managing both small and large projects all over the country. 

The Family – The Nucleus Of The Church

 “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of God shall stand forever”

                – Isa 40:8.

In discussing the family, we must only rely on the OWNER'S MANUAL, The Word of God - The BIBLE.

 THE FAMILY

What is a family?  A family is a union in which the husband and wife are properly married with each living their lives to please God individually and in the union.  A family is a unit where love is experienced, demonstrated and oneness is a watchword thus creating the relationship that exists among the Trinity between men on earth i.e. heaven on earth.

GOD’S PLAN FOR THE FAMILY

We can peep into God’s plan for the family by reviewing what God said concerning Abraham in Gen 18:19 “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he have promised.”

God’s plan for the world was channeled through Abraham by his obedience and by exemplary conduct in his leadership of his family who are supposed to follow after him in doing what is right and just.  He was to lead by example and thus become a channel for the actualization of God’s purpose in his generation.

The outcome of this character and obedience is that God will then accomplish His purpose for Abraham and through him, God’s purpose for mankind.

The family is therefore a unit of creation put in place to enable God accomplish His purpose on earth’

The Church, being the body of Christ, is therefore an aggregation of family units serving as vehicles for the accomplishment of God’s purpose.

ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY

The family is God’s own idea.  It is His provision for the lonely and the deserted, it is his mercy towards the man  He has made for His own pleasure.