The Anglican Diocese of Niger Delta North, Niger Delta Province Nigeria, on Wednesday June 22, commenced her 2011 Synod, with the Theme: ‘The Caring Church’.
The Eucharist magazine is officially covering the Synod and will be bringing to you reports from our correspondent Daniel Akibor, who will be giving us more on the move by the Diocese to ensure that Bigger Churches sponsor smaller Churches for 2years. Also, we will report the message of Nigeria’s Ambassador to France. Stay in Touch.
Urenna Ebillah tells us her experience as a young Christian Student in England
The very first time I heard someone say that they didn’t believe in God was when I was studying for my A-levels in England. And it was a 14-year old speaking. The thought had never even crossed my mind, having been brought up in a country (Nigeria) where everyone believes in God to an extent, or is at least spiritual in some way. For my studies, I attended a Catholic college and most of the teachers there were atheists or agnostics! Needless to say, most of the students shared the same view. It was very hard for me as a teenager in a foreign country to be amongst so many people that didn’t share the same views that I did, and who would think me very odd if I ever said anything about my beliefs. This made it difficult to make friends and socialise freely.
I longed very much for fellowship; my host parents were Catholics and attended mass regularly. I went with them a couple of times but soon couldn’t bear it any longer, no offense to my Catholic brothers and sisters! So I didn’t go to church for a whole year. I did visit a few places but just couldn’t find somewhere that I felt comfortable enough to settle down in. It was hard, to say the least. But God was good to me. The following year, I heard about a Pentecostal-like church not too far from where I lived, and I was soon amongst young people that were passionate about their Christian faith. It was so refreshing!
I went on to University, and even though I had the same feelings of nervousness that most first year students had, it wasn’t so bad because at least we were all in the same boat. The good thing about University is that you’re bound to meet all sorts of people, which means you’re more than likely to meet people that are similar to you in some way. I will never forget the day I stepped into the Christian Union hall at my University and saw over a hundred students praising God unashamedly. It was like Heaven! It was so encouraging for me to know that there were a good number of people around that I could relate to, and most of them were quite normal! I got involved straight away and quickly found a church where I served throughout my University days and beyond.
It can be difficult being a young Christian in a foreign country, especially if you don’t know anyone. You might be dealing not just with language barriers but also with loneliness. My advice to young people that find themselves in this position is this;
Firstly, do your best to locate a church you can settle down in as soon as possible, and when you find one, get involved! This is an easy way to make friends not just with people of the same age, but also with older folk who not only have a well of knowledge and wisdom but are also usually quite good at looking after young people!
Secondly, try to make friends with people of different backgrounds; Christian and non-Christian. This way, you get the chance to have fellowship, but you also have the opportunity to witness.
Lastly, stay close to God. It can be very easy to go with the flow, because everyone is doing it, and no one is watching. But the truth is that if you make a decision to stand for God, He’ll give you the grace to keep standing, no matter the temptations that you might face. And you’d be surprised who is actually watching you when you start noticing some of your non-Christian friends responding positively to your faith and lifestyle!
Dr. Kattey Kattey writes from Baltimore, Maryland in the United States of America.
Before leaving my room, I made sure I packed my clippers since I intended to get a hair-cut later in the day. On reaching the salon, the barber was amazed to see a customer own a personal clipper. I tried to explain that in Nigeria where I come from, most young men own their own clipper. He said all through his barbing career (which was probably not less than 5 years), I was the second person that had ever brought a personal clipper to his salon for a hair-cut. He obliged to use my clippers on me after I insisted. Later I asked other Nigerians here and they said that most barbers prefer to use the shop clippers rather than that of the customers. I later found out that the long debated and argued theory of HIV being transmitted through barbing has been debunked. Well, I don’t know for how long this particular barber had been using the same clippers on all his customers before the theory was debunked. (However, to be on the safe side, the reader is encouraged not to share sharp objects).
The main point that interested me was that the people who told us not to share sharp instruments, including clippers, were not practicing what they told us to practice. I thought about the practice of Christianity in the western world, among the same people who brought it to us. I thought about how many of them still believe in the God they first told us about. I wonder how soon it will be before they finally depart from recognizing God as God.
One of the theories of evolution attributes that mankind originated ‘Out of Africa’. Somewhere in the thoughts of most intellectuals, the black man was considered primitive until the fight against racism relegated that thinking away from the open to the background. The more developed nations are seen to be more advanced in technology, medicine and entertainment. It is pathetic that we are also considered primitive because of our belief in God. Most of the nations that are highly religious (both Christianity and Islam) are also the least developed; think of sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle-East. Even in developed nations like the United States of America and the United Kingdom, the people who have strong religious beliefs are of African descent. The trend is gradually causing a ridiculing of anybody (including the whites) who believes in God. White Christians are not exempted from this silent persecution and mockery.
Many of the advances in the past century have moved the world to a different level. Men visited the moon, designed the first aircraft, and improved communication through telecom and the internet amongst others. All these feats didn’t cause us to want to study more about God; rather it caused us to think that we are the architect of everything. Man has been able to clone (or recreate) a sheep and how much longer will it be before the controversies surrounding human-cloning will relax, giving way for the first cloned human.
When I consider all these things, I then understand why many youths abroad complain of challenges. Before now, I had thought living in a free and developed society was devoid of persecution. Now I know better. There is this stupidity that comes with maturity and development. I now know (at least to an extent) why the issue of same-sex marriage was even brought up in the first place; why we can’t watch a complete movie without seeing some sex scenes; why adverts are not complete without a naked woman, including TV advert on a fridge (what connects a fridge to the body); why an activist goes around advocating human rights but neglects the right of the unborn baby she just aborted last month. I now know why people can go to any extent to prove that man is in control of man and owes God no account of how he lives his life.
Many readers of this magazine have friends or relatives who are studying or working abroad, and so in subsequent articles in this column, we’ll be discussing the challenges of the Christian youth in a foreign land, far from home. We live in a world full of challenges. I often wonder what the challenge of the Christian youth decades ago was, when sin was also seen as evil by the unbelievers. This is not to undermine the fact that sin has existed since Adam, but to acknowledge that it is more celebrated and tolerated today. Iniquity is building a tower of confusion (Babel) in this world and peer pressure is lending a hand in this building and the love of many is growing cold. We don’t know how much longer the building will continue before the Master comes to destroy it, but we are sure of one thing: “…when it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.” (Romans 5:20b, The Message). His grace is sufficient for us.
At last you can now have copies of our second edition! This special Jos edition; from the Cover Story, to the Interviews, to our articles are educating, Inspiring, entertaining and will surely rejuvenate your spirit, as well as stir you up to take it as a responsibility to get on your kneels, pray and seek the face of God concerning the Jos Crisis and your role to establishing and contributing to the move for a lasting peace to replace the violence that has plagued our nation, especially Young people who are used as vices for this inhuman attitude.
In this edition, we have also shared with you our Interview with Rev. Canon George Kovoor, The Chaplain to the Queen of England and how he’s pioneering and raising Men that will revive the move of God to rebuild Europe for Christ again.
We have also got enough for you on Business, Sports and for you who think you Know much about Sex, get to find out; the fun, the pleasure and…? (you can only fill those missing lines by reading the article). This 76page magazine is FULL, PACKAGED AND BALANCED.
To get a copy or becoming a distributor is simple; send a request stating your address & phone number on the comment section below this post.
or for those who live in Port Harcourt visit our office (click on contact to see our office address) watch out for details of our sales and distribution outlets in other States and Cities within and outside Nigeria.
The Eucharist Nigeria, publishers of Eucharist Magazine is set to Lunch her 2nd edition in the city of Abuja Nigeria, the event which will hold on 30th of April, 2011 will witness lot of dignitaries of which the Primate Church of Nigeria will be present.
Copies of 1st Edition lunched November 2010
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