The Archbishop of Jos in the Anglican Church of Nigeria has spoken
about how Christians are finding refuge in God “in the face of
turbulence, persecution and wickedness” in the north of the country. Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi made the comments at the opening service at the annual retreat of Anglican bishops in the province, which is being held at St Peters Chapel at the IBRU International Ecumenical Centre in Agbarha-Otor.
He said that the “forces of evil are still at work but Jesus has already defeated powers of hell, of darkness of wickedness and of evil.”
Archbishop Benjamin asked the church to “intensify their prayers” for churches in the northern part of Nigeria. Persecution is biting very hard, he said, adding that “the devil has failed because God cannot be defeated.”
The Archbishop also called for action to tackle biblical illiteracy; and suggested that Christians should adopt the Jewish tradition of training children properly in scriptures.
Hebrew children, he said, were trained for about 30 years in preparation for ministry.
He cited the example of Jesus Christ “who was guided for about 30 years and used the remaining three years of his life for ministry in order to interpret the law and the prophets.”
He also said that some seminaries were too academic, leading to the church ordaining people who couldn’t memorise a chapter of the Bible.