Catholic Charismatic Renewal Goes Spiritual to Tackle Nigeria’s Challenges

Catholic Charismatic Renewal Goes Spiritual to Tackle Nigeria’s Challenges

Sunday Okobi

In an effort to submit all the worrying challenges, mostly insecurity and hopelessness, in Nigeria before God, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Church of Nigeria has announced its final preparation to hold an ‘unprecedented’ Grand Lagos Archdiocesan Conference in Lagos on November 7 to 10, 2019 with the theme: ‘Stand Your Ground’ at the Trade Fair Complex, Badagry expressway, Lagos State.

At a press conference held in Lagos to usher in the event, one of the organisers and AST Chairman, Uche Anyanwu, told journalists that the event is significant and urgent as a result of the situation the country has found itself right now, and that it is necessary for the church to take the lead in seeking the face of God to abate the unprecedented level of insecurity currently ravaging Nigeria.

According to him, many Nigerians are presently confused if God has abandoned the country “as strange things keep happening by the day in the country, so the conference which has taken the past six years to organise will be used to reach out to the people that God is still with us, and that the Egyptians you see today, you will see them no more.”

Anyanwu, who announced that 50, 000 worshipers are expected at the conference, stressed that many cleric from around the world would be on hand to teach and pray with worshippers, as “it is important that from time to time, we need to leave our parishes and come together and teach and pray because iron sharpens iron. So it is our expectation that all Christians an non-Christians grace this occasion for redemption.”

He noted that the conference is to sensitise Nigerians that God is still with the people, adding that: “We want Nigerians to know that we need to ‘Stand our Ground’, and believe that God is still with us because the enemy you see today is for a while. We want Nigerians to open their minds to this event, which, beside its spiritual content, is educational and economical empowering.
“The organisers have also made provision for accommodations for all participants as well as their security. We have secured all the available rooms in the hotels in the area for the safety and comfort also.”

Some of the areas to be featured at the conference are ‘Confession, Celebration of the Eucharist, Worship, Word Ministration, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Personal Experience of the Holy Spirit, Intercession among others.”

While highlighting the programme for the event, the Secretary of the Planning Committee, Mrs. Chioma Okemdinachi, said on November 7, guests around the world would arrive at the venue for the conference, adding that an open Mass would be held, while on November 8, which will have three different sessions, a special message will be broadcast for youth empowerment; a Mass and an afternoon session will also be held with the tittle: ‘If you can, God can’.

On November 9, she said: “We will have morning, afternoon and evening sessions with the title: ‘The agony of an unfinished journey’ by bro Okechukwu Ugwumadu; second session taking place from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. with the topic of ‘building an ideal Christian home’ to be delivered by Sister Catherin Ezemadube. There will also be five session of broadcast to be run simultaneously. The grand finale, which is taking place the same day, is tagged: ‘Stand Your Ground’, to be delivered by Rev Fr Emmanuel Obimma.

Meanwhile, a senior cleric, Revered Father Paschal Nwaezeapu, on the sideline, lamented to THISDAY that the current banditry stunting the socioeconomic development of the country is as a result of joblessness and bad leadership, saying: “Perhaps these bandits will not be there because when you don’t have the means of survival and you are exposed to crime, and you now feel the crime is paying as the only way out; you go by way of crime. But what I think is that if we have visionary leader who would give the people focus and lead them to that, not just by words, but by their own examples, these anomalies would be curbed.”

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