Interview: The Rt. Rev. Nathaniel Yisa, retiring Bishop of the Diocese of Minna
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What plays on people’s heart when they are itching near to retirement age after many years of active service?
Do they worry that they will become a burden on the society? Do they worry that they will empty their pension on healthcare and ageing illnesses?
Or are they reclined in joy and gratitude as they assume the appellate elder statesmen?
In the case of The Rt. Rev Nathaniel Yisa, the retiring Bishop of Minna, such questions may have engaged his psyche on March 11 2005 when he preached his valedictory sermon at the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion held in Kaduna.
He was preaching on the theme “Obedience is better than Sacrifice’’ and midway in his address, he casts a glimpse into the future:
“I do not know how things will play out. But I leave the future in His Hands. I wait upon him. All the way my Saviour leads me I will go. Can I doubt his tender mercies who through life have been my guide with heavenly peace and divine comfort?’’
“I know that by faith whatever befalls me Jesus doeth all things well. ’’
At 67, he is bowing out as Bishop of Minna, three years ahead of the mandatory age of 70 for the Anglican Bishops.
The Bishop explained that he decided to retire before 70 because “my health and strength are waning".
He has been Bishop for 13 years and has been a communicant since 1957 having been confirmed in St Michael’s Church Kaduna, where he incidentally preached his valedictory sermon.
The Bishop remembers that Kaduna did really hold found memories for him:
“My teenage years with all its attendant difficulties and pitfalls were spent here. It was here that I came to a conscious personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
“Here in Kaduna my wife and I got married in 1964 and two of our children were born to us here. The greatest difficulties of temptations in life and the greatest virtues any one could wish for have been experienced here. ’’ he said.
Looking on at the Bishop, who many describe as “humble and filled with the Holy Spirit’’, the scripture, Proverbs 16:31 readily comes to mind. "Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.”
Bishop Yisa’s white hyssop hair is a spectacle to behold. It not only speaks of a man nearing the biblical three scores and ten years it radiates wisdom and knowledge.
Asked to comment on the trend of having more young men- obviously with no ‘gray hairs’- in the House of Bishops, he did not hide his approval and excitement.
“A new age has dawned for the younger generation who are just energetic.”, he said, adding that the young can stumble and fumble but they will learn from their mistakes but when you make an old person Bishop who now fumbles and stumbles you have tragedy on your hands.”
Five clergymen that passed through his mentoring and training have joined the House of Bishops.
Asked the secret behind it, he admits “I don’t know, I don’t really know.’’
“God has used them to touch my life and He has graciously used me to touch many lives.
Bishop Nathaniel remembers training Emmanuel Egbunu, then a staffer with Challenge Productions as a lay assistant in the Diocese of Jos.
“I wasn’t even thinking of his becoming a clergyman, but I wanted to groom him and he agreed and we worked together".
Emmanuel Egbunu has long left Challenge Productions Jos and is now the Bishop of Lokoja, after having been the Suffragan Bishop to the Bishop of Abuja
Bishop Egbunu described him as “a very prayerful person and godly man who is very impatient with lazy people.’’
He recalls that as a Sunday school teacher in the early eighties, Nathaniel Yisa was the first man that gave him the opportunity to preach in an open service.
“Whoever allows himself to be groomed by him becomes a person that other persons can trust. ’’ He said.
Bishop Yisa is married to Rhoda and they are blessed with 5 children. Diocese of Minna is to hold a valedictory ceremony for the Bishop the 30th April 2005 at the Cathedral Church of St Peter’s Minna.
After the valedictory service, the Bishop who is also a qualified Agricultural technologist, hinted the possibility of delving into nurseries, “it is not my field but I have interest in it- raising seedlings, citrus and other trees.
