Priesthood not an all-comers-affair, says Akinola
Abuja, June 26, 2006- The Priesthood in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) is not an all-comers-affair.
This assertion was made Sunday in Abuja by the Primate of the Anglican Church, the Most Rev Peter Akinola while presiding at the ordination of three deacons and four priests at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Gwarinpa.
Akinola said the Church was looking for well trained pastors who would breach the shortage of manpower in the diocese of Abuja, in order to achieve the evangelism mission project of the Church to double its present 19 million population in the country.
The Primate’s son, Emmanuel Akinola, 23, was among the newly ordained deacons and the leader of the Anglican Church used the occasion to expressed joy for having the priviledge to preside over the ordination of his last child, in a family of six.
He remarked that upon retirement- few years from now - there would be a lineage to continue the order of priesthood in his family.
He invited other members of the Church to take advantage of the Diocesan Training School for lay theology in Abuja towards recruiting more personnel for the church.
Earlier in a sermon, Ven Fred Nyanabo identified patience, endurance, discipline and the pursuit of righteousness as indispensable virtues of priesthood.
Addressing the newly ordained, Nyanabo reminded them to take heed of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ all the time.
He warned that it will be suicidal for them to be preoccupied with the pursuit of mundane things.
Ven. Nyanabo, who is the Administrative assistant to the Primate, asked the new priests to see themselves as evangelists called to increase the population of members of God’s kingdom.
He emphasized the place of discipline in the ministry of the clergy and cautioned against playing to the gallery to impress parishioners.
