Introduction
“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim His name; make known among the nations what He has done” Psalm 105:1. To God alone be the glory, great things He has done. We thank God for the 63RD graduation ceremony of this great institution, UMCA Theological College, Ilorin. God alone be praise forever.
The Impacts of Theological Education
Without mincing words theological education has made great impacts on the development of our dear nation and shaped our society positively. Theological education is required by many frontline denominations as prerequisite for pastorate and ordination; likewise, professional ministers of the gospel derive many benefits from formal and informal engagement with Christian intellectuals. Also, theological education has provided rich resources for the minister, on how they can effectively deliver in their ministries.
The major beneficiary of theological education is the church, which has cause to experience tremendous growth. Parishioners have witnessed spiritual transformation through theological education, while there are lots of infrastructural developments initiated by the church.
Furthermore, it must be clearly noted that the church was the first to award degrees in Nigeria through theological educational training. The church has been awarding degrees before the amalgamation of 1914, of which most pastors, teachers and theological educators constituted the major workforce of Nigeria before she got her independence in 1960.
Through this effective and solid foundations were laid for Nigeria’s educational system.
Many private Institutions established today were brought about by the church eg Bingham, Bowen, Landmark and Covenant Universities. Most of these Institutions are rated the best in Nigeria.
Be Exceptional in Your Ministerial calling
To be Exceptional is to be unusually good, much better than average and to be exceptional in skill, theological education has made you to be exceptionally different. Dear graduands, remember that Christ trained 12 and 70 disciples and He commissioned them for the task. It
was said of Peter and John in Acts 4: 13, “when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus”. One of your greatest testimonies will be the difference others see in your life, ministry and attitude; since you have acquired theological training. Be exceptional in your ministerial assignments, draw men to Christ and don’t drive people away from Christ.
By now you must have known your calling, try to abide by it and continue developing it, I strongly believe that through it, God will use you to build His church. Be a committed minister of the gospel, create time for personal devotion and disciple others for Christ.
The Recent Happenings
It is on a sad note that some pastors today, have turned themselves to be notorious for unwholesome activities and who dupe their church members. Of recent security agents has referred many cases of unholy pastors to the state CAN, and after thorough investigation it was discovered that some of these Pastors were not trained before going into ministry. Beloved, it is the original that can chase away the fake, trained and spirit-filled ministers of the gospel must rise to the occasion and stamp out counterfeit pastors.
Likewise, our dear nation is facing constant onslaught by the terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and rapist etc this is becoming the order of the day in our society. As at now many are in bondage of captivity by their abductors, while many churches have been completely raised down due to the terrorist activities. The only antidotes to eradicate this menace is that the Gospel ministers must preach, teach and disciple members in the proper ways of the Lord, which every pastors must be actively involved in other to transform our society positively. Because if the terrorist and bandit accepted Christ as personal Lord and savior they will drop gun for Bible.
Conclusion
Let us rise and build a glorious church for Christ. The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN Specially appreciate the leadership of UMCA for training spirit-filled ministers of the gospel for the Nigerian church, praying that God will continue to move His church forward.
