Church’s Name Change ‘May Sound Funny’

Although the Church of Christ in the Sudan among the Tiv recently changed its name to the Universal Reformed Christian Church, it didn’t really change its name.

Or, that is, it did and it didn’t.

How so?

The formal name may be changed, but NKST, the acronym for the denomination, remains the same.

Read what Rev. Peter G Azuana, general secretary of the denomination, has to say about it in correspondence to Christian Reformed World Missions, with whom the Nigerian denomination works as a close partner.

“This (the name change) may sound funny to others, but let me explain further,” writes Azuana.

From 1911 to 1956, the church was known as the DRCM, which stood for the Dutch Reformed Church Mission.

Then from 1957 to July of this year, it was the Church of Christ in the Sudan among the Tiv.

Why the church in Nigeria bore the name of the Sudan offers a geographical sidetrack to this story.

The Sudan is the name given to a vast geographic region that stretches south of the Sahara from Western to Eastern Africa.

More commonly today, the Sudan refers the country of Sudan, from which South Sudan gained its independence in 2011.

At any rate, the Church of Christ in the Sudan among the Tiv stood for  Nongo u Kristu u i Ser u sha Tar, which had the acronym NKST.

Now, writes Azuana, the new name — Universal Reformed Christian Church — in their native language is Nongo u Kristu us sha Tar, which has the same acronym of NKST.

The move to create a new name was formalized last year when the NKST Synod “agreed to change her existing name. A five- man committee was set to that effect.

In the synod meeting of this July, the five- man Committee submitted its report and it was accepted,” says Azuana.

So, he writes, the name, at least as for the acronym, “now is NKST.”

The Universal Reformed Christian Church last year celebrated the 100th anniversary since South African missionaries from the Dutch Reformed Church first came to share the Gospel with Nigeria’s Tiv people.

With more than 160,000 members and some 300,000 people who attend services on Sunday, the Nigerian denomination has especially close ties to the CRC.

It was CRWM that took over governance the Dutch Reformed Church Mission of South Africa's mission work among the Tiv in the 1950s.

CRWM also played a significant role in helping the church to become independent.

Through its agencies, the CRC continues to work with its Nigerian partners by serving as teachers, offering leadership training and faith formation and by participating in development projects.

The church in Nigeria emphasizes education and has about 500 primary schools, 50 secondary schools, and a university.

Besides changing the name, the Universal Reformed Christian Church Synod in July approved several candidates for the ministry and elected several people to serve in various denominational positions, including two top-level positions at the Reformed Theological Seminary.

“We really thanked God for the success of this meeting. It was really loaded with activities and God gracious saw us through it,” writes Azuana.