Nigerian Church Leader Thanks CRC

Several fraternal delegates offered greetings and eloquently addressed Christian Reformed Church in North America delegates during last week’s Synod 2011.

But one of the most extensive and informative presentations was given by Rev. Risae Yakubu  Shamaki, president of the Reformed Church of Christ in Nigeria.

Among other things, he offered a broad, in-depth overview of the historical and the current relationship between his congregation and the CRCNA.

CRC work began between 1905 and 1919 in Nigeria and has today "become a big tree providing enduring shades of salvation and love," said Shamaki.

He started off by giving a profile of his denomination, the RCCN, which was admitted into ecclesiastical fellowship with the CRC in 2003.

In a prepared statement, he said that his church has grown rapidly over the last few years.

"A church that had three classes in 1973 now has 17. Between January and May 2011, we inaugurated three new consistories (bringing the total to 78) and ordained eight pastors."

The RCCN presently has more than 100,000 members.

As an aside, Shamaki spoke of how God's grace saw him and others through thunder and a heavy rainstorm on the plane on which they were traveling to synod.

He then spoke more of his church’s relationship with the CRC, giving thanks "for the grace given the CRC which has not only become our spiritual parent but has dutifully and sacrificially played the role as a father."

He said he was glad that the CRC decided many years ago to make Nigeria one of its first mission fields and asked that the CRC remain involved in the life of his denomination.

"It's the RCCN's prayer that the CRC will remain a vital vessel in God’s hands to bring his light to those in darkness, restoration to the lapsed, peace and joy to the groaning world, righteousness and direction to the compromising church and most relevantly getting the church ready for Christ’s second coming," said Shamaki.

Specifically, he thanked God for the roles that Christian Reformed World Missions (CRWM) and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) have played in helping to build his denomination by, among other things, supporting the Veenstra Reformed Theological Seminary, granting scholarships to RCCN students at the Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) Mkar and the Theological College of Northern Nigeria (TCNN).

The Veenstra Reformed Theological Seminary, he said, produces most of the RCCN pastors and evangelists.

The CRC has been involved in many other efforts as well, he said, such as funding  some evangelism outreaches as well as supporting the welfare and training of widows, orphans and vulnerable children.

"We greatly appreciate members of the CRC’s Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee for the platform they have built over the years that has made ecumenical fellowship achievable," he said.

Shamaki then mentioned a long list of the many people from the CRC who have assisted his church in various ways over the years.

His church, he said, today appreciates the CRC team stationed in Nigeria under the leadership of Phil Beck with Rev. Albert Strydhorst as mission liaison and Kathy Vanderkloet as business manager. "We enjoy their passionate commitment to working with us," he said.

Shamaki also discussed a nursery/primary school that will open inSeptember on the RCCN secretariat premises, and a secondary school is in the planning stages for 2012.

The RCCN, in addition, helps to operate a school of health in Lupwe that graduates students every year. "The Lupwe clinic became the hope of the people after the destruction of Takum General Hospital in 1998 during the wars," he said.

Much is being done, Shamaki went on to say, to train people who have no access to western education to be able to read the Bible in English, and in other indigenous  languages.

"The translation of the Old Testament into Kuteb language is ongoing and we appreciate what the CRC through Dr. Robert Koops and in partnership with the Nigerian Bible Translation Trust is doing to ensure its success," he said.

The RCCN has established the Harvest Time Magazine, "which has become a viable tool for communications."

However, he said, 90 percent of RCCN pastors and lay leaders have no knowledge of the computer and cannot access the Internet. This is causing serious setbacks. Those who receive the training cannot afford a computer. "To address this situation we have installed Internet facilities," he said.

At the same time, he said, the RCCN is working to find ways of "supporting our pastors with used computers that they can pay little to have."

The RCCN is also working hard to address the needs of those who have disability concerns.

Meanwhile, the RCCN has established a fund for the welfare of families of deceased ministers.

"The church at her (recent) synod decided that at the funerals of members offerings will be taken to support the bereaved," he said. "Classes and consistories are to be sensitive to peculiar needs of families of the deceased, especially members."

The RCCN and CRCNA are also involved in joint peacemaking project following the violent, 2003 conflict in the Tarabia State. As part of this effort, he said, the Nigerian government "has graciously handed (back) the former mission school (it) took over in 1976 . . . "

The school re-opened as a secondary school in January 2011 as a joint project involving supporters from the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world.

In order to further its ministry, the RCCN is praying for the donation of relevant theological books to the Veenstra Reformed Theological Seminary Lupwe. "Arts and sciences or related textbooks are also solicited . . . ," he said.

His denomination is praying as well for people to give volunteer lectures and missionaries who can help lecture at Veenstra Theological Seminary Lupwe and the new secondary school in Takum.

To help bolster health services, said Shamaki, the RCCN is seeking volunteer doctors and nurses to serve at the denomination's Clinic Lupwe. Additional support for Dr. Robert Koops to do more for Bible translation into the Kuteb language is needed.

Finally, the RCCN is looking for support so that the Timothy Leadership programs, based at Calvin Theological Seminary, can be held in Nigeria "to train our ministers and lay leaders, especially ministers who may not be privileged to go for further studies."