TRACKING______ST. Paul’s Parish of the African Church Ilupeju, Lagos has celebrated its 60th anniversary with the launch of a commemorative book titled “Compendium of People and the Church at 60.”
Primate of the African Church, Nigeria and Overseas, His Eminence, Most Rev. Julius Abe, said as a home-grown church, the celebration is bringing great values to the indigenous church as they carry a testimony that something good can come out of Africans.
“We thank God that for the founding fathers, who in 1960 laid a solid foundation on which succeeding generations have been able to build upon.
“60 years is a long time in the life of any organisation, some who started the same time, fell by the way side but we give glory and to God that we’ve survived over the years, of-course, any organisation will face challenges but we are able to overcome all and we are trying to be an organisation that can hand over to succeeding generations.”
Speaking on Nigeria, he said, “We’ll continue to pray to God. For those of us who are in our 70s, we are not happy the way Nigeria has gone down the drain.
“I remember Nigeria was a more pleasant country 30 years ago but now the country is facing challenges and because of that, a lot of people are unemployed, then price of things have gone way above what is expected.
“In the past, you can travel to any part of the country without fear but now we have almost everything to fear from Boko Haram, herdsmen and kidnapping. We pray for the redemption of Nigeria so we can see better days.
Bishop of Lagos Central Diocese, Rt. Rev. G.T Adebanjo, said the celebrations will give the parish an opportunity to reflect on the past, the present and the future, thereby re-igniting the spirit of evangelism which was in their forefathers.
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“We thank God for His provision in allowing us to celebrate this milestone in our church’s history and we hope and trust that He will continue to lead and guide our church into the future.
He said St. Paul’s parish has grown in strength and had given birth to many other local parishes within the church.
He explained that the compendium would make a good reading for the church because it x-rays the growth of the church and the people involved since 1960 when the parish was established.
Prince Adelaja Omofade said: “We’re proud of the Founding Fathers of the African Church whose dream in 1901 when the African Church started, remain concretised.
“In its 60 years of existence, St. Paul’s parish has produced many ministers, deaconesses, evangelists and lay preachers, while many of the ministers had become Bishops.”
