By Ankeli Emmanuel, Kogi
The Christian Evengelical Fellowship of Nigeria (CEFN) Thursday on the second day of her National Conference unveiled their new name, Christians Evangelical Fellowship of Nations.
Making this declaration, the General Overseer, Rev. Dr Malachi Ogakwu said the name change has become neccessary because of the vision to extend beyond the shores of Nigeria.
Giving assurance of the promises the new name holds for the mission, Dr Ogakwu said, “This new CEFN will wax strong. Carry members to new dimension and break every wall of Jericho that have kept them captive”.
Continuing, the General Overseer said, the new name also come with a new constitution that therefore makes the previous one invalid from now henceforth.
“Let it also be clear to all branches and would be ones that, we now have new logo and flag. And for the sake of uniformity, production of this flag shall be the sole responsibility of the National Headquarters that is domicile in Anyigba, Kogi State and to be obtained on request from the respective Zonal Headquarters of each State before getting it across to local Churches.
“The new name goes to fulfill the great commission as directed by our Lord Jesus Christ who ordered his disciples to go forth into the world and preach the gospel”.
He further listed some of the expected challanges to include, but not limited to logistic and financial strains, cultural and language barriers, adaptability challange, as well as multiple seen and unseen barriers”.
Giving example of how difficult language barrier could be for evangelism, Rev Dr Ogakwu made reference to when the white missionaries came to Nigeria and preached for 18 years only to have one single convert but were never discouraged, adding their relentless efforts have paid off as there are millions of Christians in Nigeria today.
“Those of us who have relatives outside the shores of this country will be of great help towards actualizing our dream of foreign evangelism.
“The question however before all of us now is having agreed for international evengelism, how prepared are we? Are we ready to finance the project, ready to make personal sacrifices in the areas of giving, and praying?, The General Overseer asked
Speaking earlier in his welcome remarks, the G.O, Rev. Dr Ogakwu urged members to fix their thoughts, saying only a fixed thought can embrace continued renewal.
The GO who spoke on the theme, “Sustaining Your Renewal”, appealed to the congregation to continue in their renewal with God, warning against acting like cameleon Christians.
“Talking about renewal in the Biblical contest means making someone have a change of heart, mind and to align his mind with the will of God”. Dr Ogakwu said.
