ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF JOS
CHRISTIAN INSTUITE
ARCHBISHOP BENJAMIN ARGAK KWASHI (OON) DD, D.Min.
BISHOP'S CHARGE 2003

In the Name of the Father,
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

  We greet and welcome you all to this gathering of the highest consultative body of the Anglican Diocese of Jos.  It is a great joy
to have many distinguished guests here with us.  We appreciate the time you have sacrificed and the effort you have made to be
in Jos today.

  We particularly mention our guest preacher and the leader of our Bible Studies, the Rt.Rev.Dr.G.I.Lasebikan, Bishop of Ondo.  
He is a committed Christian brother, an Old Testament  scholar, a Bible teacher and evangelist, who has served as a lecturer,
pastored congregations, and participated in various mission outreaches in the Anglican Communion and across denominations.  
He and his wife are committed to the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  They are models for our generation and in their
leadership style and commitment to the gospel of our Lord.  We commend them to your prayers as they minister and bring the
message of God to us.

  May we thank most sincerely the Vicar, the Rev. Canon E.F.G.Nyitsse, and the entire Church of St. Piran on the Plateau for
being our excellent hosts once again.  You have given so generously of your time your talents and your means in order to make
this Synod a success, and we pray that the Almighty God will himself reward you abundantly.  

  This is the last year of the life of this the Eighth Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Jos.  Some members of this Synod may be
appointed or elected again next year, some may not.  However, we continue to thank God, on an annual basis, for the ever
increasing numbers of enthusiastic, willing people who continue to give themselves in one form or another to the service of God
in the Diocese of Jos.  

  I may not be able to recognize every single person, and indeed I hope that you are not serving in order that the Bishop may
recognize you, but one thing is certain: no labour dedicated to God ever goes unrewarded.  Indeed, the heart of the matter is
that we all who know the Lord and love the Lord Jesus Christ will learn to serve diligently, faithfully and conscientiously, knowing
that in serving, we are serving the Lord.  In all our serving, whatever it may be and whenever it may be, let us “never flag in zeal,
be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.” (Romans 12:11).

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord
your labour is not in vain.” (! Cor.15:58)

  Our Synod theme this year is:






  The main reference to this is in Genesis 5:24

“Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”        
  
  A further reference to this was made by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews in chapter 11, verses 5-6:

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him.  Now before
he was taken he was attested as having pleased God.  And without faith it is impossible to please him.  For whoever would draw
near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

  Not much seems to be known about this man Enoch, but one Bible commentator says that according to a legend, Enoch was
the first person to put cloth together and sew it, thus becoming the first tailor.  He was also said to be the first shoemaker, and
the first person to write with ink.  This gives us a picture of a man whose success was outstanding in a generation hundreds of
years before ours.  In terms of success, by worldly standards, he would have been at the top; in terms of wealth he would have
had it in  plenty, because he alone had the secret of knowing how to sew clothes, make shoes or even write.  This is a picture of
a person who was a genius of his time.  Intellectually, his work was not only the best, it was actually the first.  He was a brilliant
person.  He was not a lazy man: he worked hard, making shoes and sewing clothes - we may just imagine the house or the shop
of this man in his time!  All this, however, did not get in his way, nor did it go to his head.  It was recorded, “Enoch walked with
God.”

  This walk with God is even more significant when we consider the generation he lived in.  It was a violent generation.  It was a
corrupt generation, and as William Barclay puts it (in his commentary), “when other men were walking away from God, Enoch was
walking closer to God.”

  We must put this in perspective.  Enoch chose to walk with God; it was his choice in a very difficult and perverse generation.  
The matter of choice is what we must each face individually.  This is not a matter for assumption.  We cannot assume that we are
walking with God.  We cannot even assume it from our family background, tribal association or even collective identity.  Each of
us must make a conscientious decision in the face of the hundreds of choices that we are to make each day.  We must
deliberately choose either to follow God or to follow the devil.

  It is important at this point to request that each one of us should re-check again our commitment to God through Jesus Christ,
and be sure that we are walking with God.  This check is necessary because if the signs and the pictures that we are getting in
our generation are correct, then it will be right to say that these days, people want God to walk with them and come after them
and do whatever they want him to do - rather than they walking with God with him leading the way so that they fulfill his will and
purpose.  It may well even be possible that some began walking with God, but have since then abandoned God somewhere and
are now on their own.  Others may have given up the walk with God as a whole, preferring to go back to where they were before,
while others have not only abandoned the walk with God themselves, but are also recruiting and encouraging others to abandon
the walk with God.
If we are to arrive at the destination where our God is the One who was, who is and who is to come, then walking with God by
faith through Jesus Christ is not an option.  Enoch walked with God.

  Another legend further says that Enoch made a pact with an angel of death: first of all, he was to die and come back; secondly,
he was to die and see the abode of the wicked and to know the punishment that the wicked receive; thirdly he was to see
Paradise.  Enoch’s three requests were granted, but when he finally saw Paradise he refused to come back.  There is no other
explanation of Enoch’s sudden disappearance from earth, especially since it is a well-known fact that this man in his time was
walking with God.  For a very successful man of this stature suddenly to disappear from his home and friends with no trace at all
of his dying - it must be that the God with whom he always walked had taken him.  He passed from this life to another, to be with
God.

  It may be that God saw the corruption of his generation in his time and so he probably took Enoch away while he was still
young in order to save him from the infection of the world around him.  God loved Enoch so much that he took him before
degeneration would corrupt him.  This is a profound lesson, and as I ponder on the disappearance of Enoch, I pray that I may not
live to see the day when I stop walking with God.

  We should also notice that Enoch  was changed from a  life that was apart from God to a life that was with God.  Enoch walked
daily with God and on a daily basis came nearer to God until the day he took the last step and walked into the presence of
Almighty God.  Death may be a reward for those who walk with God, as when such a person dies, the next second that person is
in the presence of God. This kind of death is an entering into the nearer presence of him in whom they have believed and with
whom they have walked for so long.  If “we have lived with Christ, we may die with the certainty that we go to be for ever with the
Lord.” (William Barclay)

  There are definite things which we cannot gloss over in talking about Enoch’s walk with God.  One of these is his definite
commitment to the Lord.  This commitment has attracted the Bible writer to include his name with a description of who he was,
saying simply that he was a man “who walked with God”.  The conclusion of this statement simply means that those who saw him
and knew him were left with no doubt that he knew God and he brought his knowledge of God into everything he did in his time.  
His devotion to God, his fear of God, his knowledge of the law of the Lord, his desire to please the Lord and his determination to
walk in the fear of the Lord were all put together and his life bore witness to this.

  Brothers and sisters, walking with God is no mere talk: it is real.  If we choose this day to walk with God let me  also say that the
principles of walking with God have not changed and will never change in this life.  If you look at the lives of those mentioned in
the letter to the Hebrews chapter eleven, you will find one characteristic common to them all.  Enoch embodies the characteristic
of these men and women who chose deliberately to search through the word and promises of God.  They were guided in their
lives not by what people said or what people thought, but they lived each day by what God said from his word for their lives.  
Those who will walk with God must choose to know the word of God and to obey it.  We are living in a time when people know a
lot of the word of God in their heads, but they know and their consciences attest to this and the people who see them also attest
to this - that what they say from their lips is totally different from how they live.  In this generation in our country, people have
brought a separation between the religious life and the secular life, and this separation runs deep into most areas of life  The
result is an endless list of spiritual casualties of the faith.  

  The reasons for this are not hard to find because walking with God is not walking in our own way, but a walk where God holds
our hands and takes us along on a journey.  For some, the journey may be short; for others, very long, and for some others it
may be in between.  It is God who knows the way and it must be he who must lead the way.  It is not us leading and asking God to
follow, nor is it us lagging behind and asking God to wait for us.  It is not even us suggesting the direction of the journey.  If we
walk with God, God must lead the way.  We, on our part, must walk in step with him, never too fast, never too slow, walking in his
steps.  In this regard there are no short cuts.  There are no amount of spiritual tricks that will take us to the place God wants us
to reach, unless we walk with God.  Enoch walked with God.  Let us be sure that what we learn from God’s word we are
determined to put into practice.  

  In my last Charge I pointed out that what we have seen in our decade of episcopacy and the conclusion we have reached, is
that the problem of the church and consequently of the nation, is laid squarely with the pastors.  We have seen men and women
who, at interview before they were ordained,  have vowed to evangelize, but, alas, today the churches under their care are
groaning in misery.

  I align myself firmly with the belief that there is no dead church, only dead pulpits.  If you bring a living pastor who is walking
with God to a seemingly dead church or dead place, it will only be a matter of time until that church or environment will come to
life again, with the church growing, mission taking place, developments in every aspect and people growing in grace and faith.  
But if you take a pastor who is not walking with God to a living church, it is only a matter of time before they start singing the Nunc
Dimittis and “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide ....”

  We have even seen men and women who vowed at their ordination to be loyal to the church of God and to the authority of the
church, but today have little or no regard for statutory requirements made in the church; in fact they deliberately fail in their
duties and show a total disregard for their flock and for the Lord of the flock.  It is even a common sight these days that pastors
who vowed to go anywhere for the gospel are now suddenly unwilling to move to their places of posting, or even when they do
go, they do so unwillingly, reluctantly, causing disaffection both in the station where they were and in the station to which they are
going.  Needless, to say, such men and women who claim to be called by God, are tearing down the Body of Christ with their
mouths, cooking up lies and poison and giving it to their members with the sole aim of breeding hatred in the hope that they will
create disciples for themselves, thereby ignoring the injunction of Jesus to make disciples for him.

  Before my comments are misunderstood and it is thought that I am pointing fingers, let me say loud and clear that everyone’s
walk with God is so obvious that I need not even mention it in my Charge to you as a Diocese.  However, as a Bishop, I owe it to
you and to God to sound a note of warning and to draw our hearts and our minds back to where God wants us to be.  I myself
stand to be judged before God as much as anybody else, but let it be made clear that I have sounded the warning to myself and
to everybody.  God is calling us to an exciting adventure of walking with him.  In my little experience, I can assure you that if you
choose this day to walk with God you will not regret it.  You will grow in patience; you will be built in perseverance; you will be
strengthened in endurance.  You will fall, but rise again.  You will fail, only to pass with flying colours.  You will be persecuted; you
may even be laughed at; you will be called names.  But you will receive the eternal reward of walking with God.

  Let me call on all of us to be reminded of when we were converted and gave our lives to Jesus Christ.  Let us always remind
ourselves of this experience and bring back again the memory of the sweetness of our new life in Christ and the reality of the
eschatology which we so joyfully expect  - the return of our Saviour and the final judgement.

  Let us be charged again to go back to recapture our walk with God in daily devotion, Bible study, prayer meeting, fellowship,
and everything we once did with joy in the service of our Master Jesus.  Where did we lose it?

  Walking with God in the way Enoch did, would certainly be walking in the Spirit of God.  Jesus in John’s gospel promised to
send the Holy Spirit.  He emphasized again and again the importance and the number one place of the Holy Spirit in the life of a
believer.  In fact, without the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing.  Enoch must have known that, and so he walked with God in such a
way that he daily listened to God, talked with God, and obeyed God, so that in the end his walk with God simply culminated in his
taking a final step to be with God.  

  This is a fascinating picture of the kind of relationship that a believer ought to have with God through Jesus Christ.  This should
be our ambition and this should be the focus of our life, our devotion and ministry: to pursue this anointing, to be described in
one’s lifetime as a person who walked with God.  God knows all about our needs in this life.  He knows surely that we need
money for evangelism, cars for mobility, food and shelter, Bishopscourt, and so on and so forth.  But the first promise to be
fulfilled to the apostles was the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We are first of all to be witnesses of the risen Christ, and to show the world
how to walk with God.  To do this in our own strength is impossible, but with the presence and help of the Holy Spirit, on a daily
basis, people will see and know that we are walking with God.

  As I said at the beginning: walking with God is so obvious that people see and know.  Whenever I have seen people who fight
in church, I understand why people fight outside the church.  Whenever I have encountered pastors and leaders of the church
behaving in a  manner which shows outright disobedience to the gospel of our Lord, it leaves me with no surprise at all at the way
the world around us is behaving this day.  In fact, the difference between some church members (together with their pastors) and
unbelievers is almost nil, except that the former go to church and the latter do not.  Needless to say, pastors who show total
neglect for their flock, those who make excuses for their laziness and wickedness, those who never admit their own faults and
failures but choose to blame their non-performance on structure, administration, and even blame God shamelessly - these are
the ones who have become totally blind to their shortcomings and have become arrogant and even proud of their shameful
behaviour.  There are even some who make it a point to appear with a bold face in public, whilst it is well known that they are
living in sin.  

  Brethren, I am not saying anything new: these things are obvious.  Is it possible for you to be said to be walking with God, while
still living in sin?  Is it possible to have slandered somebody, duped people, cheated, stolen, committed adultery or fornication or
even murdered or assassinated someone’s character without repenting, and still claim to be walking with God?  The time has
come for all of us to examine ourselves one by one.  If you are not walking with God, you will be walking with the devil.  If you are
not walking with God, who are you walking with?  Walking with God in his Spirit definitely demands that you walk closely with him.

  I have also observed that most people would want to come to the Lord and be said to be close to God, but they also want to
retain their old habits and character.  You therefore have people in the church, both lay and ordained, who love everything about
the experiences of the religious nature of Christianity, but they hold very tenaciously to their old habits of anger, pride, malice,
jealousy, lies, envy, backbiting and so on and so forth.  How can you be said to be walking with God when you do not allow God
to transform you to conform to the image and likeness of his Son Jesus.  Jesus actually died to save us from Satan, but also to
save us from ourselves and from all those habits that we have acquired and which lead us to destruction.  That is why Paul
appeals to the Romans for a transformed life;  Jesus insists on a rebirth and the whole of the New Testament attests to the fact
that an encounter with the gospel leaves us with no choice other than to abandon our old ways of life and begin a new walk with
God in holiness and righteousness as new people, forgiving and loving one another and walking in obedience and reverence to
God in his church, for his glory.

  With this in mind, it should be made very clear that we are on a journey and it is an adventure for those who have started with
Christ.  But what does it all mean?  Let me be very clear that the Holy Spirit of God, the Comforter, is a gift of God to all who open
themselves to his presence.  The command of the Scripture is that we be filled with the Holy Spirit, and if you are walking with
God, it is a walk that requires a daily infilling of the Holy Spirit.  

  This is very comforting and encouraging to me personally because in my walk with God I have failed many times; I have
disappointed God and I have disappointed my friends.  The illustration that comes to me readily is that of a car without petrol or a
motorcycle whose tyre is punctured.  I have sat down and moaned and groaned over my failure and sometimes I have almost
given up the journey as a whole because I have felt that I would never make it.  But then the biggest comfort of all is the fact that
in our walk with God he holds our hands; when we fail, he corrects us, he prunes us, he chastises us, and when we in good faith
accept God’s corrections we can start the walk again, continuing from where we stopped.  God will train us in our walk with him
and enable us and strengthen us only if we are willing to submit, to obey him, to accept when we are wrong, to repent and to be
willing to follow him patiently.  We will find the journey rewarding.

Enoch walked with God.

  Walking with God as Enoch did is certainly walking with a sense of mission.  Enoch is the kind of person you will say came into
this world, lived a full life, accomplished his mission and left his mark in the sands of history.  He walked focusing on his creator.  
He must have had difficulties, with friends and relatives disappointing him; he must have suffered opposition, discouragement
and betrayal - but he kept walking until the day he took the last step to be with the Lord.  

  Whatever it was that God gave him, he used it.  As the legend says: he was the first tailor and shoemaker, the first person to
write in ink.  He did not spend time wishing he was somebody else, nor was he in competition with anyone.  He was grateful for
who he was and for whatever his lot was that the Lord had given him.  He probably even failed many times, but he did not remain
a failure, he got up again and carried on.  He knew opposition and discouragement but he chose to listen to God because he
was walking with God.  Even those who would call him names, assassinate his character and destroy his image just could not
stop him from fulfilling his mission.  His walk with God was missionary and of divine origin.  That was of supreme importance to
him and above anything that anyone could offer him here on earth.  His sense of mission was to him the most important thing in
his life, so much so that when he was no more, he was simply said to have walked with God and was no more.  He understood
that at the end of life, this is what will matter: whether or not a person in his lifetime walked with God.

  A careful look at Hebrews chapter eleven bears testimony to the fact that all the saints listed there (including those not
mentioned there by name), have only one qualification common to them all: they all walked with God by faith.  Some of these
people, we are told, saw the miracles of God when their lives were threatened; some walked along with God through journeys to
unknown places; some suffered persecution; some led nations; some even lost their lives, some were martyred; some performed
wonders by the power of God.  This was only possible because they walked by faith with God.  

  In our time and generation the call of God comes afresh on us to follow in the steps of these heroes of faith and to imitate their
walk with God, because in the end our walk here on earth will determine whether or not we will take that final step to be with God.  
If this is so, will we allow bickerings, petty quarrels, jealousy, what we have or do not have, sickness, pain, suffering or even
death, to stop us from walking with God?  We have a divine appointment to keep: to be with God when this life is ended.  Enoch
knew of this divine appointment and would sacrifice everything to meet it.  We know this because the Scripture simply says:

Enoch walked with God.


  Like children walking with an adult, we all tend to look at little things on the ground, peanuts, shiny little coins, flowers and so
on.  But the adult knows the way, sees ahead, and holds the little lad by the hand, urging him to come along, to ignore those little
things on the ground and to come along because the journey is long.  It is not little steps, it is not even strolling, it is a definite
journey with a destiny ahead.  God, in inviting us to walk with him has had to come down in human form to take our likeness and
to bear the consequences of our iniquities so that we who were condemned are now justified in Christ to be able to walk with
God.  So the journey begins with God, continues with God and ends with God.  If at any point we lose this focus, we are in
danger of not walking with God.  Is there any circumstance therefore in our life that is too big to throw away in order to walk with
God?  To walk with him is to walk away from sin and to walk in righteousness.  It is a walk away from evil and wickedness into a
walk in love, peace, joy and contentment.  

  The hymn writer, Horatio Spafford, who lost all his financial investments and then suffered further as all his four daughters were
drowned at sea, could still write:
  Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
  Let this blest assurance control,
  That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
  And hath shed his own blood for my soul.
          It is well with my soul,
          It is well, it is well with my soul

  My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,
  My sin, not in part, but the whole,
  Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more:
  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
          It is well with my soul,
          It is well, it is well with my soul
  Joseph Scriven, another hymn writer, puts it very beautifully in the hymn:

  What a friend we have in Jesus,
  All our sins and griefs to bear!
  What a privilege to carry
  Ev’rything to God in prayer.
  O what peace we often forfeit,
  O what needless pain we bear,
  All because we do not carry,
  Ev’rything to God in prayer!

  Have we trials and temptations?
  Is there trouble anywhere?
  We should never be discouraged,
  Take it to the Lord in prayer.
  Can we find a friend so faithful
  Who will all our sorrows share?
  Jesus knows our every weakness -
  Take it to the Lord in prayer.

  Are we weak and heavy laden,
  Cumbered with a load of care;
  Precious Saviour, still our refuge -
  Take it to the Lord in prayer;
  Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
  Take it to the Lord in prayer;
  In His arms He’ll take and shield thee -         
  Thou wilt find a solace there.

  When a person so chooses to walk in this way with God, he will not look back.  He will not even listen to what people may think
or say about his walk with God, he will simply walk with God.   Such a person will be free from the manipulation of wild gossips,
backbiters and systems that will cage one from achieving God’s fulfilled destiny.  We know this because everybody has an image
of what they want you to become and you can spend a whole life time trying to be what people want you to be without being free
to be what God wants you to be.  In this process you will spend time and energy struggling to be free and achieving nothing.  You
will be busy quite all right, but your life will bear no fruit.  You will work very hard but your work will be irritating to people you work
for and will make no impact.

  Dear friends, it is amply clear that Enoch walked in a society that was dominated by manipulation, by corruption and even by so-
called religion, but he chose to walk with God.  In that choice was his freedom.  He not only pleased God and served God, but he
made an impact on the society in his generation.  We in our time can actually test our freedom in Christ in the same way, and we
should ask ourselves whether we are free or not.  We should also ask ourselves what is stopping us in our freedom from getting
into the society and creating the necessary impact which will show that we are walking with God.  How is our freedom being used
for the benefit of others?  Where is our freedom in Christ, if the community is not benefiting by such a freedom?  
Enoch walked with God.

  It is no longer news to say the our city of Jos and indeed most of the towns in Plateau State are full of filth and dirt.  The
problem of filth and dirt is that it affects negatively our existence in that environment.  Even church compounds can be described
in this way, and perhaps some villages can best be described as  rubbish dumps.  The lack of hygiene reduces productivity and
invites Satan because filth may well drive away the presence of God.

“Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to save you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore
your camp must be holy, that he may not see anything indecent among you, and turn away from you.”  (Dt.23:14)

  The context of this verse is a requirement given by God for his holy people to show holiness by cleanliness; to build toilets,
incinerators and to do away with all filth from the camp of God’s people because anything that is not holy, anything that is not
clean, anything that is indecent in the camp will actually drive away the presence of the Lord.  We must work for a clean and safe
environment.  We must get back to teaching it in schools, both primary and secondary, and at the Christian Institute.  We must
teach it in the church and pastors must be at the forefront of this campaign as we teach it from the pulpits and live it in an
exemplary way.

  We are from this Synod commissioning and licensing co-ordinators for our CAMPAIGN for a  CLEAN AND SAFE
ENVIRONMENT.  The co-ordinators will then train Parish Officers for this campaign who will also be licensed in their various
archdeaconries.  We will, by the grace of God, carry out tree planting campaigns and flower garden campaigns.  We will insist on
health rules for communities within our diocese.  Churches must build toilet facilities and incinerators and keep them clean.  
Dustbins must be provided in classrooms, offices, church compounds and so on. We have already declared war on “leda” bags
(polythene bags) at our last Synod.  We are moving forward this year by declaring that from now on, to throw away any leda bag
carelessly, without putting it in a dustbin to be properly disposed of, is declared a sin - whether anyone sees you or not.  The
same goes for sugar cane chaff, sweet papers, chewing gum wrappers and so on.  We will, by the grace of God, change our
environment (at least the areas covered by the Diocese of Jos), and should this impact the state, glory must go to God alone.  If
you keep animals, you must provide for them adequately, vaccinate them and keep them under control so that they do not
become a pest to your neighbour or even destroy your neighbour’s garden and farms.  We will license our campaign co-
ordinators after we have trained them, and they will work very closely with the Supervising Priests, college Principals, Chaplains,
Head Teachers,   and Parish Priests and we will receive in our office quarterly reports of their work.  This, we believe, will help us
monitor and commend the progress of God’s work throughout the diocese.  We are called to be instruments of change in the
society.  We have a mandate from the Lord to preach the gospel.  This is an aspect of that gospel.  We are not introducing
anything new: this is precisely what Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther did in the whole of his ministry.  This is the missionary mind of
the church.  Mission loses its impetus if it does not change a society.  This is a call to us all in our time to walk with God.

  In this walk we shall undoubtedly meet opposition: our Lord Jesus Christ had warned of this and it is always been so throughout
the history of the church.  We had thought that the Jos crisis of September 2001 was a particularly bad example of this.  We were
mistaken: worse was to come.  In late June, 2002, Christians were killed in Yelwa Shendam and several churches were burnt or
destroyed.  As if that was not enough, Muslims  chased all the Christian out of Yelwa Shendam, looted homes and shops, and
destroyed all Christian property in the town.  Thankfully the then Supervising Priest and his wife, the Rev. Canon and Mrs. Isa
Lar escaped and are safe.  Our church in Yelwa was not destroyed but was thoroughly vandalised and all our property in the
Vicarage destroyed or stolen.

  We met, as C.A.N. (Christian Association of Nigeria)leadership, to discuss what to do about the problems of Yelwa, but later
that same day we received  information that Christians had been killed and driven out of Wase; no church building was left
standing in that town.  Thankfully, the then Supervising Priest and his wife, Rev. and Mrs. I. Yusuf again escaped, though only
with their lives.  We later received reports confirming that at least five local government areas had been affected by severe
communal clashes, with the loss of many lives, much property destroyed and a massive displacement, reported to be of over
200,000 people.  Over eighty villages and settlements were attacked or destroyed.  Other towns and villages, such as Kadarko,
have since been attacked several times.

  Sporadic violence also erupted in Barakin Ladi, Vom, Maza and Miango areas.  On 12 December, 2002, in the village of Rim, a
Fulani cattleman led his herd of cattle over a farm destroying the crops.  The woman harvesting her grain, suspecting nothing,
stood her ground.  An official eye witness report said that three hundred armed Fulani Muslims then emerged and attacked the
village, burnt houses and killed Rev. Bitrus Manjang and twelve other people in the village.  Rev. Manjang was the immediate
past Vice President of C.O.C.I.N., a peaceful man, an evangelist, who retired voluntarily and went back home to his village to
contribute to the growth of his community.

  In March this year there was another massive onslaught by Muslims which destroyed Duwi, Gwiwan Kogi and some parts of
Kadarko town.  We lost a member and two vicarages.  The courage of the Christians in all these areas is no less than an answer
to prayer.  

  By the beginning of this month some of our displaced members in Yelwa Shendam area had returned and the church is again a
worshipping community  The situation is similar in Rikkos (Jos) and Kadarko.

  In our walk with God we meet obstacles such as these, but we will not give up:

  Thy hand, O God, has guided
  Thy flock from age to age;
  The wondrous tale is written,
  Full clear, on every page;
  Our fathers owned Thy goodness,
  And we their deeds record;
  And both of this bear witness,
  One church, one faith, one Lord.

    Through many a day of darkness,
  Through many a scene of strife,
  The faithful few fought bravely
  To guard the nation's life.
  Their gospel of redemption,
  Sin pardoned, man restored,
  Was all in this enfolded,
  One church, one faith, one Lord.
    And we, shall we be faithless?
  Shall hearts fail, hands hand down?
  Shall we evade the conflict,
  And cast away our crown?
  Not so: in God's deep counsels
  Some better thing is stored;
  We will maintain, unflinching,
  One church, one faith, one Lord.

    Thy mercy will not fail us,
  Nor leave Thy work undone;
  With Thy right hand to help us,
  The victory shall be won;
  And then, by men and angels,
  Thy name shall be adored,
  And this shall be their anthem,
  One church, one faith, one Lord.

  We have presented memos to government committees, but our hope is not in these.  Our hope remains in the memos that we
have presented to the Lord in prayer. We have been accused falsely, and sometimes our detractors have suggested that we
deserve the sufferings that we have gone through.  Our churches have been burnt, our members rendered homeless and
children made destitute in their homeland.  Worse still, all efforts to make sure that the various clashes do not get a religious
colouring have failed woefully.  The reason is simple: from Wase to Yelwa, to Maza, to Kadarko, to Riyom, to Barakin Ladi, each
one of these disturbances has always been started by people who target only the church, Christians and Christian homes and
businesses.  People who do this, even if they were angels, certainly could not be said to be friends of the church.  The point
being made here is this: the church on the Plateau is under serious attack.  This needs to be said loud and clear.

  We remain grateful to those people and organisations nationally and internationally who have come physically to assess the
truth of our testimony.  As I said to each one of them: our need is not money, although it may be useful in time of relief; our need
is not ephemeral material things, although they may be useful; our need is justice, the right to freedom and government’s basic
civic responsibility in providing security.  With these in place, we on our part, as a church, promise to be patriotic, responsible
and to contribute our quota to the growth of the state.  We are called to walk with God, and that we shall do, the Lord being our
helper.

MISSION and EVANGELISM
  This remains the motivating and energizing factor of our life and ministry.  It is the gift of God to the church.  Our whole life and
being depends on it and each day the Lord himself continues to bless our effort locally, nationally and even internationally.  The
Lord has called us to preach the gospel and make disciples, beginning from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of
the earth.  This is the vision the Lord has given and we need to wake up to it again, with fresh determination, seriousness and
vigour.  As we tour the diocese, we see over and over again towns and villages of unevangelised people.  We also see a
population of unevangelised young people in the cities of Plateau State, in the towns and villages of Plateau State.  We
Anglicans have a presence now in almost every major town in Plateau State: shall we be content with just the flock we have and
watch a good number of people drift to spend eternity without Christ?
  The situation is becoming even worse with the growing number of persons struggling with HIV / AIDS.  We must thank God for
the Gospel Health and Development Services (GHaDS) of our diocese who with their meager resources have made a
tremendous impact in their work to help young people become aware of this disease, avoid it, and also respond to the gospel.  
Our Health Department in the Christian Institute is a major boost to this gospel incentive.  By the grace of God in the near future
we shall have placed Health Officers in every major town in the diocese.

  Evangelism necessarily moves the evangelist into a community to get in contact with people to bring them the good news and
to transform such communities and people so that as they respond to the gospel they will conform to the Kingdom life which will in
turn send them out to repeat this process.  In so doing, communities affected by the gospel pass on this gospel to the next
community until the whole area is transformed to the glory of God.  Brothers and sisters we must rise to this challenge.  Every
church in this diocese must make it its aim to disciple another community with the gospel and closely watch the community
develop so that it in turn can go to the next community to disciple it.  

  It is to be commended that we are already fairly clear about preaching the gospel and going out to witness for Christ. That
alone leaves the mission incomplete.  We must transform communities.  We must bring health and healing to the sick in the
community.  We must care for the poor and bring self respect, enterprise and development to a community through the gospel.  
Ajayi Crowther, for example, brought education, health care and agriculture wherever he preached the gospel.  He understood
Biblical mission and practiced Biblical evangelism.  He did not create a people who only enjoyed coming to church without
becoming useful to God.  It is a huge mistake to separate our new birth in Christ from our mission to the community.  We are
saved in order to serve.  This is what Enoch did, and for him this was walking with God.  We have the record of some of our
Archdeaconries who on their own are doing marvellous, great things for our Lord Jesus Christ in the field as you will well see in
the various Synod Reports.    We give credit to these churches and their leaders There are also, however, some who have done
little or nothing in this regard.  Let it be known that every person’s work is being weighed by God and everyone will be rewarded
accordingly.

  Let me reiterate once again, that to be involved in mission and evangelism is a privilege and a great honour done to us by
God.  This agenda is of divine origin; it is an assignment given to us by God.  That is why it shocks me to my marrows whenever I
see men and women who claim to be called by God, taking this responsibility with carelessness, nonchalance and sometimes
total disregard.  I pray that the Lord will open our eyes to see how serious this is to God.  I pray that we may be thus reminded
that it was so serious to God that he sent his Son to die on the cross, he raised him up on the third day and after the Ascension
he sent the Holy Spirit.  It is that same seriousness with which God still calls us and sends us to bring salvation to the unsaved.  

  I understand perfectly how human it is that we should blame everybody and everything for our failures.  As long as this blame,  
and the projection of this blame together with our subsequent excuses continue, there will be no growth.  Growth begins when we
take responsibility and make the right choices, the right decisions and the right responses.  This is where mission begins to
move.  The earliest missionaries made decisions and choices to obey and follow God in mission.  Shall we in our time fail?  
  It has been my observation over these years that I have been Bishop that one of the key areas where mission fails is when
those who ought to lead in mission do not do so.  The Church of Nigeria, up to now has adopted the ancient Biblical method of
the apostolic office in mission.  From the time of the apostles in Acts chapter six, the apostles understood their office as leaders
in mission, and appointed other officers who in turn became leaders in mission.  Paul the apostle posted young missionaries to
be leaders in mission: Timothy, Titus, Epaphras and others.  In the early church the Bishop did the same, which was how
Augustine went to Canterbury as a missionary in 597.  This method has been transmitted to us through the posting of our
missionary Bishop Ajayi Crowther.  From Crowther on, the same posting has reached us in our generation today.  Sadly, clergy
do not see this missionary posting as being in succession to the apostolic mission and evangelism, but they see it as a “transfer”
(such as those in civil service or public administration), or even merely as an employment opportunity, with no sense of mission in
the way that the early apostles understood missionary posting.  The time has come for all of us in the ministry now, in this
diocese, to review our call in the light of Biblical, apostolic mission and evangelism.  We do this in the light of our walk with God,
and we ask seriously whether or not we are fulfilling God’s call for our lives and also fulfilling his mission in our primary place of
assignment in our time and age.

  The place of prayer in all this cannot be underestimated.  We have written again and again in several pastoral letters to call us
back to prayer.  We have conducted seminars to remind us of the importance of prayer.  Our last Clergy School was dedicated to
prayer and the focus of our prayer life.  The reason why we pray is not for the sake of what we can get or what we need; it is not
even to meet particular special spiritual needs; it is particularly that we may touch God’s heart which is done primarily in the
fulfillment of the Great Commission.  We are to pray that we may be available and be useful instruments in the hands of God, to
the extent that  wherever we are, wherever we go, wherever we may find ourselves, people may hear the gospel and respond to
Jesus Christ, and that we may be God’s instruments to disciple those who have responded to the gospel.  Indeed, we are to pray
that God will move us out from our areas of comfort to the place where he wants us to be in order to fulfill the Great
Commission.   Our prayer is that we may never be static, but may always be on the move, preaching, teaching, discipling men
and women, young and old, bringing them into the Kingdom and making disciples of Jesus Christ to the extent that they in turn
will go out and repeat the cycle.

  Brothers and sisters, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to understand mission and evangelism in this light, to
answer the call of God and to see his or her posting as a mere “transfer”, or whatever interpretation one may give it.  I
understand quite well that in the western world, after ordination, clergy choose their place of posting.  I also understand that
within that same context some do feel genuinely called to fulfill God’s mission in specific areas.  But let me say this: if we are
going to be fulfilled in our life-time, we must do God’s mission in God’s way.  We must go out in mission wherever he sends and
not wherever we want, and we must go only where he chooses, not where we choose.  If we accept this, then the last portion of
his promise to his missionaries will come true: “behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”  (Matthew 28:20).
  We must thank the women and the young people of our diocese who have come out with us in their numbers in mission.  The
Mothers’ Union and Women’s Guild, especially, are doing a lot in fulfilling God’s mission, and we pray that pastors’ wives, who are
supposed to be leaders in these areas, will understand how serious this call is for the whole family and not just to the husband,
so that the church may move as one.  As we evangelise Jos Diocese we must begin to look ahead beyond Jos Diocese and be
prepared for wherever else God will send us.

  This year the Mothers’ Union /Women’s Guild organized the Mothering Sunday celebrations differently.  The regular features
were there, but colour was added to the whole week’s activities when they organized a great seminar which attracted some key,
notable speakers in our society.  The topic was a sensitive one, “The Degradation of Womanhood: A question of Whose
Standards”, and we thank God for the women’s concern about this.  Unfortunately this degradation is coming fast, thanks to
modern trends, and the church needs to speak out.  The Mothers’ Union have led the way.  Jesus did everything to bring women
to the recognition of their dignity in creation by God, as opposed to their suppression by man.  It is our prayer that churches
throughout the diocese will take this topic and continue the discussion.  The crowning of the Mothering Sunday celebrations
came later in the evening with a wonderful social night out for couples in the diocese.  May God bless his work.

  This section must not end without our mentioning the godly and visionary leadership of the Diocesan Mission Team.  This
department needs our prayer support as do all those who give financially to this department.  May the Lord bless this work and
prosper his work in our time and generation.  May the gospel of the Lord increase through us; may the word of the Lord spread
through us, and may all the glory go to God.  For us, this is walking with God.
  We must therefore take every opportunity to prepare and equip ourselves for this great work to which we are called.  As part of
its Extra-Mural programme the Christian Institute is running a Certificate in Biblical and Mission Studies course.  The classes are
on Saturday mornings and are open to everybody, young and old, men and women.  We encourage everyone to attend,
especially pastors’ wives, Sunday School teachers, leaders of youth and other organizations.  In fact, it will soon be a
requirement for those who will lead organizations in the church, that they must possess some form of training and certificate from
this department.

  The Church of Nigeria, under the leadership of Archbishop Peter J. Akinola, has put forward a vision which will guide the entire
Church of Nigeria, through the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to fulfill its mission on earth.  Let me quote the  Vision Statement:

“The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) shall be
Bible-based, spiritually dynamic, united, disciplined,
self-supporting, committed to pragmatic evangelism,
social welfare and a church that epitomizes the genuine
love of Christ.”
  
  Under this vision, we in Jos Diocese will not only fulfill our part in the church, but if it is the will of God, we will be a  model: that
is our goal.  Our prayer is that it please the Lord to give us favour to make us the centre of a great big spiritual revival.  I do not
want to be a spectator of this: I want to be part of it.  It is my prayer that we will be available for God to use us to bring glory to his
name.  It is my prayer that God will use us to bless his church, his people, this state and this nation.  Let me put it clearly: our
minds are made up; we are focused and we will pursue this anointing until God fulfills it.  Nevertheless, may the will of God alone
be done.


DIOCESAN RELIEF COMMITTEE
  In our walk with God, we have come to the point this year where we have set up a Diocesan Relief Committee.  This is similar to
the kind of leading we had when we set up the Department of Health and Development Studies at the Christian Institute.  This
committee, which is chaired by the Rev. Kamji Dimka, has the following persons as members: Dr. C Ekwempu, Mrs. J. Dangyang,
Mrs. M. Genka, Catechist Chimezie Anukam.  The terms of reference are:

1. The Diocesan Relief Officer shall be the Chairman of the Diocesan Relief Committee.  The office of the Diocesan Relief Officer
is under the Diocesan Director of Finance / Admin.
2. The committee shall attend to crisis situations involving flood, fire, violence and displaced persons.
3. The committee shall research, document and report to the Diocesan Bishop all such happenings within the Diocese of Jos.
4. The committee shall recommend action, source for funds, materials, medicines and any assistance that may be necessary to
bring relief to the distressed people.
5. The committee shall be responsible for the collecting and storing of all relief materials.  They shall also be responsible for the
distribution thereof, subject to the approval of the Bishop.
6. The committee shall also source for finance which shall be deposited in a separate bank account.
7. The co-operation and support of all Supervising Priests and the Gospel Health and Development Services will be highly
appreciated.

  We commend them to your prayer support and financial giving.  The policy setting them up with their method of operation has
been outlined by the administration and we are believing God that like the seven chosen in Acts chapter six, they will not only
research into crisis situations and report, but they will also minister and meet physical and spiritual needs of the people and
support and sustain the needy in their times of need to the point that our gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will make sense to our
recipients and beneficiaries in order that they may respond to the living Jesus.  Far be it from us, however, that we capitalise on
this when people are most needy.  Our desire is to walk with God.

STAFF WELFARE
  By the leading of the Holy Spirit, we, after proposing to the Diocesan Board a motion which was subsequently passed,  have
resolved that from this year, 2003, in the twelfth year of our Episcopacy, all ordained clergy in good standing within the canons of
our Diocese and of the Church of the Province of Nigeria, who happen to die in office and on duty, will have their stipends paid to
their widows or children, or administered by the Diocesan Office as the circumstances may dictate, subject to the decision of the
Diocesan Board, until the year in which the deceased would have reached retirement age.  This is no substitute for gratuity.  We
are also in the process of making good our promise concerning the policy of free tuition and board for the children of pastors in
good standing within the canons of the church in our diocese.

ELECTIONS 2003
  There were several predictions about the elections which have just been held in April this year.  Most predictions about the
elections were rather gloomy and pessimistic. These predictions did a lot of good to the church because they sent us fasting and
praying.  The elections have come and gone, but some are still dissatisfied, unhappy and are threatening fire and brimstone.  
Newspaper reports have actually quoted quite a few prominent figures in the country as threatening to cause disaffection,
commotion and bloodshed throughout the country.  Let me say: we have chosen to walk with God and no man is God.  Whatever
a man sows, that shall he reap.  If we did not know God, we would have believed these rich, powerful, influential personalities.  
But we know God.  While we do not doubt their capability to cause destruction, our firm belief and faith in God is deeply rooted in
his word and promises.  We have seen the evidence of it in Christ Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension which is clear
testimony of God’s victory over evil and of his promise of the final victory over Satan and all his workers at the end of the age.  
Therefore we do not fear what men say, or what men can do, but our trust is in God through Jesus Christ.  

  However, let me give a few words of advice to those who have won the elections and taken office:

They must remember their oath of office which they have taken while holding the Holy Bible in their hands.  This oath is no joke; it
is a mandate of God as represented by the votes of the people and to abuse this oath is to invite God’s judgement on such a
person, his family and descendants.  God cannot be mocked.
It is only right that labourers be paid their wages regularly, as and when they are due.  It is not right in the sight of God that those
who work in government be denied their monthly wages, whereas such monies were actually voted for and are available.  Those
in authority over such workers will be held accountable by God for such gross abuse in office, especially because of the
consequences of the lack of payment of wages.  Bear in mind that these consequences have great effect on the families of such
employees, their children, their lifestyle, their dependents and so on.  In addition to this, retired persons must be adequately
catered for and paid their pensions.  Some of these people are old and helpless, and only heartless leaders will sit on funds
meant for pensioners, or divert such funds to other uses while these poor, low income, weak, retired persons languish in poverty,
or even die as a result of want.  God will not overlook such gross evil.
Those who take the oath of office must know that the voters have taken the decision to entrust to these office holders the
security of their lives and property.  If this is not adequately provided for there will be a breach of trust and where there is a
breach of trust, people will provide for their own security.  As this happens over time, lawlessness will take root and it will not be
long before certain people will become ungovernable.  I wish it were this alone - but that is not all.  Just as it is said in our Creed
that Jesus was crucified in the reign of Pontius Pilate, so will it be said that for lack of security the people degenerated into
anarchy in the time of such and such political office holders.  Law and order must be maintained, sustained and upheld by the
law-makers and the people as a whole.  The evidence of this must be absolutely clear.
The contributions of voluntary agencies in education and health cannot be down-played in the history of this country from the
days of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther in 1842 to our generation.  Governments who have valued this have of their own free will
chosen to make certain financial subventions available to these voluntary institutions.  It must be said that the failure to honour
the release of these subventions is a dishonour to God and to humanity.  Where these arrangements have been made, they
must be a priority because the voluntary institutions exist to provide for and care for the community where governments have not
been able to do so.  Because these agencies are partners in progress, they must not be demoralised, discouraged or even
patronised.  Agreements signed are based on honour and trust.  No man or woman will be worth their salt any more if they are
unable to honour agreements they voluntarily signed for the benefit of society.
We offer our unflinching support in prayer and counsel to all office holders in their tenure and assure them of our contribution to
the growth and development of our primary area of assignment in the Diocese of Jos, and our willingness to co-operate and work
for the good of all people, and for the progress and development of our state and nation.  Our hearty congratulations go to the
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our Governor of Plateau State and all who have this day taken the oath of office to
serve this great nation.  We ourselves are men and women on oath to serve God and humanity.  We appeal to those who were
not successful in their election bid to leave matters to God alone and to trust him for he holds our future in his hands.  Those in
office, on the other hand, must extend hands of fellowship to all.  We must put on record our heartfelt condolences especially to
the families of those who died in Pankshin in the election period, all the moreso because those who died were not particularly or
directly involved in the protest demonstrations.  Our prayer is that blood be not shed over elections, in fact no politician is worth
dying for!  Jesus died for us, yet we have scarcely died for him, not to talk of dying for someone about whose state and condition
with God no-one is sure.  Politics is a game, and we should play it like soccer: no enmity in contest, but always wait for the next
game.  There will always be another game in politics.  All that is required is to learn how to play it.
Elected office holders must be accountable, and must demonstrate high moral standards at home, office and leisure.  Democracy
must not be allowed to degenerate into civilian dictatorship.

UNIVERSITY STRIKES
  The question I have been asking is whether or not there are people who care in the educational system of our country and in
the University system of our country.  I am even more disturbed because most of the leaders in the current impasse went to
school right through to university in this country, when these institutions were run properly, affordably, and the system worked
efficiently, so that young graduates finished university at 22 or 24 years of age.  Those who went as mature students were
already employed and when these graduates came out jobs were waiting, and the first job brought with it a brand new car and
housing, plus the guarantee of promotion and so on.  These are Nigerians who are now in leadership positions in various forms
within the system and who benefited from Nigeria even when its economy was not so good as it is now.  I am appealing to our
consciences to look back and see how good and gracious God has been to us - we who had it so good in our time - and to see
what we can hand down to the coming generation.

  Is it not possible for ASUU to put its head back to work and to do it with the fear of God and with a love for this country; to do it
sacrificially in such a way that God will be so glorified as to turn the nation’s economy and focus on our educational system?  Is it
also not possible for Federal Government, the Senate and the Federal Ministry of Education to see the great damage that is
being done at the moment to the future of our young people, their psyche and their perception of this country?  Mark you, these
are the future lecturers, future senators, future leaders who right now do not know at all what the future holds.  Some of these
people may not get married until they are in their late thirties, because at 22 they have scarcely finished the first semester of
their first year studies, and God alone knows when they will finish their course.  

  Let me warn that those who had it so good, but do not wish others coming after them to have it well, will definitely reap what
they sow in this life before they finally reap at the judgement seat of God.  Let me add that unless something is done quickly, the
generations of young people now who for no fault of their own cannot plan their future - let us not be deceived - the devil will give
them a plan and they will take it, not because they do not know it is the devil’s plan and it is bad, but because at the moment, it
will be the only plan by which they can take revenge on a society that did not care to help them to grow as responsible persons in
the society.  Let me also add that when we are old and helpless, this same generation will destroy everything we have laboured
for.  This will happen because we worried more about building structures than about building people.  Whatever a man sows, that
shall he reap.  

  A careful survey of the history of the kings in the Bible shows how very easily this kind of negligence brought about the
collapse of one regime after another and each one was worse than the one before it.  We sound this note of warning not
because we want to see it happen, and we will thank God if this never happens, but because we on our part have chosen to walk
with God and we are doing everything possible to recruit people to make a choice to walk with God.  

  We are therefore calling on our government and our university teachers to choose God this day for a happy today and a better
tomorrow.  No-one ever pretends that this choice is an easy sacrifice nor do we want to pretend that when Jesus chose to save
humanity it was an easy sacrifice, but at the same time, no-one can deny the reward, whether now or in eternity.  Over all, this
depends on the choice you make today.  Enoch chose to walk with God.

NEW ECCLESIASTICAL PROVINCES
  We rejoice that the Church of Nigeria’s constitution was reviewed, the amendments passed, and that as a result we now have
ten provinces.  We congratulate the new Provinces and their respective Archbishops, and pray that God will use them mightily for
the furtherance of his Kingdom.
Abuja Province: The Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, Primate, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the church of Nigeria (Anglican
Communion)
Province of the Niger: The Most Rev. Maxzwell Anikwenwa, Dean of the Province of the Church of Nigeria and Archbishop of the
Niger.
Lagos Province: The Most Rev. E.A. Ademowo, Archbishop
Province of Niger Delta: The Most Rev. E.E.Nglass, Archbishop
Ibadan Province: The Most Rev. Akinfenwa, Archbishop
Ondo Province: The Most Rev. S. A. Abe, Archbishop
Kaduna Province: The Most Rev. J. Idowu Fearon, Archbishop
Bendel Province: The Most Rev. A. A. Agbaje, Archbishop
Jos Province: The Most Rev. E. K. Mani, Archbishop
Owerri Province: The Most Rev. Bennet Okoro, Archbishop

CONDOLENCES
  We were mourning the deaths of those killed in the various riots around us, and while we thought that the crisis was over there
came the news of the sudden attack on the village of Rim, which left the Rev. Bitrus Manjang dead, together with his daughter-in-
law and grandson.  It was reported that during previous religious riots the late Rev. Manjang actually stopped reprisal attacks
around Rim and hosted and kept in safe custody some Muslims, only for he himself to be killed by the very people whose safety
he had sought to keep.  The Church and the Christian Association of Nigeria on the Plateau has declared him a martyr, and a
monument will be erected in his honour in Rim village.  His loss is a painful one for us.

  Soon after that we were greeted in the opening of the year with the death of the Rev. Geoffrey Dangyang, who until his death
was serving in the Cathedral and had just been posted to Calvary Anglican Church, Tudun Wada, Jos.  Rev.Dangyang was a
particularly jovial, brilliant and intelligent gentleman.  He had been a Director of Sports in Plateau State Government, and had
just made the final step into full-time ministry, before he fell ill.  The Cathedral will remember his commitment to the Lord and his
decision to serve the Lord.  This was, however, cut short.

  Two days later we received the news of the death of the Rev. Canon Sunday O. Ajah.  Canon Ajah was Supervising Priest of
Jos Central Archdeaconry and Vicar of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Jos; he was a faithful, humble and committed Christian
pastor.  I had known Canon Ajah from the time when he was a student at St. Francis of Assisi Theological College, Wusasa, and I
was his teacher.  It was therefore my privilege to be his Bishop.  He and Rose have grown together in ministry - but only for a
brief period before his going to be with the Lord.

  Three days later we received the news of the death of Mrs. Patience Chule, wife of the Rev. A.Chule.  We had to conduct
funerals for all these saints within two weeks.  We shall miss them all.

  Many other deaths have occurred in the diocese, and in our churches; the list is not small.  We have visited where we could,
and offered prayers of condolence for others we have not been able to visit and condole.  God who has been our help in ages
past has stood by us even in these times of grief and loss.  For these and all others who have died in the faith of Christ may we
rise to observe a moment of silence.


May the souls of the faithful departed

rest in perfect peace.

Amen.

WALKING WITH GOD
  Walking with God includes:
Walking by the word of God.
Walking by the Holy Spirit.
Walking by prayer.
Walking away from sin and walking towards holiness and righteousness.
Walking with a sense of mission.
Walking by faith, with our focus on Jesus Christ.
Walking in holiness and cleanliness.
Using our freedom in Christ to benefit others.
Being instruments of change in society.
Walking without looking backwards or being distracted by attacks or obstacles.

  Walking with God affects:
Cleanliness and the environment.
Politics.
Caring for those in need, and providing relief.
Concern for justice, freedom and security.
The educational system.
Leadership style and quality, especially with reference to compassion, integrity and sacrificial living.

  Walking with God is a deliberate choice.


CONCLUSION
  Enoch walked with God.  This simple statement is all we know about Enoch, and yet in knowing this, we know everything,
because walking with God is the determining factor governing  the whole of a person’s life, his / her character, actions, priorities,
concerns and all that the person is and does.  This is so because when we walk with God our priority is absolutely clear; our
focus is firmly fixed; our strength and inspiration are drawn from the word of God and through prayer and the Holy Spirit.  
Nevertheless, all that we do, we do not in our own strength or ability, but in and through Christ who holds our hands, walks with
us and has promised never to leave us.  Nothing more needs to be said of Enoch, or of any true Christian,  It is enough simply to
record that he -
walked with God.

Amen.



+Rt. Rev. Dr. Benjamin A. Kwashi
Bishop of Jos
May 2003