Although the title of this article appears very apologetic, my primary intention here is to make a plea for library book for the Reformed Theological College of Nigeria. I am sure that a better understanding of the issues involved will certainly stimulate and motivate many of you to donate generously to the library fund which we would like to launch.
The question I wish to answer concerns the necessity for a Reformed Seminary at the present time. In other words, is there a need for a Reformed Seminary in Nigeria now? My answer to ‘this question is a capital YES. I say Yes for the following reasons.
1. The two established independent Reformed Churches in the Benue Valley of Nigeria arc theologically young. Since these churches are young they need a Seminary that will train their leaders in a distinctively Reformed theology. They need an institution where their future leaders are confronted by the Reformed truths in all their theological studies. This distinctiveness of the Reformed faith can never be achieved without a Reformed Seminary. Our complete dependence on a union seminary at this formative stage of our churches will only lead to a total degeneration of the pure Reformed faith we have received from our beloved missionaries. Our churches are in such a delicate stage that this must be handled immediately with the greatest possible care.
2. The future of the missionaries in Independent African countries is not certain. Many independent African nations are adopting policies that will insure admission of only a few missionaries into their countries. In Nigeria many state governments have taken over the mission schools and hospitals. The whole attitude of independent African governments to foreign missionaries seems to be resounding the pre-independence slogan of “Africa for the Africans”. This attitude seems to suggest that missions and their supporting churches should seriously consider theological education of their daughter churches before their own time in Africa runs out. Since a strong Reformed Church in Nigeria for the future depends on today’s strong ministry. both the mother and the daughter churches should work together to achieve a sound ministry before the African government policies frustrate their efforts. We need missionaries for a qualified and dependable teaching staff to give us a very sound start. This explains why we could not afford to wait even a month longer than necessary to establish a Reformed Seminary.
3. We have a mission. The two Reformed churches in Nigeria are situated in the center of Nigeria, the most populous African country. We believe that the coming of the Reformed truth to this most populous African nation was not an accident. God must have intended a strong church here which will have a Reformed impact on other parts of Africa. This impact on Nigeria and other parts of Africa will be possible only through a sound Reformed ministry which can be achieved only by means of a Reformed Seminary.
4. We love the Reformed Faith. The Tiv Church which champions the cause of a Reformed Seminary has been wrongly accused of separatism and pride. Let me say in all sincerity, our aim in setting up a Reformed Seminary is never to make a name for the Tiv tribe or to separate ourselves from other truly Christian brothers. We have been prompted by our love for the Reformed truth to set up a seminary that will truly preserve that truth in its purest form. It is difficult for us to settle for anything less than that pure Reformed truth. We are more than willing to work together with other Christian churches but we cannot sacrifice that precious truth for any unity. It seems to me that there are better ways to achieve Christian cooperation than through a “melting-pot theology” in a union seminary. The Tiv Church has pledged its full support to TEKAS (Fellowship of Christian Churches in the Sudan) but wants to maintain its mainline theology in a seminary which is synodically controlled to prevent the possible invasion of any form of modernism. If this is what separatism means, then all true reformers are separatists, for all truly Reformed Churches maintain their mainline theology in their seminaries.
The Tiv Church (NKST) is convinced that the need for maintaining the mainline Reformed truth in Nigeria is strong enough to compel the establishment of a Reformed seminary. This conviction led the Tiv Church to transform words into actions and this gave birth to the Reformed Theological College of Nigeria. Our school has now successfully completed its first year of operation and is smoothly moving into it a second year. Lack of words does not permit us to adequately express our gratitude to God and to all our loyal supporters for the success of our venture. We also express our thanks to the Christian Reformed Synod of 1972 for according RTCN official recognition. This action of the Synod is regarded as a move in the right direction and as a sign of better things to come.
I am happy to report here that a total of $48,000.00 has been received from our U. S. supporters towards our building program. The first phase of the program is in progress and will be completed at the end of this year.
The question I wish to answer concerns the necessity for a Reformed Seminary at the present time. In other words, is there a need for a Reformed Seminary in Nigeria now? My answer to ‘this question is a capital YES. I say Yes for the following reasons.
1. The two established independent Reformed Churches in the Benue Valley of Nigeria arc theologically young. Since these churches are young they need a Seminary that will train their leaders in a distinctively Reformed theology. They need an institution where their future leaders are confronted by the Reformed truths in all their theological studies. This distinctiveness of the Reformed faith can never be achieved without a Reformed Seminary. Our complete dependence on a union seminary at this formative stage of our churches will only lead to a total degeneration of the pure Reformed faith we have received from our beloved missionaries. Our churches are in such a delicate stage that this must be handled immediately with the greatest possible care.
2. The future of the missionaries in Independent African countries is not certain. Many independent African nations are adopting policies that will insure admission of only a few missionaries into their countries. In Nigeria many state governments have taken over the mission schools and hospitals. The whole attitude of independent African governments to foreign missionaries seems to be resounding the pre-independence slogan of “Africa for the Africans”. This attitude seems to suggest that missions and their supporting churches should seriously consider theological education of their daughter churches before their own time in Africa runs out. Since a strong Reformed Church in Nigeria for the future depends on today’s strong ministry. both the mother and the daughter churches should work together to achieve a sound ministry before the African government policies frustrate their efforts. We need missionaries for a qualified and dependable teaching staff to give us a very sound start. This explains why we could not afford to wait even a month longer than necessary to establish a Reformed Seminary.
3. We have a mission. The two Reformed churches in Nigeria are situated in the center of Nigeria, the most populous African country. We believe that the coming of the Reformed truth to this most populous African nation was not an accident. God must have intended a strong church here which will have a Reformed impact on other parts of Africa. This impact on Nigeria and other parts of Africa will be possible only through a sound Reformed ministry which can be achieved only by means of a Reformed Seminary.
4. We love the Reformed Faith. The Tiv Church which champions the cause of a Reformed Seminary has been wrongly accused of separatism and pride. Let me say in all sincerity, our aim in setting up a Reformed Seminary is never to make a name for the Tiv tribe or to separate ourselves from other truly Christian brothers. We have been prompted by our love for the Reformed truth to set up a seminary that will truly preserve that truth in its purest form. It is difficult for us to settle for anything less than that pure Reformed truth. We are more than willing to work together with other Christian churches but we cannot sacrifice that precious truth for any unity. It seems to me that there are better ways to achieve Christian cooperation than through a “melting-pot theology” in a union seminary. The Tiv Church has pledged its full support to TEKAS (Fellowship of Christian Churches in the Sudan) but wants to maintain its mainline theology in a seminary which is synodically controlled to prevent the possible invasion of any form of modernism. If this is what separatism means, then all true reformers are separatists, for all truly Reformed Churches maintain their mainline theology in their seminaries.
The Tiv Church (NKST) is convinced that the need for maintaining the mainline Reformed truth in Nigeria is strong enough to compel the establishment of a Reformed seminary. This conviction led the Tiv Church to transform words into actions and this gave birth to the Reformed Theological College of Nigeria. Our school has now successfully completed its first year of operation and is smoothly moving into it a second year. Lack of words does not permit us to adequately express our gratitude to God and to all our loyal supporters for the success of our venture. We also express our thanks to the Christian Reformed Synod of 1972 for according RTCN official recognition. This action of the Synod is regarded as a move in the right direction and as a sign of better things to come.
I am happy to report here that a total of $48,000.00 has been received from our U. S. supporters towards our building program. The first phase of the program is in progress and will be completed at the end of this year.