A man was journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers who knocked him down, stripped him of his garments, gave him a thorough beating and left him half dead.
Many people passed by apparently noticing him on the ground, sprawling in a pool of blood but not coming to his aid. A Samaritan happened to come his way and seeing him, had compassion on him. “Poor traveller,” he muttered to himself, “robbers might have beaten him to death. Let me see if he is alive and breathing so I can help him. If he is dead, I can bury him in a decent way and go my way.” Finding him still breathing but unconscious, he said, “I had better help him quickly or he will die.” He treated his wounds gently pouring wine and rubbing him with ointment. He then put him on his horse and brought him to an inn. He begged the innkeeper to take good care of him until his wounds would be healed, and promised to pay him for the job when he would return from his journey.
Now, God has given us much to eat and to help others who are in need of it. Jesus told the Apostles to have love. He said that God shall punish those who do not care to help those who are poor and in need of help. He said, “And the Son of Man shall say to those at His left, go ye into the fire that has been prepared for Satan and his allies for I was hungry, you gave me no meat; thirsty, you gave me no drink; sick and in bed, but you visited me not; a stranger, you took me not in; naked, you clothed me not.” He went on: “Then shall they say, Lord, when did we see You hungry but did not give You meat, or…? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”
Jesus said these things referring to people who are without love. He spoke these words because many of us seem contented with ourselves alone and with what we possess but we do not carc about others. The story of the rich man and Lazarus will always serve to remind us to love our neighbor as ourselves and to give him help as he needs if we are able to do so. It will also always serve to show the folly of those who have money but care not to give to the needy Church but keep it for themselves. If they loved as that good Samaritan, then they would readily and willingly help the Church that needs help. The Tiv Church today needs help and badly, too.
I believe it is through the tireless and selfless efforts of some eminent Christians with all their prayers that the Tiv Church has come to exist; I mean Christians who belong to the Christian Reformed Church. It is through the untiring efforts of many of these Christians that most of us who now enjoy the fruit of their work have access to the Word of God, the Bible. If they were alive today and confronted with the request of the Tiv Churches of Nigeria, I am convinced that they would certainly have granted it. Right now I know many of you in the United States and Canada will agree, and have already agreed to this request, this timely request—others have not agreed, neither are they willing to agree. They have been misled by teachers who are preaching the false gospel of unity, while sowing the seed of discord on the Nigerian field. They favor the idea that the Synod should now participate more fully in TCNN rather than grant the request of the Tiv Churches for the establishment of a Reformed Seminary, reasoning that in a united Africa Churches should also be united. Some Missionaries who teach at TCNN are not members of the Tiv Church and do not know much about our Church and all the difficulties she is facing. I do not understand why with such biased minds they are speaking on behalf of the Tiv Church. 1 wish that those who favor the TCNN instead of the Tiv Church’s request could come to Nigeria to see for themselves why we need a Seminary and very urgently too.
In 1960, Tiv people resident in Kaduna began meeting with S.LM. Within a short time the SIM asked them to leave their Church. In 1962, two years later, we would meet with other Churches; here again we were asked to leave their Churches because they did not agree with us. We, too, would not agree with them on most of their teachings. Right now in Kaduna we are having much difficulty because we do things the way we do in the Reformed Churches. Some of the Churches I am talking about are represented at TCNN. The one of Kaduna has absolute faith in TEKAS (the fellowship of churches involved in TCNN). The same thing is true of Zaria, Kano, and Jos and of course, Lagos where we have just started.
I wish you to understand that the Tiv Church is big and has many branches affiliated with it. These branches are found all over Tivland and elsewhere where a Tiv Community is found here in Nigeria. Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Zaria (lately Lagos) are such areas. Lagos alone has two preaching centres. Tomorrow they may become Churches. With the rapid expansion of the Tiv Church, the problem of training her Pastors is pressing daily. Jos, Kaduna, and Zaria now have their own branches independent of other Churches but affiliated with the Tiv Church. Faced with such a situation must the Tiv Church deny these Churches the right to have their own Pastors? Why? Are they not Churches within the Tiv Church? Kana shall soon be a Church and may need a Pastor. We do no!’ agree with many other Churches on what they teach; their doctrines differ greatly with ours so that we cannot ask them for Pastors. Believe it or not, these are the reasons why we want it Seminary. If Tivland alone covering an area larger than Gambia* in size and Gabon in population, has some other places where many people have not yet heard the Word of Cod and idols are still being worshipped, the Tiv Church has to explore these places (Ugee, Ukwese. Undii, Utange and lyon are such areas). Should the Church deny them the opportunity of hearing the Word through which they may believe and find salvation in Jesus? The Church is not at all oblivious of the great commission: “go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to all nations.” Denying them the opportunity would be synonymous with flouting the injunction of our very Head, Jesus Christ. Now the Tiv Church is alive to her obligation which is why she just must not yield to the pressure others are exerting on her to leave the Synod alone. Those who do not wish to see her grow and flourish are they that now ask her to abandon her timely request. It would appear as if they are her sympathizers while they are not. Our Church will not succumb to their pressure. Never!
I am sure many of you in the States and Canada now have a more vivid picture of what is happening here than you may have had at first. Nobody likes to live together with his opponent even though they both may be Christians. Our association here with some of these other Churches is an uninteresting one that we never benefit from at all. We are being looked upon by other Churches with suspicion. They either think that Our teaching is new or that it is obsolete in some ways. Kaduna and Kana and Zaria have always been the scenes of disagreement between other Churches and OUTS. They would always want us to believe that one can be baptized but that it must be by immersion; one should be baptized without his first studying anything like catechism or children should not be baptized at all. At TCNN, some baptize by immersion. These are things that normally give way to a schism in the Church. These are but a few cases among many others in which we do not agree with other Churches although some of these Churches are represented at TCNN. We do not say baptism by immersion is wrong but the other Churches say any other form of baptism is wrong. We can separate in this case but we will be united in TEKAS and more united in Christ. Had these differences not existed long ago, we would not be having Anglican, Baptist. Christian Reformed, Methodist or Presbyterian Churches today to name a few.
It often seems to us that the Tiv Church is much in the same situation as the man who fell among robbers when these other Churches begin “bullying” us. And the Churches and individuals that support our Church in this case appear as the good Samaritan. We are badly in need of help and they have come to our aid -because they have love towards their neighbour. To them we say a big, hearty “Thank you.” We wish sister Churches would frankly and openly speak their minds. Let them come up fully in support of our Church so others may follow suit. Why do the missionaries not support us? If missionaries who first came to Tivland taught us in the wrong way and those now witnessing among us see that the teachings we received from them are wrong, let them tell the Tiv Church. Their remaining apathetic will not help the situation. Nearly all the missionaries are against her! Others remain undecided. I wish they would speak their minds with impunity. Others make decisions but do not execute them. They only agree with whatever the so-called missionary leaders say. As for us and our dear Church, we see no other leader but Jesus Christ.
Like the leper who shouted at the top of his voice when Jesus was passing and who was asked by the disciples to keep quiet but who shouted the more: “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy 00 me” till Jesus heard him and asked him to come, so shall the Tiv Church do to the Synod. The Church will always have to reject the advice of missionaries who are advising she depend on TCNN for her Pastors. We only hope that our dear Church will not be deterred from putting her case before the Synod. We greatly appreciate the role the missionaries are playing in our country. The Tiv Church feels indebted to you people for the fine job you have done to educate the youth of the Tiv Community. With your take-over from the Dutch Reformed Church Mission we have witnessed great accomplishments by these missionaries. Above all, we must not forget to thank our Heavenly Father Who is the Author of all things because without the blessing from him you would not have accomplished so much within so short a time of working. Many of our boys now in higher institutions like the University, have had their Primary schooling in a Mission School. You have done more than that by establishing a Secondary School, an Orphanage, and have enlarged the Leprosarium. You have also improved the standard of education of our Teachers’ College at Mkar. Also your building of a new Christian Hospital must not escape praise. Taking account of all these, can anyone among the Tivs deny that the Christian Reformed Church has done a lot for us? 1 guess 60 per cent of Tiv students at Ahmadu Bello University of ‘Zaria finished their Primary and Secondary schooling in Mission schools and other institutions. You deserve our praise forever. But if the Mission has done all these things for us, why can’t the Mission crown all these with a golden cap? The cap? Build a Seminary for us. God has blessed and we hope he will continue to bless the work you do in this part of the country for the progress of his Kingdom on this earth.
We arc strongly convinced that am God in whom we trust shall surely help our Church with this timely request. We also hope that in the not too far distant future many who are now indecisive will simply endorse their support for our Church and may urge others to support her too. Let everyone sympathize with our Church and help urge the Synod to rescind its earlier decision not to grant the request of the Tiv Church(es) of Nigeria.
Mr. Adagi is an elder in the Tiv Church at Lagos, Nigeria.
Note: All quotations from Bible are not specific. I write them as I remember the words. Sentences have been altered and either added or cut short so that the language may not fully reflect that of the Bible.
*Cambia and Gabon are two independent African nations each with a population hardly larger than that of Tiv Division in Nigeria.
Many people passed by apparently noticing him on the ground, sprawling in a pool of blood but not coming to his aid. A Samaritan happened to come his way and seeing him, had compassion on him. “Poor traveller,” he muttered to himself, “robbers might have beaten him to death. Let me see if he is alive and breathing so I can help him. If he is dead, I can bury him in a decent way and go my way.” Finding him still breathing but unconscious, he said, “I had better help him quickly or he will die.” He treated his wounds gently pouring wine and rubbing him with ointment. He then put him on his horse and brought him to an inn. He begged the innkeeper to take good care of him until his wounds would be healed, and promised to pay him for the job when he would return from his journey.
Now, God has given us much to eat and to help others who are in need of it. Jesus told the Apostles to have love. He said that God shall punish those who do not care to help those who are poor and in need of help. He said, “And the Son of Man shall say to those at His left, go ye into the fire that has been prepared for Satan and his allies for I was hungry, you gave me no meat; thirsty, you gave me no drink; sick and in bed, but you visited me not; a stranger, you took me not in; naked, you clothed me not.” He went on: “Then shall they say, Lord, when did we see You hungry but did not give You meat, or…? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”
Jesus said these things referring to people who are without love. He spoke these words because many of us seem contented with ourselves alone and with what we possess but we do not carc about others. The story of the rich man and Lazarus will always serve to remind us to love our neighbor as ourselves and to give him help as he needs if we are able to do so. It will also always serve to show the folly of those who have money but care not to give to the needy Church but keep it for themselves. If they loved as that good Samaritan, then they would readily and willingly help the Church that needs help. The Tiv Church today needs help and badly, too.
I believe it is through the tireless and selfless efforts of some eminent Christians with all their prayers that the Tiv Church has come to exist; I mean Christians who belong to the Christian Reformed Church. It is through the untiring efforts of many of these Christians that most of us who now enjoy the fruit of their work have access to the Word of God, the Bible. If they were alive today and confronted with the request of the Tiv Churches of Nigeria, I am convinced that they would certainly have granted it. Right now I know many of you in the United States and Canada will agree, and have already agreed to this request, this timely request—others have not agreed, neither are they willing to agree. They have been misled by teachers who are preaching the false gospel of unity, while sowing the seed of discord on the Nigerian field. They favor the idea that the Synod should now participate more fully in TCNN rather than grant the request of the Tiv Churches for the establishment of a Reformed Seminary, reasoning that in a united Africa Churches should also be united. Some Missionaries who teach at TCNN are not members of the Tiv Church and do not know much about our Church and all the difficulties she is facing. I do not understand why with such biased minds they are speaking on behalf of the Tiv Church. 1 wish that those who favor the TCNN instead of the Tiv Church’s request could come to Nigeria to see for themselves why we need a Seminary and very urgently too.
In 1960, Tiv people resident in Kaduna began meeting with S.LM. Within a short time the SIM asked them to leave their Church. In 1962, two years later, we would meet with other Churches; here again we were asked to leave their Churches because they did not agree with us. We, too, would not agree with them on most of their teachings. Right now in Kaduna we are having much difficulty because we do things the way we do in the Reformed Churches. Some of the Churches I am talking about are represented at TCNN. The one of Kaduna has absolute faith in TEKAS (the fellowship of churches involved in TCNN). The same thing is true of Zaria, Kano, and Jos and of course, Lagos where we have just started.
I wish you to understand that the Tiv Church is big and has many branches affiliated with it. These branches are found all over Tivland and elsewhere where a Tiv Community is found here in Nigeria. Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Zaria (lately Lagos) are such areas. Lagos alone has two preaching centres. Tomorrow they may become Churches. With the rapid expansion of the Tiv Church, the problem of training her Pastors is pressing daily. Jos, Kaduna, and Zaria now have their own branches independent of other Churches but affiliated with the Tiv Church. Faced with such a situation must the Tiv Church deny these Churches the right to have their own Pastors? Why? Are they not Churches within the Tiv Church? Kana shall soon be a Church and may need a Pastor. We do no!’ agree with many other Churches on what they teach; their doctrines differ greatly with ours so that we cannot ask them for Pastors. Believe it or not, these are the reasons why we want it Seminary. If Tivland alone covering an area larger than Gambia* in size and Gabon in population, has some other places where many people have not yet heard the Word of Cod and idols are still being worshipped, the Tiv Church has to explore these places (Ugee, Ukwese. Undii, Utange and lyon are such areas). Should the Church deny them the opportunity of hearing the Word through which they may believe and find salvation in Jesus? The Church is not at all oblivious of the great commission: “go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to all nations.” Denying them the opportunity would be synonymous with flouting the injunction of our very Head, Jesus Christ. Now the Tiv Church is alive to her obligation which is why she just must not yield to the pressure others are exerting on her to leave the Synod alone. Those who do not wish to see her grow and flourish are they that now ask her to abandon her timely request. It would appear as if they are her sympathizers while they are not. Our Church will not succumb to their pressure. Never!
I am sure many of you in the States and Canada now have a more vivid picture of what is happening here than you may have had at first. Nobody likes to live together with his opponent even though they both may be Christians. Our association here with some of these other Churches is an uninteresting one that we never benefit from at all. We are being looked upon by other Churches with suspicion. They either think that Our teaching is new or that it is obsolete in some ways. Kaduna and Kana and Zaria have always been the scenes of disagreement between other Churches and OUTS. They would always want us to believe that one can be baptized but that it must be by immersion; one should be baptized without his first studying anything like catechism or children should not be baptized at all. At TCNN, some baptize by immersion. These are things that normally give way to a schism in the Church. These are but a few cases among many others in which we do not agree with other Churches although some of these Churches are represented at TCNN. We do not say baptism by immersion is wrong but the other Churches say any other form of baptism is wrong. We can separate in this case but we will be united in TEKAS and more united in Christ. Had these differences not existed long ago, we would not be having Anglican, Baptist. Christian Reformed, Methodist or Presbyterian Churches today to name a few.
It often seems to us that the Tiv Church is much in the same situation as the man who fell among robbers when these other Churches begin “bullying” us. And the Churches and individuals that support our Church in this case appear as the good Samaritan. We are badly in need of help and they have come to our aid -because they have love towards their neighbour. To them we say a big, hearty “Thank you.” We wish sister Churches would frankly and openly speak their minds. Let them come up fully in support of our Church so others may follow suit. Why do the missionaries not support us? If missionaries who first came to Tivland taught us in the wrong way and those now witnessing among us see that the teachings we received from them are wrong, let them tell the Tiv Church. Their remaining apathetic will not help the situation. Nearly all the missionaries are against her! Others remain undecided. I wish they would speak their minds with impunity. Others make decisions but do not execute them. They only agree with whatever the so-called missionary leaders say. As for us and our dear Church, we see no other leader but Jesus Christ.
Like the leper who shouted at the top of his voice when Jesus was passing and who was asked by the disciples to keep quiet but who shouted the more: “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy 00 me” till Jesus heard him and asked him to come, so shall the Tiv Church do to the Synod. The Church will always have to reject the advice of missionaries who are advising she depend on TCNN for her Pastors. We only hope that our dear Church will not be deterred from putting her case before the Synod. We greatly appreciate the role the missionaries are playing in our country. The Tiv Church feels indebted to you people for the fine job you have done to educate the youth of the Tiv Community. With your take-over from the Dutch Reformed Church Mission we have witnessed great accomplishments by these missionaries. Above all, we must not forget to thank our Heavenly Father Who is the Author of all things because without the blessing from him you would not have accomplished so much within so short a time of working. Many of our boys now in higher institutions like the University, have had their Primary schooling in a Mission School. You have done more than that by establishing a Secondary School, an Orphanage, and have enlarged the Leprosarium. You have also improved the standard of education of our Teachers’ College at Mkar. Also your building of a new Christian Hospital must not escape praise. Taking account of all these, can anyone among the Tivs deny that the Christian Reformed Church has done a lot for us? 1 guess 60 per cent of Tiv students at Ahmadu Bello University of ‘Zaria finished their Primary and Secondary schooling in Mission schools and other institutions. You deserve our praise forever. But if the Mission has done all these things for us, why can’t the Mission crown all these with a golden cap? The cap? Build a Seminary for us. God has blessed and we hope he will continue to bless the work you do in this part of the country for the progress of his Kingdom on this earth.
We arc strongly convinced that am God in whom we trust shall surely help our Church with this timely request. We also hope that in the not too far distant future many who are now indecisive will simply endorse their support for our Church and may urge others to support her too. Let everyone sympathize with our Church and help urge the Synod to rescind its earlier decision not to grant the request of the Tiv Church(es) of Nigeria.
Mr. Adagi is an elder in the Tiv Church at Lagos, Nigeria.
Note: All quotations from Bible are not specific. I write them as I remember the words. Sentences have been altered and either added or cut short so that the language may not fully reflect that of the Bible.
*Cambia and Gabon are two independent African nations each with a population hardly larger than that of Tiv Division in Nigeria.