Most Revd Nicholas Okoh and other other Anglican Bishops at a ceremony

Primate of the Church of Nigeria, the Anglican Communion,Most Rev.Nicholas D.Okoh has decried the encroachment of people who pretend to be called by God and ordained clergymen only to turn out to be people driven by selfish mercenary motives, bastardizing the main focus of their ordination.

He lamented that some present day Pastors who should be correcting politicians and lay people are now being corrected by the Politicians because of greed

“We as ministers of God who should be correcting the Politicians and lay people but are now being corrected by them.We seem to be competing with them while abandoning our main task which is evangelism and missions”.

Most Rev Okoh stated this in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital in his keynote address while declaring open National Christian Leadership Conference holding at the Cathedral of St Paul,Diobu,Port Harcourt with the theme:”In Times Like These”organized for the Clergymen and leaders of that cut across 15 Dioceses of the Anglican Communion.

The Primate who harped on the need for Christians to be focused in the great Commission by Jesus Christ which anchored on mission and evangelism said “You will agree with me that we live in a time when the Christian ministry has been bastardized. Many people (both called and uncalled) have trooped into the ordained ministry which was once hallowed and revered by men and women throughout the world.Like the saying goes,’Too many cooks spoil the soup’.Today, the respect that goes with the collar we put on has vanished into the thin air.”

He directed the archbishops and Bishops to direct their focus to the National Youths Service Corps,NYSC,by visiting their camps to fish out those who may have the burning desire to work as ordained priests and mentor them.

Okoh stressed the need for Participants at the Leadership Conference to make it worth the while by practicing all that would be learnt at four-day conference.

He commended the host,Most Rev Ignatius C.O.Kattey,Archbishop Ecclesiastic Province of Niger Delta for hosting the Leadership Conference and the assemblage of respectable Resource persons in leadership skills.

Earlier in his welcome address,Archbishop Kattey said the main focus of the conference was to train Christians who will be used to continue the work of revival of the church through aggressive evangelism.