AS NIGERIA CONTINUES TO BE AFLAME WITH SOCIAL STRIFE AND DEADLY CIVIL UNREST -- ARCHBISHOP OKOH TAKES A LARGE ¨RELIGIOUSLIKE DELEGATION¨ TO KENYA TO ENDORSE MORE DIFFERENCE, AND HATERED WITHIN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
¨The Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, left Abuja on Sunday as the head of Nigeria’s 470-man delegation to Kenya, to attend the second Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), opening today, October 21.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Okoh, while in Nairobi, would join leaders from Anglican Provinces in Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, UK and the U.S. to discuss the future of the Anglican Communion.
GAFCON was established in 2008 as a result of the strange teaching of western churches of the Anglican Communion, particularly on sexual preferences and homosexuality.
The maiden conference took place in Jerusalem in 2008, the same year Nigerian bishops pulled out from the Lambert Conference, the once-a-decade meeting of all Anglican bishops.
In a prayer and fasting session on October 15 in Abuja, Okoh urged Anglicans in Nigeria to pray for the security and success of the conference in Nairobi.
He recounted that in 2008, the hotel where some delegates stayed in Jerusalem was bombed hours after they checked out.
The meeting in Kenya is coming nearly a month after the terror attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi.
The primate noted that as expected, organisers had ensured tight security around the venue of the event, All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi from October 21 to October 26.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, will address the GAFCON primates on Sunday, in Nairobi, before the conference opens the following day.
A delegate, Mr Abraham Yisa, who is also the Registrar of the Church of Nigeria, said the issues that brought about the birth of GAFCON in 2008 had not abated five years after.
“The things that brought about GAFCON have not changed, indeed, they are worse off. In England, the parliament has legalised gay marriage.
“Canada and America have persisted in their revisionist teachings and this has kept the GAFCON primates, clergy and laity more united....don't miss a word