By Fred Ezeh
Something unprecedented happened in Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) last week. The church, in what looked a bit unconventional used a colourful carnival held in Abuja last week, to drum support for Christ and also reach out to people with the message of salvation.
It was the 2017 Carnival for Christ, with the theme, “The truth shall set you free” organized by the leadership of the Anglican Church to bring members together in a relaxed and playful environment, so they could assimilate the word of God in a different way.
Old parade ground, Garki, Abuja, was the venue. And it witnessed unprecedented presence of not only Anglican church members but non-members, who were invited to celebrate and worship God in carnival way.
Anglican church members from Durumi, Gudu, Wuse, Kabusa, Maitama, Gwarimpa, Mpape archdeaconaries and other locations, all appeared in different unique attires ready for the cultural and artistic display that contains biblical message.
As was expected, there was full display of Nigerian culture, bible recitation, quiz competition, march-past and several other unconventional means of evangelism for the purpose of winning souls for Christ.
But before the commencement of the carnival, the Archbishop of Abuja Province and the Primate of Anglican church, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, reminded the gathering of the essence of the carnival, which he said, was to glorify God and win more soul to Christ.
He used several Bible verses to justify the celebration, stressing the need for Christians to always care for their health through regular exercise and good nutrition.
The Primate added: “The carnival was meant to provide spiritual and civil training for our members particularly the younger and middle age ones. It was for them to enhance their spiritual and civil strength. Life is worth celebrating and that was why we infused spiritual and social dimension to the carnival so that all could participate.”
Meanwhile, the former Head of Service of the Federation, Ama Pepple, said she was impressed with the level of success the carnival had recorded over the years.
She then encouraged the organizers to continue to improve on the existing feat so that more people could develop interest in participating in the carnival.
She said: “I was part of the team that developed the concept of the carnival. I participated in the planning for years until call came for superior duty. That was when I gave way for fresh hands and ideas to sustain the carnival.
“However, I am deeply impressed with what they have done over the years. More people have obviously indicated interest and had participated deeply in the carnival.”
School children from different Anglican schools across FCT participated in the competitions, particularly the march. The presence of women organisation and other church group was conspicuous.
At the end of competitions, Cathedral archdeaconary took first position in junior Bible recitation. Mpape and Wuse archdeaconries came second and third respectively.
Similarly, Wuse, Asokoro and Gudu archdeaconries were announced first, second and third positions respectively in Bible recitation (senior category).
The result of the march-past as submitted by the judges indicated that Gudu archdeaconary who made their debut at the 2017 edition took first position in the march-past.
Durumi and Wuse archdeaconries were awarded second and third positions respectively, in recognition of their amazing display during the march-past. Other archdeaconries were also appreciated in one way or the other for participating in the carnival.
PHOTO CAPTION: CHURCH MEMBERS FROM DIFFERENT ARCHDEACONRIES DURING THEIR MARCH-PAST