The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria is a church in Nigeria and subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith.
The denomination had ten synods, more than 50-90 presbyteries and over 7,000 congregations, and almost 5,000 ministers and 6,806,690 members across the country, but as of August 2023, the General Assembly Executive Committee (GAEC) approved the inauguration of more synods for the spread of God's word. Increasing the number of synods from 10 to 29. [1] [2]
The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria was founded by United Presbyterian Church of Scotland missionaries led by the Rev. Hope Masterson Waddell on the invitation of King Eyo Honesty II and King Eyamba V. The missionaries arrived in Calabar and founded the first Presbyterian church at Creek Town on 10 April 1846. From Calabar, the church began to grow. In 1858, the Presbytery of Biafra was formed. The Synod of Biafra was formed in 1921. The church experienced rapid growth following the establishment of the Presbyterian Church of Biafra, with the Synod serving as its highest governing body. The church became independent. The Presbyterian Church of Biafra became the Presbyterian Church in East Nigeria in 1952. On June 16, 1960, the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria was established. In 1987, the General Assembly was constituted with two synods. [1]
The Presbyterian Church in Nigeria began to establish a university in 1993, which was later named Hope Waddell University. Though the operational license has been secured, the university located in Okagwe Ohafia in Abia State is yet to take off. Its motto is "Excellence, Integrity, and Service". The church also runs two-degree awarding theological institutions, the Hugh Goldie Lay Theological Training Institution Arochukwu in Abia State (an affiliate of Abia State University, Uturu) founded in 1918, and the Essien Ukpabio Presbyterian Theological College, Itu Akwa Ibom State founded in 1994 (an affiliate of the University of Calabar). [3]
The church secretariat is in Ogbor Hill in Abia State in Southeast Nigeria. While the treasury and prelate's office is in Hope Waddell Training Institution Calabar Cross River State in Southern Nigeria [4] Website of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria
The church has outreaches across the entire country. It has a mission presbytery in the Republics of Benin and Togo. The church structure is the session, presbytery, synod, and general assembly. The parishes have one to nine congregations, depending on the size. [2] The congregations are ruled by elders. Several churches belong to a regional presbytery. Presbyteries belong to a bigger body – the synod. The General Assembly is the supreme court of the church. It is the result of a Scottish mission. [5] It cooperates with the Church of Scotland. [2] Old synods are 10 in number:
The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has two theological institutions; they are Hugh Goldie Lay/Theological Training Institution, Arochukwu, Abia State, Nigeria, (affiliated to Abia State University, Uturu) and Essien Ukpabio Presbyterian Theological Training College, Itu, Akwa Ibom State (Affiliated to the University of Calabar). These theological schools are used to train ministers for the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria. The current rector of Hugh Goldie is Rt Rev Theophilus Chukwu Ngele, PhD.
It is a member of the World Council of Churches, the All Africa Conference of Churches, the Christian Council of Nigeria, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the ARCA and the Reformed Ecumenical Council and the Reformed Ecumenial Council of Nigeria as of 2006. [2] It was founded in the 19th century. It has had female ministers for decades. [2] The secretariat is in Aba, Nigeria, while the office of the prelate and moderator of the General Assembly is in Calabar. [7] The current prelate and moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria is Ekpenyong Nyong Akpanika.
These are the Department of Information and Public Affairs Officers of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria
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