Methodist Church Nigeria says it has a pioneer Bishop in Owo Diocese of Ondo State to head the administration of the jurisdiction.
The pioneer Bishop is Rt. Revd. Williams Egbetakin, who emerged at the 48th and 13th Abuja Binal conference held in August 2022.
Earlier, Owo Diocese comprised Owo, Akure and some parts of Ekiti (Old Ondo State), but Ekiti and Akure were removed which left Owo.
Egbetakin, who spoke with newsmen at a news conference organised by the leadership of the church on Wednesday in Owo, called on Churches to shun anything that could damage their integrity.
The bishop, who had served at various capacities within the Methodist Church, promised to lay a solid and sound foundation that others could follow.
According to him, good rock pebbles, good cement and good people’s assistance are needed to put this thing in position so that others coming will see where to rest.
“As a teacher, there is one thing I cherish and is also essential in my heart, is eligibility because eligibility brings about accountability.
“If you are eligible then you are appointable, if you are appointable you must be accountable, if you are accountable then you must expect either punishment or rewards.
“So, my assignment as a pioneer, is to lay a good foundation and create a financially vibrant diocese.
He said the assignment also included how to turn our vision to the mission to be able to bring the diocese to a very solid sound and fulfilled administration.
“Not only on numerical strength but a character laden etiquette Church that will be able to affect the society positively,” he said.
The pioneer bishop, therefore, called for unification among the different domination, saying that there was division among Churches.
According to him, Integrity is fast eroding among Churches because people are now finding it very difficult to know which of these sets are genuine.
“The spreading of gospel is common because when you get to CAC, Anglican, Methodist and others, they proclaim Jesus Christ but we are divided.
“So, the division is very obvious against the prayer of our lord Jesus Christ in John 17 verse 20.
“Being a Dean in Emmanuel College, Ibadan, jointly owned by Church of Nigeria, Anglican and Methodist Church Nigeria, I want to see how I can bring economic unification into play in the environment where I found myself,” he said.
Egbetakin charged ministers in the Church to return to teaching instead of peddling fake prophecies around.
“My advice to ministers now is that we should return to teaching because we are to teach the society.
“There are a lot of prophecies outside that have failed and people are now asking the question, are there people with real prophecy?
“So, our responsibility is to teach and to pray because there is power in speech,” he said. (NAN)
