ABSTRACT
Although Qua Iboe Church is mainly understood from the angle of Spiritual formation of individual human beings, the contributions it has made and is still making to national development are immensurable. For instance, the Qua Iboe missionaries came along not only with th-e Good news but also came with western education which is the foundation of civilization, and healthcare services. Now, observation has shown that if the church had folded her arms and kept aloof to issues of national interest, there would hardly any development, because development can only take place where individual persons are well informed morally and spiritually. This work through secondary sources of information, observation, questionnaire has discovered a lot of contributions that Qua Iboe church has made and is still making to national development. However, Qua Iboe Church has internal problems which, (besides these external ones), have hampered its effective contribution to national development. This work addresses this issue so that Qua Iboe Church will effectively contribute to national development. With this, the contribution of Qua-Iboe church to national development will be appreciated.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background of the Study:
This tells us: the observed sorry state of affairs within Qua Iboe Church in relation to National Development. There is a great debate on whether government and the church can work together towards national development. Some individuals and groups are strongly against the notion that government and the church can agreeably work together for national interest. For these people, government and the church are like the lion and the goat that do not see eye to eye. Government works to achieve earthly pleasure while the church concerns herself with the eternal blessedness of man. This is why some Christians frown faces at their members taking part in partisan politics. On the other hand, other individuals and groups have different view. For them, government and the church work towards national development. They went further to say that government, especially in Africa is thriving well on the soil tilled by the church and that some of the laws enshrined in the constitution of most countries are what the church has already made.
This argument has necessitated a thorough research on the contributions of the church to national development, taking a case study of the contributions of Qua Iboe Church (United
Evangelical Church). Qua-Iboe Church came into Nigeria at the time when Africans were not aware of the Good News as the white missionaries claimed. But Mbiti (1975.15) refuted this by saying that Africans are notoriously religious. It came along with certain tools which are very helpful to national development. So Qua-Iboe church cannot be accused of being adamant to national development even though there are evidences of internal problems that are likely to threaten the unity of the church, and thus hinder its contribution to national development.
1.1 Statement of Problem:
A reflection on the advent of European missionaries to Africa shows that like other missionaries, Qua-Iboe church strived towards restoring the worth of man to morally approved level by the spreading of the Good News and ensuring of national development through the provision of education, healthcare services and infrastructure. One can, therefore say that the church is not uninterested in the national development as some people use to claim. Qua Iboe church has contributed and is still contributing to the national development even despite its internal problems, as will be presented in this work.
In other words, it is the concern of this work to clearly examine the contributions of Qua-Iboe church to national development by presenting all it has done for national interest.
1.2 Purpose of the Study :
Among other aims, this work is poised to present what the Qua Iboe Church had done and what it is still doing to achieve or bring national development in our country. It will open our eyes to see and appreciate the contributions Qua-Iboe church has made and still making in the development of our country and some of this benefits are; educational development, provision of health care services to the people, moral teaching, introduction of modern agricultural techniques and elimination of bad human practices such as killing of twins and their mother.
Again this work aims at providing reading material for those who know little or nothing about Qua Iboe Church. This will help many to emulate and learn more about this denomination (Christian) the life of the faithful of the Qua Iboe church. To clear the age long doubt on whether religion and politics can go hand in hand is also another aim of this research.
1.3 Significance of Study:
In the Bible, Christians are advised to support the civil authority (Romans 13). Therefore this research will make the people of our society comprehend the fact that the church is in the forefront of the national crusade for peace and stability without which national development cannot be achieved.
Again, the significance of this work will be seen in its effort in presenting the divine origin of the civil authority. With this, those in leadership will understand that they are to rule with the fear of God and when this is achieved, the national development will progress. This research will also bring the readers to better understanding between corporeal and spiritual.
It will also reveal to those Christians who shy away from taking part in the government of their nation that they are hindering national development by not bring in their own contributions.
In addition, this research presents the church as the institution that cares for not only the heavenly well-being of mankind but also his earthly will-being.
1.4 Scope of Study:
Many missionaries of various Christian denominations came to Nigeria in the 19th century and this planted different Christian denominations in the country for further evangelization. These denominations have slight differences in liturgy and doctrine, although, they profess one faith. Therefore to write on the contributions of these denominations to national development is an onerous task. It is too wide in scope. Hence any attempt to carry a research on such topic will make one to end up in clumsy superficial work.
Therefore, to avoid the risk of producing a project report that lacks enough information, the researcher limits his work to the contributions of Qua-Iboe church (United Evangelical Church) to national development of the country, Nigeria.
With this, one can grasp the contributions of the church in general to national development without difficulties. The scope is also limited to make it easy for the further researchers.
1.5 Research Methodology:
In this work, data were gathered through primary and secondary sources eg. from books, journal, periodicals, unpublished research
works and to a certain degree feasible observation. So it involved secondary source method.
The researcher also made use of questionnaire to ascertain truth on certain contributions of the Qua Iboe church to national development. This helped to make the research findings more appreciable. That oral interview method was applied. This is the primary source method, and the information gathered were interpreted analytically.
1.6 Definition of Terms:
It is pertinent, for the sake of clarity to define certain words which appear in this thesis to help one understand them as used in the study. They are as follows.
1) Qua Iboe Church:
The world church takes its origin from the Greek word ‘Ekklesia’ meaning, congregation of God’s people. In Hebrew it is translated ‘Kahal Yahweh’, the community of God. So the church in its Greek and Hebrew terms mean the same thing – the assembly of people of God (Achunike, 1996: 17).
Qua-Iboe church is the church founded by an Irish missionary, Samuel Alexander Bill in 1887 at the bank of Qua-Iboe river in Calabar, Cross River State of Nigeria. The name of this church was derived from the Qua-Iboe river where the founder started his evangelistic work.
2) United Evangelical Church (U.E.C):
In the National Annual Church Conference held in December
2001 in Aba at Ogbor Hill, there was unanimous agreement among the members to change the church’s name from Qua-Iboe church to United Evangelical Church. Although some members of the church protested against the change of name, but the highest administrative council of the church conference consented to use the two names concurrently until the new names is officially changed by the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So United Evangelical Church is the same with the Qua Iboe Church. The two names belong to the same church.
3) National Development:
Development has to do with promoting economic and social advancement, tolerance among all who are living in peace with one another as good neighbours (Kudadjie etal, 2000: 32). They
went further to explain that the indices used in measuring the development of a nation include the types of highways, forms of transportation and communication systems, industries and technology, kinds of energy in use, forms of entertainment and the likes.
It is also defined as the progressive sequence of changes in the nature and organisation of an organisms structure and behaviour, which proceed in a systematic manner (Ngwuoke and Eze, 2000:51). Development changes in the ability of the organisms to function in a higher level.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
CONTRIBUTIONS OF QUA IBOE CHURCH (UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH) TO NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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