Aguata Anglican Diocese at 10: Archbishop counts blessings

In the past one decade, the Anglican Diocese of Aguata has continued to record great achievements.
Although the diocese created on September 4, 2005 is not in the capital city of Anambra State, it is lucky to be the seat of administration of Archbishop Christian Efobi who later became the dean, Church of Nigeria and Archbishop of the Niger Province.
His presence in the diocese no doubt brought rapid development, not only in evangelism, but also in physical infrastructure.
As the diocese prepares to mark its 10 years anniversary, Archbishop Efobi was delighted to relay some of the tremendous achievements recorded within the period in this chat with Oriental News.
He also spoke on some issues that concern both the church and the nation.
The Archbishop recalled that at his entry into the diocese, it started with five archdeaconries- Cathedral, Umunze, Uga, Ajali and Oko archdeaconries- adding that in the last 10 years seven other deaconries have been created.
The new ones are Nanka, Igbo-Ukwu, Ufuma, Ogbunka, Ezira and Ezinifite archdeaconries.
He also noted that when he took off in the Aguata Diocese in 2005, he had 57 clergymen to work with, saying that presently, the number has doubled even as work in the area has continued to increase.
For Archbishop Efobi and his team of clergymen, it has been a success story and they are delighted to tell those stories of great things God has used them to do.
He is quick to note that his leadership has helped in promoting education in Aguata by charging affordable fees to enable parents cope with the demand of training their children and wards.
He was of the opinion that there was nothing wrong with churches owing schools and universities, provided they are well managed to the best interest of the people.
The archbishop also said it would be wrong to ask churches to pay taxes because churches are not strictly in business, but concentrate on winning souls even though they could do something to generate fund to facilitate their work.
To the archbishop, proliferation of churches is not harmful to Christianity, provided the goal of the churches is to do the work of God and win souls for the kingdom.
He advised that people should not set up churches just for the purpose of making money for their selfish gains.