Pam urges Churches to encourage sponsorship of pilgrimage, rebuild relationship with Jerusalem

The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) Rev. Yakubu Pam has urged Christian leaders and the Church in Nigeria to rebuild its relationship with the State of Israel by supporting pilgrimage and encouraging their congregation to embark on pilgrimage.

He made this known while playing host to the Bishop of the Christ Methodist Cathedral Church of Nigeria, Rt. Rev. Kehinde Adeyemi at the NCPC headquarters recently in Abuja.

The NCPC boss explained that it is a biblical injunction for Christians to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, in his words “the Bible has declared that God will bless those who are friends with the State of Israel”.

He urged the leadership of the Church and the Church in general to take ownership of pilgrimage and further urged the Church leaders to encourage their members who are financially buoyant to sponsor Christians who cannot afford to sponsor themselves.

According to him, “the Sponsorship of pilgrimage has been low in the past years and we need to work together to increase the sponsorship”.

He informed that the Commission had embarked on an aggressive mobilization visit to all Church leaders across the country to seek for partnership and support in this year’s pilgrimage exercise”.

Rev. Pam acknowledged the support of the Church to the Commission in the past. He said: “the Church has stood by NCPC in the past years because according to him, “it is only the church that visits Israel”.

He commended the Catholic Church for their support and participation for Christian Pilgrimage. He explained that the Catholic Church organizes it members to visits Rome and Greece yearly on Holy Pilgrimage.

He further commended the Methodist Church of Nigeria for being the vanguard of the Gospel of Jesus in the country.

He explained that the Methodist Church is present at every nook and cranny of Nigeria. In his words, “the presence of the Methodist Church is felt even in the Northern part of the Country where it is the difficult to preach the gospel”.

The NCPC helmsman urged his guest to continue to pray for NCPC and for the peace of Nigeria. “We need to build our prayer altars and intensify our prayers so that the killings in the country will end and peace of Nigeria will be restored”.

Earlier, Rt. Rev. Kehinde Adeyemi congratulated the Executive Secretary for his appointment as the Executive Secretary of NCPC. He described his appointment as a well-deserved one because of how well he had led the Church of God in Nigeria.

He commended the NCPC boss for his role during the crisis in the North especially in the recent southern Kaduna crisis. In his words, “you have indeed contributed positively in ensuring peace in this country”.

He appealed to the Executive Secretary to use his good offices to bring together Christians and to prayer for President Muhammadu Buhari and for those at the helms of affair in the country.