Christendom Newspaper Out to Preach Peace, Love and Unity-Editor

·         It’s God-given mandate

·         Urges Christians to patronize to sustain it

By: Kenneth Osumah

The Editor-in-Chief of the newly-launched Christian newspaper, The Christendom Newspaper, Frank Eboye, had said the newspaper was out to preach the gospel of unity, love and peace, especially amongst the Christians, and by extension, in the Nigerian society, at large.

Eboye said this recently while fielding questions from newsmen before the official launch of the maiden edition of the newspaper, which is expected to flood the whole country.

His words:”The birth of the Christendom Newspaper is divine; it is, indeed, supernatural .It is divine in the sense that it is God’s owned project; God’s owned newspaper for the Christendom. It is  a God-given mission to preach unity, peace and love in the Body of Christ ,specifically and by in the society.

You would all agree with us that the church seems to be divided and deviated from what it used to be. You would also have noticed that there are divisions in the Body of Christ, as against what the Bible preaches. This is what God had mandated us to do-unite and correct this in the Christendom through the instrumentality of journalism.

What we will be preaching and doing through this God-given medium are what are well-spelt out in the Bible. As our slogan implies: ‘’Preaching the Gospel, uniting the Christians’’.

Gospel preaching is a God-given commission to all Christians, which is stipulated in the Scriptures, so is the living in peace, love and unity. The Bible says ’’how pleasant is it when brothers live in unity’’.

On the scope of the newspaper, the young editor said: ’’We are for Christ; we are for the Church. We are sent to whole the Church. And we are going to cover all the churches in Nigeria by giving them equal coverage, attention and representation. We are not discriminating, segregating or circumventing any church. We are out to unite the Church. We are out to water-down the emphasis often placed on denominations and doctrines, which are the prime causes of divisions in the Body of Christ. We are out, as divinely mandated to do public relations as well as peace and conflict resolution and management for the Body of Christ.

Also, you will agree with us that there is so much worldliness and vices that are creeping into the church-the supposed God’s holy place. The news coming from the Church these days is grossly unpalatable and most are dragging the name of God and that of the Church in the mud.

God has sent us out to banish these vices through preaching against all these. We are out to sanitize, sensitize and rebuild the Church, and not to accuse, condemn or criticize. There will be no name calling, no blacklisting whatsoever; we are out to politely correct. We are on the path to rebuild the Church for Christ. We are out to sanitize the Christendom so that it can be restored to its past enviable and glorious path, as we once had in the Christianity of old. We are sent to halt the growing ‘trading’ in God’s temple. And to do this successfully, we need the support of every Christian stakeholder.

On how to achieve the mission, the Editor said they had lined up a couple of programmes to bring Christians of whatever denominations back to where they belong-under one umbrella. He mentioned those programmes to include inter-denominational sports tournaments, quizzes, debates, seminars, workshops, among several others.

Giving the account of the divine-mandate of the newspaper, Eboye said God gave them the assignment seven years ago, with God choosing the name, the slogan and every other thing for the paper. He, however, said God became more emphatic about them starting it this very year.

According to him, ‘‘the newspaper is taking up from a position of strength, though we ,at present, lack the required funds to make it a national newspaper God wants it to be, now .God wants us to circulate the newspaper in the 36 states ,including the FCT; bringing to the people, the Gospel of salvation ,unity, peace and love. We started not because we have all that is needed but we are standing on what God instructed: ‘‘start from where you are, with what you have’’

He, however, called on Christian stakeholders across the country to help make this God assignment succeed.

His words: ‘We are appealing to Christians, who believe in God to come out to help this divine assignment .They should know this is  their newspaper; they should try to patronize it as well as placing advertisements in  it. Our advertisement rates are much cheaper and affordable and our editorial content very rich.

The brilliant editor, who said the newspaper should be weekly, but will, in the interim, published fortnightly, added that there was a lot to read  and gain in the newspaper, as it  would surely be readers’ delight’’. He noted that the newspaper, whose magazine version would be launched soon, would have a lot to offer its teeming readers across the country. He mentioned the areas to be covered to include news, insightful analyses of Christian events, educating articles, motivating and inspiring tips on business, management, career, church leadership, discipleship, spirituality among others

‘’The newspaper will similarly serve the information, education and entertainment needs of its numerous audiences. Everybody will find one or two things interesting-the church leaders, singles, married, youth and so on. It is an all-encompassing package. Very enriching, informative, entertaining and educative. Even the non-Christians will equally find it beneficail’’, he noted.

On support from Christian stakeholders, especially the custodians of Christian faith, the God’s general, the Lead City University’s graduate of Mass Communication and Media Technology said the responses from them have been encouraging and overwhelming, as many have signified interests in the divine project.