Church Of Christ Donates To Prisoners

A one day lectureship and 36 year anniversary celebration of the founding of the Church of Christ in Uyo Prison, with the theme: “The great day of the Lord” has been concluded in Uyo prison on Friday, March, 26th. The programme featured presentation of lectures by four eminent ministers of the church, presentation of gift items to inmates, special prayer session, quiz competition by inmates and song renditions.
In his opening remarks, the Minister in charge of the prison Church of Christ, Minister (Barr) Udo C. J. George thanked all the participants for attending the programme and reminded them of the purpose of the programme which he said was to rehabilitate their brethrens who were in the prisons. He further stated that the church was celebrating her 36 years in Uyo prison, adding that in that number of years, ministers of God have been raised from among the prisoners (ex-convicts) who are presently working in God's vine yard in different parts of the world. The minister further told the congregation that the church has also trained many inmates in different vocations providing tools after the training to help them carter for themselves on their release and thanked the authorities of the prisons for their usual co-operation.
Speaking and analyzing the theme, “The great day of the Lord”, Brother Udo Charles of Four Towns congregation of the Church of Christ who read from the book of Amos 5 verses 18-20 said that “the day of the Lord is a great day of joy for those who believe in God, and a day of doom for unbelievers. The minister also looked at the day as the day of judgement, the day of God's wrath and the day of Jesus Christ”.
Elder S. J. Udo who spoke on the topic “Are you prepared” unveiled those things that will happen on the day of the Lord and what people should do in order to be happy on that day. Reading from Matthew Chapter 13 vs 47-50, the Church elder said since the day shall have two things: joy and sorrow, there is need for preparation so as to be on the side of joy.
Also speaking was Dr. Nkop Uduk Etop of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital. In his lecture titled, “Staying healthy in Prison Environment”, the minister cited many examples of those who stayed healthy in prisons; some of those he mentioned were biblical Joseph who later became Egypt's prime minister because he stayed healthy in prison, Nelson Mandela who later became the president of South Africa, Martin Luther, etc. He listed some of those things a prisoner has to do to stay and come out healthy and become what God kept for him. He divided those things into two: dos and don'ts. The medical doctor listed the dos to include, having fresh air, taking bath, freeing the mind from hatred, relaxation, drinking clean water, etc while the don'ts include joining bad company, smoking, drinking of alcohol, indulging in unwholesome sexual practices.
Earlier in his opening address, the Deputy Controller of Prison in-charge of prison, who was the chairman on the occasion, Dr. Aloysius I. Uchenwa (JP), said “over the years, the Church of Christ has been contributing positively towards the development of the Nigerian prisons service by touching the spiritual lives of the inmates in particular”.
The prison chief while acknowledging the role played by the Church of Christ, maintained that “the vision of the service is to create a prison system that is able to contribute to meeting the challenges of ensuring a secure and peaceful Nigeria society through implementation of human penal programmes”, adding that the basic aims of the prison service are reformation, rehabilitations and integrations, but maintained that prison alone cannot perform such onerous task without the effective partnership with the Churches. He however, encourage the prisoners to use every opportunity available to them while in prison to repent and say yes to God, and to be creative and seek to live meaningful lives in the prison and after serving their terms.
The programme featured baptism (where six inmates were baptized), donation of a set of dryer to a female ex-convict and donation of a set of clipper and a generator to a male ex-convict. Items donated to inmates were: Holy Bibles, tooth brushes, clothes, food items, slippers, toilet papers and soaps.
Present at the occasion were Elder (Dr.) Obot Essien, Brother Christopher Benson Ekott, Sister, Edoabasi Akpanyang among others.