Taraba state Governor, Arc. Darius Dickson
Ishaku has commended the Christian Reformed
Church- Nigeria CRC-N number one Takum for
putting together the history of the Church for
future reference.

Governor Darius Ishaku made the
commendation on Saturday during the Gospel
Centenary celebration; dedication of a new
parsonage for the residents pastor and the
launching of a book titled “The Brief History of
CRC-N No1 Takum, saying that putting all the
records right from the time of Sudan Mission to
the present day church is an invaluable
contribution to the growth of the Church.
The Governor said he was gladdened in his heart
to be part of the Centenary celebration because
his grandfather was part of the historic journey
of the Gospel in the Wukari Federation and
challenged the present leadership of the Church
to use the book as a springboard for a
comprehensive research that would be a
reference point for upcoming Church leaders.
He also used the opportunity to call on all sons
and daughters as well as friends of CRC-N to
launch into this Project, as a way of contributing
to the mission work and assured the Church that
he will support it maximally to enhance the
growth of the Church through the gift that God
has given him and encouraged all not to relent in
contributing for the propagation of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.

Speaking further, Governor Darius Ishaku
decried the attitude of Christians towards
evangelism, stressing that Christians must key
into evangelism. He also pointed out that the
Church is passing through a turbulent period,
and most Christians are weak and call for change
in attitude, emphasizing that, there is the urgent
need to be reawakened and make evangelism the
front burner in our lives.
Accordingly, he emphasized on the need for the
Church to take education seriously asserting that
education is the bedrock of development and
transformation and encouraged the Church to
establish qualitative schools from nursery to
university level and added that, the Church
should also look into areas like rural
development, health, and empowerment.

The Governor praised the charisma of Dr. Rev.
Caleb Ahima the present CRC-N president and
Rev. Yakubu Shamaki, former president of
Reformed Church of Christ in Nigeria RCCN for
working together and resolving issues that
hitherto put the two churches at loggerheads in
the past with a renewed understanding and
stated that he was happy and proud of them and
frowned at low turnout of CRC-N family to the
Centenary celebration.
In his speech as the Chairman of the occasion,
Senator Emmanuel Bwacha assessed the
Centenary celebration into three different but
related perspectives, with first hundred years as
a sum total of our yesterday as history which
could be bitter or sweet, where we got it right or
wrong and how to move forward bearing in mind
these pertinent questions of what we achieved,
what we have done well and if we can be
rewarded by our master Jesus Christ for a job
well done.

Senator Bwacha maintained that the second
perspective of the one hundred years represents
our today, yesterday is history; then today is a
gift from the Almighty.
Represented by Dr. Yakubu Yusuf, who noted that
gift is a blessing from God which is without
sorrow and stressed that gift is a heritage for
those who are alive today, positing that the
Centenary celebration is a rich collection and
experience of late grandfathers and fathers in
the faith and it is a gift that must not be
jettisoned because it is a reward for their sweat
and doggedness in the faith.

Dr. Yakubu Yusuf further said it is no longer time
to sit in our comfort zones, but time to stretch
out into the friendly and the unfriendly realm,
and added that it is not time to ask but to give
out for the sake of the Gospel, while the third
perspective dwells on the mystery because it is
not known what tomorrow shall be and painted a
picture of how the Church of Christ has been
subjected to demonic attack using the
Democratic institution to hamper the growth of
the Church.
He challenged the congregation to focus on
genuine salvation during this Centenary by fine
tuning ways to engender sound Christian values
by organizing revival and crusade.
Delivering his sermon to mark the Centenary
celebration, the CRC-N president Rev. Dr. Caleb
Ahima said to celebrate the Gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ we need to understand where we
started from and where we are today, saying that
his grace and mercies kept the Church moving.
Caleb Ahima who read from the book of Isaiah
9:2, said the church is celebrating the revolution
of the Gospel with the intent to save souls, give
joy to our hearts, celebrating light and new
identity that separated us from darkness and
titled his message, ‘celebrating the lengthen
cord,’ saying that the Gospel of Jesus Christ
started from Jerusalem to Samaria to Judea and
ends of the world.
He
Maintained the celebration is to thank the
Almighty God for the grace that came to Takum
100 years ago using different people and stated
that Africa as at that time was referred to as dark
continent virtually no social amenity and survival
of the fittest was the order of the day with many
kinds of killer diseases.
The preacher who quoted variously from Bible
averred that the coming of Gospel to Takum also
came with responsibility, which teaches you to
love God above all things and to love your
neighbour like you love yourself and to let your
light shine before men so that your father in
heaven will also glorify you, but said the world
today is characterised by hatred, wickedness and
other forms of evil acts.


Dr. Caleb Ahima challenged the congregation
whether their attitude truly reflects people that
have accepted Jesus Christ and said whether our
children just like we are celebrating our fathers
and grandfathers today would celebrate us in the
next 100 years and added that they persevered in
the face of resistance occasioned by paganism.
The CRC-N President emphasized that if we live
correctly we will never regret and we will
bequeath a life of blessings to our children and
children’s children and tasks the gathering to
make choices that will lengthen the cord and
bring life, not pains and sorrows.
Highpoint of the celebration was:
1.) The cutting of the Centenary cake,
2.) Presentation of awards to some pastors that
contributed immeasurably for the propagation of
Gospel in Takum and beyond, among them was
the grandfather of Governor Darius Dickson
Ishaku, late Istifanus Yaku whose award was
presented to the Governor on behalf of the
family,
3.) Launching of a 113 page book written by five
Elders of the Church titled, A brief history of CRC-
N No1 Takum reviewed by Rev. David S. Fashanu,
4.) commissioning of the pastor’s parsonage and
rendition of songs by various groups in the
Church.

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