Presbyterian Church of Nigeria
The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria ( Presbyterian Church of Nigeria , abbreviation: PCN) is a Presbyterian oriented church in Nigeria . It has over 1,000 congregations and nearly four million members.
history
The church was founded in 1846 on the initiative of freed Jamaican slaves, Scottish missionaries and the kings of Calabar . The Church of Scotland Missionaries team was led by Rev. Hope Masterton Waddell . In 1858 the church adopted a constitution and from then on acted as the Presbytery of Biafra (named after the geographic region of the Bay of Biafra ) of the Church of Scotland. From 1921 it was a synod and from 1945 an independent church, the Presbyterian Church of Biafra . In 1952 the church was renamed toPresbyterian Church of Eastern Nigeria until it was given its current name after Nigeria's independence in 1960.
The Church is currently engaged in missionary work in traditionally non-Presbyterian and non-Christian regions of Nigeria as well as in Benin and Togo . The missionary commitment led in 1998 to the establishment of a national directorate for missionary tasks. With the ordination of a woman in 1982, the PCN opened up to the preaching office for women. There are currently about 50 women ordained in the congregations.
structure
The highest organ is the assembly, including the synod, then the presbytery and finally the congregation. The approximately 1,000 parishes are organized in nine synods and 50 presbyteries.
Partner churches are the Church of Scotland, the Presbyterian Church in Canada , the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Protestant Church in the Netherlands . The PCN also has relationships with other Presbyterian and Reformed churches in Africa.
Teaching
The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has accepted the Westminster Confession . In the tradition of the Reformed churches, she only accepts the Bible word as the highest authority. It does not recognize other forms of revelation or church tradition. In this respect, the PCN is contrary to the current charismatic mainstream of Nigerian Christianity.
Ecumenism
The church is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the World Fellowship of Reformed Churches .