A cleric has charged parents and guardians to live and lead by example, show love and care to thier children and wards as this is the only way to help children redeem their time.
The Assembly Pastor of the Christ Apostolic Church Oke-Ife, Agbowo, Ibadan, Oyo State, Pastor Emmanuel Abisoye made this known at the 26th children anniversary of the church, held at the church auditorium, last Sunday.
Speaking on the theme of the anniversary, “Redeeming the Time” he emphasised on the need for parents to live and lead by example in all ramifications.
“It is of utmost importance that as parents we help our children redeem the time in a moment like this. The world is full of all sorts of things, one cannot but ask God to help raise our children right. Moral depravation, including priority to immorality is now the order of the day.
“We as parents need to live and lead by example, showing them the right way to live in the fear of God. We can’t tell them to live right, while we as parents do otherwise. Also we need to show them love and care. We should not allow them look for this outside, as they may be led astray easily. So those children are all we need, and we are all they need, we need to guide them, redeeming the time and making them live in the fear of God,” he added.
The anniversary featured series of activities including drama, song renditions, Bible recitations and instrumental displays, among others.
The Children Coordinator, Pastor Samuel Ogungbemi while speaking to Tribune Church News, said celebrating the children of the church every year had given rise to testimonies over the years as they have been doing well whereever they find themselves.
“Our children have been making us proud, we have some that are Nigerian Christian Corpers Fellowship Coordinators (NCCF), presidents and executives in their various fellowship. We celebrate them every year because they are God’s given heritage to us, and this is to remind them every year that they can always stand out for God whereever they find themselves, conducting their lives as good ambassadors of their home and the church at large.
We plead therefore to parents to always release these children to attend church activities, and to also monitor them at home, we can only build them spiritually and morally here in church to some extent, but the parent also need to play their parental role by watching over them in all ramifications,” he said.
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