Church of Nigeria:

INTRODUCTION

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour!
"Rejoice, highly favoured one, the lord is with you". Indeed greatly blessed are you amongst men and women.

The Lord is in need of you to join hands with other chosen ones to help take the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) to greater heights; so as to reposition and focus the Church to attain her rightful pre-eminent position.

It is in this regard that we introduce to you the Eminent Anglican Resource Group - EARG. This is a group of distinguished and committed Anglicans and we believe that you are one. The goal of this organisation is to assure availability of resources and the essential enabling environment for the effective propagation of the wholesome gospel; a practical demonstration of God's love in action. This will ease the burden of fund raising from the Clergy and Bishops. They will then be able to concentrate and thereby achieve superior spiritual results in their domains.

At present, the Church of Nigeria is composed of 78 Dioceses within 3 Provinces. However, few of these Dioceses are financially viable even though the opportunities for growth are immense.

The central organisation of Communion has no major independent sources of income, as it is largely dependent on the levies from the various Dioceses. These levies are not a steady and reliable source of income due to the financial difficulties faced by contributing Dioceses and the generality of members.

There is a need to give the Church a clear vision and direction, rally the whole Communion behind this common purpose and moblise the appropriate resources and infrastructure for the achievement of results. EARG is positioned as an organisation that will assist in achieving this.

Under the direct supervision of the Primate, EARG will mobilize resources to enable the church execute its vision.

OBJECTIVES OF EARG

	To finance development programmes and activities based on the existing infrastructure of the Dioceses.
	To finance development of new infrastructure to provide a platform for Chirch growth.
	To provide financial assistance to needy Dioceses in accordance with laid down procedure.
	To assist the Diocese in financing Mission and other evangelical activities of the Church.
	To support the strengthening of training and education of clergy and laity, by providing financial support for Seminaries, Bible Colleges and Lay schools of theology.
	To support youth education and development through the provision of assistance to youth organisations e.g. Boys' & Girls' Brigades, Guilds, and the establishment of vocational training centers for drop-outs and destitute youth, etc.
	To assist in fulfilling the financial obligations to international organisations of which the church is a member. Such bodies include the conference of Anglican Provinces in Africa, African Conference of Churches, Lambeth Conference, Anglican Consultative Council, World Council of Churches, Nigerian Chaplaincy in England and the USA.
	To develop and manage an investment portfolio to provide annuity income for the continuance of the activities of EARG.
	To undertake all other projects as the Primate may assign from time to time.

THE FOLLOWING SPECIFIC PROJECTS HAVE ALREADY BEEN IDENTIFIED:

	Anglican Retreat centers in Abuja, Badagry and Port Harcourt for the use of the Church; to be professionally managed as revenue generating initiatives of the Church.
	Subventions to needy Dioceses in order of merit and progressive phasing out of the traditional dependence on assessment.
	Development of a fully equipped and functional Anglican Communion Secretariat in Abuja.

ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT
The Group is to be managed by an independent team of seasoned managers reporting directly to the Primate.

A Board of trustees will be responsible for overall policy direction and oversight. It will operate through standing committees in the various key areas of responsibility and function.

The Secretariat will be managed by a Chief Executive and located in the Primatial Office in Abuja. It will have other offices in Lagos and Onitsha.

MEMBERSHIP
Membership is open to all Anglicans; initially about 3,000 corporate and individual members are envisaged within the first year.

Membership is open to Churches, Societies, Families and other groups.

Membership will be by contribution in various categories. Obligations of members are as follows:

Membership Category	Annual Contributions =N= (1st 3 years)
A	1, 000,000
B	750,000
C	500,000
D	250,000
E	100,000

Beloved, your embrace of this group by signing on as a member is definitely a positive step in making the glory of God manifest! Remember, "What do you have that you did not receive .."
I Corinthians 4:7.

These words of the Lord will hold true for you. "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap…" Luke 6:38

"You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God" II Corinthians 9:11

We therefore call on you to appropriate the full blessings of God as you excel in this stewardship call in the words of Paul to the Corinthians.

"Just as you excel in everything in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestation and in your love for us see that you also excel in the grace of giving"… II Corinthians 8:7.

God bless you richly!

THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA
(Eminent Anglican Resource Group)

Headquarters:
The Cathedral Church of the Advent Gwarinpa Life-Camp
Opposite Nitel Exchange,
Abuja
Tel. 09-5211434; 5211435
E-mail: abuja@anglican.skannet.com.ng

Lagos:
29 Marina
P. O. Box 78, Lagos
Fax: 01-2635681; 2631264
E-mail: soglad@metrong.com