Nigerian Anglican archbishop Ben Kwashi of the Diocese of Jos told several hundred Anglicans at CANA EAST's third synod that preaching the gospel is not a picnic. In a rousing sermon, he called for the ordinands and his listeners to seriously count the cost in a growing secular age.

Citing Acts 6:1 he said, "God is calling you to the most serious business in the oversight of the souls of men and women and to preach the Word of God against its cultured despisers."

The ordinands were called upon to publicly vow that they would renounce any association with any cult (he cited Freemasonry) or sexual behavior outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

In his address the vibrant evangelical archbishop said that the Ordinands were called to the most serious of businesses, namely the oversight of the souls of men. He exhorted his hearers to preach the Word and if necessary caste out demons. "Teach them the Word and build their faith according to the Bible not according to the [prevailing] culture."

Every culture comes under the microscope of the Bible; if it does not conform, throw it out. "Coach your people in ethics and morals. You are recruited in a warfare you will either make it or become a casualty of it," he said.

"Satan's treachery is everywhere. Be aware of the diversions, distractions and murmurings in the congregation." The apostles, he said, saw ahead and had both insight and foresight. "See ahead, always seeing ahead."

The archbishop said the early Apostles had great discernment; they were solution providers. The Apostles saw the problem ahead. Every single person comes with their problems even well-dressed problems.

Kwashi urged his listeners not to brag about their tribe or status. Don't murmur. Oversight is always alive, active and functional, even when the devil is trying to trying to destroy them. "Spiritual oversight is impossible without spiritual discernment. The gospel is costly. In Jos when the Islamic radicals came we lost businesses and homes but we went out preaching the gospel. Satan was up to his tricks. So some preachers stopped preaching and started to grumble. They lost their spiritual power. Only prayer conveys the seriousness of our hearts."

The Nigerian archbishop urged some 80 clergy to expound clear exegetical teaching or their sermons would become untenable stories. If so, the harvest will be dead. The Apostles found a solution, it was the Bible in history. The Archbishop admitted the problem in Nigeria is that people are not solving their problems. He pointed to the Apostles who saw and witnessed the humility of Jesus.

THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW TOOK PLACE WITH DAVID W. VIRTUE AND THE MOST REV. BEN KWASHI IN WAYNE, PA.

VOL: Archbishop, does the realignment of the Anglican Communion have an end game?

KWASHI: It does have an end point; it will have an end point when the realignment becomes a genuine reformation movement as the church ought to be. If it does continue, we are going to have to rethink our theology and put it under the eye of the scriptures.

The realignment was not thought to be necessary until 1998 when the reformation started, thanks to Archbishop Moses Tay, the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, and others who forced the church to think that we were on track. Thanks to the language of the Lambeth Conference 1998, the Decade of Evangelism was not brought on the table for review. The realignment and the examination of the Bible demanded that we take it seriously. Furthermore, the realignment must also take into account those who have held on to the structures of the Anglican Communion. Those who did not have evangelism, the Bible at the heart of their faith, and only structures of the communion will continue hitting the wrong button.

VOL: You now face an even greater challenge with the encroachments of Western modernity. How will urban Nigerian Christians fare in the face of the seductions and distortions of advanced modernity which is a leading factor in the undermining of the Western Church?

KWASHI: This is not new. It has hit us in Nigeria already. By Lambeth '98 the chief point of argument was not just sexuality, but also persecution and militant secularism being imposed on us. The breakdown of family systems that held the structures before modernism now impacts Nigeria. Families held tight, but not anymore. When modernism came in, I saw for myself our communities breaking down. With the advent of Islamic persecution, people have started to come back together with families growing stronger. The break down in Africa is massive. There is no social welfare. Modernism says look after yourselves. Take the money and run.

With the breakdown in our society, it has compelled the gospel to be real. Families are looking after grandmothers; mothers are taking care of orphans. Persecution compels us to live and die together and this is happening across denominations.

The effect of the breakdown has been for people to go back to the Bible. People are seeing the God of history at work. Out of persecution and secularism we are responding and every bishop is asking how do we make the Bible work? It is not just a belief system; it's got to work.

VOL: I understand you wife Gloria has gotten involved with women and orphans in a big way.

KWASHI: Yes, I came back from one of my trips and found she had adopted 62 kids, aged from 2 to 20. Gloria started a school, so all are getting educated. Many are orphans. Some 80 percent have been orphaned because of the activities of Boko Haran; 20 percent were very vulnerable. She picked them off the street.

VOL: How safe are you from the attacks of Boko Haran and from local Muslim riots?

KWASHI: I have escaped death three times. In the earlier attacks we were very vulnerable. In 1987 no one came to help us. Our house and church were burned along with 100 other churches. We lost confidence in the Government to provide security. We literally depended on God for our security.

My wife was temporarily blinded. She collapsed and was in a coma in hospital. I was out of the country at that time. The second time I phoned every single person in Jos and finally, I had to phone a military classmate of mine who was in Abuja for help. When another crisis occurred in Jos 2010 and 2001, the governor himself called up the military, but no help came for five hours. We are still not really safe. Our lives are always in the hands of God.

VOL: So how would you describe Christians in the Diocese of Jos?

KWASHI: We are an evangelizing people because we are in the north in Boko Haran territory. We see signs and wonders going on. We see divine healings because there are no hospitals and medical clinics in many places.

VOL: I am told the water is so bad in some places in Northern Nigeria that if you can drink it you could die of intestinal problems in a matter of days. Is that true?

KWASHI: Yes that is true. Susan a British missionary, has been with us for many years. She has drunk the "kool aid" and lived. Our eldest daughter is now a doctor and works with us. She too has drunk it as have many evangelists who have drunk the water and lived.

VOL: I gather Jos is potentially quite wealthy?

KWASHI: Yes. If you dig down 30 meters you get water. Another reason is that is Jos sitting on minerals. One has to pass through Jos to go north. That is why Jos is being fought over and is a flash point for Muslim extremism.

VOL: Nigeria has 23 million evangelical Anglicans. It also has 20 million Catholics. Do you still need evangelizing?

KWASHI: Yes. Nigeria has 170 million people. In 2006 Jos had a population of 429,000. Now it is over 580,000. There are three Anglican churches in the city alone, with many more outside the city. Clearly we could have more. We now have 130,000 people in church on Sunday. We have 70,000 Muslims, so where are the other 300,000? Now we have 16 large congregations of not less than 200 in each congregation.

Today Jos has 1.5 million. There is much evangelism to be done. We have 8 million children in Northern Nigeria in need of education in primary schools but only 1 million in secondary school. We have high unemployment. The Church cannot remove education from evangelism. Gloria's 200 kids are raising funds for a hostel for more than 400 children, many of them victims of violence and HIV/AIDS. Millions of Nigerians still don't know the Lord. We have our work cut out for us.

VOL: Does the Anglican Church of Nigeria suffer from corruption? I hear and read stories of great corruption in the Anglican Church in India, perhaps the most corrupt Church body in the Anglican Communion today.

KWASHI: No. we are not corrupt. We have to account for our money and our archbishop, Nicholas Okoh demands a high degree of accountability.

VOL: Recently Kaduna Bishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon was appointed the new Secretary General of the Anglican Communion office in London. Is this a game changer for the Anglican Communion?

KWASHI: No. Fearon lost Nigeria about 10 years ago, since the end of Archbishop Peter Akinola's reign. Fearon holds no weight in Nigeria. You also published that Archbishop Okoh has a "wait and see" policy on his new job and the ACC.

VOL: When Archbishop Welby came to Nigeria, he had to come to Jos. What was your message to him?

KWASHI: To take seriously Luke 9: 23-26. Anyone who wants to be a disciple of Jesus comes at a cost. You must be prepared to deny yourself before you follow Jesus. Following Christ means taking the cross to your heart. Even in situations of affluence one must look to the cross.

VOL: Do you think there is any hope for The Episcopal Church at this late stage in the life of the Anglican Communion?

KWASHI: The only hope for TEC is a return to the Biblical faith and to realize that 80 percent of the Anglican Communion is faithful to the Scriptures and to the gospel.

VOL: Do you see homosexuality being an issue in Nigeria?

KWASHI: It is a danger, yes. We are not an isolated people. At the moment, we are pretty safe. No one is knocking down the doors. We have always known about homosexuality and we have dealt with it pastorally. We have seen so many people who have recovered their heterosexuality. Our bishops and priests receive pastoral training and they are well schooled in dealing with this affliction. We have many American psychologists like Jay Adams and others we consult so we are on top of the situation.

VOL: I am told your bishops and archbishops are very well educated. Just how educated are they?

KWASHI: We have more bishops with earned PhDs in Nigeria than all of Africa combined and most of the Anglican Communion. More than 40 percent of our bishops and archbishops have PHDs in the House of Bishops. The average age is about 50 for both bishops and archbishops. In all we have 14 archbishops, 170 bishops with 23 million Anglicans and we are completely self-sufficient. Urban outreach is the latest and wisest thing we are doing in making new converts.

VOL: What would you like to say to Anglicans in the West?

KWASHI: The sacrifices that Cranmer, Ridley, Hooker, and a host of others made that gave birth to the Book of Common Prayer and the evangelistic tools for leading people to Christ, followed by the revival movements of Oxford and Cambridge and the birth of mission movements, is a sacrifice and a debt that no reasonable Anglican Christian should ever forget nor take lightly or throw away.

VOL: Thank you, Archbishop.