Tentmakers in Nigeria: Presbyterians Sharing update

Tentmakers in Nigeria

Your gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria with grants for leadership development and for the translation of the bible into Abakaliki, one of the many languages spoken in Nigeria. Arlene Onouha shares one of the unique ways the Presbyterian Church in Nigeria equips people to minister to communities

What does a busy professional do when they feel called to be both a Minister of Word and Sacrament and a witness for Christ through their own profession? What does the Church do with an active, committed member who feels called in both directions?

The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has a category of ministry called “Tentmaking Ministry.” Tentmakers are professionals (nurses, engineers, doctors, accountants, teachers, civil servants) who continue to work and support themselves with their profession, but who are also ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament.

Aspiring tentmakers apply to their Parish Session which recommends them to the Presbytery and then to the General Assembly’s Board of Personnel and Training. If they are accepted, they spend the next two to three years doing three to six week training courses at one of the PCN seminaries. When they graduate, they are licensed and serve one year probation as tentmakers before returning to their sending parish and presbytery. After a year, if recommended by the presbytery in which they serve, they are ordained and have all the ecclesiastical rights of a full-time ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament.

Tentmakers are not posted by the General Assembly to a parish or ministry (PCN has a posting system, not a call system) and do not receive a salary, although a parish or presbytery may choose to provide them with an honorarium and cover some expenses. The tentmakers are members of presbytery like every other minister and are under the presbytery’s discipline. They usually work in a parish under the Minister in Charge and are assigned tasks within the church, sometimes being given the responsibility of an outstation or mission station related to the parish. Since they are ordained, they can baptize and lead communion.

Tentmakers are especially useful in parishes that may not be very financially buoyant but which have a deep desire and zeal to open new outstations and mission stations in the surrounding area. Tentmakers also play a crucial role as witnesses to Christ and to Christ’s love in their professional calling at their various places of work. While they work in their professions they are ambassadors for the Presbyterian Church and, most of all, ambassadors for Christ.

The Reverend Arlene Onuoha served in Nigeria from 1978 to 2009 with the support of Presbyterians Sharing. She is now home on deputation and seeking a call in Canada. Presbyterians Sharing is the national fund supporting the mission and ministry of The Presbyterian Church in Canada.