CBC: Hundreds throng Etoug-Ebe Baptist Church to celebrate outgoing Executive President

By Hans Ngala

A church service to celebrate the end of Rev. Dr. Nditemeh Charlemagne’s four-year, one-term tenure as Executive President (EP) of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) has culminated at Etoug-Ebe Baptist Church in Yaounde.
The church service on January 5th was attended by hundreds of CBC Christians from across the country and abroad and was officiated by a college of pastors. Rev. Dr. Joe Jikong, the Senior Pastor at Etoug-Ebe opened the service in prayer and Rev. Njobara Nelson, pastor of Salvation Baptist Church in Molyko, Buea preached the sermon. Titled “You Still Have a Choice” and culled from Joshua 24: 14-17, Rev. Njobara exhorted the outgoing CBC leader to hold steadfast to his commitment to preaching the Gospel unwaveringly.
An offering and material gifts were collected for the outgoing CBC top pastor, who will return to serving as a church pastor and professor of theology at the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary and another seminary in the Central African Republic with a campus in Yaounde.
Dr. Nditemeh expressed gratitude for the love shown to him at the church service and said his commitment to speaking the truth and preaching the Gospel was stronger given the positive (albeit difficult) changes he helped enact in the CBC.
Nditemeh ensured that for the first time in nearly 40 years, his successor should be from the SW of the country, a part of the CBC that had long felt sidelined within the Convention. His successor, Rev. Dr. Teke John, prayed for God’s continued blessings on his predecessor.
Also present at the special Sunday service were representatives from the Cameroon Bible Translation Society (CABTAL) which has a strong partnership with the CBC for evangelism. The director of the seminary for the Mission de l’Eglise Evangélique Camerounaise (MEEC) was also present, as well as a representative of the president of the Council of Protestant Churches, better known by its French-language acronym, CEPCA in which the CBC is a member denomination.
A representative of Campus Crusade for Christ was also at the event and all CBC Departmental Directors and some political figures.
An official handing over ceremony where Dr. Nditemeh will officially hand over power to his successor, Dr. Teke John, has been scheduled for January 10 at Nkwen Baptist Church in Bamenda.