Directorate of Research, Documentation & Services
The new Methodist Church Nigeria Constitution 2021 gave impetus to the establishment of the Directorate of Research, Documentation & Services and stipulates in Sections 135,136 and 137 as follows:
v The Research Director of Research, Documentation & Services shall be appointed for the Conference Office and shall either be a Minister or Lay person with requisite qualification.
v The Director of Research, Documentation & Services shall hold office in line with the conditions of service specified by the Conference Office from time to time subject to good annual performance appraisal by the Prelate.
This provided for the appointment of a Director of Research, Documentation & Services, with the condition of service as specified by the Conference Office from time to time subject to good annual performance appraisal by the Prelate.
The functions of the Director shall include the following:
(i) To manage the Church Archives and provide historical research.
(ii)To be responsible for information gathering and statistics for the purpose of assisting overall Church development and planning
(iii) To perform other duties that may be assigned to him by the Prelate or as may be contained in the Book of Resolutions from time to time.
ESTABLISHMENT OF DRDS AND APPOINTMENT OF A PIONEER DIRECTOR
In the spirit of repositioning and aggressive evangelism drive for membership increase, Church development and expansion, His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche, JP, Prelate Emeritus, Methodist Church Nigeria officially established the Directorate of Research, Documentation & Services in January, 2021 and appointed Very Rev. Dr.Godwin Onovo as the pioneer Director. Prior to his appointment, Very Rev. Dr. Godwin C. Onovo, FIPMAN has been working in the Headquarters as the Conference Research & Services Desk /Strategic Planning Officer since 2016 and had presented some stimulating and insightful papers and reports to the Biennial Conference, Conference Connexional Council (CCC), Council of Bishops and Conference Finance & Strategic Planning Committee, Dioceses etc, on general statistics of the Church and the state of the Church with roadmaps for further actions which received commendations from the Church leadership.
DRDS IN CHURCH MINISTRY
Research is an important tool required to drive Church growth, development and expansion goals. As a strategic engine room, it helps in finding answers to things that hitherto are unknown, filling gaps in knowledge and challenging the way that ministry leaders, both laity and ordained work as well as equip decision makers at every level of Church leadership.
In context, the Directorate of Research, Documentation & Services was birthed under the leadership of His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche, JP, Prelate Emeritus, Methodist Church Nigeria, in response to the Church’s burning desire and determination for repositioning to take the Methodist Church to the next level toward reclaiming our place and position at the comity of Church denominations as the first established Church in Nigeria.
This action was derived from the vision of the Church and Four-point Agenda of the Prelate which was to grow the Church Spiritually, Numerically, Financially, and Infrastructure-wise.
The Research and Documentation Office of Conference is committed to assisting the Church in actualizing these goals by providing and driving innovation, productivity, capacity enhancement and competitiveness. It provides information and shares insights on the current state of the Church, including its human resources; opportunities and threats from competitors etc, to aid stakeholders’ decisions in moving the Church forward.
Obviously, the Church currently is making remarkable progress in that direction. Just take a few minutes of your time and visit various departments of the Church, ministries and other human services on the Church website and find the milestones of this Premier Church. Individual and corporate performance at various cadres of the Church structure has improved drastically in recent years with sanity restored in the Church’s life and renewed commitment to Scriptural Holiness that Methodism was renowned for, which to a large extent is due to the spiritual adroitness and fervency of His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche, JP to achieve sustainable transformational leadership on the paradigm of our repositioning drive. The overall objective is to raise members that are rapturable who serve God in spirit and truth.
Methodist Church Nigeria is at the verge of becoming a fully digitized Church in major areas of management operation which implies that you can get information about the Church, Ministers, Principal Officers, Members, and Church properties from any Area of Conference, local Churches and their locations, Sections, Circuits, Dioceses, Archdioceses, Conference departments and offices, etc just in minutes with your internet connection.
The Church has successfully achieved digital transformation in the following areas:
1. Successful development and automation of Ministers’ Portal known as MCN Clergo Portal, for quick access to ministers’ personal details, and proper human resource audit of the Church’s ministerial employee pool for strategic stationing, capacity enhancement and promotion of individual and corporate performance.
2. Successful development of Methodist Church Nigeria Property Portal called MCN Propa Portal for the electronic data capturing of all Church properties in the Conference Area and automation of same with internet connection for quick access to property data, to ascertain the status and locations of those properties as well as provide an overview of what the Church is worth. All Church property information can be managed and viewed from the Conference Headquarters by the Estate Department in a click.
3. Successful development of Methodist Church Nigeria Website and integration of all Conference Offices, Directorates and Departments. The informational site now provides a one-stop access to any enquiries on the Premier Church in Nigeria, some of the milestones of the Church in our nearly 180 years of existence on evangelism and human services.
The world can now freely interact with us and read about Methodist Church Nigeria on a dedicated site and its commitment to global evangelism for the reconciliation and redemption of all human race through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
4 Total transformation of the Conference Archives with 3D model standard books shelves , and ongoing digitization of the Archives so that members of the Church and the general public can access information from the archives that are considered non-classified, for research and other official purposes.
5. Development of Church membership database with a portal, including payment App for all the local Churches in the Conference Area. Members can now receive on their phones personalized birthday and wedding anniversary messages of congratulations and special prayers from the Church, including Christmas, New Year and Easter Season’s greetings from the Prelate.
6. Report of survey on the geographical spread of Methodist Church Nigeria in the urban and rural locations within the 36 states of the federation to guide stakeholders’ decision on evangelism and church planting. This was presented to Conference Connexional Council (CCC) and the Council of Bishops for deliberation and action. The Church’s Vision and Mission strategy among other things , is to ensure that the presence of Methodist Church Nigeria is felt in every corner of Nigeria to spread Scriptural holiness without which no man or woman can enter into the Kingdom of God.
7. DRDS has become a powerful resource hub for undergraduates and Master’s degree students in our Theological Institutes such as Methodist Theological Institute, Sagamu, Methodist Theological Institutes, Umuahia, and Immanuel College of Theology and Christian Education, Samonda, Ibadan, Wesle University, Ondo on our history, heritage, general statistics of the Church and other relevant information concerning Methodist Church Nigeria, for academic and other research purposes.
8. Through the assiduous and dedicated efforts of DRDS, the Directorate of Social Services was birthed at the 58th Session of CCC at Soremekun Hall, Broad Street, Lagos on Friday, 8th November, 2024 under the strategic leadership of His Eminence, Dr. Oliver Ali Aba, JP, Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria.
Research and Development in any functional and dynamic organisation or corporate establishment is capital intensive. In order to continue to deliver value to the corporate life, existence and ministry of the Church to fulfil her Mission to the world in excellence, we need your generous support and encouragement as well as collaboration.
STAFFING
Very Rev. Dr. Godwin C. Onovo, FIPMN – Pioneer Director
Mrs Agnes Nsah – Secretary
CONTACT US FOR ENQUIRIES:
Please feel free to write us via our email: mcndrds1842@yahoo.com or dir.research@methodistnigeria.org
