By Joseph ETTA in Calabar
Grace Network Evangelical Outreach also known as “Grace Consulate” located in Calabar has launched a free transportation scheme aimed at alleviating the sufferings of policemen, students and other inhabitants from various locations within the state capital.
This gesture was targetted at providing free transportation for military personnel, policemen, students and civil servants as well as low-income earners domicile in Calabar from different locations within the metropolis.
In a chat with Daybreak in Calabar, the Lead Pastor, Grace Consulate, Pastor, Lawrence Agbata, said it was the lifestyle of the church to consistently and intentionally give back to the society stressing that it was not an occasional gesture.
Agbata said the scheme will have 32 seater Coaster buses plying the Murtala Mohammed Highway, from 8 miles to 11/11 bus stop and back, from 7:00 am to 10:00 a.m, then 1:00 – 5:00 pm daily.
He noted that a lot of people especially civil/public servants and students struggle daily to get to work and school and all the expenses were based on their meagre salaries and allowances which is not enough to even feed the family.
According to Pastor Agbata, “Goodness is not a project to us as a Church, its a not an event, we believe it is a lifestyle, I know we as Christians will do some good acts occasionally.
“We believe it [should] be a lifestyle. We need to impact the society deeply not in an occasional manner but consistently and intentionally too.
“We believe when we give free medicare, feed people , pay school fees, dig boreholes, visit inmates in prisons, go to orphanage homes amongst other things we do, it shouldn’t be announced.
“Its bestow on us ,its a lifestyle, many of the people who we give to are not even Christians, a lot of people shy away from giving and showing kindness, we can’t imagine not doing good, what we do is not ordinary ,there is need to go that extra mile and that is exactly what Grace Network Evangelical Outreach is doing.
” This is what we ought to do as Christians, as a church, because it is synonymous with the kingdom of God, it’s in line with God’s heart desire, to give back the people, not occasionally but always and intentionally too.
“We never mention the name of our church on the inside the buses, but we only preach Jesus in the bus, neither do we mention our events, but we only tell them about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
“Jesus didn’t come to set up religion it is men who built religion around the Salvation that Jesus Christ brought to mankind.
So we will never talk about our church in the buses we provide except Jesus.
“Our aim is to make life easy for people who cannot afford to pay their transport fair, goodness is part of Christ in you, glory is the manifestation of God in you and one of the ways to show this is by showing goodness. You have to do good with the intention of goodness.
“We want to change the dynamics because it is our nature, it is beyond bringing people to our church to share fellowship but we want to make an impact by making life easy for people as well as impact our environment. We must be good and kind to the society and the people that is what Christianity is all about.
