Yaounde: 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 service, held 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, delivered the sermon. Titled ‘You Still Have a Choice’ and drawn from Joshua 24: 14-17, Rev. Njobara encouraged the outgoing CBC leader to maintain his unwavering commitment to preaching the Gospel.

According to Cameroon News Agency, an offering and material gifts were collected for the outgoing CBC top pastor. Dr. Nditemeh 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 reaffirmed his commitment to speaking the truth and preaching the Gospel, emphasizing the positive, albeit challenging, changes he helped enact in the CBC.

Dr. Nditemeh played a pivotal role in ensuring that, for the first time in nearly 40 years, his successor hails from the Southwest region of the country, addressing a longstanding feeling of marginalization within the Convention. His successor, Rev. Dr. Teke John, offered prayers for God’s continued blessings on Dr. Nditemeh’s future endeavors.

The special Sunday service also saw the attendance of representatives from the Cameroon Bible Translation Society (CABTAL), which maintains a strong partnership with the CBC for evangelism. The director of the seminary for the Mission de l’Eglise Evang©lique Camerounaise (MEEC) was present, along with a representative of the president of the Council of Protestant Churches (CEPCA), in which the CBC is a member denomination. A representative of Campus Crusade for Christ was also at the event, alongside all CBC Departmental Directors and some political figures.

An official handing-over ceremony, where Dr. Nditemeh will formally transfer power to his successor, Dr. Teke John, has been scheduled for January 10 at Nkwen Baptist Church in Bamenda.