The Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, says an Executive Business School programme to balance spirituality and business principles for ministers will be introduced.

The Acting Head of Department, Dr Ngozi Iheanacho, disclosed this while giving his address of welcome at a conference on Pentecostalism and African Pastorate Profile by the department on Tuesday at the university.

Iheanacho said that the 2019 conference, Serie 1 was in honour of Port Harcourt-based Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, General Overseer of Omega Power Ministries (OPM), for his contribution to humanity.

He said that the project was in tandem with an aspect of the department’s knowledge thrust and quest for research and documentation.

According to Iheanacho, the project was aimed at promoting Town-and-Gown relations, community service and good working relations between the academia and industry players, cognate to their discipline.

“There is a global scholarship trend on the exploration of contemporary African Christianity, pastorate and nascent pentecostalism; and our design in this project is skewed in Pentecostal Christian Ethnography.

“We want to make UNIPORT and our department in particular, a major stop point for data on outstanding African Apostolates.

“We don’t want to wait for foreign scholars to write and, be the resource persons and custodians of the account of our own distinguished men of God,” he said.

Iheanacho saidd that pentecostal ministry and phenomenon flourished potently and loomed large in the society and individual cravings.

He said that it therefore, became plausible to honour and celebrate outstanding key players in the industry.

“From our pre-conference study, we identified the ministerial thrust and strength of Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere to lie on social gospel.

“It is against this backdrop that the department resolved to honour him with an award of Ministerial Excellence, as “Crusader of Social Gospel’,” Iheanacho said.

He said that the citation on the clergy undercored the department’s resolution.

“Many of the conference papers will discuss the details and nexus between Apostle Chinyere’s humanitarian activities and the social foundations of Jesus’ Ministry,” Iheanacho said.