Members of the Knight of St. John International, Stella Maris Catholic Parish, Osisioma Ngwa, Aba, Abia State have emphasized the imperatives of the recreation of family values as a necessary panacea to the increasing trend of societal vices.
The erosion of family values, has negatively impacted cherished societal norms, leading to a rise in criminal activities.
This is as they reaffirmed their unwavering commitment towards selfless service to humanity and God.
Speaking during its formal inauguration on Sunday August, 2025, its Worthy President, Sir Alphonsus Udeigbo, noted that the body is wholly dedicated to engineering a paradigm shift in the world of evangelism and gospel outreach.
According to him, the primary mission of the Knights is to engage in house-to-house and family-to-family evangelism, which is a prerequisite for the total re-engineering of the society.
The President of the Knights of St John International, maintained that most of the societal vices today can be traced to the breakdown in family discipline, and respect for God’s words.
“Our major focus is to mobilize and engage in family evangelism; to re-awaken the fear of God and respect for his divine instructions in our families.
Gone are the days evangelism was limited to carrying microphone and public address systems to market and community squares.
Once we can bring a measure of sanity in our families, most of our challenges in this country would have been solved.
Our philosophy is that once parents, guardians, elders and stakeholders are able to inculcate discipline, and fear of God in our families most of the societal vices and other challenges would have been considerably controlled.
“We are therefore calling on our parish members to join us on this mission of tackling societal problems from their roots,” Sir Udeigbo stated.
The President who was represented at the event by his first Vice President Sir Nnamdi Modu, further informed that the Knights will also be involved in charity and humanitarian services as a way of promoting God’s work and giving back to the society.
“In this case our focus will be to offer assistance in such areas as health, education, family challenges, burials and many other activities that impact positively the lives of the people,” Udeigbo asserted.
The group expressed its readiness to work in concert with the Parish authorities in achieving its set goals and objectives.
They also appreciated the Parish leadership and members for their support, understanding, as well as their unflinching trust in their abilities to serve.
Earlier, in his homily, the parish priest Rev Fr. Joe Ahuruonye had underscored the need for Christians to not only have faith in God but also to be faithful to Him as their creator.
This is just as he emphasized the importance of believers being consistent in their faith and trust in God.
Fr. Ahuruonye called on the privileged to always prioritize service to humanity and God in their lives.
He charged the body of Christ to always give attention to the less privileged in the society.
“It is not enough to have faith in God, you have to also be faithful to God in all your conducts and activities.
There is no way you will claim to have faith in the abilities of God to solve your problems, without correspondingly being faithful to Him.
As Christians we have to be engaged in service to humanity and God. We have to strive at all times to give back to the society as a veritable way of showing gratitude for what God has been doing in our lives,” Fr Ahuruonye stated.
