….As A Minister Of God Passes On
By George Coben, Bauchi
General Overseer of Peculiar Peoples’ Church for all nations, Bauchi State, Bishop Isaac Crown has enjoined christians to live a life of faith in God, demonstrate His love to and impact on the lives of others, with their God given resources and positions, while still alive.
Bishop Crown gave the advise at the secretariat of the Bauchi State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rafin Zurfi, Yelwa, Bauchi.
A funeral service was held there on Thursday in honour of Pastor Joyce Abubakar, wife of consultant to the Bauchi State Government, Rev. Dr. Steve Abubakar, who passed away on 17th May 2026, at age 60.
The Bishop who described the deceased as a faithful servant of God, mentor and a woman of virtue, added that she left a legacy of service to God and humanity in pursuit of her God given vision, which made her an inspiration to many.
The GO recalled that as an ordained Pastor in charge of children ministry in the church for decades, God used her to mould lives of many children.
“Many of them have now become professionals like Doctors, Engineers and Lawyers, while many others are ordained Pastors and General Overseers heading churches in and outside Nigeria,” he stressed.
Bishop Crown said that the deceased was a living epistle, anointed to make a difference on earth, adding that she was endowed and packaged by God with professional excellence that stood her out in both local and international organizations she worked for.
The Bishop thanked the Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, who came with his Deputy, Auwal Jatau, and other members of his cabinet, to condole her husband, Rev. Dr. Steve Abubakar, for the demise of his dear wife and prayed for God’s strength and fortitude for her immediate and extended families to bear life without her.
Bishop Crown who read from I Thessalonians 4:13-18, and several other scriptures, encouraged christians to see death as not the end but the beginning of a life of eternity with God in Christ, urged them not to live as those without hope, by not allowing grief and sorrow to overcome them when loved ones pass on to glory.
He said that all should pick courage, including himself, from what Isaiah 57:1, amplified version, states, that it is not everybody who stops to breath that is killed by death, but that God sometimes takes the righteous to save them from what lay ahead.
Also speaking, Bauchi State Chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Pastor Promise Yohanna said while death brings sorrow, God’s word assures believers, in John 11:25, that those who die in Christ have a living hope.
The Chairman who said that the deceased stood faithfully beside her husband in ministry, urged christians to be inspired by the fact that she supported God’s work, encouraged many believers, touched countless lives through her kindness and prayers.
While saying that life is brief, but what is done for Christ lives forever, Pastor Yohanna further urged christians to let her faith, commitment, humility and love inspire them to serve Christ more faithfully.
In a tribute by her husband, Rev.Dr. Steve Abubakar, he thanked God and his late wife that their 37 years of marriage was filled with endless love, with her being his best friend, companion and favour obtained from God, lamenting that she has left a void only God can fill.
He assured that he will uphold the values his late wife lived for, the rest of his life.
The late Pastor Mrs. Joyce Abubakar was survived by her husband, 3 sons, one of whom lives in Canada with his wife, grand children, brothers, among whom is a former Bauchi State Head of civil service, Mr. Abdon Danla Gin, sisters and other relations.
The remains of the deceased, who was a retired top civil servant in the state and who, until her passing, worked for an international organization, were laid to rest at their home, along old Airport, GRA, Bauchi
