Anglican Province of Lagos

The Ecclesiastical Province of Lagos is one of the 14 ecclesiastical provinces of the Church of Nigeria. It comprises 13 dioceses.[1] The first archbishop was the Most Rev. Ephraim Ademowo, since the province of Lagos was created, in 2002 until 2013. The current archbishop is the Most Rev. Michael Fape.[2]

For the Roman Catholic province, see Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos.

History of the Anglican church in Lagos

The seed of the Anglican Church in Lagos was planted by the activities of liberated Africans in Sierra Leone and the Church Missionary Society, an evangelical society within the Anglican community in Great Britain that was popularly known as CMS in Nigeria. CMS was founded in 1799 by evangelicals during a period of Evangelical Revival in Great Britain[3] and members soon developed a plan to establish missionary activities in Africa.

Badagry outpost

In 1809 C.M.S. commenced missionary activities among the liberated African community of Sierra Leone, many of whom were originally Yoruba, Hausa, Efik and Igbo of present-day Nigeria.[4] Many of the liberated Africans converted to Christianity and as early as 1838, some were began back to their original homeland. Among those Africans who returned and settled in Nigeria where converts who wanted a Christian mission amidst them. Returnees who settled in Abeokuta wrote a petition to the CMS mission in Sierra Leone for a new station in Abeokuta. Reverend Henry Townsend was sent to survey the town and after completing his mission, Townsend wrote a favorable report about extending missionary activities to Abeokuta. A set of missionaries was sent in 1845, the group landed in Badagry where many stayed to establish a mission while some continued the journey to Abeokuta. Among those who stayed at Badagry were Rev. Gollmer, a German lutheran.[4]

After the fall of Lagos to British colonists, the British consul felt cooperation with missionaries and legitimate goods traders was important to the success of the abolition of slavery in Lagos. An invitation was sent to the CMS mission in Badagry to come and preach in Lagos. An African, James White was the first catechist sent to Lagos by CMS.[4] In January 1852, White held an outreach event at Iga Idunganran that included Akitoye, many of his chiefs and residents, he later chose a site at Ebute Ero and built a bamboo structure to preach the gospel.[5]

Move to Lagos

By July 1852, the mission at Badagry moved to Lagos which was considered an important location to spread the gospel; among those from Badagry who moved to Lagos were Gollmer and Ajayi Crowther. Gollmer obtained land rights to five sites from Oba Akitoye and chose White's Ebute Ero post as the first site of a CMS station. The mission became part of Diocese of Sierra Leone led by Bishop Owen Vidal.[4] In London, an act of parliament, the Bishops in Foreign Countries Act 1841 granted ability to create Anglican bishops in non-British territories and confirmation of communicants by those bishops, CMS led by its secretary, Henry Venn began making plans to make the missions an extension of the English Church and on a path towards self-sustenance under administrations of a local Bishop and Diocesan Synod.[3]

Between 1852 and 1854, the Lagos mission led by Gollmer and Crowther created out-stations including one at an old slave barracoon where slaves were tied to breadfruit trees before their journey to the new world and another post at Oko Faji. After Gollmer and Crowther left Ebute Ero, they chose the breadfruit post as their station. In 1852, Gollmer completed a mission house at Ehin Igbeti, Marina that was constructed from pre-fabricated materials brought from Badagry, the long distance between the Mission House and the Breadfruit Church affected Gollmer's attendance at Breadfruit which was being managed by Crowther .[5] Gollmer later chose a site at Oko-Faji close to Marina as a new mission post. Henry Townsend later led a congregation of English and Yoruba people at St Peters/Holy Trinity Church of Oko-Faji. An outpost of this mission moved to Marina at a new building called Christ Church.[4]

In 1856, Crowther was appointed to lead a missionary expedition along the Niger and left the Lagos mission.[4]

Growth

The Lagos Pastorate Association came into being in 1876, as part of a movement to organize the local Anglican community to be a self reliant Church. The association and churches in Lagos took on missionary activities spreading the gospel to Ijebu and Remo land.[4]

Churches
  • Holy Trinity, Ebute Ero. After Gollmer moved from Badagry to Lagos, he chose James White's bamboo post at Ebute Ero as CMS's first mission post in Lagos. In 1861, a church building was erected but was burnt in a great fire that affected Lagos in 1877. Many of the earliest Churches built by the Anglican community under Rev. Gollmer introduced Gothic architecture to Lagos.[6] A building that later became a school was constructed in 1878. In 1926, the congregation contributed funds to erect a new church building. Holy Trinity was the first Church in Lagos to be self sustaining, ceasing to receive funds from the parent CMS in 1876. Noted preachers of the church included Rev T.A.J. Ogunbiyi, Rev Olufosoye, Rev S. Pearse and Rev Aiyedun.[4]
  • St John's Aroloya was located in a sand filled area of Lagos. For a long time, the church was led by Rev. Faulkner who at times was relieved from pastorate duties by visiting European missionaries. It became a pastorate church in 1879 with Nathaniel Johnson appointed as the first pastor. A church structure was built in 1892 and commissioned by Rev Ingham of Sierra Leone. The church had an adjacent school attached to it and historically produced many pastorate members of the Lagos diocese.[4]
  • St Paul's, Breadfruit was Ajayi Crowther mission post from 1852 to 1856, between 1862 and 1872, it had a European pastor, Lancelot Nicholson. A church building was erected in 1879 and rebuilt in 1924.[4] In 1880, it was led by Reverend James Johnson, an enigmatic preacher who briefly rose to prominence within the Lagos Pastorate Association from 1881 to 1885. A cultural nationalist, Johnson was effective in expanding the Anglican community and promoting an independent African Church. In 1901, large number of his congregation left to form an independent African Church but Johnson stayed within the Anglican community.[7] Breadfruit was chosen as the name of the area because of the abundance of breadfruit trees, during the Atlantic Slave Trade, captured Africans were tied to the Breadfruit trees before their onward voyage to the Americas. Among those who passed through this slave barracoon was Ajayi Crowther.[6]
  • St Jude's Ebute Metta history can be traced to the flight of liberated Africans from Abeokuta between 1867 and 1869.
  • Christ Church Cathedral developed out of St Peter's Church at Oko-Faji. The Oko-Faji church catered to Yoruba and English speaking congregation. A desire to have an English speaking church led to the construction of a new church at Marina that was dedicated in 1869. It was last of the early Churches built in Lagos to be independent of the parent's CMS direction.[4]

Dioceses
  • Awori (Bishop: Akin Atere)
  • Badagry (Bishop: Joseph Adeyemi)
  • Egba (Bishop: Emmanuel Adekunle)
  • Egba West (Bishop: Samuel Ajani)
  • Ifo (Bishop: Nathaniel Oladejo Ogundipe)
  • Ijebu (Bishop: Ezekiel Awosoga)
  • Ijebu-North (Bishop: Solomon Kuponu)
  • Lagos (Bishop: Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye)
  • Lagos Mainland (Bishop: Akinpelu Johnson)
  • Lagos West (Bishop: James Odedeji)
  • Remo (Bishop: Michael Fape)
  • Yewa, formerly Egbado (Bishop: Michael Adebayo Oluwarohunbi)
  • Ijebu Southwest (Bishop: Babatunde Ogunbanwo)

Assistant bishops

Isaac Oluwole was consecrated bishop in 1893, to serve as assistant bishop of the Diocese of Western Equatorial Africa (after 1920, the Diocese of Lagos); in 1925, Alfred Smith (hitherto Archdeacon), was consecrated, and became assistant bishop for Northern Nigeria (in Lagos diocese).[8]

Norman Sherwood Jones (23 April 1911 – 8 March 1951) served as Assistant Bishop of Lagos from his consecration until his death.[9] He was made deacon at Michaelmas 1935 (22 September)[10] and ordained priest the following Michaelmas (20 September 1936) — both times by Thomas Strong, Bishop of Oxford, at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.[11] Previously Vicar of St Nicholas' Church, Radford, Coventry since 1941, Sherwood-Jones was consecrated a bishop on the Feast of the Conversion of Paul the Apostle 1944 (25 January) at Westminster Abbey by William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury;[12] Norman was the son of Thomas Sherwood Jones, Bishop of Hulme.[13] At the time of his consecration (aged 32), he was the youngest Anglican bishop in the world; he died of typhoid fever aged 39.[14]

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References
  1. Church of Nigeria ecclesiastical provinces at the Anglican Communion Official Website
  2. Oluwole, Josiah (2016-06-06). "MILESTONES: New Bishop for Lagos Anglicans, garland for Governor Amosu, Barkindo steps up - Premium Times Nigeria". Premium Times Nigeria. Retrieved 2017-01-08.
  3. Ajayi, J. F. Ade (1999-04-01). "From Mission to Church: The Heritage of the Church Mission Society". International Bulletin of Missionary Research. 23 (2): 50–55. doi:10.1177/239693939902300201. ISSN 0272-6122.
  4. Lucas, Jonathan Olumide (1952). "An oration on the history of the Anglican Church in Lagos, 1852 to 1952". [Lagos: Printed by Tika-Tore Press. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. Akinyeye, Yomi (2003). In the service of God and humanity : St. Peter's Church (Faji) Lagos, 1853-2002. University of Lagos Press. pp. 4–20. ISBN 9780176373.
  6. Akinsemoyin, Kunle; Vaughan-Richards, Alan (1976). F. & A. Services. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. Hanciles, Jehu J. (1997-10-01). "The Legacy of James Johnson". International Bulletin of Missionary Research. 21 (4): 162–167. doi:10.1177/239693939702100405. ISSN 0272-6122.
  8. http://anglicanhistory.org/africa/ng/walker1930/17.html
  9. "Jones, Norman Sherwood". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  10. "Ordinations". Church Times (#3792). 27 September 1935. p. 339. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 3 December 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
  11. "Ordinations". Church Times (#3844). 25 September 1936. p. 344. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 3 December 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
  12. "Abbey consecation". Church Times (#4227). 28 January 1944. p. 46. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 3 December 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
  13. "From Coventry to Nigeria". Church Times (#4224). 7 January 1944. p. 7. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 3 December 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
  14. "Bishop Sherwood Jones Dies of Typhoid". Church Times (#4597). 16 March 1951. p. 196. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 3 December 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
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