The Diocese of Gambia and Guinea was founded in 1935 and had been renamed the Diocese of Gambia and The Rio Pongas by 1940. [1] Today it is simply styled the Diocese of Gambia, is one of 17 dioceses in the Church of the Province of West Africa, and comprises The Gambia, Senegal, and the Cape Verde Islands. In 1985, French-speaking Guinea was split off from it to form the Anglican Diocese of Guinea.
In 1981 the Diocese of Gambia and The Rio Pongas was one of the five dioceses, along with Freetown, Niger, Accra, and Lagos, which formed the new Province of West Africa. [2] The Province of West Africa has now grown to include 17 dioceses, and in 2014 was sub-divided into two internal provinces (West Africa and Ghana), each led by a metropolitan archbishop.
The first Anglican mission church in The Gambia was established in 1855. Early church missions were established by the USPG and Church Mission Society. Early mission stations and chaplaincies formed the initial parishes of the new diocese upon its formation in 1935.
The cathedral church of the diocese is St Mary's Cathedral, which was built in 1901 in Bathurst, The Gambia, now Banjul.
The diocese has active components of the Mothers' Union and the Anglican Young Peoples Association. In 2012 the diocesan synod committed to establishing local branches of both organisations in every parish, with a view to developing the role of both women and young people in church life. [3]
During the leadership of the sixth Bishop, Solomon Johnson, the name of the diocese was officially shortened to simply Diocese of Gambia. Johnson became Archbishop of West Africa in 2012, but died suddenly in 2014, after which there was a gap of over a year before a new bishop was named.
The position of bishop is currently held by James Allen Yaw Odico, formerly the Dean of St Mary's Cathedral, who was consecrated and enthroned on 24 January 2016. [4]
Bishop of Gambia and the Rio Pongas
Bishop of Gambia
The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East is a province of the Anglican Communion. The primate of the church is called President Bishop and represents the Church at the international Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings. The Central Synod of the church is its deliberative and legislative organ.
The Church of the Province of West Africa is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 17 dioceses in eight countries of West Africa, specifically in Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Ghana is the country with most dioceses, now numbering 11.
The AnglicanDiocese of Jerusalem is the Anglican jurisdiction for Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It is a part of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, and has diocesan offices at St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem.
The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea is a province of the Anglican Communion. It was created in 1977 when the Province of Papua New Guinea became independent from the Province of Queensland in the Church of England in Australia following Papua New Guinea's independence in 1975.
John Charles Sydney Daly (1901–1985) was an Anglican bishop in Africa and Asia for fifty years.
The Anglican Diocese of Accra is a diocese of the Church of the Province of West Africa, a member church of the Anglican Communion. It was founded in 1909 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The cathedral of the diocese is Holy Trinity Cathedral in Accra, Ghana.
The Archbishop of Melanesia is the spiritual head of the Church of the Province of Melanesia, which is a province of the Anglican Communion in the South Pacific region, covering the nations of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. From 1861 until the inauguration of Church of the Province of Melanesia in 1975, the Bishop of Melanesia was the head of the Diocese of Melanesia.
The Anglican Diocese on the Niger is the mother diocese of the Church of Nigeria. It is one of 10 Anglican dioceses in the Anglican Province of the Niger within the Church of Nigeria. The diocese was created in 1864 as the 'Diocese of West African Territories Beyond the British Dominions' or 'Diocese of the Niger' with Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther as the bishop. At Crowther's death in 1891, the diocese was merged with the Lagos and Yoruba sections of the Nigerian mission which had been under the Diocese of Sierra Leone and renamed 'the Diocese of Western Equatorial Africa' with Bishop John Sidney Hill as bishop. He was succeeded by Bishop Herbert Tugwell. In 1920 the Diocese of Equatorial West Africa was divided into two: an eastern part and a western part. A part of the Diocese on the Niger was subsequently carved out in 1946 to create the Niger Delta Diocese.
Christians in the Gambia constituted Muslim 96.4%, Christian 3.5%, other or none 0.1%.
George William Wright was an Anglican Bishop in Africa in the mid-20th century. He was born on 17 December 1873, educated at Barnsley Grammar School and ordained in 1906 following a 15-year career as a civil servant. After a curacy at Christ Church, Derby he went as a CMS missionary to Mombasa where he remained in various capacities until 1921 when he returned to England as Vicar of Boulton. In 1923 he was consecrated Bishop of Sierra Leone and in 1936 of North Africa. He was Vicar of Templecombe from 1942 to 1951 and an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. He died on 11 August 1956
Timothy Omotayo Olufosoye was the first Primate of the Church of Nigeria. He was married and had several children.
Solomon Tilewa Ethelbert Willie Johnson was a Gambian Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Gambia and the Rio Pongas and archbishop of the Church of the Province of West Africa. He was married and had a son and two daughters.
The Ecclesiastical Province of Lagos is one of the 14 ecclesiastical provinces of the Church of Nigeria. It comprises 13 dioceses:
The Anglican Diocese of Freetown (Sierra Leone) is a diocese of the Church of the Province of West Africa, a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The current diocese, along with the Anglican Diocese of Bo, was formed in 1981 by the partition of the previous Diocese of Sierra Leone, which had been established in 1852. The diocese of Sierra Leone, together with the dioceses of Niger, Accra, Lagos and the Diocese of Gambia and the River Pongas, had been formed, with some local resistance, into the Province of West Africa in 1951.
The Anglican Diocese of Guinea is one of 17 dioceses in the Church of the Province of West Africa and comprises the nation of Guinea. It was created in 1985 by the partition of the Diocese of Gambia and Guinea into the English-speaking Diocese of Gambia and the French-speaking Diocese of Guinea.
Daniel Yinkah Sarfo is a Ghanaian Anglican bishop. He has been a metropolitan archbishop since September 2012, and was Archbishop Primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa (CPWA), since 13 March 2014 until 3 March 2019.
The Anglican Diocese of Bo (Sierra Leone) is a diocese of the Church of the Province of West Africa, a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its partner diocese is Chichester, England.
Jonathan Bau-Bau Bonaparte Hart is a Liberian Episcopalian bishop. He has been Archbishop and Primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa since 3 March 2019.
The Anglican Diocese of Lagos is one of 13 dioceses within the Anglican Province of Lagos, itself one of 14 provinces within the Church of Nigeria. The current bishop is Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye who succeeded Ephraim Ademowo.
