Churches across the Global South are witnessing one of the most significant periods of expansion in church history. Recent reports show that sub-Saharan Africa now accounts for about one-quarter of the world’s population of Christians. About 63 percent of Africa’s population is now Christian, up from 9 percent in 1900.
The recent election of 15 new bishops by the Church of Nigeria shows that the church is a dynamic force in a rapidly changing world. Most of these new leaders will serve as the founding bishops of five new statutory dioceses and ten new missionary dioceses, which were created by the church’s bishops at a synod held September 17-18 at the Cathedral Church of Emmanuel in Okesha, Addo-Ekiti.
With the addition of these 15, the Church of Nigeria now has 176 dioceses, significantly more than any other Anglican church in the world. The church has grown steadily under the leadership of the past three primates, Archbishops Peter Akinola, Nicholas Okoh, and Henry Ndukuba. The church had 100 dioceses when Akinola’s primacy began in 2000.
Akinola instituted an aggressive and sustained plan for evangelization when he began his ministry, which resulted in many new dioceses. Ndukuba imposed a moratorium on new dioceses for several years after beginning to lead the church in 2020 to allow existing dioceses to become stronger. But this moratorium was recently lifted by the church’s Standing Committee, and validation and inspection teams were sent out to investigate possibilities for creating new dioceses in 2024 and 2025.
The new fully fledged dioceses are Ekiti South, Kalabari, Lagos South West, Omuku, and Ozoro. The missionary dioceses are Eket, Idanre, Ikom, Keffi, Nasarawa, Ogoja, Oyo South, Oyun, Takum, and Zuru. Missionary dioceses are located in regions where the Anglican presence is still small, and will focus intensively on evangelism.
The new dioceses are located in various regions of Africa’s most populous country, whose total population has grown by 90 percent in the last 25 years.
The Church of Nigeria does not publish membership statistics, but a 2021 study published by the University of Aberdeen estimated that Nigeria has 22 million Anglicans, and GAFCON claimed this year that the church had 25 million members, which would make it the Anglican Communion’s largest member church. A 2008 Pew study said the Church of Nigeria was by far the largest Anglican church on the continent, accounting for 41.7 percent of Anglicans in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Beyond merely making diocesan oversight easier, this expansion carries multiple deeper significances,” Bishop Kingsley Obuh of Asaba, the church’s assistant episcopal secretary, told The Living Church.
It shows a strategic intention by the leadership of the Church of Nigeria for enhanced evangelistic outreach. More dioceses means more bishops and a broader pool for developing ecclesiastical talents.
“With these new dioceses, each diocese can now effectively concentrate on grassroots evangelism, discipleship, and church planting in communities that were previously under-served,” he added. “We can safely say that, the expansion is a combination of kingdom strategy, ecclesial stewardship, and spiritual symbolism and not merely administrative streamlining or convenience.”
Sir Chiedozie Idoko (Knight of St. Patrick), a lay leader who has served in various capacities in the Diocese of Abuja, was also excited about the expansion.
“The expansion is both a spiritual movement and a strategic action. With almost 180 dioceses across Nigeria, the Church of Nigeria now has a presence in nearly every community. Each new diocese is not just to fill spaces but a living testimony that the harvest is plentiful and the church is working assiduously to gather the harvest of every soul, ensure Christian representation, and promote church unity through interfaith engagements.”
“One other thing that gladdens my heart is that this expansion of dioceses is targeted at the [growing] localities and the Gen Zs,” Idoko said. “It is a testament that the Anglican Church in Nigeria is responding to the call of God for our times.”
“By planting episcopal authority nearer to local congregations, pastoral care is deepened. Bishops and clergy will now be closer to their flocks, parishioners, leading to more effective oversight, closer pastoral attention,” said the Rt. Rev. Nathan Inyom, Bishop Emeritus of Markurdi.
“Each new diocese will become a beacon of light in its locality, a constant reminder that the gospel must be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.”
The new bishops will be consecrated at a joint service in Abuja on November 9. Services to inaugurate the new dioceses and enthrone the bishops in their cathedrals will follow.
K.C. Nwajei is a freelance journalist based in Nigeria.
