The Diocese of Gambia and Guinea was founded in 1935 and had been renamed the Diocese of Gambia and The Rio Pongas by 1940. Today it is simply styled the Diocese of Gambia, is one of 17 dioceses in the

Church of the Province of West Africa 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 ...

, and comprises

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

, and the

Cape Verde Islands , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

. In 1985, French-speaking Guinea was split off from it to form the Anglican Diocese of Guinea.

Provincial structure

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. 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 Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

Diocesan institutions

The first Anglican mission church in The Gambia was established in 1855. Early church missions were established by the

USPG United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part ...

and

Church Mission Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

. 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 Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and ), officially the City of Ba ...

, now Banjul. The diocese has active components of the

Mothers' Union The Mothers' Union is an international Christian charity that seeks to support families worldwide. Its members are not all mothers or even all women, as there are many parents, men, widows, singles and grandparents involved in its work. Its main ai ...

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. 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.Report a
Anglican Link
.

List of Bishops

Bishop of Gambia and the Rio Pongas *1935–1951 John Charles Sydney Daly (initially styled Bishop of Gambia and Guinea) (afterwards

Bishop of Accra 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 ...

, 1951) *1951–1957 Roderic Norman Coote *1958–1963 St John Surridge Pike (returned to England as

Assistant Bishop of Guildford The Bishop of Guildford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Guildford in the Province of Canterbury. The title had first appeared as a suffragan See in the Diocese of Winchester in 1874. The Bishop suffragan of Guildford ass ...

) *1965–1971 Timothy Omotayo Olufosoye (Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, 1979–86) *1972–1986 Jean Rigal Elisée *1990–2014 Solomon Tilewa Ethelbert Willie Johnson (Later styled simply Bishop of Gambia) (Archbishop of West Africa, 2012–2014) Bishop of Gambia *2016– James Allen Yaw Odico

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gambia Anglican dioceses in Africa Christian organizations established in 1935

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

Anglicanism in the Gambia 1935 establishments in the British Empire Dioceses of the Church of the Province of West Africa

Provincial structure

Diocesan institutions

List of Bishops

See also

References