09/26/2011
HERNDON, Va. (September 26, 2011) The Right Reverend Julian Dobbs and the Right Reverend Felix Orji have been made bishops of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and will serve in North America. Dobbs and Orji were consecrated for their new leadership roles at a four-hour worship celebration on Sunday, September 25, 2011 in Lagos, Nigeria. Four additional bishops were also consecrated at the service for ministry based in Nigeria.
The Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, presided at the consecration service. Over 1,500 people packed into Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral in Lagos to participate in the celebration, capping a week of missional work by the Church of Nigeria’s General Synod. Earlier in the week, the Church of Nigeria received the Right Reverend Derek Jones as a bishop of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Jones is based in Alabama.
Dobbs, Orji, and Jones will all serve as suffragan (assistant) bishops in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (“CANA”). CANA was founded in 2005 by the Church of Nigeria to ensure that orthodox Anglican clergy and congregations in North America have an authentic connection to the Anglican Communion. With over 20-million active members, the Church of Nigeria accounts for about 25% of the total active membership of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
CANA’s founding Missionary Bishop, the Rt. Rev’d Martyn Minns, commented, “We give thanks to the living God for raising up these new bishops. Their mission and ministry is to proclaim the life-changing gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ and to shepherd CANA clergy and congregations.”
CANA is a founding jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America (“ACNA”). The ACNA’s Archbishop Robert Duncan warmly welcomed the consecration of Dobbs and Orji in a statement released earlier this month: “It is a joy to join with CANA and the Church of Nigeria to celebrate the new bishops who will support our common ministry. We have already been extremely blessed not only by our relationship with the Church of Nigeria, but by the significant role that Felix and Julian have played in our North American story so far.” Archbishop Duncan was represented at the consecration service in Lagos by the Rt. Rev John Guernsey and Meg, his wife.
Dobbs will lead clergy and congregations primarily in the eastern USA, and will play a key role in supporting the Anglican1000 church planting movement, alongside the Rev’d Canon David Roseberry. As well, he will oversee CANA’s operations in the absence of Bishop Minns who is working to establish international offices for the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (also currently known as GAFCON).
Orji will provide episcopal oversight for clergy and congregations in the western USA. He also will benefit CANA and ACNA by expanding his teaching ministry on cross-cultural ministry and other topics.
Jones’s reception by the Church of Nigeria regularizes his well-established ministry of shepherding CANA’s chaplains ministry. He will also continue to assist CANA with other episcopal functions.
Dobbs and Orji were elected as bishops by the Church of Nigeria’s House of Bishops on March 4, 2011.
[A slideshow of photos from the consecration service may be found at: http://www.flickr.com//photos/canaconvocation/sets/72157627736641740/show/]
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