• As Diocese Ends Synod On Sunday

The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), last year, in Abuja inaugurated and enthroned The Rt.Rev’d Ebenezer Ajayi Adewole as the pioneer Bishop of Lagos Southwest, carved out of the Diocese of Lagos West.

Bishop Adewole was consecrated a Bishop on November 9, 2025, in Abuja, alongside 14 other new Bishops.

Speaking during at press conference in Festac, Lagos, to announce the first session of the Diocese’s first Synod, which started on Thursday, July 23 and would end onJuly 26, with a thanksgiving service at the Cathedral Church of the Pentecost, Festac, Bishop Adewole called on the government to partner with the church in what they are doing to ensure that government has a positive impact on people’s lives. He said through their sermons every week, crime rate had reduced in the society.

With the theme: “Transformation,” the Bishop disclosed that crime rate in Nigeria would have increased in the country beyond control had the church not intervened, adding it would have reach a level that government would not have been able to curtail it.

He disclosed that the church has engaged a lot of people, including pastors ministers, among others, which the government would not have employed, stressing that some of such people would have been a menace to the society and government would have found it difficult to handle.

“If you take the statistics of the sermons we preach every week, turning the hearts of people for good, making them to think correctly, giving them purpose in life, and reordering their attitude to a positive one. If you take that out of the system, there will be trouble,” Adewole said.

On the issue that the church has not been vocal on national issues, the Bishop described the church as a prophetic voice.

He said: “We have responsibility over the nation and as such the church speaks truth to the government, only that people no longer listen to the prophetic voice of the church.

“There are too many voices around them, and it is as if people have decided to assume a negative disposition against the church. That is why people no longer want to focus on the positive things the church is doing or saying. The truth, however, is that the church has a prophetic voice and cannot take over government or power.”

Urging Christians to go into politics and create a difference, the cleric said no matter what the church leaders say, people would still twist it.

According to him, the problem of Nigeria did not start with this government and we all know that this government cannot solve them all, but we will continue to tell government to do the needful.

The Bishop used the occasion to unveil his vision tagged, “The PAGE MANDATE.” P(standing for proclaiming the gospel of Christ through missions, evangelism and church planting, hinged that on Luke 4:18), A (means aggressive discipleship through structured Bible study, scriptural education and fervent prayers, taken from Gal 4:19.), G (means growing and empowering different subgroups in the church like Sunday school, among others. No department will be ignored), E (means engagement with all government at all levels to ensure community development).