Diocese of Enugu ordains 7 deacons, 11 priests

• Bishop Akambi Admonishes The Ordinands, Church To Abstain From Defiling Elements Of The World

The Anglican Diocese of Enugu, under the leadership of the Most Rev. (Dr.) Emmanuel Olisa Chukwuma, recently, ordained seven Deacons and 11 Priests. The ordination service, which held at the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd Independence Layout, Enugu, also featured the collation of three Canons and one Archdeacon.

The Bishop of Offa Diocese, the Rt. Rev. (Dr.) Solomon Olusola Akambi, who also doubled as the retreatant, preached at the event, with the theme: “Called to Make a Change” taken from Isaiah 6:1ff.

The cleric, who harped on how to make a fulfilled ministry, admonished the Ordinands and the Church to serve God with sound mind, abstaining from all defiling elements of the world and ensuring that “we commend ourselves to God’s approval and eternal reward.”

He cited the example of Isaiah whom God called out of an ungodly people, made him godly, returned him to the ungodly people to make them godly. He, therefore, encouraged the Diocese to do more on evangelism.

To meet the Diocese’s demand, Archbishop Chukwuma, during the ordination service, announced the creation of four new missionary Archdeaconries. They are Awkunanaw South Missionary Archdeaconry carved out of Awkunanaw Archdeaconry, Obe Missionary Archdeaconry carved out of Agbani Nkanu Archdeaconry, Akpugo Missionary Archdeaconry carved out of Amagunze Missionary Archdeaconry and Ugbawka Missionary Archdeaconry carved out of Nara-Ugbawka Missionary Archdeaconry.

Today, every community in Nkanu land has at least two Anglican churches as a result of Archbishop Chukwuma’s exploits, and due to the fact that over time, the Clergy of Enugu Diocese have imbibed that missionary spirit, hence the spontaneous growth of the Diocese, particularly in the hinterland. The Bishop has aptly managed the growth of the Diocese and what remained of Enugu Diocese after creating several Dioceses out of it was just two Archdeaconries of the old (Enugu West and Enugu East Archdeaconries), but is now grown to a total of 22 Archdeaconries, while the clerical strength of the Diocese is over 170.