THE BIRTH OF OUR MISSION
The gospel came to us and identified areas where we are not living well and the gospel corrected us, the gospel transformed our lives, for instance we were killing twins in Nigeria before in ignorance and when it was exposed to us that we were wrong, we dropped it. I know it is the same with you from other parts of the World. The irony of the situation now is that the people who brought this Gospel are now telling us that the practice of Sodomy is right, but thank God we are not convinced about this stance and we are not confused at all. The scripture has been given to us and we will not allow it to be taken away from us by any vague and unscriptural beliefs from any quarter or anybody, we have accepted it and we are implementing it because we have a heavenly agenda.
The Church of Nigeria first started the Convocation of Anglicans in North America in 2005 to provide a home for orthodox Anglicans in North America and Canada. CANA was one of the founding jurisdictions of the ACNA (Anglican Churches in North America) in June 2009. In 2010, CANA was divided into several districts, one of them being the Missionary District of the Trinity. Bp Martyn Minns, Missionary Bishop of CANA at the time, presented to the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria that the Missionary District of the Trinity should become the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity, which was affirmed on September 23, 2011. The new diocese is under the authority of CANA, which is a Jurisdiction within the ACNA. The official inauguration of the diocese took place at August 19, 2012, at the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in Indianapolis, Indiana, in America with the presence of the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Primate of Nigeria, and the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Primate of the ACNA. In 2014, when BP Julian Dobbs was named the Missionary Bishop of CANA, Archbishop Okoh affirmed MDT was, first, a CANA Diocese (thus part of the ACNA) and not directly related to Nigeria. He directed that the Constitution and Canons of MDT be brought into conformity with the ACNA. The majority of churches are multicultural and multiracial but definitively Anglican in worship and polity.
There are six Suffragan Bishops in CONNAM in total. ADOTT has four Suffragan Bishops- Bishop Augustine Unuigbe, Bishop Olukayode Adebogun, Bishop Adedokun Adewunmi, and Bishop Martyn Anagbogu. ADW has two Suffragan Bishops- Bishop Scott Seely and Bishop Celestine Ironna.
The Coordinating Bishop of this mission is the Right Rev’d Dr Felix Orji who is the Diocesan Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the West.
OUR ARCHDEACONRY
ADOTW Archdeaconry of Cornerstone is a mission oriented archdeaconry covering the provinces and territories of Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest territory and the Washington State of the USA. The archdeaconry headquarters is located at 333 6th street New Westminster BC. Our mission is – to build a Christ-centered, multicultural, multiracial, Bible-based church that believes in the apostolic teaching and is sensitive to human needs.
OUR DIOCESE
The Anglican Diocese of the West is a diocese of the Church of Nigeria and formerly of the Anglican Church in North America. It was one of the four missionary dioceses of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which was founded in 2005. As such, it had a dual church body of the ACNA and the Church of Nigeria in the United States, until May 2019. It comprises 35 parishes in 11 American states, California, Maryland, New Jersey, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Washington and in 4 Canadian provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. The state with most parishes is Texas, with 14.
The diocesan office and the Cathedral both located in Houston, Texas. The first bishop is Nigerian-born Felix Orji. There also two suffragan bishops: Scott Seely and Celestine Ironna.