The Clergy of the Anglican Diocese of Enugu increased by seven Deacons and eleven Priests as the Most Rev Dr Emmanuel Olisa Chukwuma (OON) held his 2021 Trinity Ordination recently, which took place at the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd Independence Layout Enugu.
The Ordination Service also featured the collation of three Canons and one Archdeacon. The ordination sermon was preached by the Rt Rev Dr Solomon Olusola Akambi, Bishop of Offa Diocese, who was also the retreatant to the Ordinands. In his sermon, he dwelt on the topic “Called to Make a Change” (Is 6:1ff), and emphasized on how to make a fulfilled ministry. On that, he 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 based his sermon on Isaiah whom God called out of an ungodly people, made him godly, returned him back to the ungodly people to make them godly. With this message, he encouraged the Diocese to forge on in evangelism.
Furthermore, in order to meet the demand of the rapidly growing Diocese, Archbishop Chukwuma, during the same ordination service announced his creation of four new missionary Archdeaconries which are namely: 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.
Enugu Diocese has a vast rural population who form the hub of the missionary area of the Diocese; the area, most of which had no Anglican presence as at 23 years ago when Archbishop Chukwuma assumed duty as the Bishop of Enugu Diocese. From inception, he proved himself a dogged missionary who was determined not to leave any stone unturned in evangelizing the area. In several occasions, Archbishop Chukwuma led the Clergy by himself into the missionary areas of the Diocese where he had the course to swim through a river and even to sleepover in the village, making sure that the required impact was made in that community.
Today, every community in Nkanu land has at least two Anglican churches as a result of Archbishop Chukwuma’s exploits, and as a result of 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 growth and expansion of churches necessitated the involvement of more workers and the splitting of extensive areas into more manageable units for more effective administration. The Most Rev Dr Chukwuma has aptly managed the growth of the Diocese, so that 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 now is grown to a total of twenty-two (22) Archdeaconries, and the clerical strength of the Diocese is over 170 today. To God be the glory.
Archbishop Chukwuma, therefore, believes that ordination and preferments of the Clergy should not be frivolous but out of necessity. It should be to re-inforce the Mission of the Church and to advance the frontiers of the kingdom of Christ. This mindset and its explicit impact on the areas of jurisdiction of the Diocese provide the basis for appreciating that the Anglican Diocese of Enugu is Mission-oriented under the episcopacy of Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma.