The Diocese of Gambia and Guinea was founded in 1935 and had been renamed the Diocese of Gambia and The Rio Pongas by 1940. Today it is simply styled the Diocese of Gambia, is one of 17 dioceses in the

Church of the Province of West Africa The Church of the Province of West Africa is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 17 dioceses in eight countries of West Africa, specifically in Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Ghana is th ...

, and comprises

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, and the

Cape Verde Islands Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

. In 1985, French-speaking Guinea was split off from it to form the Anglican Diocese of Guinea.

Provincial structure

In 1981 the Diocese of Gambia and The Rio Pongas was one of the five dioceses, along with Freetown, Niger, Accra, and Lagos, which formed the new Province of West Africa. The Province of West Africa has now grown to include 17 dioceses, and in 2014 was sub-divided into two internal provinces (West Africa and Ghana), each led by a

metropolitan archbishop Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

Diocesan institutions

The first Anglican mission church in The Gambia was established in 1855. Early church missions were established by the

USPG United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...

and

Church Mission Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...

. Early mission stations and chaplaincies formed the initial parishes of the new diocese upon its formation in 1935. The cathedral church of the diocese is St Mary's Cathedral, which was built in 1901 in Bathurst, The Gambia, now Banjul. The diocese has active components of the

Mothers' Union The Mothers' Union is an international Christian charity that seeks to support families worldwide. In addition to mothers, its membership includes parents, men, widows, singles and grandparents. Its main aim is to support monogamous marriage and f ...

and the Anglican Young Peoples Association. In 2012 the diocesan synod committed to establishing local branches of both organisations in every parish, with a view to developing the role of both women and young people in church life.Press report a
Anglican Communion News Service
During the leadership of the sixth Bishop, Solomon Johnson, the name of the diocese was officially shortened to simply Diocese of Gambia. Johnson became Archbishop of West Africa in 2012, but died suddenly in 2014, after which there was a gap of over a year before a new bishop was named. The position of bishop is currently held by James Allen Yaw Odico, formerly the Dean of St Mary's Cathedral, who was consecrated and enthroned on 24 January 2016..

List of Bishops

Bishop of Gambia and the Rio Pongas *1935–1951

John Charles Sydney Daly John Charles Sydney Daly (1901–1985) was an Anglican bishop in Africa and Asia for fifty years. Education Educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk, Holt, and King's College, Cambridge, Daly was ordained as a Church of England deacon and prie ...

(initially styled Bishop of Gambia and Guinea) (afterwards

Bishop of Accra The Anglican Diocese of Accra is a diocese of the Church of the Province of West Africa, a member church of the Anglican Communion. It was founded in 1909 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The cathedral of the diocese is Holy Trinity Cathedral (A ...

, 1951) *1951–1957 Roderic Norman Coote *1958–1963 St John Surridge Pike (returned to England as Assistant Bishop of Guildford) *1965–1971 Timothy Omotayo Olufosoye (Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, 1979–86) *1972–1986

Jean Rigal Elisée Jean Rigal Elisée (20 September 1927 – 20 September 2017) was an Episcopalian bishop in the Gambia and surrounding areas in the last third of the 20th century. Elisée was born in Léogâne. He was educated at Episcopal Divinity School, Philad ...

*1990–2014 Solomon Tilewa Ethelbert Willie Johnson (Later styled simply Bishop of Gambia) (Archbishop of West Africa, 2012–2014) Bishop of Gambia *2016–2022

James Allen Yaw Odico James Allen Yaw Odico (b Banjul 10 April 1952) is an Anglican bishop in Gambia: he is the current Anglican Diocese of Gambia, Bishop of Gambia. Odico was educated at Immanuel College of Theology, Ibadan and ordained deacon in 1999 and priest in 20 ...

*2023–present

St Obed Arist Kojo Baiden St Obed Arist Kojo Baiden, (born 30th July 1984) is the eighth Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Gambia, part of the Church of the Province of West Africa (CPWA). Theological background Baiden began his seminary training after turning down an o ...

Provincial structure

Diocesan institutions

List of Bishops

See also