The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, recently joined the community of All Souls Church, Langham Place, to license Joe Ajaefobi as the Chaplain to the Nigerian Anglican Community in London. Joe enters the Nigerian Chaplaincy from his previous role as Assistant Priest within the Deanery of Deptford, Diocese of Southwark, where he moved from Nigeria to lead a strong Nigerian congregation in the UK.

The Nigerian Chaplaincy was originally set up in 1980 by the Church Mission Society in conjunction with the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion and the Overseas Fellowship of Nigerian Christians in Great Britain. It was established in response to the spiritual, social and welfare needs of Nigerian students in UK and to assist local churches to engage with Nigerian students in need of a spiritual base and greater moral support.

The Primate of All Nigeria was represented by the Most Reverend Dr Ignatius Kattey – the Archbishop of Province of Niger Delta, and a broad Nigerian Anglican community was represented with attendees from Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sunderland and Milton Keynes.

During the course of the evening, the Bishop of London preached to the congregation and then called on the newly licensed Chaplain, Joe Ajaefobi, to talk about the vision and mission of the Chaplaincy.  The Chaplaincy is based in London but will be reaching out to Nigerian Anglican communities in other parts of UK.

Joe Ajaefobi, the Chaplain to the Nigerian Anglican Community in London, said: “Our current vision is to establish a stronger presence in London to meet the increasing needs of Nigerians of all faith and none. We are therefore looking forward to an era of growth in the number of people who participate in the Chaplaincy programmes and those who access our ministries and services.”

The event also saw representatives from the Association of CMS Missionaries who have served in Nigeria as well as a representative from the Parish Church of All Saints Thorpe Acre, Loughborough in Diocese of Leicester where Joe has previously served as a non-stipendiary minister curate while holding the Permission to Officiate of the Bishop of Leicester.

All Souls Church is an evangelical Anglican church in central London, situated in Langham Place in Marylebone. The Church has developed a strong international community with over 65 nationalities in the regular congregation and around 2500 on a Sunday.