Second primate of the Church of the Lord (Aladura).

As a Nigerian schoolteacher with an Anglican background, Adejobi joined Joshua O. Oshitelu’s Church of the Lord (Aladura) in 1940. He pioneered branches first in Lagos, and then in Sierra Leone from 1947 and in Ghana in 1953, but government refusal prevented expansion in Gambia. A long-held desire to study abroad led him to the Glasgow Bible Institute (1961-1963).

After assessing the situation and visiting the archbishop of Canterbury and W. Visser ‘t Hooft in Geneva, he opened a branch of the church in London in 1964. Returning to Nigeria, he founded a secondary school, printing press, and seminary near Lagos, headed by an American Mennonite missionary. Upon Oshitelu’s death in 1966, Adejobi became primate. In 1976 this church became one of the first independent African churches to join the World Council of Churches (WCC), and in 1983 Adejobi was elected to the WCC Central Committee. His numerous travels and statesmanlike vision made him the chief agent of the church’s international expansion and ecumenical acceptance.

Harold W. Turner

Bibliography

H. W. Turner, The African Independent Church, 2 vols. (1967), vol. 1, chap. 9 and throughout. Adejobi’s numerous publications and obituary materials are held in the library of the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, England.

This article is reproduced, with permission, from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, copyright © 1998, by Gerald H. Anderson, W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan. All rights reserved.

External link

Encyclopaedia Britannica (complete article): Aladura