Solomon Tilewa Johnson

Solomon Tilewa Johnson (left), in 2010

Solomon Tilewa Ethelbert Willie Johnson (Bathurst, now Banjul, 27 February 1954 - Bakau, Fajara, 21 January 2014) was a Gambian Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Gambia and the Rio Pongas and archbishop of the Church of the Province of West Africa. He was married and had a son and two daughters.

Early life and studies

He attended primary school at Banjul from 1962 to 1966. In 1974 he become a teacher at Gambia High School. He moved to Nigeria, where he studied at the Trinity College in Umuahia, from 1977 to 1980, earning a degree in Theology, in 1980. He pursued his studies at the University of Durham, in England, from 1982 to 1985, winning a BA in Theology with his dissertation The Impact of African Communal Ritual on Modern Christian Missions, 1821-1965.

Ecclesiastical career

Johnson was ordained an Anglican deacon in 1979 and a priest in 1980. He was consecrated the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Gambia and the Rio Pongas in 1990, the first Gambian national to be so, which he was until his death. He was elected the ninth Primate and Archbishop of the Province of West Africa, on 28 September 2012, succeeding Justice Akrofi. At the same time it was decided to divide the province in two internal provinces, the Province of Ghana, with Daniel Sarfo as their first archbishop, and the Province of West Africa, of which he also would be Archbishop.^[1] He was a strong supporter of the Anglican realignment, attending GAFCON II, that took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 21 to 26 October 2013.^[2]

Old Catholic Confederation

In December 2013, the Old Catholic Confederation (OCC) and the Church of the Province of West Africa announced that Johnson became the Patron of the OCC, recognizing it as a "distinct Old Catholic Christian community" in ecumenical partnership with the Church of West Africa.

Death

He died unexpectedly aged 59 years old, after collapsing while playing tennis on the evening of 21 January 2014. He was taken to the Medical Research Council in Bakau-Fajara, where he was pronounced dead.^[3]

Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, of the Anglican Church of Kenya, said upon his death: "It was with shock and great sadness that we heard about the sudden death of our brother Primate, S. Tilewa Johnson, earlier this week./ In October last year we shared fellowship at GAFCON 2013 here in Nairobi and we thank God for his commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ whom he served with a robust faith and cheerful energy throughout his ministry. He was a man of global vision and his death, so untimely from our human perspective, has deprived not only the Church of the Province of West Africa, but the whole Anglican Communion of a talented leader." ^[2][4]

References

External links

• The Most Reverend Solomon Tilewa Johnson, 1954-2014, eLearning Africa, 24 January 2014