03-07-11

CANA Statement on Election of Orji & Dobbs

Julian Dobbs and Felix Orji Elected as Bishops
Next Generation Set to Lead CANA

HERNDON, Va. (March 7, 2011) — The Ven. Julian Dobbs and the Rev’d Canon Dr. Felix Orji have been elected bishops for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). The elections took place on Friday, March 4, 2011, capping a week of missional work by the Church of Nigeria’s Standing Committee and House of Bishops, led by Archbishop Nicholas Okoh.

CANA is a missionary initiative in the Church of Nigeria, which is the largest province in the worldwide Anglican Communion, and a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). The ACNA’s Archbishop Robert Duncan warmly welcomed the election of Dobbs and Orji in a statement released this past weekend. In addition to these elections, the Church of Nigeria acted to receive the Rt. Rev’d Derek Jones as a suffragan bishop for CANA.

The Rt. Rev’d Martyn Minns, the founding Missionary Bishop of CANA, remarked, “Bishop-elect Julian, Bishop-elect Felix, and Bishop Derek — all three are gifted men with wonderful families who have already proven themselves to be great assets to our work in CANA and the ACNA. I have talked on different occasions about my commitment to the next generation of leaders, and these three bishops will definitely help move us into the future.” Dobbs is 42, Orji is 48, and Jones is 49.

Dobbs will serve as a suffragan bishop. He will lead clergy and congregations primarily in the eastern USA. As well, he will oversee domestic operations in the absence of the Missionary Bishop and continue his unique ministry of equipping North American churches to engage with the challenges of Islam.

Orji will serve as a suffragan bishop. He will provide episcopal oversight for clergy and congregations in the western USA. It is also expected that he will benefit CANA by expanding his teaching ministry on cross-cultural ministry and other topics.

Jones is already a suffragan bishop in the ACNA College of Bishops. His reception by the Church of Nigeria regularizes his well-established ministry of shepherding CANA’s chaplains ministry. He will also continue to assist CANA with other episcopal functions.

It is expected that the consecrations and reception will take place later this year in Nigeria. CANA will celebrate these exciting developments at its annual Council, the week of July 11 at Church of the Epiphany in Herndon, Va..

Biographical information on each candidate follows:

Bishop-elect Julian Dobbs currently serves as an archdeacon and missioner in CANA. He and Brenda his wife, and their three children are natives of New Zealand and have resided in the US since 2006. He was ordained in 1991 and went on to plant three congregations and served as the rector of the fastest growing congregation in New Zealand. Amongst his public outreach ministries, he hosted a weekly 60-minute television program. From 2004 to 2008, Dobbs served as the Executive Director of the Barnabas Fund in New Zealand and in the US. While serving the Barnabas Fund he worked in six continents to minister to persecuted Christians and to bring relief in times of natural disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami when he ministered in Aceh, Indonesia. In addition to his current duties of assisting CANA’s episcopate with pastoral concerns and congregational development, Dobbs is one of twelve members of the ACNA’s Executive Committee and serves as chair of the ACNA’s Task Force on Islam.

Bishop-elect Felix Orji is rector of St Francis-on-the-Hill in El Paso, Texas, and a canon for CANA. He and Lillian his wife have four children. Dr. Orji typifies the cosmopolitan citizen, having had the privilege of making his home in three different nations: Nigeria, Canada, and the United States. He has earned four graduate degrees from the University of Lagos, Regent College, Vancouver School of Theology, and a doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Orji was ordained in 1996 and served churches in Canada until 2004 when he moved to the US. From 2004 to 2008 he held various pastoral and diocesan leadership positions in the Diocese of the Rio Grande. He began serving St Francis-on-the-Hill in 2005. He served as a CANA delegate to the ACNA’s inaugural convention in 2009, and will be a CANA delegate to a meeting of ACNA jurisdictional leaders in Pittsburgh later this month.

Bishop Derek Jones is the endorsing agent for CANA’s Chaplains Deanery which supports chaplains in the US military, the Veterans Administration, in vocational settings such as police and fire departments, in hospitals and hospice, and in varied marketplace ministries and volunteer opportunities. He and Connie his wife have two children, and live in their home state of Alabama. Bishop Jones is a former US Air Force combat fighter pilot, and retired as a Lt. Col.. He was ordained in 2001, and went on to help the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC) develop its administrative infrastructure and plant churches in Liberia. He quickly rose through the ranks to be consecrated a bishop in 2007, and was received by the ACNA in 2010.