Bishop Lines Ordains Deacon for Trinity Church Scarborough
By Tom Hutton
On 18 September, Bishop Andy Lines, Bishop of the Anglican Mission in Europe ordained Dr Osita Orafu to the office of Deacon for Trinity Church, Scarborough.
Osita was recommended for ordained ministry by The Most Rev. Dr. Owen Nwokolo, Bishop of the Diocese on the Niger, in the Church of Nigeria and after a process of discernment, Bishop Andy was pleased to accept Osita for ordination in the Anglican Mission in England. Bishop Nwokolo, who couldn’t be present at the ordination sent a video greeting, “We encourage Dr Osita to continue to serve the Lord faithfully and be a blessing to humanity.”
Osita has been serving as an Assistant Minister at Trinity Church Scarborough since April 2022. Trinity, one of the founding churches in the AMiE Convocation, has, by God’s grace, seen substantial growth in the size of its congregation over the past year. A sizeable proportion of this growth can be attributed to the number of people moving from overseas to work in the local hospital, many of them from Nigeria.
The service was led by the Senior Minister, Lee McMunn, who had this to say about the day, “The church family were full of thanks and praise to God. What a joy to witness Osita’s ordination and to pray for his future ministry to be word-saturated. May he continue to draw comfort from the love of Christ as he holds out the word of God to others.”
The service was a joyful and vibrant time which incorporated songs in English, Igbo and Yoruba, familiar Anglican liturgy, readings from Isaiah and 1 Timothy, prayers, sharing Communion and, of course, the ordination. As in all AMiE churches, God’s Word was central throughout, with Bishop Andy preaching on 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Following the service, the church family shared lunch together with many dishes from different corners of the globe.
AMiE has several ordinands ministering in various local contexts whilst also undertaking training; which for many of them includes the Union School of Theology course on Anglican Theology and Practice.
