What I am for you terrifies me; what I am with you consoles me. For you, I am a bishop, but with you, I am a Christian. The former is a duty, the latter a grace. The former is a danger; the latter salvation – St Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)

St Augustine of Hippo’s famous words, “For you I am a bishop, but with you I am a Christian,’ aptly described Bishop John Adeleke Bamgboye, who was both a bishop and a Christian to people who encountered him throughout his earthly ministry. St Augustine exemplified the leadership role of a bishop as a service and duty. However, a bishop’s true, shared identity and source of joy is being a fellow Christian with his flock, a grace that brings salvation, not danger. Such a leadership role as a bishop highlights humility, service over status, and unity in mission.

In God’s priorities, a bishop’s work is not God’s work. A bishop is God’s work (Matt 7:21-23). In Dallas Willard’s words, God is renewing, calling, shaping, and creating a people. Our work is simply the context in which we pursue discipleship to Jesus, as God shapes us into the person we will forever be. Bishop Bamgboye’s works were not God’s work without him becoming God’s work, saved in 1970, and pursued discipleship to Jesus without looking back as God was shaping him into the person he would be forever, even after his physical sojourn on earth. Beloved, there is a larger mission narrative with an eternal goal that our works, relationships, and hobbies must align and occur within (Jn 3:16, Lk 6:46).

Celebrating Bishop Bamgboye as a bishop and a Christian warns us that nothing we do, even the office we hold, will last forever. However, we are a never-ceasing spiritual being with an astonishing future serving with God in the new heavens and new earth.’ We are God’s focus. Our work—and ‘the other elements of your life—are the context in which you cooperate with God in the transformation of your heart, soul, mind, bodily strength, and will. As you focus your life that way, you are setting a trajectory for the kind of person you will eternally be in the perfections of the new heavens and earth.’

In this age of deception, Bishop Bamgboye, as a portrait and model of a bishop and a Christian, warns us that “the cassock does not make the monk,” highlighting that ‘a person’s actions, faith, and character define them, not just their uniform, and has been used historically to address fake or opportunistic monks.’ Outer religious clothing, like a cassock or cowl, does not guarantee someone’s inner piety, virtue, or true commitment; appearances can be deceiving, and true essence comes from within, though the garb does serve as a symbolic reminder of one’s vows and dedication to God (1 Samuel 16:7). Bishop Bamgboye, as a portrait and model of bishop and a Christian reveals the need to overcome the dark, deceptive, and destructive sides of leadership with personality traits including Machiavellianism (Leaders with desire to gain personal power and are cunning, manipulative, and hungry for influence), narcissism (Leaders showing high degrees of self-love and tend to be self-absorbed, entitled and arrogant), and hubris (Leaders exhibiting excessive sense of self-worth and tend to be overly confident and proud).

In my tribute to mark his 80th birthday last year, ‘Bishop John Adeleke Bamgboye @80: The John Wesley of our Time,’ I explained that Bishop Bamgboye had a personal salvation experience with the Lord in 1970 when he was a student in the School of Agriculture, Akure. He later joined the Methodist ministry in 1984 and had his training at Immanuel College of Theology, Ibadan. Bishop Bamgboye was “a devoted Evangelical Methodist,” a rather reactionary and unpopular stance in his prime; he was persistent and focused, and surely a major figure in ensuring that the Methodist Church Nigeria’s modern liturgies have a more Protestant character. He was a force in the growth of evangelicalism across the Methodist Conference over the last few generations. Bishop Bamgboye’s leadership and lifestyle counter an anachronistic concept of leadership as command-and-control, but uphold the evangelical principle that leadership in the Church must be subject to the Gospel.

Bishop Bamgboye was an ambassador for Jesus Christ. He did not neglect the preaching of the Gospel – the need to bring men and women into relationship with Jesus Christ – to bring us all deeper into the divine mystery, and to send us out in the power of the Holy Spirit to live for Christ in the world. Indeed, he led by example, served as an ambassador in the public square, and was devoted to his wife (1 Tim 3:2-12). He served the Methodist Church Nigeria as a Priest and Presbyter doing all the goods he can, by all the means he can, as long as ever he can at different times at Folawiyo Memorial Methodist Church, Ikate, Surulere, Lagos (1990-1992); Methodist Cathedral, Tinubu, Lagos (1992- 1993); Immanuel College of Theology, Samonda, Ibadan (1993-1999); Freeman Methodist Cathedral, Ogbe, Abeokuta (1999-2004); Methodist Cathedral, Agbeni, Ibadan (2004-2006); Methodist Cathedral of Unity, Wuse, Abuja (2006-2007). He was elevated to the office of a Bishop as the pioneering Bishop of the Diocese of Osogbo in 2007, a position he held till his retirement from the Methodist Ministry in 2014. Bishop Bamgboye was an absolute giant for all committed to Methodist reawakening. His prophetic witness cost him and his wife dearly, yet they remained undeterred.

Bishop Bamgboye lives on as a model bishop for our own day, particularly insofar as he was a bishop and a Christian like the hearts of John and Charles Wesley. Bishop Bamgboye united in his own character the major themes for which John and Charles Wesley are known, heart first, work second, spreading scriptural holiness, simple living and service to the poor on the one hand, and the promotion of doctrinal soundness and liturgical dignity from a charitable heart on the other. Bishop Bamgboye was wonderfully impatient with structures and procedures that do not serve the Kingdom of God. From his extraordinary capacity not to involve himself in the inessentials of church controversy – a style which can best be characterised as “unstated and understated”; and the way in which, heedless of bureaucracy, you have just enabled things to happen for the sake of the Gospel, we are deeply thankful.

Bishop Bamgboye’s episcopal ministry emphasised that being a bishop is an office or duty, while being a Christian is a gift or grace. The role of authority as a bishop can be a burden or danger, but the shared faith brings true safety, relational leadership, healthy growth, and salvation. Being a bishop is about service over status, just as ‘Augustine found more comfort and fulfilment in being alongside his people as a fellow believer than in the power of his position.’ Many can testify to Bishop Bamgboye’s service, over status, pastoral care and kindness in times of pastoral crisis. Many are thankful that he was not just a bishop to them; he was alongside people as a fellow believer, not in the power of his position. Bishop Bamgboye was a beloved bishop, ‘with no sense of maudlin pathos, but with a genuine affection.’

Scriptural holiness and evangelical themes marked Bishop Bangboye’s episcopal ministry, and we want to express our appreciation as Methodist evangelicals in Nigeria. His leadership reminds us that “everyone should have a spoon in the soup.” He valued and affirmed the contribution of every part of the Church, evangelical, liberal, charismatic, middle of the road, and has drawn us together as part of a commitment to generous and missional orthodoxy. As the pioneer Bishop of the Methodist Diocese of Osogbo, the testimonies abound that it was gloriously easy for everyone to feel a part of the new diocese. He was not just a bishop in people’s hearts; he was a Christian with everyone. He was a true example of Christian faith and trust—firm as a leader, teacher, and mentor.

Bishop Bamgboye was a missional leader who, at the Lord’s command, renounced his own life and possessions to carry the cross of Christ. Bishop Bamgboye strove to imitate Christ and, in doing so, brought others to Him. He accomplished this through ‘his tireless concern for the doctrinal, liturgical, and spiritual formation of both priests and laity, as well as by his constant care for the spiritual and material needs of all people. It is these qualities which make him the very portrait of a saintly pastor, a model after whom every bishop would want to follow.’

Throughout his ministry, Bishop Bamgboye put into practice a plan of evangelism and discipleship that, above all else, would teach his family, students, clergy, and people how to be faithful disciples of Christ, renouncing all possessions and picking up their crosses daily (Matt. 14:25-33). He knew, though, that to get everyone on board, he himself had to be the first to exhibit a life radically oriented to Christ. To show his uncompromising opposition to all ostentation and luxury and proof of his Christ-like simplicity, he and his family lived a simple lifestyle. Bishop Bamgboye personally ministered to the dying, waited on the sick and helped those in want. This is precisely the love which St. Paul reminds us today that we owe to our neighbours (Rom. 13:8-10). He also demonstrated the importance of priests caring for their own souls first so that the flock could benefit from their holy lifestyle, marriage, and preaching.

The Church has lost a wise, pastoral, and prophetic bishop. He leaves behind a significant missional gap and a legacy of faith, leadership, and unwavering commitment to the Gospel. We have much to learn from his life and his courage. Through his leadership in the Christian Union and the Methodist Evangelical Movement (MEM), he played a crucial role in advancing the Kingdom of God, fostering unity among believers, and advocating for Gospel values in society. Though Bishop Bamgboye has departed from this earthly life, his legacy will continue to live on through the work he passionately pursued and the lives he impacted. We honour his memory and thank God for the gift of his life and ministry.

In all this, we celebrate Mama Monisola Bamgboye, a model of a Bishop and Christian wife, for steering life, both domestic and social, behind the scenes, exercising hospitality and giving counsel. We salute her love, care and support for our beloved father, Bishop Bamgboye.