Bishop Leslie Gordon Vining

Bishop Leslie Gordon Vining (1940 â 1955)
Most Rev. Leslie Gordon Vining would be remembered as perhaps the foremost expansionist before Abiodun Adetiloye, in the African History for it was Archbishop Vining who began the indigenization policy of the church Ministry in line with Henry Benn's spirit of self-rule, self-propagation and self-sufficiency.

A former Vicar of the famous St. Alban's Church in Westbury Park, Bristol - Southwest England for 28 years (1918 - 1938) Vining was not a green horn in the pastoral business and cure of souls. He had as a matter of fact served with acknowledged success as Assistant Bishop of the Diocese On the Niger in Onitsha (present day Anambra State) before being translated at the threshold of the 2nd World war to fill the vacant See of the oldest Diocese in Nigeria: Lagos.

If "work and worship", manifested in sound teachings, pastoral messages and letters - were the instruments of change used by his predecessor, Milville Jones, Leslie Gordon Vining chose differently. His niche was carved through innovative programmes on Youth work and what educational curriculum planners referred to as co-curricula events. Smoking with zeal from his pastoral days in Bristol where he became widely famous for his Youths Holiday Camps, the 'Bristol Boys' Brigade' projects and other "Young people Enterprises". It was not too difficult to transplant many of those blueprints to the daunting work in Lagos.

As soon as he arrived in Lagos in 1940, Rt. Rev. Gordon Vining established Boys' Holiday Camp - a regular weekend Youths Holiday Resort near the Kuramo Waters Beach in Victoria Island area of Lagos, targeted at boys and girls of school age, the Youths and other young people from the reputable educational institutions of the time - CMS Grammar School, Baptist Academy, Methodist Boys' High School, King's College and Igbobi College Yaba, all in Lagos. The Youths met at the Camp for fellowship, Bible studies, training and skills development programme every weekend and from there are encouraged to take active part in church worship. The resultant outcome was amazing and most fulfilling. Olufosoye, Adelakun Howells, Kale, Segun who later became Church Prelates were products of Vining Boys' Camp.

This great man of vision, no doubt, lived up to his widely-held appellation as "Bishop of the Youths" or as more aptly put in Yoruba parlance, "Bisopu Akomoje".

On 17th April 1951, the Province of West Africa was inaugurated and Leslie Gordon Vining, was presented as its first Archbishop. By 1952, just a year afther his presentation, and co-incidentally 88 years after the consecration of the first African Bishop with full Episcopal authority, Archbishop Vining began an aggressive policy of Africanization as advocate by Henry Venn in the belief that the Church in Nigeria will be better administered under African leadership.

L. G. Vining divided the old Lagos diocese into four - Lagos, Ibadan, Ondo-Benin & Northern Nigeria and that of the See of the Niger into two parts - On the Niger and Niger Delta.

Archbishop eventual tenure was characterized by hardwork and devotion.

But then the inevitable demand of nature took its toll at last. Most Rev. Leslie Gordon Vining CBE, MA, DD bowed to death and died at sea, aboard the Mail boat MV AUREOL on 4th March 1955. He was buried in Freetown and on his sepulchre were the following words "FARE THEE WELL, UNTIL THE DAY BREAK AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY".