Posted on: 14th May 2025

Staff and volunteers at Armley-based charity Leeds City Mission recently welcomed a prominent international visitor to its Compassion Centre in Mistress Lane.

President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention the Rev Israel Akanji was on an official visit to Leeds as part of a 14-day tour of the United Kingdom. 

He took up the invitation to visit the City Mission Compassion Centre on his fact finding and speaking tour of the country. 

He had heard of the sterling work of the centre and how Nigerians working in the UK had been helped through its various programmes. Nigerian Baptists were also amongst some of its supporters, alongside people from other church denominations across the city.

Rev Akanji is the President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC). NBC has 14,523 churches and a membership of 8.925 million people.

To put this in perspective, there are six times more people attending Baptist churches in Nigeria than the combined total attendance of people worshipping in historic denominations in the UK ie Baptist, Anglican, Methodist and United Reformed churches etc.   

Read the full article here.