The Niger Delta Anglican Christianity is the undisputable fruit of the Bonny Christianity. It was introduced by King William Dappa Pepple I,Perekule V (The Black Monarch) of Bonny Country as he was then called, upon his return to Bonny from England where he went on exiled between 1854 - 1861. Whilst in England he became very much impressed by what he saw and especially the influence of Christianit
y and Civilization on the English Monarch and her people. Consequently, he was baptized along with his family and a copy of the Holy Bible was presented to him by Queen Victoria in 1861. King William Dappa Pepple arrived Finima Town Bonny from England in 1861, with a Chaplain and other expatriates who participated in the primal Christian worship in Bonny. However, due to the death of a number of these missionaries following some tropical diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dysenteries etc , the faith suffered a break between 1861 and 1864. The Undaunted King never gave up, he instructed his son (Crown Prince George, later King George Pepple I), who was educated at Eton College England , to write a Later to the then Bishop of London (Dr Tait) requesting for a missionary to come to Bonny and help in establishing Christianity which he had earlier committed 2000 pounds in setting up a Mission. The Bishop sent the King's letter to the Revd Prebendary Henry Venn (Then, Secretary of the Church Missionary Society). By Divine Coincidence, after 21years in Missionary work, precisely on the 29th June 1864 (St.Peter's Day), Samuel Ajayi Crowther was Consecrated Bishop of the Niger Territories at Canterbury Cathedral at the age of 57years to preside over some African Clergy in some parts of Western Africa. Bishop Crowther was sent to proceed Bonny from London after his Consecration and arrived on board a chartered vessel called "Bewley" on August 18th,1864 at Finima Town, Bonny as a result of the Civil war then. A temporary Church was established. However in 1865, Bishop Crowther was allowed into Bonny main town. He took a 10 minutes walk from Old Bonny main town and located the present site called ''Sipiri" (Bad Juju Bush) in Perekule Iwoama Community, Bonny where the St. Stephen's Church was built. The Sitewas where twins, those considered to have died a bad death and others who had been condemned to death by the Royal Courts were executed. On the 19th February 1866, the foundation of the very Church building, a School Chapel measuring 40ft by 25ft was laid by the King himself and assisted by Mrs Babington (The wife of an English merchant). The School Chapel was built of wattle daubed with mud and roofed with bamboo thatch to accommodate about 200 persons. It was Christened St. Stephen by the Bishop and was opened for Christian worship on 29th April, 1866. As a proof of the progress or achievement of the congregation of St. Stephen, the school Chapel built in 1866 became small to accommodate the ever increasing Sunday worshippers and had to be rebuilt in 1875 to accommodate at least 1000 worshippers. The building was well boarded and roofed with corrugated, galvanized iron sheets. On the 2nd of January 1888,the foundation stone of yet a much bigger Church (an Iron Church) was laid and after completion, furnishing etc, it was dedicated for worship on the 27th 1889. After the dedication, a reception was held for the Bishop and at the reception, a request was made that Crowther should accept this new Church as his Cathedral, furthermore a throne made by Mr J Parker (a CMS Architect) was presented to him, financed at the cost of 6 Pounds by pupils of St. Stephen Day School (with pieces of wood hacked out from the last Slave Ship "MV Kent" which sailed from Bonny and was intercepted by the British Navy and later abandoned near the shore close to the Cathedral premises. Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, accepted their request and so Consecrated St. Stephens Church Bonny as Cathedral that same day. Bishop Crowther, hallowed this Holy Church. In Septemeber 1891 at Bonny, the revered Bishop suffered a stroke. His speech was affected as a result of this and was taken to Lagos to be treated by Dr O Johnson. After his treatment in Lagos, he hoped to return to Bonny to continue his good works, but he died on the 31st of December 1891 at 89years about 12:45Pm.
