BOOK REVIEW

Abstract

Sold Out to the Gospel is a biography of Bishop OlumuyiwaAjayi, the pioneer bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pankshin. It was written by Rev. Canon Bernard Iheanetu and has 14 chapters and 217 pages. The book was written in 2024 and chronicles 30 years of Bishop Ajayi’ssojourn in Northern Nigeria as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.This review divides the story of Bishop Ajayi’s life and ministry, as detailed in the book,into five parts. The first part covers Bishop Ajayi’s childhood, education, call to ministry, ordination and marriage, and is captured in Chapters One to Four. Olumuyiwa OdejideAjayi was born in Abeokuta on 2nd November, 1961. His familyis fromIgan-Alade village in the Ketu ethnic group of Yoruba land, which is currently in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State. His parents were Zachariah AdebowaleAjayi, who worked as an accountant, and Comfort TejumadeAjayi, who worked as a teacher and later a nurse and midwife. Olumuyiwa is the fourth of their five children, and he also has step siblings. His parents named him Olumuyiwa which means ‘God has brought this’ because they were not expecting another pregnancy soon after the birth of their last child. In other words, Olumuyiwawas considered a child of destiny or a special child. Thisis buttressedby theaccount of his mother’s prayer when she wasexperiencing complications during his pregnancy.“God spoke to her that the child will be a vessel that God will use to manifest His power and reach out to many people”(9).Olumuyiwa was baptized at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Ake, Abeokuta, which is, historically, the first church in Nigeria. The author traces Olumuyiwa’s Christian heritage to his grandparents, Elijah and Leah Ajayi, who were among the early converts to Christianity in their area.As a very young child, Olumuyiwa and his immediate elder brother were left in the care of Mama Leah Ajayiwhentheir mother went for nursing training. The author recounts the miraculous intervention of God that saved Olumuyiwa from premature death from malnutrition during this period.