After 27 years as a Bishop, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, the founder of Sword of the Spirit Ministries and National President of the Pentecostal Fellowshi
After 27 years as a Bishop, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, the founder of Sword of the Spirit Ministries and National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has been elevated to the rank of Archbishop.
For more than two decades, the cleric turned down several opportunities to become an archbishop, insisting that it was not yet God’s timing. But last week, ahead of his 70th birthday, he finally accepted the elevation, saying that the decision was in accordance with the will of God. Bishop Oke who was consecrated a bishop in 1999, was elevated to the office of Archbishop by the Calvary Grace International College of Bishops during the 2026 annual Holy Ghost Convention of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The elevation which was a collective decision of the College of Bishops in Nigeria recognised Oke’s more than 27 years of episcopal service, spiritual leadership, mentorship and contribution to the development of bishops and Christian leaders across different parts of the world. The college said the elevation was not simply the conferment of another ecclesiastical title but a formal acknowledgement of a ministry that had been tested over time and demonstrated through service, spiritual fruit and the raising of other leaders.
According to the college, Oke’s influence has extended beyond congregational and denominational boundaries, with his episcopal ministry taking him across national borders. It said he had participated in the consecration and establishment of bishops in different parts of the world and provided spiritual oversight and fatherly guidance to many of the more than 50 bishops affiliated with the college. It described his ministry as an episcopacy that has produced episcopacies, noting that he had identified, nurtured, mentored, affirmed, consecrated and commissioned other spiritual leaders.
Meanwhile, during the thanksgiving ceremony of his 7oth birthday, Bishop Oke was presented with a brand-new SUV by Pastor Poju Oyemade and Bishop Funke Adejumo on behalf of ministers in the Christian faith in Nigeria.
