St. Luke's Anglican Church
Abam-Ama

A communicant and Church Treasurer of St. Peter's Church, Okrika by the name of David Abam kept the Christian torch burning in Abam-Ama. Around 1910, he opened a prayer house, training men and women in Bible Knowledge to propagate the word of God. Impressively, he trained his sons Vincent and Ado Abam as Christian beacons. Vincent later became an Anglican Mission teacher serving in Nembe.

When Chief Abam's grandchildren, Ralph Iyo and Ebenezer Iyo, returned from Okpuala Ngwa, they met Vincent Abam and a gentleman from Okrika Island, Dick Kienka Abam. Together, these four men formed a formidable Christian team to officially establish St. Luke's Church, Abam-Ama in 1936.

With support from local families, they received a parcel of land from the Berebosoka family near Madam Dafa Abam's residence. There, they erected a simple 100-seat mud structure. Through the efforts of early agents like Mr. Wilson Opuiyo and Ezekiel Ngeri, they powerfully transformed the lives of the people, teaching them to read the Igbo Bible and sing hymns.

Tragedy struck in 1945 when violent wars broke out between Okrika and Eleme. The conflict forced an almost total evacuation of the Abam-Ama community, causing the tragic closure of the church.

When peace finally settled, the village rebuilt itself slowly. The church had to start entirely from scratch using local helpers, as much of its old congregation had resettled elsewhere. But Mr. Ralph Iyo Bamson bravely led the spiritual revival as an Agent from 1950 to 1973, lifting St. Luke's back from the ashes.

Growth surged in the ensuing decades. In 1988, under Catechist Loveday I.S. Mangibo, the first concrete church building was rapidly erected (transitioning from plywood to concrete in three months) thanks to heavy donations from Prof. D.P.S. Abam and Mr. Anderson Bamson.

St. Luke's steadily grew into a Parish by 1996. After successfully planting daughter churches like the Church of Restoration (2004) and Church of Beatitudes (2010), St. Luke's rallied again to build a Multipurpose Deanery House.

On November 25, 2015, Bishop T.R. Abere granted Abam-Ama Deanery Status. Today, after surviving wars and mud structures, St. Luke's Abam-Ama stands tall as a magnificent Deanery Headquarters under Ven. Dr. Mina Aprioku.