Born at Bathurst in 1954, he attended primary school at Banjul from 1962 to 1966. In 1974 he became a teacher at Gambia High School. He moved to Nigeria, where he studied at Trinity College in Umuahia from 1977 to 1980, earning a degree in Theology in 1980. He pursued his studies at the University of Durham, England, from 1982 to 1985, graduating with a BA in Theology with his dissertation The Impact of African Communal Ritual on Modern Christian Missions, 1821-1965.
Ecclesiastical career
Johnson was ordained as a deacon in 1979 and a priest in 1980. He was consecrated the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Gambia and the Rio Pongas in 1990, the first Gambian national to hold the office, which he retained until his death. He was elected the ninth Archbishop Primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa on 28 September 2012, succeeding Justice Akrofi. At the same time it was resolved to divide the CPWA into two internal provinces, the Province of Ghana, and the Province of West Africa, of which Johnson was the Metropolitan archbishop as well as being the archbishop primate of CPWA. He was a strong supporter of Anglican realignment, attending GAFCON II, that took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 21 to 26 October 2013.
Death
He died unexpectedly aged 59, after collapsing while playing tennis on the evening of 21 January 2014. He was taken to the Medical Research Council in Bakau-Fajara, where he was pronounced dead. Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, of the Anglican Church of Kenya, said upon his death: "It was with shock and great sadness that we heard about the sudden death of our brother Primate, S. Tilewa Johnson, earlier this week. In October last year we shared fellowship at GAFCON 2013 here in Nairobi and we thank God for his commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ whom he served with a robust faith and cheerful energy throughout his ministry. He was a man of global vision and his death, so untimely from our human perspective, has deprived not only the Church of the Province of West Africa, but the whole Anglican Communion of a talented leader."
