Africa: Together to consolidate the Lutheran communion in the region

Unity in the Lutheran communion

The LWF Vice-President for Africa Rev. Dr Jeannette Ada Maina presides over the regional church leadership consultations. In her opening address, she expressed joy over the opportunity to meet together again, describing the ALCLC as “very important for the consolidation of our communion.” The platform gives churches “the opportunity to share our experiences, our frustrations and our testimonies of the grace of God in our lives for mutual support,” she added.

The consultation’s venue was shifted from Yaoundé, Cameroon, in the Lutheran Communion in Central and Western Africa (LUCCWA) sub-region to Ethiopia in the Lutheran Communion in Central and Eastern Africa (LUCCEA).  Welcoming participants on behalf of LUCCEA, Presiding Bishop Dr Fredrick Shoo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) emphasized the importance of unity among LWF’s churches on the continent.

“The pulse of Africa lies in unity, in meeting together and sharing in communion; in celebrating our ubuntu (humanness), and also our faith in the One Lord Jesus Christ whose name we proclaim,” Shoo said. The LUCCEA president invited participants “to reflect on our journey together in Africa and the way we are going to strengthen our unity.”

Hope to move forward

Meeting at the MYS was an opportunity to see ongoing reconstruction of the EECMY seminary and resumption of academic activities following the deadly flooding at the campus in August 2021.  MYS President Rev. Dr Bruk Ayele Asale expressed gratitude to the global Christian community for “your caring, prayers, support, thoughts and encouraging words in various ways,” following the tragedy in which eight people died, and several buildings were destroyed.

Greeting the consultation’s participants, LWF General Secretary Rev. Anne Burghardt said it was “truly an honor to be back in the continent” following her recent visit to East Africa, “where I had the privilege to witness” the work of the ELCT around Moshi, and LWF’s World Service humanitarian and development work in Uganda.

Burghardt’s gratitude to EECMY for hosting the event included a special gesture to the seminary. She presented the MYS president with a replica of the Lund Cross, which the LWF produced in the context of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, as a symbolic representation of the communion’ commitment to the ecumenical journey toward the unity of the global church. “We are grateful for this cross” which represents the hope we have in Jesus Christ “to move forward after the disaster,” Bruk said.

LWF President Archbishop Dr Panti Filibus Musa, who is head of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria also greeted participants. The consultation’s agenda includes a keynote address on misleading theologies in Africa, and a presentation by General Secretary Burghardt on the shared witness of churches in the Lutheran communion.

By LWF/P. Mumia. All photos LWF/ALCINET, Refilwe Mofulatsi, Erick Adolph and MYS