Marangu at 60: Celebrating growing Lutheran solidarity in Africa

Tanzanian church hosts historic Reformation preparation event

(LWI) – “This is an opportunity to celebrate growing Lutheran solidarity, unity and courage.” This is how Presiding Bishop Dr Alex G. Malasusa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) describes the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the first meeting of all Lutherans in Africa, in Marangu, northern Tanzania.

From 20-25 May 2015, over 200 delegates from The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in Africa, LWF global leaders and ecumenical guests will gather at the Marangu Teachers’ College in northern Tanzania, the venue of the first such gathering in 1955.

“Marangu to Wittenberg: Being a Reforming church in a changing African context,” is the theme of this year’s jubilee, which will also map the churches’ contribution to the global Reformation anniversary in 2017. Delegates will reflect on the churches’ journey together since the first all-Africa Lutheran leaders’ conference 60 years ago, and address theological, socio-economic and political issues.

At the Marangu founding conference, only the Malagasy Lutheran Church was a full LWF member church. Other delegates at the time came from so-called “non-LWF member churches” in Northern Tanganyika, South Africa and Ethiopia, and from mission societies.

Today, the Lutheran communion in Africa includes 31 LWF member churches in 23 countries, representing more than 21 million Christians, with several emerging Lutheran bodies across the region.

This year’s jubilee will be hosted by the ELCT and the Lutheran Communion in Central and Eastern Africa. Malasusa, LWF Vice-President for Africa, will officiate at the 20 May opening ceremony.

“It all began in Marangu. Inspired by the Lutheran communion spirit of our forefathers and foremothers, we come back to this very place with thanksgiving to God for giving us the strength to nurture the seed of African solidarity and unity that they planted,” Malasusa told Lutheran World Information (LWI).

Participants at Marangu will include heads of churches, women and youth leaders, academics from theological institutions, representatives from churches in other LWF regions and related agencies, as well as officials from the Tanzanian government.

LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge will deliver the keynote address on 20 May. He will provide orientation for the Reformation anniversary and the LWF Twelfth Assembly to be held in May 2017 in Windhoek, Namibia.

LWF President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan will preach at the eucharistic service on Pentecost Sunday, at which 1,500 worshippers are expected.

“Celebrating the Marangu jubilee especially with our brothers and sisters from the global Lutheran communion is an opportunity to also affirm the relevance of the LWF for its member churches,” Malasusa emphasized. “Belonging to the global communion of Lutheran churches strengthens our vision for holistic mission, mutual accompaniment in joyful and difficult times, and spirituality which is reflected in worship and theological formation,” he added.

Find out more about Marangu 2015

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Photo Gallery: Marangu 2015

The 60th anniversary of the first gathering of African Lutherans as a communion in Marangu, Tanzania, marked the start of six decades of growth and witness across the continent. This photo essay celebrates pertinent moments in the story of the communion in the decades since and coincides with the May 2015 gathering of African leaders again in Marangu for a leadership consultation.

Ato Emmanuel Abraham, Marangu chairperson, EM Marealle, speaker, and Bishop Franklin Carl Fry, future LWF president. Marealle, a delegate and keynote speaker, outlined the important role played by women in society and noted that the influence of women cannot be understated. Photo: LWF Archives

 

 

 

Ten years after the first meeting of African Lutherans as a communion, the 1965 All-Africa Leadership Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, numbered nearly twice that of the first. The keynote address focused on issues of independence and analytical thinking by the African church leadership within the gloabl community, a prominent political concern of the time. Photo: LWF Archive

Participants at the 1977 Gaborone, Botswana, pre-ssembly meeting. The 80 recommendations from the meeting touched on the missionary church, training for leadership, service, interchurch contacts, women and youth, the African free churches, polygamy, family planning, urban and industrial mission, the LWF Development Service, and the identity of the African churches united in mission. Photo: LWF Archives

Pan-African Lutheran Church Leadership Consultation on the Challenge of HIV/AIDS, church youth, May 2002, Nairobi, Kenya. The consultation called for a more urgent and coordinated effort from member churches in the region with the support of the global Lutheran communion.

Photo: LWF Archives

At the 50th anniversary of the Lutheran Communion in Africa, 2005, Windhoek, Namibia, participants declared poverty levels in Africa a scandal and undertook to strengthen its public witness. Photo: LWF/D.-M. Grötzsch

The first women’s ordinations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroun, workshop on Diakonia in Context, May 2012. Photo: LWF/E. Mungure

With an eye to the future: the announcement that the LWF 12th Assembly and commemoration of 500 years of Reformation will be held in Windhoek, Namibia, in May 2017. About half the population of Namibia is Lutheran. The theme of the 2017 assembly will be “Liberated by God’s Grace”. Photo: LWF/M. Haas

One the many projects implemented for the benefit of villages and towns throughout Africa by Lutheran churches: Malawi turns on the tap to water, 2014. Photo: LWF/ELCM