Marangu Jubilee Celebrations to Launch Reformation Events in Africa

Leadership Meeting Underlines Sustainability and Renewal of the Church

In 2015, celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the first ever gathering of African Lutheran churches in Marangu, Tanzania, will launch activities to mark 500 years of Reformation in Africa.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in Africa endorsed plans to commemorate the 1955 historic All Africa Lutheran Conference at their bi-annual meeting, held 20-25 May in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

In his keynote address to this year's Africa Lutheran Church Leadership Consultation (ALCLC), LWF Vice-President for Africa, Presiding Bishop Dr Alex G. Malasusa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), emphasized the strong link between the inaugural gathering of Lutheran churches and the Reformation anniversary. "There is a strong need for the revival, revitalization and sustainability of the church in Africa, long-discussed in Marangu," Malasusa said.

"As we look forward to the 2017 Reformation anniversary, we should also be thinking about evaluative tools that will enable us to look into the past critically," he told the 65 ALCLC participants who included heads of churches, women and youth leaders, and representatives of theological institutions from the 31 LWF member churches in the region.

In November 1955, heads of Lutheran churches in Africa met together for the first time in Marangu, northern Tanzania (then Tanganyika), and envisioned to work for a "self-sustaining church." At the time, only two churches—in Madagascar and [then] Northern Tanganyika—were LWF member churches.

"From Marangu to Wittenberg: Theological Education and Leadership Formation and the Renewal of the Lutheran Church in Africa," will be the theme of the Marangu jubilee celebrations. The events leading up to the Reformation anniversary will have a major focus on strengthening Lutheran identity in the region.

Participants identified a series of activities that will precede the Marangu commemorations. This includes sharing information, resources and best practices as well as exchange visits for learning. Leadership and theological consultations are also planned.

This year's ALCLC focused on church sustainability and Lutheran identity. LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge shared his insights on both topics from a global communion perspective. He encouraged churches to learn from the many good practices on sustainability in the Lutheran communion, and to support each other in carrying out God's mission. (See related story.)

Dealing with Challenges

The participants heard about churches' efforts in carrying out God's mission in their respective countries, which has resulted in growth among Lutheran churches in the region. Still, they noted, there are several challenges such as the increasing number of religious sects, charismatic and Pentecostal movements.

"Are we not Pentecostal and charismatic?" remarked Bishop Dr Zephania Kameeta of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia during discussions on Lutheran identity.

Kameeta, a member of the LWF Council said the process of reformation of Lutheran churches must reclaim being Pentecostal and charismatic, attributes which he said, the churches have lost. This would make the dialogue with other groups meaningful, he added.

Reformation is also a charismatic movement, but in a structured and spiritual manner, said Rev. Luke Mwololo, general secretary of the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church, which co-hosted the ALCLC with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya.

The Africa desk at the LWF Department for Mission and Development organized the church leadership meeting. Speaking about the relevance of theological education in Lutheran seminaries on the continent, Rev. Dr Elieshi Mungure, LWF area secretary for Africa, emphasized the need to "review seminary curricula and contextualize methodologies in order to strengthen the link between classroom teaching and life in the congregations."

Rev. Dr Wakseyoum Idosa of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) noted that intensified teaching will help the Lutheran churches confront the challenges posed by charismatic groups and sects.

"It will not be enough to see our believers on pews only on Sunday. We need to go into prisons and teach our people the theology we have. When our children visit Pentecostal churches, the next day they bring to us the worship they experienced. They often tell us it is important to modernize our worship," noted Idosa, an LWF Council member.

Still, there are many positive impacts of church ministry in Ethiopia, he said, citing a program on Christian - Muslim relations that the ECCMY has been running for 45 years. The initiative has enabled the church to train and teach community-based evangelists who promote relationships that strengthen co-existence between people of the two faiths, Idosa added.

(By LWI correspondent Fredrick Nzwili)