The All Africa Lutheran Conference (AALC) will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Sunday with a historic gathering of all African Lutheran leaders to discuss the role of churches in renewing Africa, a continent suffering from war, sickness, and poverty.

|TOP|Over 80 representatives of the All Africa Lutheran Conference – a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) – and partner churches and organisations worldwide are gathering in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, from Nov. 9-14 for a leadership conference and a jubilee celebration. The theme of the gathering is "From Isolation to Communion: For the Healing of Africa."

There is a historical meaning in choosing Namibia as the conference venue, according to Bishop Dr Zephania Kameeta of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN).

Prior to the conference, the Bishop noted that Namibia had suffered the longest under isolation as it was the last colony of Southern Africa. He recalled that the theme of the first AALC conference in Marangu, Tanzania was to lead Lutheran churches out of isolation, particularly those in Namibia. Today, the success of AALC is obvious when looking at this country fifty years later.

"The gathering in Namibia is a unique opportunity for the Lutheran churches in Africa to reflect on their growth from isolation by cultural, geographical, ethnic and political barriers to being in communion," explained the Rev. Dr Musa P. Filibus, LWF Department for Mission and Development Area Secretary for Africa.

|AD|LWF’s general secretary, the Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, was present at a special press conference for the gathering on Nov. 9. He hailed the victory of AALC over the last 50 years stating, "We have all been actively engaged in the struggle for Namibia’s independence for many, many years, and now we thought it was appropriate to celebrate.

“This gathering is a highly emotional experience that cannot be described with words, only tears of joy."

While preaching at the opening service of the AALC conference in the oldest Lutheran church in Windhoek on the same day, Bishop Kameeta challenged churches in Africa to "respond to the spiritual needs of their people" and "contribute, substantially and practically, to their material and spiritual growth, development, unity, justice and peace."

The 50-year-old organisation looks forward to courageous and unambiguous ways of addressing the current difficult situations existing in many African countries. The conference will also give direction to how churches can maintain sustainable development in the mission of proclaiming the gospel and work closer together.

"African church leaders are prophets for Africa today, as Ezekiel was for Israel," said Kameeta, quoting Ezekiel 37:1-14, "You are the salt of the old earth of Africa and the light of the continent, which has suffered for too long!"

Starting from the church, Africans must work against "the high infectious and destructive diseases of division, corruption, tribalism, violence, especially against women and children, and the idolisation of human beings," declared the bishop.

The three Lutheran churches in Namibia and the LWF are jointly hosting the conference. The churches are the 300,000-member ELCRN, over 640,000-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN), and 6,500-member German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN-GELC).

The Rev. Asfaha Mehari, president of the Evangelical Church of Eritrea, who was present at the conference wished that it would "give more strength to the unity of various sub-regions of Africa: the Lutheran Communion in Central and Eastern Africa (LUCCEA), the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA), and the Lutheran Communion in Western Africa (LUCWA)."

The Rev. Dr Musa P. Filibus, the LWF Department for Mission and Development Area Secretary for Africa, exhorted the need of the churches in the South to provide leadership to the global ecclesia, as the "centre of gravity" of the mission movement that has been shifting to the Southern Hemisphere in the recent years.

There are 36 Lutheran churches in Africa, of which 30 are LWF members. Their total membership is 14.08 million in 22 countries of Central, Eastern, Southern and Western Africa.







Eunice Or
Christian Today Correspondent