Lutheranism in Angola

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Lutheranism was first introduced to Angola in the late 1800s, when Finnish missionaries began working in northern Namibia and southern Angola. Following the Portuguese defeat of Mandume Ya Ndemufayo in 1917, the Lutheran church in Angola was repressed by the Roman Catholic Portuguese authorities. In 1956, Lutheranism was reestablished in Angola, and in 1991, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola was organized as an independent church body. [1] In 1997, a smaller group of conservative Lutheran missionaries helped to organize a second Angolan Lutheran church: the Confessional Lutheran Church in Angola. [2]

Lutheranism branch of Protestantism based on the teachings of Martin Luther

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teaching of Martin Luther, a 16th century German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation. The reaction of the government and church authorities to the international spread of his writings, beginning with the 95 Theses, divided Western Christianity.

Angola country in Africa

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a west-coast country of south-central Africa. It is the seventh-largest country in Africa, bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an exclave province, the province of Cabinda that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and largest city of Angola is Luanda.

Namibia republic in southern Africa

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean; it shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek, and it is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Contents

History

Missionaries from the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FELM) first arrived in the Ondonga kingdom in northern Namibia in July 1870. Two decades later, German missionaries from the Rhenish Missionary Society began evangelizing among the Oukwanyama people in northern Namibia and southern Angola. [3] [4] The latter group established mission plants in Ondjiva, Omupanda, Namakunde, and Omatemba, but these missions were threatened during the reign of Mandume Ya Ndemufayo, leading many converts to flee south to Ondonga. [5] Following Ndemufayo's defeat by the Portuguese, most of the Lutherans who remained in Angola moved to Namibia, while the rest either converted to Roman Catholicism or renounced Christianity entirely. Indigenous Lutheran missionaries from Namibia returned to Angola beginning in 1933, but they were largely driven out by the Roman Catholic Portuguese officials. [6]

Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Lutheran missionary society

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission is a Lutheran missionary society formed on January 19, 1859, in Helsinki, Finland. It is one of seven organisations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) that conduct missionary work. Its first deployments outside Finland were made to Ovamboland, an area that today is cut by the Angola-Namibian border.

Ondonga is a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in what is today northern Namibia. Its capital is Ondangwa, and the kingdom's palace is at Onamungundo. Its people call themselves Aandonga. They speak the Ndonga dialect.

The Rhenish Missionary Society was one of the largest missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and its first missionaries were ordained and sent off to South Africa by the end of the year.

In 1956, the first permanent Lutheran congregation was established in Angola since the departure of the Rhenish missionaries in 1915. Seven years later, a second congregation was established. Over the next several decades, more congregations were established under the auspices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN), almost all of them in the Cunene Province. These missions were aided financially by both the ELCIN and the FELM. [7] In 1991, these congregations were organized as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) is a Lutheran denomination based in Namibia. It has a total membership of over 772,398, mainly in Northern Namibia. Formerly known as the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church, it played a significant role in opposition to Apartheid in Namibia and was part of the Namibian independence struggle.

Cunene Province Province in Ondjiva, Angola

Cunene is a province of Angola. It has an area of 87,342 km² and a population of approximately 965,000.

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola (Igreja Evangélica Luterana de Angola or IELA) is an Evangelical Lutheran church body in Angola. The IELA traces its roots back to the 1950s–'60s missionary efforts of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia and Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission. It was officially organized in 1991, [7] registered with the Angolan government in 1996, and joined both the Lutheran World Federation and the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa in 1997. [8] [9] As of 2003, it had 31 congregations (19 in the Cunene Province and 12 in other provinces), with approximately 25,000 baptized members. [10] By 2009, the church had grown to 40,000 members, [11] and as of 2016, it had 49,500 members. [8] The church is mostly active in the Cunene Province, and its head office is located in Lubango. Its current president is Tomás Ndawanapo. [8]

Christian denomination identifiable Christian body with common name, structure, and doctrine

A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity, identified by traits such as a name, organization, leadership and doctrine. Individual bodies, however, may use alternative terms to describe themselves, such as church or sometimes fellowship. Divisions between one group and another are defined by authority and doctrine; issues such as the nature of Jesus, the authority of apostolic succession, eschatology, and papal primacy may separate one denomination from another. Groups of denominations—often sharing broadly similar beliefs, practices, and historical ties—are sometimes known as "branches of Christianity". These branches differ in many ways, especially through differences in practices and belief.

Lutheran World Federation global communion of national and regional Lutheran churches

The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran churches headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of Lund in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1947 to coordinate the activities of the many differing Lutheran churches. Since 1984, the member churches are in pulpit and altar fellowship, with common doctrine as the basis of membership and mission activity.

Lubango Municipality and city in Huíla, Angola

Lubango is the capital city of the Angolan province of Huíla. Its last known population was 100,757. Until 1975, the city's official name was Sá da Bandeira.

Confessional Lutheran Church in Angola

The Confessional Lutheran Church in Angola (Igreja Luterana Confessional em Angola or ILCA) is a confessional Lutheran church body in Angola. The ILCA traces its roots to the late 1990s, when Pastor Jeremiah Mavungu and his son, Pastor Benjamin Nzuzi Mavungu, began missionary work in the city of Cabinda. In 2000, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) began providing theological training for the pastors of the ILCA. [12] [2] [13] As of 2013, the church consisted of approximately 500 members and six pastors. [12]

Cabinda (city) Municipality and city in Cabinda province, Angola

Cabinda is a city located in the Cabinda Province, an exclave of Angola. Angolan sovereignty over Cabinda is disputed by the secessionist Republic of Cabinda. The municipality of Cabinda covered 1,823 square kilometres and contained 598,210 inhabitants in 2014. The residents of the city are known as Cabindas or Fiotes. Cabinda, due to its proximity to rich oil reserves, serves as one of Angola's main oil ports.

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil is a Lutheran church, which was founded in 1904 in Rio Grande do Sul, a southern state in Brazil.

Related Research Articles

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran Church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of 2017, it has approximately 3.5 million baptized members in 9,163 congregations. In 2015, Pew Research estimated that 1.4 percent of the U.S. population self-identifies with the ELCA. It is the seventh-largest Christian denomination by reported membership and the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. The next two largest Lutheran denominations are the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). There are also many smaller Lutheran church bodies in the United States, some of which came into being composed of dissidents following the major 1988 merger. The ELCA belongs to the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation. The ELCA is in full communion with the Episcopal Church, Moravian Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church.

American Association of Lutheran Churches

The American Association of Lutheran Churches is an American Lutheran church body. It was formed on November 7, 1987, as a continuation of the American Lutheran Church denomination, the majority of which merged with the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The AALC offices were originally in Bloomington, Minnesota. The national office moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 2007. It has 67 congregations, with about 16,000 members, in 2008. Its current Presiding Pastor is the Rev. Dr. Curtis E. Leins.

Lutheran Church–Canada Protestant denomination in Canada

Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) is a confessional Lutheran denomination in Canada. It is the second largest Lutheran body in Canada after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). Together with the ELCIC and the Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations, it is one of only three all-Canadian Lutheran denominations. LCC was founded in 1988 when Canadian congregations of the St. Louis-based Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) formed an autonomous church body with a synodical office in Winnipeg, Manitoba. LCC has no substantial theological divisions from LCMS and continues to have cooperative and sharing arrangements.

International Lutheran Council

The International Lutheran Council is a worldwide association of confessional Lutheran denominations. It is to be distinguished from the Lutheran World Federation and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference. The member church bodies of the ILC are not required to be in church-fellowship with one another, though many of them are. The organization was constituted in 1993 at a council held in Antigua, Guatemala, although it traces its roots back to theological conferences held in many locations during the 1950s and 1960s.

The Japan Lutheran Church or NRK is a Confessional Lutheran denomination in Japan. It currently has approximately 2,490 baptized members in 35 congregations nationwide.

Evangelical Lutherans in Mission (ELIM) was a liberal caucus within the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). It was formed in 1973 as an oppositional group of clergy following sweeping victories by Jacob Aall Ottesen Preus II and the LCMS's conservative wing, known as Confessional Lutherans, at the synod's 1973 convention in New Orleans. It was not considered a major issue in the LCMS when it began because it originally lacked significant lay support. ELIM gained further momentum in the wake of the 1974 Seminex controversy at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. The organization dedicated a large portion of its resources to supporting the break-away Seminex institution. Only after the Seminex controversy did ELIM begin to gain lay support. However, immediately after the Seminex controversy both the Confessional Lutherans and the ELIM claimed they did not want a schism. But after Preus was easily reelected as president of the LCMS in 1976 ELIM decided to split from the LCMS.

Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America

The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, often known as the Synodical Conference, was an association of Lutheran synods that professed a complete adherence to the Lutheran Confessions and doctrinal unity with each other. Founded in 1872, its membership fluctuated as various synods joined and left it. It was dissolved in 1967 after the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) left it due to doctrinal disagreements with one of the other two remaining members, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS).

Lutheranism by region

Lutheranism is present on all inhabited continents with an estimated 80 million adherents, out of which 74.2 million are affiliated with the Lutheran World Federation. A major movement that first began the Reformation, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant branches claiming around 80 million out of 920 million Protestants. The Lutheran World Federation brings together the vast majority of Lutherans. Apart from it, there are also other organisations such as the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as multiple independent Lutheran denominations.

Christianity in Sri Lanka

Christianity is a minority religion in Sri Lanka. Christianity was introduced to the island in first century, probably in AD 72. Traditionally, after Thomas the Apostle's visit in Kerala in AD 52, Christianity is said to have been introduced via India because of its close geographical and commercial ties. According to Christian traditions, the apostle Thomas preached the Gospel in Sri Lanka Records suggest that St. Thomas Christians and Nestorian Christians lived in Sri Lanka. Anuradhapura cross is one of the archaeological claims that suggest Christianity in Sri Lanka before Portuguese. Roman Catholicism was introduced by the Portuguese in 1505. There were conversions by Dutch persons in the 17th century, which resulted in a percentage of church members in excess of 10%.

United Lutheran Mission Association

The United Lutheran Mission Association (ULMA) is a Lutheran church organization.

Mandume Ya Ndemufayo was the last king of the Kwanyama, a subset of the Ovambo people of southern Angola and northern Namibia. Ndemufayo took over the Kwanyama kingdom in 1911 and his reign lasted until 1917 when he died of either suicide or machine gun fire while his kingdom was under attack from South African forces. Ndemufayo is honoured as a national hero in both Angola and Namibia.

Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe Lutheran pastor

Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe was a pastor of the Lutheran Church, Neo-Lutheran writer, and is often regarded as being a founder of the deaconess movement in Lutheranism and a founding sponsor of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). From the small town of Neuendettelsau, he sent pastors to North America, Australia, New Guinea, Brazil, and the Ukraine. His work for a clear confessional basis within the Bavarian church sometimes led to conflict with the ecclesiastical bureaucracy. His chief concern was that a parish find its life in the eucharist, and from that source evangelism and social ministries would flow. Many Lutheran congregations in Michigan, Ohio, and Iowa were either founded or influenced by missionaries sent by Löhe. He is commemorated on 2 January by the calendars of both the LCMS and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Spanish Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Confessional Lutheran church. It is in communion with other Confessional Lutheran churches in the European Lutheran Conference (ELC) and globally in the International Lutheran Council (ILC). It adheres unreservedly to the historical confessions of Lutheran Church: the Book of Concord of 1580, which they see as being in agreement with Holy Scripture.

The Portuguese Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Confessional Lutheran church. It is a member of the European Lutheran Conference and of the International Lutheran Council.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina is a conservative, confessional Lutheran synod that holds to the Book of Concord. It has about 27.890 members. The IELA is a member of the International Lutheran Council.

References

  1. ↑ Malua, Abraham H. (2003). From Civil War to Development: A Study of the Contribution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola (IELA) Towards Reconciliation, Peace, Reconstruction and Development Among the Ovawambo Community in Southern Angola (ThM). University of Natal. pp. 21–23. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Angola". The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  3. ↑ Malua, 21.
  4. ↑ Hayes, Patricia (March 1993). "Order out of Chaos: Mandume Ya Ndemufayo and Oral History". Journal of Southern African Studies. 19 (1): 96. JSTOR   2636959.
  5. ↑ Hayes, 105–6.
  6. ↑ Malua, 22–23.
  7. 1 2 Malua, 23.
  8. 1 2 3 "Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola". Lutheran World Federation. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Member Churches". Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  10. ↑ Malua, 24.
  11. ↑ "Lutheran World Information, 2010" (pdf). Lutheran World Federation. p. 6. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  12. 1 2 Winterle, Pastor Carlos Walter. "Sermon: 3rd Sunday of Easter - Mission Festival" (pdf). St. Thomas Lutheran Church. pp. 3–4. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  13. ↑ (The Mavungus had been trained by Wilbert Kreiss, former president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church—Synod of France and Belgium, and so were familiar with the theological attitudes of the International Lutheran Council, to which the IELB, LCMS, and Evangelical Lutheran Church—Synod of France and Belgium all belong.)
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