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Bishop Dabale returns to active status, plans to retire in '07

Jan. 13, 2006

NOTE: Photographs are available in the Headshots section of the Photo
Gallery at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Tim Tanton*

Bishop Done Peter Dabale, who leads the United Methodists in Nigeria,
has returned to active status after being on leave of absence for
several months.

Dabale, 56, also has decided he will seek voluntary retirement as soon
as a new bishop can be elected, said Bishop Peter Weaver, president of
the United Methodist Council of Bishops.

The West Africa Central Conference, which elects bishops for Nigeria and
some other African countries, is planning a special election in March
2007. Bishops are the top clergy leaders of the nearly 11 million-member
United Methodist Church.

Dabale was placed on leave of absence last May by the Council of
Bishops' executive committee. The church in Nigeria was "conflicted" and
had leadership issues to be worked out, Bishop Roy Sano, council
executive secretary, said at the time.

"They're not issues of morality," Weaver said. "...These are issues of
administration and the way the conference operates." He said the
solutions included Dabale and others "being open to some new ways of
operating." The issues weren't all around one person, he added.

Dabale came off leave at the Nigeria Annual Conference gathering in
December, said Weaver, who attended the conference. The last three days
of the Dec. 12-18 conference were held in Zing.

Initially contacted for this story, Dabale said to call back later, but
attempts to reach him again were unsuccessful.

Dabale has said he is "seeking retirement for the good of his family,"
Weaver said. The bishop has 11 children and has "major responsibilities
relative to his family," he said. "He believed he had done some
excellent work - which he has - in Nigeria, and he believes it's a good
time for him to retire."

Also at the Zing gathering were Bishop Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo, who served
as interim leader in the Nigeria Area, and Ethel Johnson of Columbus,
Ohio, who worked on reconciliation and mediation in the conference
during Dabale's leave.

Ntambo is head of the denomination's North Katanga Area in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Johnson is a retired professor who served
at the Methodist Theological School of Ohio and Africa University, and
went to Nigeria at the request of Dabale, the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries and the Council of Bishops.

Bringing people together

During December, Ntambo and Weaver visited three major sections of the
conference and had retreats with lay people and clergy.

"The spirit was good," Weaver said. "There seemed to be a spirit of
eagerness to move forward into the future and to have reconciliation
where there has been some brokenness.

"There's been a lot of work done to identify some of the concerns and to
address those concerns and to bring reconciliation," he said. Ntambo and
Johnson listened to people around the conference in seeking to
understand and resolve the leadership issues.

Ntambo divided his time between his own episcopal area and Nigeria,
while Johnson was in Nigeria on a daily basis from June 24 to Dec. 18.

"People were just not in conversation with each other, and I was asked
to go because I had been in the conference so many different times,"
Johnson said. She had trained many of the people in the conference, "so
I knew them and they knew me."

One group of people was unhappy with Dabale, while other people felt he
should not have been placed on leave. "Our task was to try to bring the
two groups together," Johnson said.

She met with people in all 23 districts, heard their concerns and helped
them think about how they could move forward together. Bishop Ntambo
also brought people together by holding several retreats for pastors and
laity. At the end of the six months, people were beginning to talk to
one another, Johnson said.

"On the 18th, the last day of annual conference, there was a real
celebrative mood on the part of the people at the conference," Johnson
said. "I'm not saying everyone was feeling that because some people
definitely did not want Bishop Dabale to return. There was a good
feeling, there seemed to be a good spirit of cooperation."

Bishop Gregory Palmer, whose Iowa Conference has longstanding ties with
the Nigeria church, and the Rev. Paul Dirdak, who heads the Africa
section of the Board of Global Ministries, also visited the country.
They spent a week meeting with people, hearing grievances from all sides
and urging the various parties to work with Johnson.

"We pray that we are at a creative and positive - albeit delicate -
moment," Dirdak said. "We have a year now before (Dabale) takes a
retirement, and this we pray will be a year of reconciliation."

A growing church

Dabale is the first and only bishop the United Methodist Church has had
in Nigeria. He was elected in 1992, after serving as general
superintendent for four years, Johnson said.

The church in Nigeria was a former Evangelical United Brethren
conference, but internal problems prevented it from participating in the
1968 merger of the Methodist and EUB denominations. It wasn't until 1984
that the Nigerian church asked to become part of the United Methodist
denomination.

Johnson helped the Nigerian church organize into a United Methodist
annual conference, spending six months in the country in 1985 and
returning every year for almost 10 years afterward. The Nigerian church
became a full annual conference in 1992.

The church has about 400,000 members, she noted. "It has really, really
grown, and this has primarily been due to Bishop Dabale's leadership."

The United Methodist Church is "known as the most forward-thinking and
forward-moving church in the country," she said. The church works for
all people, regardless of their faith, and provides ministries such as
rural health, education and literacy programs.

Until two years ago, the Nigeria Area had one annual conference, but the
church has grown to such an extent that the West Africa Central
Conference has agreed to the formation of two provisional annual
conferences in principle - a preliminary step to getting full annual
conference status from the denomination's General Conference. That
would give the area three conferences.

Committed to the future

The Board of Global Ministries, Council of Bishops and Ntambo will
continue to be supportive and involved in the Nigeria church, Weaver
said. "Bishop Dabale is the bishop there and is committed to this effort
of all of us to make sure the United Methodist Church of Nigeria has a
very healthy future."

Weaver expressed appreciation for Dabale, Ntambo, Johnson and others for
their work.

"I think everyone is committed to the future in a very positive way,"
Weaver said. "Now obviously, people still have some disagreements and
there ... are going to be some people who see things a little
differently, but they're committed to being one in Christ and working
together for the future of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria."

*Tanton is managing editor for United Methodist News Service.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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