wfn.org | 8,000 FROM 45 COUNTRIES AT AFRICAN CHURCHES' OPENING WORSHIP

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

For Immediate Release
AACC Media Team: (011) 237 966 3059 or 3063

8,000 FROM 45 COUNTRIES AT AFRICAN CHURCHES' OPENING WORSHIP

November 23, 2003, Yaounde, Cameroon - Choir after choir, soloists and
bands praised God with their voices, cymbals, drums and horns under sunny
skies Sunday morning (Nov. 23) in opening worship for the All Africa
Conference of Churches 8th Assembly here.

An estimated 8,000 worshipers from no fewer than 45 countries lined
Yaounde's broad May 20 Boulevard and spilled out the ends for the
explosion of Gospel music, prayer and preaching, which launched the Nov.
23-27 continent-wide assembly, the highlight of African ecumenical life.
The AACC last met in Assembly in 1997 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The avenue was a splash of yellow-gold dresses, shirts and headwraps ;
garments worn by several thousand of those present and sewn out of the
distinctive fabric of the Assembly.  The fabric has the Assembly
medallion, "Come, let us rebuild"; on a background of yellow-gold bricks.

Children wearing white and waving green branches welcomed the arriving
worshipers with song and dance.  The weather - less humid than in recent
days - featured occasional clouds and breezes that seemed to waft strongly
just as participants grew quiet for prayers and silent reflection.

"It is a glorious day to praise God," proclaimed the Rev. Dr. Kwesi
Dickson  of Ghana, the AACC's President.

In attendance were many dignitaries – including top ecumenical 
leadership
from Africa, the incoming and outgoing general secretaries of the World
Council of Churches, the Chair of the African Union (Joachim Chissano,
President of Mozambique), and the Prime Minister of Cameroon (Peter Mafany
Musonge).

Welcoming President Chissano, Dickson said churches and the African Union
share a common priority for the well being of the continent, along with an
impetus toward unity.  “The AACC is everywhere the church is even
though
its headquarters is in Nairobi,” he said.

Security was tight for arriving worshipers, with metal detectors at entry
points and soldiers stationed at strategic positions along the boulevard
and atop surrounding buildings and hills.  Media cameramen and women
jostled to take shots of dignitaries as they arrived, then moved back and
forth as choirs, speakers and bands took their turns from different
stations.

Preaching on the Assembly theme – taken from the Bible book of Nehemiah
2:11-18, was Msgr. Dr. Pierre Manini Bodho, President of the Christian
Church of Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo).

Speaking of the impetus to realizing a greater African unity, he reminded
those assembled that Christians’ unity “is lodged 
elsewhere” (in
Christ).  “From West to East and from North to South, the churches 
need to
bring our contribution so that the unity of Africa becomes real,” he
said.  “The church is not territorial or even purely African.  It ties
together the people of very race, language and society.”

Msgr. Bodho, preaching in French, thanked the All Africa Conference of
Churches for all its help over the past 40 years especially in resolving
armed conflicts.  “The AACC is the church of all Africa,” he 
said, urging
churches and governments to work together for the good of all the people
and churches and civil society to work together to hold governments
accountable.

He drew applause when he noted that Africa has enriched the whole world
through its resources and manpower but the West still seems determined to
take back from Africa through globalization.

The WCC’s incoming General Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Sam Kobia, prayed
for
peace in the world; the leader of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches,
the Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi, prayed for peace in families and an end to
violence in families and houses.  He sent a supplication to God that the
economy may become “life giving rather than life threatening” 
and that the
church be an example of peace in the continent.

By Carol J. Fouke-Mpoyo 	     AACC