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United Methodists in Africa elect first female bishop

>Jul. 23, 2008

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

>A UMNS Report By Linda Bloom*

The Rev. Joaquina Filipe Nhanala was elected July 23 as the first female  United Methodist bishop in Africa.

Nhanala, 51, the pastor of Matola United Methodist Church in Mozambique,  was elected during the July 22-24 meeting of the denomination's Africa  Central Conference at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Effective  Sept. 1, she will succeed Bishop João Somane Machado, who is retiring  as the leader of the Mozambique area.

In another election during the conference, Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa was  re-elected to lead the denomination's Zimbabwe area. The Africa Central  Conference includes the denomination's Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola  episcopal areas, the South Africa Provisional Conference, the Malawi  Missionary Conference, and the East Africa Episcopal Area of Uganda,  Southern Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi.

Nhiwatiwa was first elected to the episcopacy in 2004 and has served as  general secretary of the Africa Central Conference since 2000. He  previously was a faculty member of the theology school at Africa  University. His re-election means that he is now a bishop for life.

Besides serving a large church in Matola, a suburb of Maputo, Nhanala  has coordinated women's projects for the Mozambique church and led a  World Relief HIV/AIDS program designed to mobilize churches for  education and advocacy in Mozambique's three southern provinces. Nhanala  and the program were featured in the 2004 Bread for the World video,  "Keep the Promise on Hunger and Health."

Among those celebrating her election were members of the denomination's  Missouri Annual (regional) Conference and its Mozambique Initiative  ministry, which connects churches, groups and individuals in Missouri  with partner United Methodist congregations and districts in Mozambique  to strengthen the church there.

"We in the Missouri Conference have had a long relationship with Rev.  Joaquina Nhanala, providing assistance for her to attend the  clergywomen's event in California several years ago, working together in  workshops around women's issues in Mozambique, and as a pastor of a  covenant partner church, Matola UMC in Mozambique," said Carol Kreamer,  coordinator for the Mozambique Initiative.

Nhanala is the only female United Methodist pastor in Mozambique holding  a master's degree in theology, she noted.

The new bishop also facilitated the Mozambique Initiative's consultation  with 200 participants in Maputo in 2003.  "Bishop Nhanala is capable,  bright and dedicated and we look forward to collaborating in mission and  ministry together," Kreamer added.

>Catholic and Methodist roots

Nhanala is married to another United Methodist pastor, the Rev. Eugenio  Tomas, and they have four adult children.

Although she was baptized and confirmed as a Catholic - her father's  religion - Nhanala also attended her mother's Methodist church. Drawn to  the youth programs, she became active in the Methodist church as a  teen-ager. She and her husband, who married in 1976, were both accepted  for theological studies at the 1985 Mozambique Annual Conference and  received sponsorship from the Women's Fellowship.

They attended Gbarnga School of Theology in Liberia and Nhanala was  ordained a deacon in 1989. When the civil war in Liberia disrupted the  couple's studies, they moved to Ghana, where she completed her diploma  in theology at Trinity College. The family then moved to Kenya, where  she attended Limuru University and received a bachelor of divinity  degree in 1995.

In 1998, she graduated from Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of  Theology with a master's degree in Bible studies and theology and also  served as a teacher and dean of students there. She speaks five native  languages, as well as Portuguese and English.

>A growing area

According to the Mozambique Initiative, The United Methodist Church has  tripled in size in Mozambique in the last 13 years, with some 150,000  members in more than 170 congregations of the 23 districts. As bishop,  Nhanala also will oversee 29 schools, a theological school, agricultural  programs, Chicuque Rural Hospital, two clinics, a seminary and four  Bible schools.

The denomination's three central conferences in Africa are comparable to  the five U.S. jurisdictional conferences, which met during the week of  July 14 to elect eight new U.S. bishops. The Congo Central Conference  will meet in August and the West Africa Central Conference will meet in  December.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or  newsdesk@umcom.org.

>********************

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

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