Church of the Province of Central Africa

The Church of the Province of Central Africa is

The Church of the Province of
part of the Anglican Communion, and includes 15
dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Central Africa
Zimbabwe. The Primate of the Church is the Classification Protestant
Archbishop of Central Africa. Albert Chama is the Orientation Anglican
current archbishop, being installed on 20 March 2011,
succeeding Bernard Amos Malango who retired in Scripture Holy Bible
2007. From 1980 to 2000, Walter Khotso Makhulu, a Theology Anglican doctrine
noted Anti-Apartheid activist, was Archbishop as well
Polity Episcopal
as Bishop of Botswana. Archbishop Chama continues
to serve as Bishop of Northern Zambia, and is the Primate Albert Chama
second Zambian to be Archbishop of Central Africa.[1] Headquarters Mzuzu
Territory Botswana, Malawi, Zambia
History and Zimbabwe
Members 600,000
In 1861, the first Anglican missionary to the area was
Charles Mackenzie, who arrived with David Official website www.anglicancommunion.org
Livingstone. In 1855, he went to Natal with Bishop (http://www.anglicancommuni
Colenso. They worked among the English settlers until on.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=
1859. In 1860, Mackenzie became head of the C2)
Universities' Mission to Central Africa; and he was
consecrated bishop in St George's Cathedral, Cape Town,
on 1 January 1861. Following David Livingstone's request
to Cambridge, Mackenzie took on the position of being the
first missionary Bishop in Malawi (Nyasaland).

Moving from Cape Town, he arrived at Chibisa's village in

June 1861 with the goal to establish a mission station at
Magomero, near Zomba. Bishop Mackenzie worked
among the people of the Manganja country until January
1862 when he went on a supplies trip together with a few
members of his party. The boat they were travelling on,
sank and as medical supplies were lost, Bishop
Mackenzie's malaria could not be treated. He died of
Blackwater fever on 31 January 1862.

There is an International school named after Mackenzie,

which teaches children from 4 to 17 and is found in
Lilongwe the capital of Malawi. The independent Church
of the Province of Central Africa was inaugurated in 1955
and has a movable primacy. The inauguration service was
on 8 May 1955; Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in
Canterbury relinquished his jurisdiction over Northern Likoma, Malawi.
Rhodesia and Nyasaland and Geoffrey Clayton, Archbishop of Cape Town relinquished his over
Mashonaland and Matabeleland.[2]

Membership
Today, there are at least 600,000 Anglicans out of an estimated population of 31,780,000.

Structure
The polity of the Church of the Province of Central Africa is
Episcopalian church governance, which is the same as other
Anglican churches. The church maintains a system of geographical
parishes organized into dioceses. There are 15 of these, each
headed by a bishop. The Primate and Metropolitan is the
Archbishop of Central Africa.

The Diocese of Botswana[3]

in Zambia :
The Diocese of Central Zambia
The Diocese of Eastern Zambia
The Diocese of Lusaka
The Diocese of Luapula
The Diocese of Northern Zambia
in Zimbabwe :

The Diocese of Central Zimbabwe[4] David Livingstone memorial at

The Diocese of Harare Victoria Falls. Livingstone requested
The Diocese of Masvingo (Anglican) the first missionary bishop for the
Church.
The Diocese of Matabeleland
The Diocese of Manicaland
in Malawi (former Nyasaland) :
The Diocese of Lake Malawi
The Diocese of Northern Malawi
The Diocese of Southern Malawi
The Diocese of Southern Malawi-Upper Shire

There are 250 congregations and about 400 priests in the Church of the Province of Central Africa.

Doctrine and practice

The centre of the Church of the Province of Central Africa teaching is the life and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. The basic teachings of the church, or catechism, include:

Jesus Christ is fully human and fully God. He died and was resurrected from the dead.
Jesus provides the way of eternal life for those who believe.
The Old and New Testaments of the Bible were written by people "under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit". The Apocrypha are additional books that are used in Christian worship, but
 not for the formation of doctrine.
The two great and necessary sacraments are Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist
Other sacramental rites are confirmation, ordination, marriage, reconciliation of a penitent,
and unction.
Belief in heaven, hell, and Jesus's return in glory.

The threefold sources of authority in Anglicanism are scripture, tradition, and reason (borrowing from
Thomas Aquinas). These three sources uphold and critique each other in a dynamic way. This balance of
scripture, tradition and reason is traced to the work of Richard Hooker, a sixteenth-century apologist. In
Hooker's model, scripture is the primary means of arriving at doctrine and things stated plainly in scripture
are accepted as true. Issues that are ambiguous are determined by tradition, which is checked by reason.[5]
Minor differences of doctrine should not damn or save the soul but are frameworks surrounding the moral
and religious life of the believer. Church governance by bishops was biblical and traditional, but this was
not license for absolutism.

Ministry, liturgy and ecumenical relations

The Church of the Province of Central Africa embraces three orders of ministry: deacon, priest, and bishop.
In 2023, the Church of the Province of Central Africa approved the ordination of women to the diaconate
and to the priesthood, allowing each diocese to decide whether or not to ordain women.[6][7] Local variants
of the Book of Common Prayer are used in worship. Like many other Anglican churches, it is also a
member of the ecumenical World Council of Churches.[8]

Anglican realignment
The Church of the Province of Central Africa is a member of the Global South. Former archbishop Bernard
Malango was involved in the Anglican realignment, while current archbishop Albert Chama, despite having
attended the Global South Fourth Encounter held in Singapore, on 19–23 April 2010, has been a supporter
of "reconciliation" between the conservative and the liberal Anglican provinces. The Dioceses of Northern
Malawi and Southern Malawi-Upper Shire were listed as "mission partners" of the Anglican Mission in the
Americas, but are no longer listed as such. The province was represented at GAFCON III, on 17–22 June
2018, by a 4 members delegation, 3 from Malawi and one from Zimbabwe.[9]

See also
List of Archbishops of Central Africa

References
1. Anglican Communion News Service: Zambian bishop installed as sixth Archbishop of
Central Africa Province (http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2011/3/23/ACNS4826)
2. "The Living Church Annual" (https://books.google.com/books?id=9xPSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA
381). 1957.
3. The Rt Revd Trevor Mwamba, Bishop of Botswana, is portrayed in The No. 1 Ladies'
Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith and appears as himself in the TV
series.
4. "Anglican Communion: Diocese" (http://www.anglicancommunion.org/structures/member-ch
urches/member-church/diocese.aspx?church=central-africa&dio=central-zimbabwe).
 5. Anglican Listening (http://www.anglicanlistening.org/anglican_listening_61766_ENG_HTM.
htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080705192528/http://www.anglicanlistening.or
g/anglican_listening_61766_ENG_HTM.htm) 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine Detail on
how scripture, tradition, and reason work to "uphold and critique each other in a dynamic
way".
6. "Province of Central Africa Approves Ordination of Women" (https://livingchurch.org/2023/11/
07/province-of-central-africa-approves-ordination-of-women/). The Living Church. 2023-11-
07. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
7. "Growing Church: Central Africa agrees women's ordination, more dioceses and new
provinces" (https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2023/11/growing-the-church-central-africa-s
ynod-concludes-with-plans-for-more-dioceses-and-provinces.aspx). Anglican Communion
News Service. November 6, 2023.
8. World Council of Churches (http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3587)
9. GAFCON III largest pan-Anglican gathering since Toronto Congress of 1963, Anglican Ink,
20 June 2018 (http://anglican.ink/2018/06/20/gafcon-iii-largest-pan-anglican-gathering-since
-toronto-congress-of-1963/)

Further reading
Neill, Stephen, Anglicanism. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=Church_of_the_Province_of_Central_Africa&oldid=1184166446"