News

Posts tagged:

ELA-SBe

Education celebrations in Benin and Kenya

The Lutheran Church in Africa-Benin Synod celebrates the ordination of two new pastors. Photo:  Emmanuel Lekoto.

AFRICA – Two Lutheran church bodies in Kenya and Benin are celebrating recent events related to seminary education.

The ELA-SBe ordains two new pastors. Photo:  Emmanuel Lekoto.

On November 19, 2022, the Lutheran Church in Africa-Benin Synod (Église Luthérienne en Afrique—Synode du Bénin – ELA-SBe) celebrated the ordination of two new pastors—Revs. Aris D. Agbessi and Prudence T. Lekoto—during a service at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Abomey-Calavi. Both took their theological training at the Lutheran Centre for Theological Studies (Centre Luthérien d’Études Théologiques – CLET) in Dapaong, Togo. CLET is the seminary of the Lutheran Church of Togo (Église Luthérienne du Togo – ELT).

The ELA-SBe is a young church body in Benin, and the ordination of two new pastors brings the church’s total number of pastors to three. The church serves approximately 400 members in three congregations.

Meanwhile in Kenya, on January 28, 2023, the seminary relations committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium of Kenya (ELCMK) celebrated the receipt of several boxes of books for their library. The books will play an important role in ensuring a strong confessional education for Lutherans in the ELCMK.

The ELCMK’s seminary relations committee celebrates new books for their library.

The books were a gift from the Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF)—an American organization associated with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS)—which has translated and provided Lutheran books for use in more than 145 languages in 90 countries across the world.

The Lutheran Church in Africa-Benin Synod is a full member of the International Lutheran Council, while the Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium of Kenya is an observer member. The ILC is a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies dedicated to the authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

———————

Ghana’s Lutherans celebrate 60 years

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana. (Photo: ELCG social media)

GHANA – The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG) celebrated its 60th anniversary during a national convention September 1-2, 2019 in Madina.

ELCG President John Donkoh during anniversary celebrations in Madina. (Photo: ELCG social media)

During the anniversary service on Sunday, ELCG President John Donkoh, elected in 2018, noted that “If you don’t know where you are from, it becomes very difficult to know where you are going.” Speaking on the history of the Ghanaian church, President Donkoh remarked, “It is said that a man got to know about Lutheranism, and he wanted a church in Ghana. He was referred to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). The Missouri Synod said, ‘You have a sister church in Africa.’ And so, missionaries from Nigeria were sent to Ghana. And that is how the Lutheran church began.”

That Nigerian mission work in cooperation with the LCMS would bear great fruit. The ELCG formally registered with the Ghanaian government in 1964. Today the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana has approximately 35,000 members in 50 congregations and 600 preaching stations throughout the country. The church has also been active in international missions: the Lutheran Church of Uganda (LCU) and the Lutheran Church in Africa – Benin Synod (ELA-SBe) are two church bodies founded through the mission work of the Ghanaian church, with the ELCG also having been active in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.

Celebrating the ELCG’s 60th anniversary. (Photo: ELCG social media)

LCN Bishop S.O. Willie preaches during the anniversary service. (Photo: Screenshot).

To honour the work of Nigerians in helping found their church, the ELCG invited the Lutheran Church of Nigeria (LCN) to celebrate the special anniversary with them. Present as guest preacher for the anniversary service was the Right Rev. S.O. Willie, a provincial Bishop of the Lutheran Church of Nigeria. A number of other international church partners were also present for the celebrations.

The ELCG and the LCMS, LCN, LCU, and ELA-SBe are all member churches of the International Lutheran Council, a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies.

———————

Signup for ILC Updates