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Bishop Bameka reelected in Uganda

by | Feb 7, 2024

Participants pose following the installation of elected officials during the LCU’s 2023 National Synod Conference.

UGANDA – Delegates from across the Lutheran Church of Uganda (LCU) gathered for the church’s 7th National Synod Conference from December 7-10, 2023, during which time they reelected Bishop Charles Bameka to another term as National Presiding Bishop. The conference was held at Lutheran Theological College – Uganda in Magamaga.

LCU Bishop Charles Bameka.

Bishop Bameka was consecrated as the first bishop of the LCU in 2022, prior to which he had served the church body as its president. He previously served as Director of Lutheran Media Ministry Uganda. Bishop Bameka attended seminary in Accra, Ghana, and was ordained in 2001.

The conference opened with a worship service led by Archbishop Joseph Omolo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK). Other international guests in attendance during the conference included Bishop John Donkoh of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG); Bishop David Tswaedi of the Confessional Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (CLCSA); Bishop Yohana Ernest Nzelu of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania’s South East of Lake Victoria Diocese (ELCT-SELVD); and Rev. Michael Frese, Deputy Director of Church Relations for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

The convention also saw the election of Deans for the LCU’s seven deaneries, among other positions. All those elected during the conference were formally installed or reinstalled during Divine Service on December 10, 2023.

The Lutheran Church of Uganda is a member church of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies that proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

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South Sudan celebrates bishop’s consecration

by | May 17, 2022

Bishop Nathaniel Bol (centre left) is invested as bishop of SSELC.
Bishop Nathaniel Bol (front right) following his consecration.

KENYA – On April 24, 2022, Rev. Nathaniel Bol Nyok Apar was consecrated as Bishop of the South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church (SSELC).

The consecration took place at Kakuma in northwestern Kenya. Kakuma is the site of a United Nations refugee camp which hosts refugees from Sudan. The church has four congregations in the camp (three South Sudanese and one Sudanese).

Archbishop Joseph Ochola Omolo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) presided over the consecration service, and Bishop Charles Bameka of the Lutheran Church of Uganda (LCU) preached for the event. Also participating in the consecration were Bishop Emmanuel Makala of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania – South East of Lake Victoria Diocese (ELCT-SELVD), Bishop Robert Kaumba of the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Africa—Zambia Diocese (LECA), and diocesan Bishops William Lopeta and Titus Okoda of the ELCK.

“I want to congratulate Bishop Bol on his formal consecration,” said General Secretary Timothy Quill of the International Lutheran Council (ILC). “He has served the South Sudanese church for many years already, and I pray that God will continue to bless him in his ministry.”

Rev. Nathaniel Bol is consecrated as bishop of the South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Bishop Bol was elected in December 2011 but attempts to hold a formal consecration service in South Sudan were complicated by civil war which raged in the country from 2013-2020. The conflict led approximately 2.5 million people to flee the country as refugees, primarily to Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan.

An earlier attempt to hold a consecration service in Kenya in 2021 was also delayed.

The South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church is an observer member church of the International Lutheran Council, a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies.

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Ghana’s Lutherans celebrate 60 years

by | Sep 11, 2019

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.

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