The Church of the Province of Central Africa is part of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

, and includes 15 dioceses in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. The

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

of the Church is the

Archbishop of Central Africa This is a list of the Archbishops of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, which encompasses the present-day Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. List of Archbishops of Central Africa References {{reflist External linksLambeth ...

Albert Chama Albert Chama is a Zambian Anglican bishop. He is the Archbishop and Primate of the Church of the Province of Central Africa, since 2011. He is married and has four children. Now Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Lusaka after resigning as Bishop of ...

is the current archbishop, being installed on 20 March 2011, succeeding Bernard Amos Malango who retired in 2007. From 1980 to 2000,

Walter Khotso Makhulu Walter Paul Khotso Makhulu (born Johannesburg 1935) is an emeritus South African-born Anglican archbishop of Central Africa. Makhulu was educated at St Peter's Theological College, Rosettenville and Selly Oak College, Birmingham.‘MAKHULU, M ...

, a noted Anti-Apartheid activist, was Archbishop as well as

Bishop of Botswana The Diocese of Botswana is one of 15 dioceses of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, a Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion. It is a member of the Botswana Council of Churches. List of B ...

. Archbishop Chama continues to serve as Bishop of Northern Zambia, and is the second Zambian to be Archbishop of Central Africa.

History

In 1861, the first Anglican missionary to the area was Charles Mackenzie, who arrived with

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

. In 1855, he went to Natal with Bishop Colenso. They worked among the English settlers until 1859. In 1860, Mackenzie became head of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa; and he was consecrated bishop in St George's Cathedral,

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, on 1 January 1861. Following

's request to Cambridge, Mackenzie took on the position of being the first missionary Bishop in

( 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 The Mang'anja are a Bantu people of central and southern Africa, particularly around Chikwawa in the Shire River valley of southern Malawi. They speak a dialect of the Nyanja language, and are a branch of the Amaravi people. As of 1996 their popul ...

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 Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria infection in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream (hemolysis), releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. The disease ...

on 31 January 1862. There is an International school named after Mackenzie, which teaches children from 4 to 17 and is found in

Lilongwe Lilongwe (, , ) is the capital and most populated city of the African country of Malawi. It has a population of 989,318 as of the 2018 Census, up from a population of 674,448 in 2008. In 2020 that figure was 1,122,000. The city is located in th ...

the capital of

. 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 Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961. From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlb ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

relinquished his jurisdiction over Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland and Geoffrey Clayton, Archbishop of Cape Town relinquished his over Mashonaland and Matabeleland.

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 Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

churches. The church maintains a system of geographical

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

es organized into

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

s. There are 15 of these, each headed by a bishop. The

and

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

is the

. * The Diocese of Botswana * in

: ** The Diocese of Central Zambia ** The Diocese of Eastern Zambia ** The

Diocese of Lusaka The Diocese of Lusaka is one of fifteen Anglican bishoprics within the Church of the Province of Central Africa, covering part of Zambia. It came into being as the Diocese of Northern Rhodesia (the colonial precursor of Zambia) in 1910 and change ...

** The Diocese of Luapula ** The

Diocese of Northern Zambia The Diocese of Northern Zambia is one of five dioceses in Zambia within the Church of the Province of Central Africa: it was created in 1971. The first bishop was Joseph Mabula and the current bishop is Albert Chama. References ...

* in

: ** The Diocese of Central Zimbabwe ** The Diocese of Harare ** The Diocese of Masvingo (Anglican) ** The

Diocese of Matabeleland The Diocese of Matabeleland is in Zimbabwe and is one of 15 dioceses of the Province of Central Africa, a province of the Anglican Communion.Diocese of Manicaland * in

(former Nyasaland) : ** The Diocese of Lake Malawi ** The

Diocese of Northern Malawi The Diocese of Northern Malawi is one of the four diocese in Malawi within the Church of the Province of Central Africa The Church of the Province of Central Africa is part of the Anglican Communion, and includes 15 dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, ...

** The

Diocese of Southern Malawi The Diocese of Southern Malawi is one of the four diocese in Malawi within the Church of the Province of Central Africa The Church of the Province of Central Africa is part of the Anglican Communion, and includes 15 dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, Za ...

** 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 Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. The basic teachings of the church, or

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

, 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 A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the real ...

are

Holy Baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

and

Holy Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ot ...

*Other sacramental rites are

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

reconciliation of a penitent Confession, in many religions, is the acknowledgment of one's sins (sinfulness) or wrongs. Christianity Catholicism In Catholic teaching, the Sacrament of Penance (Catholic Church), Sacrament of Penance is the method of the Church by whic ...

, and unction. *Belief in

heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict 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 Richard Hooker (25 March 1554 – 2 November 1600) was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian.The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University ...

, 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. 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. The Church of the Province of Central Africa does not

ordain women Ordain Women is a Mormon feminist organization that supports the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was founded on March 17, 2013, by Kate Kelly, a human rights attorney fro ...

. Local variants of the

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

are used in worship. Like many other Anglican churches, it is also a member of the ecumenical

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

Anglican realignment

The Church of the Province of Central Africa is a member of the

Global South The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...

. Former archbishop Bernard Malango was involved in the Anglican realignment, while current archbishop

, despite having attended the Global South Fourth Encounter held in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, 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 The Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) or The Anglican Mission (AM) is a self-governing church inheriting its doctrine and form of worship from the Episcopal Church in the United States (TEC) and Anglican Church of Canada with members and chu ...

, 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

and one from

History

Membership

Structure

Doctrine and practice

Ministry, liturgy and ecumenical relations

Anglican realignment

See also

References

Further reading