Walter Obare Omwanza is the former presiding bishop (in

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the Christian ministry, ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the Twelve Apostles, apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been ...

) of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

(ELCK), which is a member of the

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; ) is a global Communion (religion), communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of L ...

and the

International Lutheran Council The International Lutheran Council (ILC) is a worldwide association of confessional Lutheran denominations. Member bodies of the ILC hold "an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the ...

Concordia Theological Seminary Concordia Theological Seminary is a Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, Lutheran seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It offers professional, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees affiliated with training clergy and deaconesses for the Lutheran Churc ...

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...

, a seminary of the U.S.

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

(LCMS), awarded Obare an honorary Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa) degree in 2006.

Childhood and family life

Obare was born in Misambi village on 10 May 1947 in the

Nyamira District Nyamira District was an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. It was split from Kisii District in 1989 and was sometimes referred to as ''North Kisii District''. The district had a population of 492,102 (1999 census). Its capita ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. He married in 1976 and has ten children and seven grandchildren.

Schooling and service

Obare studied at Matongo Lutheran Theological College (MLTC) and graduated with a General Certificate in Theology in 1981. He was ordained as a pastor in 1982, after which he served as a parish pastor in nine congregations simultaneously. In 1985, he was appointed by the ELCK to be Pastor for Schools, a churchwide position. In 1991, he again studied at MLTC, graduating with a Higher Diploma in Theology in 1993. In the same year he began a teaching career at MLTC. He was awarded a master's degree from the LCMS's

Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...

St Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. He came back to Kenya and continued at MLTC until August 2002, when he was called to the office of the Presiding Bishop of ELCK. He was consecrated a bishop on 24 November 2002 by bishop Samson Mushemba, the presiding bishop of the ELCT, assisted by bishop Francis Nyamwaro Onderi who is ordained by Gunnar Weman archbishop of Uppsala.

Apostolic succession

Walter Obare was ordained bishop on 24 November 2002 by: Samson Mushemba, the presiding bishop of the ELCT, who was ordained in 1984 by : Paulo Mukuta, bishop of Karagwe, who was ordained in 1979 by : Josias Kibira, assistant bishop of Bukoba, who was ordained bishop by :

Bengt Sundkler Bengt G. M. Sundkler (May 7, 1908, Degerfors, Västerbotten, Sweden - April 5, 1995, Uppsala, Sweden) was a Swedish-Tanzanian Church historian, missiologist, professor and bishop of Bukoba. Following his death, it emerged that in writing his be ...

, the first Lutheran bishop in Tanzania, who was ordained bishop by : Bo Giertz, bishop of Gothenburg (

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

)

Mission Province and Lutheran World Federation

On 5 February 2005, he consecrated a Swedish pastor, Arne Olsson, as bishop for a conservative group called

Missionsprovinsen The Mission Province ( ) is a Swedish independent ecclesiastical province founded by members of the Church of Sweden who are opposed to the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. The province, which aligns with Confessional Luthe ...

, which opposes the

's policy on placing women and unrepentant homosexuals into the ordained pastorate. The Council of the

subsequently terminated a leadership position Obare held within the LWF on 1 September 2005.

References

External links

Why Are We Here Today
by Bishop Obare, 5 February 2005
Choose Life!
presented by Bishop Obare at the LWF Council meeting in Jerusalem, September, 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Obare, Walter Lutheran primates 1947 births Living people Kenyan Lutherans 21st-century Lutheran bishops Kenyan bishops Lutheran bishops in Africa Concordia Seminary alumni Bishops in Kenya