WCC NEWS: African churches’ efforts meet African Union’s at Agenda 2063 strategic framework

Efforts to transform Africa into a progressive and sustainable continent by churches and the African Union are finding convergence in a blueprint or master plan known as the Agenda 2063. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 07 December 2021 By Fredrick Nzwili* At the core of the 50-year plan are aspirations such as a peaceful and secure, politically integrated and prosperous continent, among a list of seven. It also has 20 goals, including healthy and well-nourished citizens, transformed economies and well-educated citizens, a skills revolution underpinned by science, technology and innovation in what the African Union calls the “Africa we want.” The churches say “the Africa we want is the Africa God wants” and now want theological institutions to teach the contents of the blueprint in classes.  At a three-day consultation in Nairobi, church leaders, seminary and university professors and deans of theological institutions agreed to find ways to include the agenda in theological institutions’ curriculums. The leaders at the recent conference would move to develop a theological basis for the agenda. “We cannot be out of this agenda. It is called the “Africa we want” and if this is it, what is God’s view on the future of the continent? This is how we come in with the idea of the Africa God wants,” said Rev. Prof. Bosela Eale, director of Theology, Interfaith Relations and Leadership at the All Africa Conference of Churches in a telephone interview. “We want to reflect what God wants through the agenda’s aspirations. We want to bring God’s view into the aspiration. There are seven of them and we want to link each with the Bible.” According to Eale, this is a project of the generations and the current generation of clerics was paving the way. “We will do our part and the coming generation will continue,” he said. Prof. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, a senior African theological scholar, reminded that the Agenda 2063 of the African Union challenged the church in Africa to be theologically sensitive to the development of the continent. “Theology training must be relevant to the Agenda 2063, whose objective is the flourishing and well-being of the continent,” said Asamoah-Gyadu, president and Baetu-Grau Professor of Contemporary African Christianity and Pentecostal Theology at the Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra, Ghana. This was the first-ever such meeting on Agenda 2063 and was attended by over 100 church leaders, seminary and university professors, and deans of theological institutions. It also explored how theological education could be made relevant to transform the lives of the continent’s people. The All Africa Conference of Churches had organized the meeting in collaboration with several theological networks and Christian organizations. Meanwhile, the All Africa Conference of Churches wants churches, theological networks and Christian associations to embrace the Agenda2063 as a project of their own. *Fredrick Nzwili is a freelance journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland