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Face Up to Corruption, South African Bishop Urges Lutheran Churches
Bishop Alex G. Malasusa, LWF vice president for the Africa region, emphasized that African churches should play their part to ensure that governments are democratic.
LWF Regional Consultation Deliberates Church’s Role in Democratic Governance
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa/GENEVA, 6 April 2011 (LWI) – South African Lutheran Bishop Dr Ndanganeni Phaswana has called on churches in Africa to be accountable in managing their own affairs so that they can be morally justified in prophetic engagement with governments and institutions on the continent.
“Dictatorships are the greatest challenge facing Africa,” said Phaswana, when he welcomed representatives of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in Africa, gathered in Johannesburg for the Africa Lutheran Church Leadership Consultation (ALCLC) 4-8 April. But he asked how churches could play a role in sensitizing citizens and their leaders if they themselves were corrupt.
The Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA) is hosting the ALCLC, attended by 60 participants. Deliberations focus on the understanding of the LWF regional expression on the continent, and will include contributions to the LWF Strategic Plan 2012-2017.
Preaching at the opening Eucharist, Bishop Horst Müller, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA N-T), reminded participants that they are called to be the “salt of the earth” (Mt 5:13), which means addressing issues that make livelihood difficult for ordinary people.
In his greeting, Bishop Alex G. Malasusa, LWF vice president for the Africa region, said the continent had experienced “remarkable transformation in all its socio-cultural patterns” in the last 30 years.
“On the one side we see gradual development of democracy in some countries,” which has been supported by Lutheran churches. “However, on the other side the process of democratization is overshadowed by corruption and unnecessary power struggle that is experienced during political elections,” noted Malasusa, who is presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.
The Tanzanian bishop pointed out that political parties “end up making coalition governments that are not wished by the voters. (…) These governments become a problem to the majority and only benefit a few,” he said, while emphasizing the church’s role in building democratic governance.
Referring to the internal issues facing churches themselves, Malasusa, a member of the LWF Executive Committee, said that listening as well as understanding was needed to strengthen the Lutheran communion and its more than 70 million members globally.
Speaking from the floor after Malasusa’s address, Bishop Dr Cosmos Moenga of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana noted that churches often face most of their challenges during conflict in both church and society.
Churches, he noted, should be guided by a clearly articulated Lutheran understanding of Christian faith. “We need an African theology in the 21st century. But what is the new theology to deal with corruption? We need to come with a theology that will empower people to deal with these issues,” he said.
Ms Colleen Cunningham of the Moravian Church in South Africa said, “Fundamentally we need to look at how we have been socialized. We need to look at democracy. Many theologians are leaving the Church and they become our leaders. We need to redefine where we are and how we are going to go into the future.”
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