Presiding Bishop Tomás Ndawanapo, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola. Photo: Private
Voices from the Communion: Presiding Bishop Tomás Ndawanapo on past challenges and future hopes
(LWI) - This year, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the ordination of its first local pastor who was sent across the border from neighboring Namibia. Yet the history of the church goes further back to the late 19th century, when German and Finnish missionaries in Namibia first began evangelizing and setting up communities across southern Angola.
It was a challenging time for the missionaries who suffered persecution, both at the hands of the occupying Portuguese authorities and from the Catholic church, to which the majority of people belonged. After independence in 1975, the challenges continued as the country became a battleground for the Cold War adversaries, fueling a conflict that lasted until 2002 and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
“We are marking this 70th anniversary, but the presence of the church in our country is a much longer process,” says Presiding Bishop Tomás Ndawanapo, who has been leading the church for the past two decades. Elected as a Council member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) at the General Assembly in Kraków, he shares his own journey to leadership and his hopes for the future of the church in Angola.
Tell us about your family and your early childhood?
I grew up in a family where neither my mother or father were Christians and there was no church in Shangalala, the area where I was born. The first missionaries arrived there in 1965 when I was five years old.
At Sunday School, our teacher told us stories from the Bible and I was very interested in the lives of our ancestors, Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. My father worked in Namibia and he knew about the church there, so my parents encouraged us to attend church. I became a Christian when I was 13 years old and my father was eventually baptized at the end of his life too.
How did that affect your life when you became a Christian?
In our community, there was a lot of alcohol and bad behavior, but when I read the Word of God, I understood that I had to change my way of living. I wanted to become a pastor, but because of the civil war in our country, I had to go into the army at 18.
I spent five years with the army and it was very difficult to leave because the government wanted everyone to stay and fight. I went to live on the coast in Namibe and I got a job as an employee of the government-run electricity company.
The company wanted to send me to Russia to study engineering, but then my church leaders told me that the missionaries were returning to Finland and they asked me to come and represent my church in Lubango, the second largest city after the capital, Luanda. I was 23 and I accepted to go with my wife to take up that position.
You had no theological education at that time?
I had no official training so I asked the church council to send me to the ecumenical theological institute in Lubango. I studied there from 1989 to 1993 and was ordained as a pastor. After that, I asked to go to Brazil with my family to study at the Faculdades Est university in São Leopoldo where I graduated in the year 2000.
What did you do on your return to Angola?
I started teaching in our Lutheran Bible School in Lubango and when the general secretary of our church retired, I was elected to take his place. Three years later, during our general synod, I was appointed as presiding pastor of the church as we didn’t use the title of bishop. In 2011, that status changed so I was appointed bishop.
In 2016, the church was divided into two dioceses and I was elected as presiding bishop. In November I am coming to the end of my term and a new presiding bishop will be elected at our general synod.
What do you see as the major challenges facing the church?
Our church is growing, but not as much as we want. 95 percent of our members are located in Cunene province in the south of the country, mostly in remote, rural areas. In many places, you can find children who have never seen a car, who don’t know what electricity is. The church is also very closely tied to local culture and people are reluctant to change. We try to show them that the church is more than just ethnic culture and traditions.
The economic crisis means that young people do not want to work for the church because they know that they will face financial difficulties. In the past, financial support came from outside, from the missionary societies and many people still believe that they don’t have to be responsible for their church. We are showing them that the church belongs to them now and they need to come up with initiatives to develop their communities. Thanks be to God, we are seeing some results from our efforts.
How widespread is the economic crisis in Angola?
It is very serious, especially in rural areas where there is no rain and especially since the COVID pandemic we can see more poverty in our towns and cities too. Many people are suffering from hunger, unemployment is growing. It is very moving to see children standing outside shops or market stalls asking for food, or to see adults looking for something to eat in the garbage.
LWF’s World Service was supporting some of the most vulnerable communities there until last year, wasn’t it?
Yes, we have to thank them for the great work they did assisting people in the remotest areas where it is often very difficult to cope with droughts and flooding. In 2013, we invited former LWF General Secretary Martin Junge to visit and he saw how people were trying to dig for water with their bare hands. World Service developed water and sanitation systems in Cunene and now that their office has been closed, the local organization, which is taking over from them, will continue with this important work. The lessons and the witness which World Service has left in our country is very positive.
How important is it for you and your church to be part of the LWF communion?
It is a big responsibility for me – as a member of the LWF Council, I am one of four people representing LUCSA, the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa. Our theology calls us care for the wellbeing of all people and for all of God's creation. Being part of the LWF reminds us of our responsibility for others outside of our local and regional communities.
