The Let Us Go Proclamation - Africa

Petition in response to COB Statement (August 26, 2022) and African Bishops Statement (September 8, 2022) 

To: Bishop Tom Bickerton – President Council of Bishops 
Bishop Eben K Nhiwatiwa - Interim President All Africa College of Bishops 
Bishop Daniel Wandabula – President Africa Central Conference College of Bishops 
Bishop Benjamin Boni – President West Africa College of Bishops 
Bishop Gabriel Unda – President Congo Central Conference of Bishops 

Cc All COB Members 

Grace and peace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are the laity of the various Annual Conferences within the three Central Conferences of Africa committed to upholding the authority of scripture through living out the traditional and conservative understanding and interpretation of scripture in The United Methodist Church. With the developments going on in our denomination, we are thoroughly disappointed with some of the statements issued out by the respected bodies quoted above in their recent sittings.  

• The Council of Bishops recently announced that Central Conferences of Africa can only hold elections to replace Bishops who are affected by mandatory retirement after General Conference 2024, a decision they said was made by the African Bishops and reported to have been overwhelmingly supported. We raise a serious concern as to who supported the decision as Central Conference Episcopacy Committees and Secretaries were never involved. Further, we worry that it is not good governance that some of the bishops who are affected by mandatory retirement are the ones who vetoed such a decision. It must be noted that two out of the three college presidents are affected by mandatory retirement as well as the overall interim president of African Colleges. If all other parts of the worldwide UMC are electing bishops, Africa does not have any special circumstances that justify the overstay of retired bishops. We unapologetically declare that our Bishops are on their own on this matter. We demand that this issue be looked at through the lenses that would align it to the dictates of our law book. We cannot be a church that resorts to secular courts to enforce its own rules. 

• The African Bishops at their meeting of September 8 at Africa University, Zimbabwe released a statement that can be best described as intimidatory and designed to be a victimisation tool. We stand up strongly as lay people against this kind of attitude by our Bishops which is devoid of love and unity that they should advocate for. We believe and call for a spirit of tolerance and engagement. This statement does not do any good to the otherwise thriving Methodism in Africa. We demand that ways be sought by these esteemed bodies to encourage a spirit of peaceful dialogue. Declaration of confrontations and fighting have no place on the African soil. May we kindly remind our bishops that as African lay members of the United Methodist Church, we are key stakeholders capable of discerning and making informed choices on matters that impact on our faith. We further demand that information on all issues affecting our denomination must be discussed freely and openly by all members without fear or favor. 

• While our African bishops claim to “remain committed to the teachings of the Bible and to the doctrines of our Christian faith and heritage:” we mourn the continuous castigation of traditional caucuses that are contending for the orthodoxy of the gospel in Africa while giving a free reign to some liberal caucuses. We have a heart-wrenching case of a pro-LGBTQ church dedicated in Africa by an African Bishop which is sharply against our values. This behaviour is hypocritical in our understanding and analysis. We demand that our African Bishops be clearly and unreservedly accountable to one another, to the electorate and to God. This attitude fast destroys the fabric of African culture and belief system that has seen the growth of Methodism in leaps and bounce across the continent. We stand firm by the 2019 Special General Conference resolution that our delegates brought back, and we are not apologetic about it like some of our African Bishops have been. 

Signed by the Laity of Africa. Clergy who feel persuaded to stand in solidarity can also sign.