National Synod of the Anglican Church

Delegates from 12 of the 13 dioceses flew from all corners of the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kindu, the home of the current Archbishop, for the 12th National Synod of the Anglican Church in Congo. It was the first time that the church had managed to get such a wide representation from across every diocese (except Congo Brazzaville). Planes were late or rescheduled and so the 6 days were cut to 4.

We decided to raise the retirement age of clergy from 65 to 70, which is good news for two of our bishops who are 67 and 69 respectively. We decided to create two ecclesiastical provinces instead of one as the DRC is so vast. And on the last day of the synod, starting at 11.30pm, the House of Bishops met. I was there as an observer, but wasn’t feeling well and so went to bed, only to wake up to find they had elected a new archbishop. It was the first time that a sitting archbishop has agreed to step down. The new archbishop, Ande Titre from the Diocese of Aru, will also become acting bishop of Goma. The above photo shows most of the bishops, with Bishop Ande second from right.

The Church of Christ in Congo, North Kivu

This synod convened specifically to elect a new president after the previous president had died after completing 26 years of his 12 year term of office. The Church of Christ in Congo (ECC) is a body that unites 17 different denominations, in chaotic disunity. It was formed by a previous president of the republic so as not to have to deal with dozens of different protestant denominations.

After each denomination paid their debts before being allowed to participate, we were informed that the two-day synod would start at 8am on Friday in a Pentecostal church. The night before the synod started some delegates were informed of a change in timing and of venue. We arrived at the new venue at 10am and milled around until 11am. Then we had a short act of worship, followed by a tea break, which ended up running into late lunch, whilst emergency meetings went on about why the venue had been changed and who was a real delegate. The 100 delegates then reconvened at 4pm to be verified and we were then asked if we wanted to start the business of the day, to which there was a resounding “No!”

After worship and a tea break on day two, proceedings were again interrupted because the constitution we had was not the same as the national constitution, which had been amended recently. So gone midday, we started to vote. In many church elections in DRC, you do not put yourself forward but are nominated by someone else. And so each of the positions started with every delegate being asked to propose one possible candidate. I had previously asked how would I know who wanted to stand. I was told that I would know. Turns out I didn’t. These voting intentions were meant to be followed by candidate manifestos, but for the vast majority of positions, one candidate got more than 50% of voting intentions and was duly declared elected. Turns out everyone else knew.

11 September 2021