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Evangelical Lutheran Church of the
Central African Republic
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic began as a
region of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon, with roots going back to the 1930s
when the Sudan Mission, led by Adolph Gunderson, was very active. In 1952, after the death
of Pastor Gunderson, the Sudan Mission was taken over by the Evangelical Lutheran Church
(which later became part of The American Lutheran Church, an ELCA predecessor). Pastor
Gunderson had provided such outstanding leadership that the Sudan mission was often
referred to as "the Gunderson mission."
The ELC/CAR includes an estimated 55,000 Christians in 300 congregations.
It became independent from Cameroon in 1972, and since that time the number of pastors has
grown from seven to approximately forty.
The most important program of the church is leadership development. There
is one seminary that trains pastors for service in the church. A Bible school takes
40 students for a three-year training program in evangelism and agricultural activities. The ELC/CAR is one of the few churches in Africa which accept
ordained women. There is a very active Women for Christ program with a major emphasis on
empowering women. One goal is to work with young girls in order to begin the empowerment
earlier. Continued work in adult literacy is very important, and the church supports the
nation through general education, beginning at the primary school level.
Evangelism centers not only on the population in the area where the church
is strong, but also among the Fulani cattle herders. A small number of these traditionally
Muslim herders have become Christian, and shepherding these new Christians is a major
challenge for the church.
There are programs of youth ministry and urban ministry in the capital
city of Bangui, where St. Timothy Lutheran Church is located. St. Timothy is a memorial to
a young man, Tim Olson from Minnesota, who was killed by bandits while serving in Central
African Republic in 1992.
A rural development program funded by Lutheran World Federation has done
an excellent job in dealing with issues of nutrition, self-sustainability, leadership
development, and potential income. Central African leaders have taken over much of the
daily functioning of the project.
One of the priorities for the church is continued work in primary health
care. Central African Republic has yet to develop an infrastructure for health care
outside the capital city. There are great needs for safe drinking water, adequate food,
and for reducing infant mortality and maternal mortality. A tremendous amount of work
needs to be done in primary health care, training of midwives, building latrines, giving
immunizations, and other very basic health care issues. Another growing challenge is the
AIDS epidemic.
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