This is a big year for the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. From rather fragmented beginnings Presbyterian leaders managed to create a united church in 1924. Hence 2024 marks the centenary and it is time for celebration.
My small part in this enterprise has been on the academic side. Last year we convened a conference to assess the significance of the hundred years of the CCAP. A broad spectrum of CCAP leaders and scholars offered papers and over the past year I have been working with colleagues to edit these into a book. Now the book is rolling off the press and we will be able to present it as a gift to the centenary celebration.
The book is celebratory in tone, recognizing how much there is for which to be thankful. From small beginnings the CCAP has grown to the point where today it can count more than 3,100,000 members. At the beginning it comprised just three Presbyteries, now there are more than 100. The Presbyterian system lends itself to church growth – when a Presbytery grows too big to be manageable it can simply split in two. This is happening today all over the country to accommodate exponential growth.
The CCAP also plays a major role in national life. It makes a very significant contribution to the provision of education and healthcare, as well as running a wide range of community development projects. The church enjoys the trust of the people and can call the Government to account when required.
Yet, often to its own frustration, the CCAP has struggled across the entire 100 years to fully achieve the unity for which it was created. Though the missionaries were enthusiastic about the unity achieved in 1924 they continued to concentrate authority and resources in their separate Missions, influenced by the colonial mentality that prevailed at the time. Even as they united, they built in division. The CCAP has found it hard to recover from this. Indeed, in later history the divisions have been reinforced by ethnic and political factors. Thus many of the contributors to the book focus on causes of disunity in the CCAP and ways of building greater cohesion and unity for the future. Might the centenary be an opportunity to address this long-running issue in fruitful ways?
Thinking Mission Blog 