TRAINING LUTHERAN PASTORS in Africa using the Book of concord

October 20, 2011
[TRAINING LUTHERAN PASTORS IN AFRICA USING THE BOOK OF CONCORD]
and bishops have been tending the Lord‟s flock and taking care of his
vineyard, garden and plantation over the past decades and even
centuries – not only, but also specifically in Tanzania. Praise the triune
God for this!
Lutherans in Africa face many similar contextual challenges and
opportunities as individuals, as congregations and churches, even as
Seminaries. Serious networking of our institutions is the obvious way to
go – especially in training of prospective and practising pastors. I believe
the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa [LCSA] gives us a practical
solution. The LCSA was constituted not as a national entity, but rather a
confessional one – incorporating Lutherans from Botswana, Swaziland
and South Africa, but initially also from Germany and subsequentially
from the USA. This Church is not constituted by national boundaries,
racial bias, cultural exclusivity or ideological barriers. Rather its
constitution gives exclusive priority to confessional ecclesiology as
propagated in the BoC – specifically CA VII. That practical orthodoxy [de
facto et lege] is sufficient for Church unity [satis est!] providing space for a
wide spectrum of various traditions, usages and customs [cf. Schöne
2007: 45]. I believe that this foundation provides a suitable platform for a
sustainable training program of our students.
This points the way forward for confessional Lutherans all over the
continent. They are called out of the narrow confines of sectarian
parochialism and into the wide open spaces of the community of fellow
believers. Obviously viable formats of such cooperating identities like
congregations, dioceses and churches have proved favourable and
sustainable. My contention is that we are responsible for areas of
common concern and are bound by our common faith to cooperate in
resolving vexing problems and also to strive to combine limited resources
10 Ordination as pivot in theological training | Presentation to be held at Moshi, Tanzania