We have done enough begging—Anglicans
The Anglican Church last Sunday consecrated Father Canon Alinafe Kalemba as new bishop of the Diocese of Southern Malawi with a call to the church to stop depending on the West for social and economic activities.
Head of the Province of Central Africa, Archbishop Albert Chama, challenged the new bishop to devise mechanisms for sustaining the church, saying “time for begging in the church is long gone.”
Chama said even Western churches have no money to keep doling out to African churches.
“As much as we cherish the relationship we enjoy with Western churches, the responsibility to develop this church belongs to us. Let us be a self-sustaining church,” he said, amid ululations and handclapping from delegates drawn from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania and the hosts Malawi.
Turning to the consecration, Chama warned the new bishop against mistaking his ascendancy to the episcopate for ‘promotion’.
The archbishop said the change of office entails that God has set Kalemba to take care of more sheep than he used to while serving as a priest.
“It’s not about being promoted, but to serve God’s people. Therefore, you may find this [office] very difficult if you don’t believe that it is God who has called you to serve Him through his people,” he said.
Vice-President Khumbo Kachali, who attended the function, said government will continue supporting the church for the advancement of social, economic and spiritual development in the country.
Kachali appealed to the clergy to pray for the current administration, especially now when government is grappling with the looting of public resources.
The position fell vacant in July this year following the resignation of Bishop James Tengatenga.
The elective assembly of the church met on September 24 2013 at St Paul’s Cathedral in Blantyre where it elected Kalemba as Tengatenga’s replacement.
