At the beginning of August 2017, on invitation of the Diocese of Angola, Dr Revd Marcus Throup from the Diocese of Winchester went to Angola to deliver short day theological conferences in 3 locations to resource and inspire clergy and church leaders. Marcus is a theological educator, having previously lectured at St John’s College, Nottingham and now teaches at Diocese of Winchester’s School of Mission. For over a decade, he taught in Brazil and has published several works in Portuguese and has translated theology textbooks for major publishers.
Very few priests in Angola have had any theological training in the form of a degree course in their own language. A few of the 60+ clergy in Angola have who have had access to funds have travelled to South Africa and had some education in english but the majority have not had adequate education. There is huge need for more theological education, resources and equipping.
Firstly, Marcus visited Mucaba where 87 people attended the lectures, including clergy, clergy wives and seminarians. The district comprises 16 parishes, 32 congregations, 18 priests and 4 distinctive deacons. After that he went to Uige where 63 people attended, including Archdeacons, priests, deacons and seminarians. Finally he went to Luanda where 36 people attended, including the bishop, an Archdeacon, priests, deacons and seminarians.
The series of lectures consisted of reflections drawing on the Ordinal of the Church of England and its fivefold description of the priest. Several biblical texts were studied, with a particular concentration on 1 Peter, and also the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. In addition, a core text was Kenneth Bailey’s 2015 book, ‘The good shepherd’, SPCK.
