Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa
| Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Lutheranism |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Primate | Presiding Bishop of ELCSA |
| Associations |
Lutheran World Federation, World Council of Churches, South African Council of Churches, All Africa Conference of Churches |
| Region |
South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho |
| Origin | 1975 |
| Congregations | 2,300 churches |
| Members | 589,582 members |
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa is a Lutheran church in South Africa. The Church has 580,000 baptized members, in seven Dioceses in South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland, and is (by a wide margin) the largest Lutheran church in the southern African region.
The ELCSA was constituted (from older churches) in 1975, and became a member of the Lutheran World Federation in 1976. The current Presiding Bishop of the church is the Rt Rev'd Ndanganeni P Phaswana, who was appointed in 2012.
A number of regional Lutheran churches in southern Africa began unity discussions in the late 1960s. At a 1969 meeting of the Unity Committee, a decision to proceed to merger was made, with the resulting unified church to be divided into four constituent dioceses. In 1972 the Cape Orange Lutheran Church joined the process, and the number of proposed dioceses was subsequently increased to five.
A 'Constituting Assembly' was held at Tlhabane, Rustenburg, from 15 to 20 December 1975. This Assembly was unexpectedly attacked, with teargas bombs thrown through the windows, resulting in seventeen delegates being hospitalised. During this Assembly, on 18 December 1975, the new unified church was formally constituted and named the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa. It formally joined the Lutheran World Federation the following year.
The church practises episcopal polity, with the day to day pastoral and administrative care of each diocese in the hands of its bishop, and the presiding bishop exercising that role nationally. There are seven dioceses. The presiding bishop is elected from amongst the diocesan bishops, and retains his role as Ordinary of his diocese, whilst also exercising the authority of Metropolitan bishop. The dioceses of the church are:
The Kingdom of Lesotho forms an eighth administrative area, but does not have the status of a diocese. It functions as a mission area. It has no bishop, but is entitled to return one lay person and one ordained person to membership of the Church Council (see below).
The main decision making forum of the ELCSA is the General Assembly. All bishops are ex officio members, as are all members of the Church Council (see below). Additionally, there are 84 elected representatives. Each diocese elects 12 representatives (4 clergy and 8 laity) to serve on the General Assembly.
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