Mujinga Kashala elected as bishop

Key points:

• The Mid Africa Central Conference, formerly the Congo Central Conference, elected the Rev. Mujinga Kashala as a bishop.
• She is the second woman elected a United Methodist bishop on the African continent and the first in Mid Africa.
• General Conference renamed the central conference as part of the expansion of central conferences on the continent.

The Rev. Mujinga Kashala, district superintendent and pastor in South Congo, has been elected as a bishop by the Mid Africa Central Conference.

She is the second woman elected a United Methodist bishop on the African continent, and the first in the former Congo Central Conference. Bishop Joaquina Filipe Nhanala, elected in 2008 as Africa’s first woman bishop, retired earlier this year.

Kashala, 59, was elected July 12 by delegates meeting at Unique Park Lodge in Kitwe, Zambia. On the fourth ballot, she received 263 votes out of 313 valid votes cast. She needed 234 votes to be elected.

"I give thanks to my God," the bishop-elect said. "I know that God knows me, too. I sincerely thank my God because he has supported me."

She also thanked Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone, who is presiding at the central conference. Malone, who also leads the Indiana Conference, is the first Black woman to be elected by fellow bishops as Council of Bishops president.

"You did not come here just for the central conference; you came to bless me," Kashala told Malone. "You came to lend me a helping hand. I need your support as a woman and as a bishop."

Malone celebrated the historic election. "Praise God. Look at what God has done," she said, adding to the delegates: "Look at what you have done."

Kashala was the second bishop elected in the central conference, formerly known as the Congo Central Conference. Previously elected was Bishop-elect Antoine Kalema Tambwe.

The central conference consists of the United Methodists in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zambia. The central conference also encompasses the United Methodist mission presence in the Central African Republic, Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

The assignments of bishops for the next four years will be announced July 13. In the Mid Africa Central Conference, bishops are elected for life.

Kashala, ordained in 1997, is both a longtime district superintendent and pastor in the South Congo Episcopal Area. Since 2019, she has been superintendent of the Luapula District of Kasinga, with several achievements including the construction and completion of new churches. Since 2023, she also has served as associate pastor at Kinsevere Memorial United Methodist Church.

She has 20 years’ experience serving as a delegate to General Conference, including last year’s gathering of the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly in Charlotte, North Carolina.

She was elected in 2012 to serve on the Commission on the General Conference — the group that organizes the international 10-day meeting. She served as vice chair of the commission from 2016 until her term on the commission ended last year.

The bishop-elect has a diploma in theology from ICASI School of Theology and a degree in public theology from the Institut Universitaire du Congo, Lubumbashi. She is currently studying for a master's degree at the Theological Institute of Bangui, Central African Republic.

She is the widow of the late Rev. Madima Kassongo Mathieu, a respected United Methodist who died four years ago. The two were married for 33 years, and they have three children: Abigaël Somp Kasson, Clément de Mongamuyampe and David Kabuit.

Kashala became emotional in talking about her husband's influence on her ministry. "I also salute the memory of my late husband, Reverend Madima Kassongo Mathieu, who was my mentor in everything," she said. 

Last year’s General Conference renamed the central conference as part of broader changes to the denomination’s map on the African continent.

The lawmaking assembly split the former Africa Central Conference into the East Africa and Southern Africa central conferences.

General Conference also added two more bishops to the continent with one of those new bishops being elected in the Mid Africa Central Conference. To form the new episcopal area, Mid Africa delegates voted to split the North Katanga Area in two. That new Tanganyika Episcopal Area, with headquarters in Kalemie, Congo, will consist of two annual conferences: Tanganyika and Kamalondo.

The central conference is electing a total of three bishops at this meeting. Bishop Owan Tshibang Kasap, who leads the South Congo and Zambia Episcopal Area, and Bishop Gabriel Yemba Unda, who leads the East Congo Episcopal Area, are retiring.

With the elections and retirements, the African continent will have a total of 15 active United Methodist bishops. That total includes five in the Mid Africa Central Conference.

The United Methodist Church has eight central conferences — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines — with Southern Africa and East Africa as the newest additions. Central conferences, which each consist of multiple regional bodies called annual conferences, elect bishops and have the authority to adapt parts of the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, as their missional contexts require.

The Mid Africa Central Conference was originally scheduled March 30 to April 4 in Kindu, Congo. But because of ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, the meeting needed to be relocated and rescheduled.

The capture of Goma and Bukavu by the rebels of the March 23 (M23) Movement earlier this year marked a significant escalation in the long-simmering conflict. The events have led to a humanitarian crisis, with thousands of displaced civilians and heavy loss of life. The United Methodist Church in eastern Congo, with funding from the United Methodist Committee on Relief, is providing vital aid in the war-torn region.

In The United Methodist Church, bishops are ordained elders who are called to “lead and oversee the spiritual and temporal affairs of The United Methodist Church.”

Bishops are responsible for appointing clergy. They also are the first stop when clergy face complaints under church law. They also serve as board members or chairs of general agencies and other denomination-wide ministries.

Kashala will be consecrated a bishop July 13 near the conclusion of the central conference session. She and the other new bishops will take office Sept. 1.

News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.