Nelson Kalombo Ngoy elected as bishop

Key points:

• The Mid Africa Central Conference, formerly the Congo Central Conference, elected the Rev. Nelson Kalombo Ngoy as a United Methodist bishop.
• General Conference renamed the central conference as part of the expansion of central conferences on the continent.
• Ngoy, a scholar of mission and evangelism, currently serves as pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church in Franklin Square, New York.

The Rev. Nelson Kalombo Ngoy, who currently leads a church on New York’s Long Island, has been elected as a United Methodist bishop by the Mid Africa Central Conference.

Ngoy, 54, was elected July 12 by delegates meeting at Unique Park Lodge in Kitwe, Zambia. On the sixth ballot, he was elected by general consensus in a show of hands after the Rev. Joseph Mulongo Ndala withdrew from the race.

“First, I give all glory to God and thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for his boundless grace and mercy, and for the great things he has done,” Ngoy said after his election. “It is a profound honor to be a United Methodist.”

He thanked Zambian United Methodists for the hospitality, his fellow candidates, the central conference’s bishops and the delegates for walking with him on this journey.

“Your faith, your prayers and the trust you’ve placed in me mean more than words can express,” he said.

Ngoy was the third bishop elected in the central conference, formerly known as the Congo Central Conference. Previously elected were Bishops Antoine Kalema Tambwe and Mujinga Kashala.

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.

On July 13, the central conference assigned him to lead the newly created Tanganyika Episcopal Area for the next four years. In the Mid Africa Central Conference, bishops are elected for life.

Ngoy, a Congo native, currently is pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church — a multiracial congregation in Franklin Square, New York. He has served more than 16 years in the New York Conference with prior pastoral leadership in Africa. He also has been the Protestant chaplain at Long Island University for 12 years. 

He fluently speaks seven languages and is a veteran translator for General Conference, the denomination’s international lawmaking body.

He and his wife, the Rev. Lucie Tshama, are co-founders of the Congo Ubuntu Foundation. The nonprofit organization provides children with education, healthcare and advocacy. Ngoy's ministry also has included building schools, churches, clinics  and children's homes and providing scholarships to young African men and women to attend higher education at universities on the African continent and in the U.S. His wife, a graduate of United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary, is a minister in the New York Conference. 

He also is a scholar of mission and evangelism using post-colonial methods. He has published “Neo-Pentecostalism: A post-colonial critique of the Prosperity Gospel in the Democratic Republic of the Congo” and a chapter in the “The Practice of Mission in Global Methodism.” He also has published academic articles and presented scholarly papers at prestigious gatherings, including the Bicentennial United Methodist Conference on “Colonialism and Empire in Mission” and the Yale-Edinburgh Conference on “World Christianity." 

He has doctorates from Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. He also has a Master of Divinity and a Master of Sacred Theology from United Methodist-related Drew University School of Theology in Madison, New Jersey. In addition, he has a master's degree in intercultural studies from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky as well as degrees from the Université Méthodiste of Katanga in Congo and United Methodist-related Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe.

He and his wife have six children: four boys and two girls. He and his wife also have two grandsons.

General Conference renamed the central conference last year 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 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.

Ngoy was a nominee to lead the new episcopal area.

The central conference is electing a total of three bishops at this meeting. The Rev. Antoine Kalema Tambwe, a veteran district superintendent in South Kindu, Congo, was the first to be elected, receiving 265 votes on the second ballot. The Rev. Mujinga Kashala, the first woman elected a United Methodist bishop in the central conference, was the second elected at this meeting. She received 263 votes on the fourth ballot.

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.

Ngoy was consecrated a bishop July 13 near the conclusion of the central conference session. He and the other two new bishops will take office Sept. 1.

“May we move forward together in faith,” Ngoy said, “with purpose and in service to our mission: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”