AMECEA: ‘The challenges of new office provide an opportunity for growth’ – says the New Pastoral Coordinator

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Chimombo, AMECEA Pastoral Coordinator

The new coordinator for AMECEA Pastoral Department Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Chimombo has said that as he takes the new office, he considers that all the challenges related to the place of work as opportunities for growth both bodily and spiritually.

In an interview with AMECEA Online News Fr. Chimombo said that his new role as a regional coordinator gives him a mixture of both excitement and anxiety. “Anxiety because every time you go to a new place you do expect to meet challenges and normally every challenge has to be met with solutions,” he explained adding that “When you meet different culture, different language, different people and so many expectations; then it becomes an opportunity for you to learn more to cope with changes.”

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Chimombo, AMECEA Pastoral Coordinator
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Chimombo,
AMECEA Pastoral Coordinator

Fr. Chimombo considers his appointment at AMECEA a great task because he has to serve the greater AMECEA Region. “The impact of my service is not only here in Kenya, but my operations will be across the board in the AMECEA Region. I have to provide services whose impacts must be felt even to the places that I have not been to in my entire life and that is what brings in the big challenge and a bit of excitement because I have to do this within a spectrum of time that have been provided to me,” he said.

Concerning his plans for the department, Fr. Chimombo said that he is currently gathering relevant information that would be a pointer to what the activities he will undertake as the Pastoral Coordinator for AMECEA. “I’m currently studying what my predecessor was doing. I am working on the hand over notes to see what he had done because I don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” he said.

“My plan is to thoroughly go through what my predecessor did and appreciate it, then continue from where he had left. Having studied and understood the hand over reports, I will go through the AMECEA Pastoral Department Strategic Plan document to see what the Bishops within the Region agreed upon and approved, then work to ensure that at least it is done according to their expectations,” he explained.

He considers liaising and networking with the National Pastoral Coordinators from AMECEA member countries as a priority in order to have a common platform of experience through sharing.

He is grateful for the receptions he received at the secretariat and that the orientation he got from Secretary General of AMECEA, Rev. Fr. Ferdinand Lugonzo will enable him to move forward with enthusiasm.

By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News