AMECEA: Hybrid Evangelization Suitable for the Church in Africa Says Bishop

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

As technology keeps transforming every aspect of our society, Church is no exception. At a webinar session to discuss “the mission of the Church in a digital world,” a Bishop has pointed out that hybrid evangelization is appropriate for the Church in Africa which is still developing digitally.

“In our context (Africa), we are still far away from the digital mission,” Bishop António Manuel Bogaio Constantino said Thursday, May 24, during the webinar session emphasizing that in Africa there are people in rural set up who are not technology savvy and those in urban areas who have already embraced the digital platform.

Since all these groups of Christians must be reached for evangelization without leaving any group behind, the Auxiliary Bishop of Beira, Mozambique, narrated there is a need to develop approaches that fit both environments.

In his opening remarks, the member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCI) disclosed that as a pertinent area of concern in the Church today, the delegates for the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in Rome last year underscored that, “The digital culture represents a fundamental change in the way we conceive of reality and consequently relate to ourselves, one another, our surroundings, and even to God.”

In the Synthesis Report that was compiled after the October session for the synod on synodality, “Digital culture is not so much a distinct area of mission as a crucial dimension of the Church’s witness in contemporary culture. This is why it holds special significance in a synodal Church,” Bishop Bogaio said and stressed, that the Church in Africa must be “aware that there is an emerging contemporary culture ushered in by digital world, where the youth and young men and women are creatively immersed.”

He highlighted further that the Church has not fully embraced this move since some people still fear the digital space though for the “digital ministries to take a central stage in the mission of the Church in Africa, some concrete steps must be taken.”

The Church through the General Secretariat of the Synod has therefore tasked a group of specialists to study in depth the theme of the “Mission in the Digital Environment,” and give their professional recommendations to the Holy Father on what the Church must do.

Bishop Bogaio who has been the Auxiliary Bishop of Beira since 2022, revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic which affected the entire globe, acted as an eye-opener and a moment to learn “the benefits of the digital virtual platforms and the threats of the digital space.”

He appreciated the conveners of the webinar: The Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA), the Pan Africa Episcopal Committee for Social Communication (CEPACS), the Africa Synodal Initiative (ASI), and the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA), for their collaboration, to address this concern.

The Bishop prayed the Holy Spirit to guide the Church in Africa as this new mission emerges with challenges there is a need “to consider the missionary presence in the digital space.”