Newly Elected
Posing for a photo after their consecration are newly elected Mid-Africa bishops (from left) Nelson Kalombo Ngoy, Antoine Kalema Tambwe, Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone and Mujinga Kashala during the Mid Africa Central Conference in Kitwe, Zambia. (Photo by Chadrack Tambwe Londe, UM News.)
July 11, 2025 | UM News
Key points:
- The Mid Africa Central Conference, formerly known as the Congo Central Conference, elected three new bishops including one who will oversee a newly formed episcopal area.
- More than 300 delegates met July 10-13 in Kitwe, Zambia.
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What was once the Congo Central Conference now has a new name — the Mid Africa Central Conference.
The United Methodist central conference gained an additional bishop, bringing its total to five.
More than 300 lay and clergy delegates met in Kitwe, Zambia, for the last central conference session and final set of episcopal elections for the next four years. 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 Republic of Congo.
Delegates elected three new bishops:
- The Rev. Antoine Kalema Tambwe, 63, a veteran district superintendent in South Kindu, Congo, assigned to lead the East Congo Area for the next four years.
- The Rev. Mujinga Kashala, 59, district superintendent and pastor in South Congo, the second woman elected a United Methodist bishop on the African continent, and the first in the former Congo Central Conference. She is assigned to the South Congo-Zambia Area
- The Rev. Nelson Kalombo Ngoy, 54, who currently leads Wesley United Methodist Church, a multiracial congregation in Franklin Square, New York. He is assigned to the newly created Tanganyika Episcopal Area for the next four years.
Read more about the newly elected bishops:
The denomination has eight central conferences — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. Central conferences consist of multiple regional bodies called annual conferences. The central conferences typically meet once every four years to elect bishops and adapt parts of the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, as their missional contexts require.
General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body, 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 and added two bishops to the continent, where the denomination’s membership is growing. That same meeting voted to reduce the number of active bishops in the United States from 46 to 32.
New Conference
A map shows the Mid Africa Central Conference, formerly known as the Congo Central Conference. The central conference is meeting July 10-13 in Kitwe, Zambia. Delegates will elect three bishops, two to succeed retiring bishops and one added to the central conference by last year’s General Conference. (Graphic by Ben Ward, UM News)
General Conference delegates also voted for one of the new bishops to go to the Mid Africa Central Conference.
General Conference determines the number of central conferences and the number of bishops. But it’s up to each central conference to determine the borders of the episcopal areas that bishops oversee. United Methodist episcopal areas often consist of multiple annual conferences.
On July 10, a majority of Mid Africa Central Conference delegates voted to create its new episcopal area by splitting the North Katanga Area. The North Katanga Area encompasses parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as Tanzania.
The central conference’s new name also officially took effect when the gathering opened that same day.
The new name better reflects the multinational nature of the central conference. The middle African body consists of the United Methodist annual conferences 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 Democratic Republic of Congo still comprises much of the central conference. The nation, where the denomination has seen some of its most rapid growth, has the second highest number of United Methodists after the United States.
All four of the central conference’s current bishops also hail from the DRC.
Bishop Unda, who leads the East Congo Episcopal Area, and Bishop Owan Tshibang Kasap, who leads the South Congo and Zambia Episcopal Area, are retiring.
Not retiring are Bishop Daniel O. Lunge, who currently leads the Central Congo Area, and Bishop Mande Muyombo, who currently leads the North Katanga Area and chairs the Connectional Table that serves as a denomination-wide coordinating body.
At a special session in 2018, the central conference voted for its bishops to serve until they reach mandatory retirement age.
The bishops who join Lunge and Muyombo as active episcopal leaders will face the challenge of leading in a time of war.
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 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.
Information from multiple UM News articles was used in this report.