Opportunities for enrichment…
We visited the Quessua Mission Station the first evening that we arrived in Angola and have made several trips back to the station since we have been here. The Quessua Mission Station, located about 10 miles from Malanje, Angola, and run by the East Angola Conference, was established (as I understand it) over 100 years ago by Bishop William Taylor and other early Methodist missionaries to Angola. After decades of leadership training and education, Quessua was destroyed by the 27 years of civil war in Angola.
Since the end of the war in 2002, the United Methodist church of East Angola has been working to rebuild Quessua, building by building. As of the time of our visit, many of the structures including the church, several school buildings, dormitories, the ‘Faculty’ (Seminary) building, the Domestic School building, and a number of houses. While electricity has not been restored, there are several generators that provide electricity to Quessua. During our visits to the mission station, we have had opportunities to meet the two Cuban missionaries sponsored by the Florida Conference, tour the buildings, meet many of the students, and interview a number of the pastors involved in our salary supplement partnership who were on-site for the month-long course of study program that is hosted by the East Angola Conference prior to each Annual Conference session. I have no idea exactly how large in land area the mission is, but it is several miles from the entrance of the station to the heart where the buildings are located.
It seems to me that the mission station at Quessua is an incredible resource for the East Angola Annual Conference and that there are MANY opportunities for partnerships with American Annual Conferences, Churches, Individuals, and Seminaries. Among the needs are continued infra-structure support, support for the secondary school, support and scholarships for the seminary and its students, support for the United Methodist church located at Quessua, support for the ‘Domestic School’, support for the annual course of study program, missionary support, and… for the love of the living God… could Saint Paul School of Theology and Cokesbury please find it within themselves to beef up the library at the seminary at Quessua and provide theological books for the students. I am ashamed to admit that my personal library, thanks to my undergraduate and seminary professors, is large than the library at the seminary at Quessua.
In addition to the vital Yellowstone Conference Pastoral Salary Support Partnership, which I will address in a future post, there is a great need for support and growth within the area of education inside of the East Angola Conference… The Mission Station at Quessua provides a unique setting and opportunity for growth for the educational needs of the East Angola Conference which are tied directly to the success or failure of the Pastoral Salary Support Project. As we have come to understand the East Angola process for starting new churches and equipping clergy and lay people, it is my sincere hope that a denominational resource like Path One would consider creating a Lay Missionary Planting Network for the people of Angola, housed at Quessua. While, personally, the Pastoral Salary Supplement Support project is my number one priority for the Yellowstone Annual Conference, I am very interested in being an advocate for the East Angola Annual Conference and in working to foster opportunities to live into the the connectional nature of the United Methodist Church, which is supposed to be a part of our DNA. Quessua is a very special place… it meets very specific needs within the life of our denomination and we would do well to support this Kingdom oriented missional outpost from across the pond.
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