The PC(USA) and MAPC’s African Ministries

By Curtis Field

Our denomination’s ministries in Africa date back to 1833, with The Rev. John Brooke Pinney’s arrival in Monrovia, Liberia. The PCUSA Africa Regional Liaisons office has produced this video (link below) describing the history and current state of our relationship with the continent.

Our own congregation’s Africa ministries go back twenty years. Our activities began with the establishment of the Phillips Talbot Global Ministry Fellowship, which ordained and then sent young pastors to work at Theological Education by Extension in Zambia (located in Kitwe) for a year. We later established a still-active relationship with the CCAP (Church of Central Africa Presbyterian) Harare Synod in Zimbabwe. Because of MAPC’S involvement with this area of Africa, we have worked for many years with the Zambia-Zimbabwe-Mozambique-U.S.A. (ZZMUSA) Network of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. ZZMUSA is organizing a virtual conference on February 25 & 26, 2022 in which staff and members of MAPC will take part. The Session of MAPC recently provided a grant of $3,000 to assist the ZZMUSA in technical preparations for the conference, an important consideration in Southern Africa where online connections are not always dependable.

Please note that MAPC’s final Phillips Talbot Fellow, Paula Cooper, is featured in the video, and narrates an early section of it. Paula, inspired by her work as MAPC’s Global Fellow, has been a PCUSA Mission Co-Worker, based in Lusaka, Zambia, since 2018.

As MAPC members we can take justifiable pride in the work we have done in Southern Africa. Enjoy the video.