A brief history of the Anglican Church in Mozambique

[Source: various]

Mozambique has 10 civil provinces. The Diocese of Lebombo covers the six provinces south of the River Zambesi, and the Diocese of Niassa the northern four provinces.

Anglicanism took root in three locations:

• In the south of the country many men left to seek work in the gold fields around Johannesburg, where a number became Anglicans. When they returned to their homes in southern Mozambique they wanted the Church to continue to minister to them. With the passage of time, congregations were established in and around Lorenco Marques (now Maputo), Inhambane and Xai-Xai. The Diocese of Lebombo was formed in 1893 to consolidate this work. The last expatriate bishop was Daniel de Pina Cabral of the Lusitanian Church in Portugal, who resigned in 1976 to make way for Bishop Dinis.
• In Beira, in the province of Sofala. As the port and rail terminus for inland Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Beira became a natural growth point for the Church. It was under the care of the Bishop of Southern Rhodesia until it joined the Lebombo Diocese in 1970. Work has extended from Beira to other important towns such as Chimoio and Tete in the central belt.
• In the north of the country, evangelism came via missionaries of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), one of whose aims was to eradicate slavery. The main slave market was in Zanzibar, but slaves were brought from many places, down as far as the shore of Lake Nyasa. In 1861 Charles Mackenzie was consecrated Bishop of the Mission to the tribes dwelling in the neighbourhood of the Lake Nyasa and River Shire, but he died of malaria in early 1862. William Percival Johnson reached Lake Nyasa in 1882 to evangelise the people of the lakeshore area. He continued this work for over 40 years, becoming Archdeacon when the area became an Archdeaconry of the Diocese of Nyasaland (now Malawi). During those years, the Anglican Church converted many thousands of people both on the lakeshore and on the high plateau inland, and by 1920 had established a large mission at Messumba. In1959 the Archdeaconry became part of the Diocese of Lebombo. The separate Diocese of Niassa was created in 1980.