The African Association of Methodist Institutions of Higher Education (AAMIHE) and the African Association of United Methodist Theological Institutions (AAUMTI) had their joint meeting in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after a long pause due to the global pandemic of COVID-19. The two associations have been meeting together yearly since 2013, but this rhythm was interrupted after they met in South Africa in 2019 and were prevented from meeting again in 2020, after the world became aware of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) which led to a new disease, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and a global pandemic that lasted more than two years. Although the two associations were able to meet online during this time and continue their activities separately, this meeting in 2023 was the first opportunity for them to meet in person after four years of interruption.
On this occasion, members of the two associations – which are also known by their names and acronyms in French and Portuguese, Associação Africana das Instituições Metodistas de Ensino Superior (AAIMES) or Association Africaine des Institutions Méthodistes d’Éducation Supérieur (AAIMES) as well as Associação Africana de Instituições Teológicas da Igreja Metodista Unida (AAITIMU) or Association Africaine des Institutions Théologiques de l’Église Méthodiste Unie (AAITEMU) – not only reconnected but also celebrated the life and legacy of some Methodist educational leaders in Africa who had passed away during this period. Thus, they honored Rukudzo Murapa (former Vice-Chancellor of Africa University and former President of IAMSCU), Yed Angoran (former Minister of the government in Côte d’Ivoire and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Université Méthodiste de Côte d’Ivoire – UMECI), Munashe Furusa (former Vice-Chancellor of Africa University and former President of the AAMIHE) as well as Julio Vilanculos (former President of the Universidade Metodista Unida de Moçambique and former President of AAUMTI).
The Joint Meeting focused on the theme “Methodist Education Transforming Lives in Africa – in Portuguese, “Educação Metodista Transformando Vidas em Africa” and in French, “L’Éducation Méthodiste Transformant des Vies en Afrique.” – which built on the theme of the Joint IAMSCU-MSN Conference held in the United Kingdom in April 2023 and the celebrations surrounding the 275th anniversary of Kingswood School, founded by John Wesley in 1748. The African delegation to the conference in the United Kingdom was one of the most expressive ones, with more than forty participants, so they took back to Africa the same theme, “transforming lives,” which was then considered according in light of the plurality of African contexts. Nearly one hundred participants, including the leading Bishops of the United Methodist Church in the DRC, attended the event and discussed topics such as “Affirming the Wesleyan and Methodist Connection in Education,” “The Quality of Higher Education in Africa,” “The Quality of Theological Education,” and the need for new initiatives focusing on “Supporting Methodist Education in Africa.” Other highlights during the conference were the discussions about “Unity within the wider Wesleyan and Methodist Connection” and the regionalization of Methodism worldwide. Although participants agreed that this regionalization is already a fact, expressed by the very existence of regional associations for Methodist educational institutions in varouis contexts, they also insisted on the need to articulate this regionalization with an “intercultural connectionalism” that would avoid the creation of regional silos and promote greater cooperation worldwide. See details in the conference program.