Conference partnership with East Angola celebrates 20 years

A covenant relationship begun by newly elected bishops over 20 years ago is still going strong today.

Bishop Warner H. Brown was elected in 2000 along with Bishops Jose Quipungo and Gaspar João Domingos, both from Angola, and they discussed a conference-to-conference partnership. Angola’s decades-long civil war was still going on at the time and didn’t end until 2002. Brown, then episcopal leader of the Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain conferences, was finally able to visit and returned with a challenge to the conferences to provide pastoral support to United Methodist pastors in Angola.

“A new partnership with bishops trying to rebuild a country after war seemed like wonderful place for us to jump in and work together,” Brown said.

“Salary support was a critical need that I thought the conferences could take on as best matched them. Even for small congregations that could only do a little, that little bit would make a difference and help them to develop their mission muscle.”

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