The Anglican Church and the challenges related to the training of the African clergy in post-independent Malawi: the case of St John the Baptist College, Lusaka 1962-1972

Abstract

In this article I outline the challenges that the Anglican Church in Malawi faced relating to the recruitment, selection of the ordinands and their training at St John the Baptist in Lusaka, Zambia in the period between 1962 and 1972. I show that the process of training the Malawian clergy had several challenges. The presence of a rapidly retiring clergy with a low standard of education and a legacy of the missionary church, put the church in Malawi under pressure to recruit much younger and better-educated men. On the other hand, the increasing number of young men fleeing into exile as a result of repressive political policies of the Banda government increased the pressure for the church to recruit young men for the ministry of the church. Faced with this, the church went on a recruitment drive which attracted some unsuitable Malawian ordinands who were able to escape the system, or whose unsuitability was sometimes deliberately ignored by some missionaries who believed that, with the dire shortage of clergy, the church had no choice but to take them, regardless of their unsuitability. The final phase − the process of training itself at St John’s − presented further challenges. African nationalism, sometimes manifested in the spirit of African consciousness, negatively affected relations with the largely European staff members of the seminary. In various ways, the European staff perceived that their position of authority was challenged or threatened. The white staff interpreted black student’s criticisms as insubordination to their authority. Amongst other factors the climax was the closure of the college in 1972.