Lutheran church gets new leader as Malasusa leaves
Newly elected Lutheran church Head Bishop Frederick Shoo (right) with the outgoing leader of the Church Dr Elex Malasusa after the former was declared the new presiding bishop of the Church after elections held on Friday night in Arusha. PHOTO | THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT
What you need to know:
He will take over from Bishop Alex Malalusa who has been at the helm of the second largest church congregation in the country since 2007 and who has completed his mandatory two terms of four years each.
Arusha. Bishop Frederick Onael Shoo is the new Head of the Evangelical Lutheran of Tanzania (ELCT).
He will take over from Bishop Alex Malalusa who has been at the helm of the second largest church congregation in the country since 2007 and who has completed his mandatory two terms of four years each.
Until his election as the Presiding Bishop of the Lutheran Church on Friday night, Dr Shoo (56) was the head of the Northern Diocese of ELCT in Moshi, a position he held only since early this year when he succeeded Bishop Martin Shao who has since retired.
The new church leader, who hails from Machame on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, has been the assistant to the northern diocese for ten years from 2004 to 2014 before he was elected to succeed Dr Shao.
He was consecrated a pastor at Lyamungo parish in Hai District, Kilimanjaro Region on December 14, 1986 and between 1986 and 1988 he was in charge of the Mwika Parish in Moshi Rural district, later serving as the Principal of the Bible School, also located at Mwika.
The election took place late on Friday at the climax of the 19th Church Assembly which had been underway at the ELCT-owned Makumira University near Arusha since Tuesday.
“The election process was incident-free and the results were announced close to midnight” said Ms Elizabeth Lobulu, the head of information unit at the church headquarters.
There were three contestants for the position in the church, including Dr Shoo. Others were Dr Steven Munga of the North Eastern Diocese (based in Lushoto) and Bishop Charles Mjema of the Pare Diocese in Kilimanjaro region.
“Bishop Shoo emerged winner in the contest and he is now the head of the Lutheran Church”, Ms Lobulu told The Citizen on Sunday on phone.
Nevertheless, Bishop Mjema was eliminated during the first ballot. Even then it took two rounds of votes to get the winner which gave victory to Bishop Shoo.
As is the norm, bishop officially assuming duties, the new bishop will be consecrated in a ceremony which will take place at a later date.
The Constitution of the Church required the winner to get at least two thirds of the votes.
