Anglican Liturgies of Central Africa – The UMCA rites in Swahili and other languages

Joint Liturgical Studies 102

The Universities’ Mission to Central Africa was a high church mission, responding to the call of David Livingstone for missionaries to bring the gospel to Central Africa. The UMCA arrived before the scramble for Africa and ended up in northern Mozambique, southern Tanzania, Malawi and north-eastern Zambia. It used Swahili widely but also the languages around lake Malawi.

At first, it translated the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, but when Frank Weston was bishop of Zanzibar, he developed, in 1919, a complete set of liturgies (except ordination) for use in the church along high church principles. These were all in Swahili and so have been neglected in the accounts of the development of Anglican Liturgy. This book fills the gap by an introduction to the mission and its liturgical work.

The liturgies have many interesting features. Baptism was preceded by a two year catechumenate and adult baptism was the norm. The Mass was a western use rite. There was a penitential discipline with public confession and absolution. The angelus and Eucharistic adoration were also included. The liturgies were all approved by the bishop and synod.

Rev’d Canon Dr Phillip Tovey is the author of the text. He recently retired after over 20 years teaching in theological and ministerial education. He has widely written on liturgical issues including several in this series. He is a member of GROW and the Inter Anglican Liturgical Consultation.

Dr John Chesworth is the translator of the texts. He worked for 20 years in East Africa, teaching Liturgy, and is fluent in Swahili. He currently works as a Research Officer for the School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, co-editor of Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History 1500-1914 (Brill, 2014-26) and has written widely on the subject. He is also a member of the Alcuin Club.