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On the continent of Africa, the mission of The United Methodist Church and its predecessor bodies has developed through missionaries, mostly from the U.S. but also from Europe. With the exception of Liberia as a colony for freed slaves, there was no mutual benefit from migration towards and from the U.S. as in Europe or partly in Asia. The mission of the church in Africa was not limited to the preaching of the Gospel. Two other main elements were part of a holistic approach: educational endeavors in building up of schools, from elementary schools up to professional and university education; and health care with clinics and dispensaries. Churches, and among them the Methodists, helped to raise a generation of indigenous leaders in Church and State. Linked to the poor economic, educational and health conditions, the mission in Africa has remained dependent on outside support in personnel and finances for much longer.
What follows will be limited to sub-Saharan Africa. The mission in North Africa – around the Mediterranean Sea – always belonged to the European region. In sub-Saharan Africa, the Methodist mission from the U.S. began towards the end of the 19th and the early 20th century, with the exception of Liberia (Methodist Episcopal Church, 1822/1832) and Sierra Leone (United Brethren, 1855).
In 1920, General Conference wanted to do away with missionary bishops whose jurisdiction was limited to their electoral region outside the U.S., but a similar limitation was re-introduced in 1928 when General conference gave authority to central conferences to elect their own bishops. In 1920, the Methodist Episcopal Church established a first central conference which comprised its annual conferences in the Southern part of Africa: Angola, Congo (today DRC), Mozambique, and Southern Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe). Liberia was not part of it. The central conference first met in Old Umtali, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Its bishop was a U.S. citizen residing in Cape Town, South Africa. The mission also extended to the Transvaal (Union of South Africa). In 1936, the central conference used its right to elect its own bishop, the U.S. missionary Springer.
After the union of three Methodist Churches in 1939, a provisional central conference met in 1943 which included all annual conferences in sub-Saharan Africa (Liberia was only present in 1943). In 1948, it became the Africa Central Conference. In 1956, it was subdivided into two episcopal areas. In 1960, a third bishop was authorized, but not elected. In 1964, the central conference subdivided into four episcopal areas: Angola, Congo (DRC), Mozambique, and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Each of the countries was supervised by its own bishop for the first time. In Angola, a missionary from Norway was elected as bishop. Bishop Dodge (U.S.) continued in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In Mozambique an indigenous pastor, Zunguze, was elected as bishop. Also in 1964, Liberia was authorized to organize into a central conference of its own and elect its bishop.
From 1968 to 1980, one single central conference existed for sub-Saharan Africa, called Africa central conference, with all annual conferences from the former Methodist Church: Angola, Liberia, Mozambique, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and Zaire (DR Congo). It met in Botswana in 1968. Its newly elected bishop for Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) was an indigenous pastor, Muzorewa, who played a leading role in the process towards independence of the country. With the creation of The United Methodist Church in 1968, all bishops became general superintendents of the church as the U.S. bishops had always been.
In 1980, the autonomous Methodist churches in Sierra Leone and Nigeria joined The United Methodist Church. General Conference then authorized the creation of a central conference of West Africa, comprising Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria (see also below).
In 1984, the Evangelical Episcopal Church of Burundi joined the UMC and became part of the central conference of Africa. Its bishop became a United Methodist bishop. Due to the political situation, he fled to Kenya in 1994. Thus, the mission of the UMC began to spread to Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Southern Sudan. These countries, except Tanzania, became part of the East Africa Annual Conference and episcopal area.
In 1992, General Conference authorized the creation of a Zaire (DR Congo) central conference. It had become an episcopal region on its own already in 1964. The central conference of Africa kept its original name, now comprising episcopal areas in Angola, East Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Angola had been authorized to create a second episcopal area (1988), due to the political situation in the country.
Thus since 1992, there were three central conferences in sub-Saharan Africa: (1) Africa; (2) West Africa; (3) DR Congo. Each of them has had a tremendous growth in membership, combined with an expansion of geographical territory.
In 2024, General Conference authorized the creation of a fourth central conference through subdividing the former Africa central conference and renaming the four as follows: East Africa, Mid Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa
East Africa Central Conference
In 2025, the East Africa central conference was established. It comprises two episcopal areas with the following countries: (1) Burundi; (2) Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. Before 2025, it was part of the Africa central conference.
The mission of The United Methodist Church and its predecessor Methodist bodies began in the countries belonging to East Africa in the following years: Burundi (1984 joining the UMC), Kenya (1990), Rwanda (1996), South Sudan (2005), and Uganda (1990).
Mid Africa Central Conference
In 2025, the former Congo central conference, established in 1992, was renamed Mid Africa central conference. Up to 2025, it comprised of four episcopal areas in the DR Congo and neighboring countries: (1) Central Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazaville), and Gabon; (2) East Congo and Central African Republic; (3) North Katanga and Tanzania; (4) South Congo and Zambia. A fifth episcopal area will be created in 2025.
Methodist mission in the DR Congo has several origins. In the Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Taylor started his plan for a self-supporting mission from Angola and reached the Belgian Congo in 1886. But the mission endeavors came to an end in 1896. The U.S. missionary Springer traveled through Zambia and the Belgian Congo towards Angola on his way to the U.S. As he returned back to Africa, he opened a mission in the southern part of the Belgian Congo, establishing a first mission station in Lukoshi in 1911. In 1915, it became the Congo Mission Conference. In 1936, the central conference of South Africa elected Springer as its bishop.
The Methodist Episcopal Church South entered the Belgian Congo along the Congo-river and established its first mission station in Wembo Nyama in the central part of the country (1912). At the union of 1939, both mission fields became part of the Methodist Church and of the central conference of Africa under the leadership of Bishop Springer up to his retirement in 1944. Other U.S. bishops continued oversight for the next twenty years.
In 1964, the central conference of Africa was authorized to elect four bishops, one of them for Congo. With John Wesley Shungu, it elected for the first time a Congolese pastor as bishop. General Conference 1980 authorized the election of an additional bishop. The southern part (Shaba, later Katanga province) became a separate episcopal area. In 1988, General Conference authorized the election of a third bishop. The Shaba (later Katanga province) was subdivided into two episcopal areas, South Congo and North Katanga.
All the other ten provinces of the country remained one episcopal area despite the extension of the mission to many new regions, including the capital Kinshasa. In 2012, General Conference authorized a fourth episcopal area. Thus, the two episcopal areas of Central Congo and East Congo were created.
Southern Africa Central Conference
In 2025, part of the former Africa central conference was renamed Southern Africa central conference, similar to its origin more than hundred years earlier. It comprises of four episcopal areas: (1) East Angola; (2) West Angola and Namibia; (3) Mozambique, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), South Africa, and Madagascar; (4) Zimbabwe, Malawi and part of Zambia.
The mission of The United Methodist Church and of predecessor Methodist bodies began in the countries belonging to Southern Africa in the following years: Angola (1885), Eswatini (?), Madagascar (2023), Malawi (1987), Mozambique (1892), Namibia (?), South Africa (1919 Transvaal), Zambia (1984), Zimbabwe (1897).
West Africa Central Conference
The West Africa central conference has seen a number of changes over time. It had been established as West Africa central conference of West Africa in 1980 when the autonomous Methodist churches of Sierra Leone and Nigeria joined the United Methodist Church. Before that date, the United Methodist presence in West Africa was limited to Liberia.
The Methodist mission in Liberia was by far the oldest of all missions outside the U.S. It began in 1822 through initiatives of individuals among former slaves, under the auspices of the “American Colonization Society.” The name of the colony was Liberia in honor of the new found freedom. In 1833, it received support by the sending of a first missionary who unfortunately died within five months of his arrival. In 1856, General Conference made provisions for the election of missionary bishops, limited in their jurisdiction to their electing region. In 1858, a first such bishop was elected. In 1863, a former slave who had arrived in Liberia in 1829, John W. Roberts, became his successor as bishop. After his death in 1875, the succeeding bishops again came as visiting bishops from the U.S. In 1904, General Conference elected an African American as “missionary bishop” who again took residence in Liberia.
Between 1898 and 1939, the Portuguese Island of Madeira became another place of presence for the Methodist Episcopal Church, at some time even as residence of the bishop having supervision for Africa. The 1940 General Conference of the Methodist Church authorized to establish a provisional central conference for Africa which included Liberia. But delegates from Liberia were only present at the first meeting in 1943. In 1964 General Conference authorized Liberia to become either an autonomous church or to form a central conference with the right to elect a bishop. The annual conference of Liberia in 1965 opted for the latter.
Up until the union in 1968, The Evangelical United Brethren Church supported ministry in Sierra Leone and Nigeria in Western Africa. Sierra Leone had a United Brethren mission since 1853, discussing a union with British Methodists and Anglicans in the 1960s. But it became an autonomous Methodist church and joined The United Methodist Church in 1980. In Nigeria, the United Brethren mission began in 1922. It united into the Muri Church and finally joined The United Methodist Church in 1980. General Conference therefore authorized the creation of a West Africa central conference in 1980, comprising Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. At first, it had two episcopal areas. In 1992, General Conference authorized an additional episcopal area and a first bishop for Nigeria was elected.
In 2004, the autonomous Methodist Protestant Church of the Ivory Coast (former British Methodist mission since 1914) joined The United Methodist Church. From 2008 onwards, the central conference of West Africa was officially comprised of four episcopal areas. It expanded its mission also to neighboring countries. In 2024, the episcopal area of Ivory Coast unilaterally decided to become again an autonomous church.
The mission of The United Methodist Church and of predecessor Methodist bodies began in the countries belonging to West Africa in the following years: Cameroon (2000), Ivory Coast (1914), Liberia (1822), Nigeria (1922), Senegal (1995), and Sierra Leone (1853).
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