Moisés Bernado Jungo elected as bishop

Key points:

• The Africa Central Conference elected the Rev. Moisés B. Jungo as a United Methodist bishop on the ninth ballot.
• He is the second bishop elected by the central conference, which is scheduled to split into the new East Africa and Southern Africa central conferences.
• Jungo is the second Africa University graduate elected bishop by the central conference on March 15.

The Rev. Moisés Bernardo Jungo, a pastor in Angola, has been elected as a United Methodist bishop by the Africa Central Conference.

Jungo, 59, was elected March 15 by delegates meeting in Johannesburg. On the ninth ballot, he received 40 votes out of 60 valid votes cast; he needed 40 to be elected.

“I feel happy to be chosen among four candidates. This is the blessing of the Lord,” Jungo said upon his election.

He said he would focus on promoting unity between tribes in his conference, developing institutions of higher learning and developing income projects for sustainability.

Jungo called for the unity of the church in Africa, ratification of regionalization, reconciliation and forgiveness among God’s people.

The assignments of bishops for the next four years will be announced on March 16. In the Africa Central Conference, bishops are elected to a four-year term and if re-elected, they can serve for life.

On March 16, the Africa Central Conference also is scheduled to split into the East Africa and Southern Africa central conferences. Each central conference will consist of multiple annual conferences, associations of United Methodist congregations and other ministries.

• The East Africa Central Conference will consist of the United Methodist presence in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. The new central conference also will include Burundi, which, after more than a decade of internal divisions, fully reunited with The United Methodist Church in 2018.
• The Southern Africa Central Conference will consist of the United Methodist presence in Angola, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Jungo is currently pastor of Luanda Central United Methodist Church in West Angola.

After long being active in lay ministry, Jungo began his pastoral career in 2005. He served pastoral appointments in three churches before being named a district superintendent.

He previously has served as president of the West Angola Conference board of ordained ministry, chair of the conference research committee and president of its office of holdings and investments.

He also was vice president of the Methodist University of Angola board and chair on the West Angola Conference episcopacy committee.

He has a bachelor’s degree in theology from Africa University, making him the second bishop elected March 15 to graduate from the pan-African United Methodist university. The Rev. Emmanuel Sinzohagera, a fellow Africa University alumnus as well as dean of superintendents and speaker of the Senate in Burundi, was elected on the first ballot.

Jungo also has a master’s degree in government and public management from Agostinho Neto University. He is working on doctorate in theology and religious studies from Methodist University of Angola.

He and his wife, Ana José Queta Jungo, have seven children.

The United Methodist Church has eight central conferences — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines — with Southern Africa and Eastern Africa as the newest additions. Central conferences, which each consist of multiple annual conferences, elect bishops and have the authority to adapt parts of the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, as their missional contexts require.

In The United Methodist Church, bishops are ordained elders who are called to “lead and oversee the spiritual and temporal affairs of The United Methodist Church.”

Bishops are responsible for appointing clergy. They also are the first stop when clergy face complaints under church law. They also serve as board members or chairs of general agencies and other denomination-wide ministries.

Jungo will be consecrated a bishop on March 16 near the conclusion of the central conference session.

Chikwanah is a UM News correspondent based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.