June 1996 Case Study: Zambia's Church Toward the Year 2000

The Catholic Church in Africa has been given a profound challenge for moving into the Third Millennium. This challenge has come from the African Synod and is expressed by the question raised by one of the Synod leaders: "Church in Africa, what do you need to do in order to make your message relevant, credible and effective?" The African Synod ("Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops") is in reality a three-staged process. The first stage was the preparatory period begun in 1969t which included wide-spread consultation from grass-root levels of small Christian communities all the way up to national and regional episcopal conferences, This stage produced observations and recommendations on the general theme of evangelisation and on the five specific topics of proclamation, inculturation, dialogue, justice and peace, and communication.