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International Conference Francis Appiah-Kubi Professor of Theology St. Peter’s Regional Seminary, Cape Coast, Ghana Relevance and Pertinence of the Metaphor "The Church, Family of God in Africa": Theological and Pastoral Challenges When the Church of God passes from one generation and culture to another, it offers each generation and culture the integrity of Christian Truth. However, there is a distinction between the Truth and its various expressions and actualisations. Understanding and expressing this Truth to the Africans, the Church in Africa during the Special Assembly of Synod of Bishops for Africa held in Rome 1994, choose for its evangelization the ecclesiological paradigm family of God as the new self-understanding of the Church in Africa. Our paper seeks to stress the relevance and the credibility of the Church Family of God and its mission in relation to the life situation of the people of God in Africa. Contextually, it tackles some burning issues that seem to be more challenging for the edification of the Church as Family of God and stresses that the vitality and the richness of the Church Family of God can only be effective if all Christian families become authentic domestic Churches, nourished by the Word of God and the Eucharist. The paper finally asserts that the Church Family of God differs from all families. It transcends the sphere of all blood relationship. It is the Family of families. Born in March 19th, 1962, at Bamang in the Ashanti Kingdom, Prof. Appiah-Kubi Francis is a Ghanaian Catholic priest of the Konongo-Mampong Diocese. After his philosophical studies at St. Paul's Catholic Seminary, Accra, Ghana, he continued and obtained his BA and Masters degrees in theology at the Facultés Catholiques de Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (Ex-Zaire), in 1993 and 1995 respectively. Since 2005, he holds a PhD in theology, precisely in Ecclesiology from the Institut Catholique de Paris, France and the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. Presently, Prof. Francis Appiah-Kubi is a lecturer and formator at St. Peter's Regional Seminary, Cape Coast, Ghana. He is a lecturer in Ecclesiology, Fundamental Theology, Missiology, Christology, Sacramentology, Pastoral Theology and African Theology. He is also the PRO for the National Union of Ghana Diocesan Priests Association (NUGDPA) and the Chief Editor of their Magazine "Ecce Sacerdoce". Among his Publications: L'Eglise, famille de Dieu. Un Chemin pour les Eglises d'Afrique, Paris, Karthala, 2008. 334p. ; The nature of the Church and its Mission According to the Apostle Paul in Pedu Today, Special Edition, December 2008, pp. 14-19. ; The Phenomenon of Globalisation and the Promotion of Peace: Theological Perspective in Pedu Today (forthcoming) ; The Presidency of the Eucharist, in Ecce Sacerdoce, vol. 1, N° 1, 2009, pp.2-5. ; L'Eglise, Famille de Dieu et la question de la globalisation in Questions Actuelles (revue Internationale de réflexion chrétienne), Novembre-Décembre 2003, pp.14-15 Conference Main Page | Theme | Travel Programme | Call for Papers | Information | |
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