13th May, 2007
Affiliated and Mission Provinces
The Moravian Church worldwide while it has 16 Independent Unity Provinces also has 3 Affiliated and 6 Mission Provinces.
An Affiliated Province should have its own Church Conference representing the membership in the congregations that have been established. It should elect a Provincial Board with a Chairman and other officers, who would be responsible to the Provincial Board of the supervising Province. It should be faithful to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) by providing opportunities for worship, Christian education, mission, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship and service. In addition, it should show its maturity by producing candidates for ministerial training and a lay leadership of suitable quality. Not only must it develop its human resource, but it must strive to be at least 60% financially self-supporting and produce its own devotional literature, if this is in a language not already covered in the Unity. Above all, it must develop its Constitution or Church Order (Book of Order) in line with the Church Order of the Unitas Fratrum (COUF). This should be recognized by the civil authorities of the country in which it operates.
The 3 Affiliated Provinces are: 1. The Labrador Province which was established in 1771 and is made up of the Moravian Churches in Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. 2. The Guyana Province which was established in 1878. 3. The Costa Rica Province which was established in 1980.
A Mission Province should have its own written operational principles or regulations, which must be consistent with the COUF. It must begin to develop indigenous leaders. In addition, it should begin to establish infra-structure with several recognized congregations for preaching and teaching ministries. It should develop its own internal resources and draw up a budget which must be at least 30% locally funded. Above all, it should set its own goals and strategies consistent with the supervising Province.
The 6 Mission Provinces are: 1. Albania, which is under the supervision of the European Continental Province. 2. French Guyana, which is under the supervision of the Suriname Province. 3. Zambia, which is under the supervision of the South West Tanzania Province. 4. Malawi, which is under the supervision of the Southern Tanzania Province. 5. Congo, which is under the supervision of the Western Tanzania Province. 6. Garifuna, which is under the supervision of the Honduras Province.
Next time we will look at the Unity undertakings.
Written by Rev. Dr. Cortroy Jarvis
