| Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola | |
|---|---|
| Portuguese:Igreja Evangélica Congregacional em Angola | |
 | |
| Abbreviation | IECA |
| Classification | Reformed Protestantism |
| Headquarters | Huambo, Angola |
| Founder | Missionaries associated with theUnited Church of Christ (USA) and theCongregational Church in Canada and their students |
| Branched from | Council of Evangelical Churches in Angola |
| Congregations | 2,800 |
| Members | 1,000,000+ |
TheEvangelical Congregational Church in Angola (Portuguese:Igreja Evangélica Congregacional em Angola) is aReformed Christian denomination inAngola.
On November 11, 1880, theAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (now theUnited Church of Christ in theUSA) and theCongregational Church in Canada sent missionaries and began to evangelize in the highlands ofAngola. The leaders of this mission were the Rev. William W. Bagster, the Rev. William Henry Sanders and the Rev. Samuel Taylor Miller (the first Black African missionary in Angola).
In 1940, a theological school was established to train pastors and ministers. This resulted in significant growth and development in the church. In 1957, the work of the North American Congregational Churches was united and the Council of Evangelical Churches in Angola was founded.[1]
In 1975, after the country had gained independence, theAngolan Civil War broke out. The war devastated Angola's infrastructure and severely damaged the nation's public administration, economic enterprises and religious institutions. The war forced foreign missionaries to leave the country. The church was divided into two parts; rural and urban. During and after the war, the church remained divided into the Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola and theEvangelical Reformed Church in Angola.[2]
The headquarters of the church is in Huambo. The fast-growing denomination[citation needed] is present in 16 of the 18 Angolan provinces. It has 60 primary and secondary schools and a medical program. The Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola is the second oldest Protestant denomination in Angola. It trains ministers in the Interdenominational Seminary in Huambo. The church has approximately 1,000,000 members in 2,800 congregations[as of?] across the country.[citation needed]
Member of theWorld Communion of Reformed Churches and theWorld Council of Churches and partner church relationship with theUnited Church of Canada was established.[3]