Through its Theology and Interfaith Relations unit, the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) is committed to providing a platform for constructive conversations about addressing contextual misleading theologies in Africa, and since 2019, AACC has been holding annual theological symposia on misleading theologies. The 1st symposium held in October 2019 identified critical areas of misleading theologies for further engagements in future symposia. Since then, a series of symposia have taken place annually, addressing thematic areas such as Complexities of Theologies of Wealth and Prosperity (on 23rd-27th November 2020), Controversies about Theologies of Health and Healing (on 22nd -24th November 2021), and Addressing Contextual Theologies of Power and Authority in African Churches (on 19th – 23rd September 2022). This year’s symposium will be held on October 28th -1st November with the theme: The Role of Governments’ Regulation on Churches and Religious Institutions (RIs).In countries like Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia, inquisitive and critical questions are being asked regarding misleading teachings and harmful cultic practices threatening human life and dignity, and the government’s regulatory role in addressing these challenges.  This requires involvement of stakeholders to resonate together this delicate balancing act between protecting the public good as well as safeguarding religious liberties and expressions. AACC’s 5th annual theological symposium with bring theologians, church leaders, scholars’ and state actors into conversations examining the role of governments’ regulation on churches and religious activities.Key questions this symposium will seek to answer are:      a). What is the role of government in regulating churches and religious institution?      b). Which are the aspects of religious practices and religious activities that governments should consider regulating or even controlling?      c). What are the possible tensions that may occur between governments and churches should the laws/policies for the regulations are passed?      d). How can these possible tensions be mitigated for the sake of the common/public good, safety, religious freedoms and expressions (FORB) as guaranteed by constitutions of the different countries, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?      e). How will regulating and controlling churches and religious institutions affect the Church-State Relations in Africa?      f). Are there other approaches available for churches and religious institutions in addressing life-threating religious teachings, harmful cultic trends and practices?     g). What are the biblical and theological perspectives on church-state relations?Participation in the symposium is by invitation and for any inquiries, please contact Dr. Fr. John Njoroge, AACC's Executive Secretary for Theology and Interfaith Relations at: theology1@aacc-ceta.org 

The Africa Faith Actors Network for Climate Justice (AFAN-CJ) continues to grow in numbers, visibility, and recognition by key stakeholders in Africa and beyond. The network has strengthened the AACC’s work on creation care. The particular interest of faith leaders in the issues of climate change is informed by the fact that environmental issues raise ethical and moral questions that demand for their responses. That reality motivated the AACC to establish the AFAN-CJ in June of 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya. The AFAN-CJ was a result of a continental reflection meeting on the role of faith actors in climate justice action. Since 2022, the network connected with local, continental, and global climate justice processes. Yet, critical lessons have been picked at the local and continental levels about the work of the network. Thus, the planned continental capacity strengthening and review roundtable in Nairobi is meant to create a platform for deepening capacity of members, sharing success stories and lessons learnt to date by the AFAN-CJ members across the continent. The meeting will also assess and document the implementation of AFAN-CJ work plans that were developed at the inception of the network and the subsequent annual programs. In the absence of the official United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Africa Climate Week, the meeting will allow the AFAN-CJ to clearly outline the positions of faith leaders on climate change negotiations towards COP29 and beyond. The AACC will convene the meeting in collaboration with some key stakeholders from the civil society, notably the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). The specific roles of PACJA will be to strengthen the capacity of the AFAN-CJ in specific selected areas such as advocacy. The Africa Group of Negotiators will also provide official positions regarding specific advocacy issues on climate change for the continent. Specific Objectives1. To strengthen the capacity of faith leaders on dynamics of climate justice actions.2. To document key lessons, challenges, and initiatives by the faith communities on Climate Change to shape AACC’s accompaniment efforts and advocacy actions3. To consolidate faith leaders' position towards AACC’s participation in COP29 

The need for ethical leadership rooted in good corporate governance is increasingly being recognized as crucial for organizational development in developing countries and in the churches in particular.  Appropriate policy framework and conducive institutional environment are critical for enforcement of corporate governance particularly in the churches in order to remail competitive and cope with challenges of economic globalization and the rapidly changing environment.Some of the issues affecting the churches and church related institutions in Africa are: inadequate of interest by private investors to do business with religious institutions ;  lack of transparency; difficulties in keeping to contractual agreements; overly fluid timelines; difficult socio-political environments; complex or insufficient fiscal and legal regulations; lack of compliance government regulations and extant laws; inadequate diversification of funding sources by churches; lack of adequate cash to develop the churches assets; weak management/ insufficient knowledge of financial and assets management by churches ’ assets managers and hierarchical, leaders lacking knowledge of the properties owned by the churches, haphazard and unstructured plans for acquisition of church assets, failure to utilize opportunities such as growing urbanization in order to seek better returns on use of the church assets, use of misleading theology to perpetuate abuse of assets and rigid organizational culture among othersIn order for the churches to improve their effectiveness in ecclesial mission and prophetic obligations as agency for societal transformation, there is need to build the capacities of the church leadership so that the churches and their institutions may be governed in a manner worthy of honor and transformational in outlook in line with the biblical admonition of Paul’s epistle to 1 Timothy 5:17.The training is expected to benefit the churches and church institutions in the following ways; promote good stewardship of the resources by the churches, improve the alignment of the investments undertaken by the churches in adherence with the ethical values of the institutions, , strengthen the effective management of human resources by the churches in line with the human resource management principles, highlight and mitigate leadership gaps in the churches and promote inclusivity in the affairs of the churches  among othersOverall goal Equipped church leaders that are enterprising, reflective, adaptive, and resilient to respond to the constantly changing and evolving needs of society they are serving as churches. 

Much as Africa is a continent richly endowed with natural resource, most of the African countries continue to lag behind in development as compared to other parts of the world. This is partly due to the unjust tax systems within which the continent interacts with other developed countries. In its endeavors to bring Churches in Africa together for life, peace, justice, and dignity, the AACC recognizes the need for African Christians to act their faith in a way that transforms the unjust tax systems that hinder Africa’s sustainable development. Given that youth constitute the biggest proportion of the African population, are the population category most affected by economic injustices and whose future is threatened by tax injustices, AACC acknowledges the need for the African young people to actively be involved in the transformation Natural resources governance in Africa, and the unjust tax systems and structures that impede the continent's sustainable development. To do this, however, the youth need to be encouraged and supported to participate in leadership forums where they can influence critical processes at continental and global levels. It is upon this background that the AACC will support members of the All Africa Youth Network to actively participate in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) People’s Summit in Harare. The Summit will be hosted by the Southern African People’s Solidarity Network (SAPSN) from the 15th to the 16th of August 2024, under the theme “Reclaiming SADC for Peoples Development: Building People Power, Voice and Agency towards Democracy and Inclusion.” The Summit will provide faith-based organizations and civil society with an opportunity to advocate for tax and economic justice by targeting regional leadership. Objective of our participation 1.To ensure that youth leaders join other faith actors and civil society organizations at the SADC people’s summit and advance advocacy for just tax systems and structures 2. To advocate for the implementation of policies and strategies promoting inclusive and just resource governance to end to illicit financial flows in Africa. 3.To identify key advocacy issues for the All Africa Youth Network to focus on in advocating for tax and economic Justice in 2025