Walter Obare

Walter Obare Omwanza is the presiding bishop (in apostolic succession) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, which belongs to Lutheran World Federation. He became famous in Sweden and Finland at 5 February, 2005 when he with some other Lutheran bishops consecrated a Swedish pastor Arne Olsson as bishop for Mission Province in Church of Sweden, because of conflicting views with Church of Sweden about Ordination of women. After this, the Council of the Lutheran World Federation terminated Obare's tenure as adviser on 1 September 2005 [cite news |title=LWF Council Terminates Tenure of Bishop Walter E. Obare as Adviser |date=Aug. 2007 |url=http://www.lutheranworld.org/Council/2005/20050901-Council.html ] .

Nevertheless Bishop Obare has turned out to be a very staunch Confessional Lutheran Bishop in Africa as Dr Reijo Arkila jotted in his small booklet. His courage in the Word has earned him great awards all over the world. Ft Wayne Seminary honoured him with Doctror od Divinty "(Honoris Causa)" in 2006. He also won the "Sabre of Boldness" award in the same year.

As the head of ELCK, he has stood firm on Lutheran Confessions and leads his church on this basis. ELCK came into Altar and Pulpit fellowship with LCMS in 1994 after which the door was openned for LCMS pastors to work with ELCK.Many ELCK pastors have furthered their theological education under the leadership of Bishop Obare in the USA both in St louis and Ft Wayne seminaries. ELCK has seen real progress under Bishop Obare. Currently the new office block is almost coming to cempletion in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, Rescue centers are bieng put up to help in taking care the destitute orphans and widows left bacause of the HIV/AIDS pandeminc rocking Kenya.

Biography of Rt. Rev. Walter E O Omwanza

Childhood and Marriage life

He was born in Misambi village on the 10th May 1947 in Nyamira District of Kenya. He got married to Eunice in 1976 and since then God has blessed their marriage with ten (10) children: Valmah-1977, Rev.Isaiah-1979, Pascal- 1981, Miriam-1983, Polycap-1987, Lydia-1989, Sarah-1991, John-1993, Patricia-1997 and Paul-1999.They are also blessed with four grandchildren: Brayan-1997, Levis-1999, Eunice-2004 and Walter-2007.

Schooling and Service

Did his elementary schooling in the local schools thereafter he joined Matongo Lutheran Theological College (MLTC) in 1978 where he graduated with General Certificate in Theology.He was Ordained into the Ministry in 1982 after which he served as a parish pastor manning nine congregations. In 1985 he was appointed by the church to be Pastor-for-Schools where he supervised the spiritual life in all ELCK sponsored schools in Kenya. In 1991 he went back to MLTC where he did Higher Diploma in Theology graduating in 1993. In the same year he took a teaching career at MLTC. While there he got an opportunity to go to Concordia Seminary St Louis where he earned MA degree. He came back to Kenya and continued at MLTC until August of 2002 when he was called into the office of the Presiding Bishop of ELCK. He was consecrated a bishop on the 24th of Nov. 2002.As the presiding bishop of ELCK, he has brushed shoulders with LWF and other mega church bodies like the church of Sweden following a call from the Church Province of Sweden where he consecrated Bishop Arne Olson in February 2005. Following this, he was dropped from LWF as a Council Advisor after a strong confessional defense of what he did before the LWF council in Jerusalem. Concordia Theological Seminary Ft Wayne was impressed and honored him with Honorary Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa) in the year 2006.As a Bishop, he has helped ELCK to remain a confessional Lutheran Church where the Word is held and taught in its total purity and the Sacraments administered according to the command of our Lord. He has boldly stood firm to rebuke Liberalism, Gay marriage, Homosexuality and all sorts of these evil vices cropping into the church of Christ both in the Western and Eastern Churches respectively.

References

External links

* [http://www.brogren.nu/obare_eng.htm Why Are We Here Today] by Bishop Obare, February 5th, 2005
* [http://www.wordalone.org/docs/obare.shtml Choose Life!] by Bishop Obare, September, 2005