October 4, 2023, By Susan Clark
ATLANTA – Dr. Aquilas Soronaka, country director of United Methodist Global Ministries’ mission initiative in the Central African Republic (CAR), was ordained as an elder in The United Methodist Church on Aug. 29, 2023, by Bishop Gabriel Unda. His ordination was held in the city of Kindu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). His wife, Priscila Soronaka, was also commissioned as the first deaconess in CAR.
Soronaka received teaching on Methodist polity and completed theological training prior to his ordination. He is the only ordained UMC minister in CAR, other than the Rev. M. Sachou, a missionary who will be leaving CAR later this year.
CAR was designated as a new mission initiative in 2015, focused on congregational development; forming youth fellowship groups, scouts, women’s and men’s groups; and training church leadership. This work builds on mission outreach from the adjoining East Congo Episcopal Area which borders CAR to the northwest.
... In November, Bishop Unda is planning to send a team of pastors from East Congo to train local pastors in CAR.
