‘Women have always been a key part of God’s plan’

Our editor Tola-Doll Fisher caught up with Sheila Akomiah-Conteh to discuss theological education, women’s roles in the Church and the growth of African Christianity in Britain

Tola-Doll Fisher (TDF): Sheila I have been reading some of your research on the impact of African churches in Britain but for our readers not familiar with your work, what exactly do you do? 

Sheila Akomiah-Conteh (SAC): I’ve been a lecturer in African theology for a year and the main modules that I teach are African and black Christianity, African and black theology and also global Pentecostalism. This course was a new missional pathway, introduced by Church Mission Society in conjunction with an organisation I’m part of called Missio Africanus to equip the diaspora missionaries to do mission in Britain. The story of Christianity in Britain, not just England but the whole of Britain, has for a very long time been about decline and how the main traditional churches are losing their members and closing down.