During the recent ACTEA General Assembly and 50th Anniversary, held in Addis Ababa from 4 to 12 March, the delegates voted to restructure ACTEA into three branches: an Anglophone branch, a Francophone branch and a Lusophone branch. Here is the official announcement.
Dear ACTEA community,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Today, I am writing to share a monumental development that emerged from our time together in Addis Ababa at our recent General Assembly and 50th Anniversary, March 4-12, 2026.
During the General Assembly, our delegates voted on a historic decision to officially restructure ACTEA into three arms in order to serve the continent better. Moving forward, ACTEA will be made up of three councils:
- Council for Anglophone Theological Institutions (CATI)
- Conseil des Institutions Théologiques de l’Afrique Francophone (CITAF)
- Conselho das Instituições Teológicas Lusófonas (CITEL)
All these arms work under one continental secretariat, one board, one continental General Assembly, all under one AEA—the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA).
This restructure is important in addressing some gaps in ACTEA’s service to the Church in Africa.
Since its inception in March 1976, ACTEA sought to serve the evangelical community across the continent with a distinctly trilingual and continental vision. Rooted in the heritage of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA), and reflecting the spirit of the African Union (AU), ACTEA understood that Africa’s strength lies in its diversity, particularly in the collaboration of its linguistic, cultural, and educational diversities. However, despite this trilingual heritage and genuine efforts, ACTEA did not serve its Francophone and Lusophone constituencies as fully and consistently as it should have. Over time, this imbalance resulted in ACTEA being widely perceived as an Anglophone institution, even though its founding vision was and remains, continental and multilingual. We want to serve the church in Africa better going forward.
The Anglophone and Lusophone councils will still need to be constituted. However, our Francophone council is already in place in the Conseil des Institutions Théologiques de l’Afrique Francophone (CITAF). Over the last two decades, CITAF has built a remarkable legacy, supporting more than 200 theological institutions and Christian universities in Francophone Africa. This new restructure brings CITAF’s wealth of experience, networks, and insights directly into ACTEA.
The Church in Africa is strengthened by this unity that our Lord and Savior prayed for. In this, we also affirm our surrender to “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:5-6).
We are very thankful for your investment that has helped bring us to this pivotal moment. Thank you for believing in our mission and for walking alongside us. We look forward to seeing what God will do through this unified body, and we are honored to share this next chapter with you.
In Christ,
Dr. David Tarus
Executive Director, ACTEA
(Reposted from the ACTEA website.)
