NOTE:  Small Christian Communities (SCCs) developed as a result of putting the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) into practice. Latin America, Africa and Asia (especially the Philippines) all pioneered the development of a SCC Model of Church or a BCC Model of Church.  After considerable research and debate, many specialists feel that quite independently of one another these three areas of the Catholic Church in the Global South simultaneously experienced the extraordinary growth of SCCs. Thus the African experience did not come from Latin America but developed on its own as follows:

1961: The Zaire Episcopal Conference (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC) approved a pastoral plan to promote "Living Ecclesial Communities." NOTE: This is only five years after the more famous Basic (or Base) Christian Communities/Basic Ecclesial Communities started in Barra do Pirai Diocese, Brazil. 

1966:  Although 1973 and 1976 are considered the official starting points for SCCs in the AMECEA countries (NOTE: AMECEA is an acronym for "Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa." It is a service organization for the National Episcopal Conferences of the eight countries of Eastern Africa, namely Eritrea (1993), Ethiopia (1979), Kenya (1961), Malawi (1961), Sudan (1973), Tanzania (1961), Uganda (1961) and Zambia (1961). Somalia (1995) and Djibouti (2002) are Affiliate Members), the very beginning of SCCs can be traced back to Nyarombo Parish in Musoma Diocese, Tanzania in 1966 with research on the social structures and community values of the Luo Ethnic Group. The first term used was chama(meaning "small group") or “small communities of Christians” (forerunner of SCCs). See Marie-France Perrin Jassy, Forming Christian Communities (Kampala: Gaba Pastoral Paper No. 12, 1970) and Basic Community in the African Churches (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1973).

1969: Seminar Study Year (SSY) in Tanzania. During the SSY the concept and praxis of SCCs that were then called "local Church communities" were first articulated as a priority in both rural and later urban parishes.  See articles in Service published by the now called TAPRI (Tanzanian Pastoral and Research Institute).

1971: Small Christian Communities were started in St. Charles Lwanga Parish in Lusaka Archdiocese, Zambia. 

1972:  Bishop Patrick Kalilombe held a Diocesan Synod in Lilongwe, Malawi and was the first bishop in Eastern Africa to start a diocesan pastoral p of Small Christian Communities on the grassroots level. 

1973 ( Nairobi, Kenya): AMECEA Study Conference on “Planning for the Church in Eastern Africa in the 1980s:” Key statement: “We have to insist on building church life and work on Basic Christian Communities in both rural and urban areas.  Church life must be based on the communities in which everyday life and work take place: those basic and manageable social groups whose members can experience real inter-personal relationships and feel a sense of communal belonging, both in living and working.”

The importance of putting into practice the challenge of Bishop Patrick Kalilombe. He said during this AMECEA Meeting that every bishop, priest, brother, and sister should participate in a particular SCC – not as a leader but as a regular/ordinary member. This can work easily if the priest, etc. becomes a member of the SCC in his or her specific neighborhood/geographical area (that is, where he or she is actually living).

1974:  Bishop Christopher Mwoleka of Rulenge Diocese, Tanzania and the Tanzania National Council of the Laity developed a step-by-step plan for starting SCCs throughout Tanzania.  Mwoleka stated that in his diocese "the entire pastoral work will be carried out by means of Small Christian Communities."

1974-75: World Synod of Bishops "On Evangelization in the Modern World" in Rome in October, 1994 and publication of Paul VI's Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi/Evangelization Today in 1995. Section No. 58 on “Ecclesial Base Communities” states that BECs are “a place of evangelization and a hope for the universal church.”

1976 ( Nairobi, Kenya): AMECEA Study Conference on “Building Small Christian Communities.” Key statement: "Systematic formation of Small Christian Communities should be the key pastoral priority in the years to come in Eastern Africa.”

During this meeting the word "small" was specifically chosen to avoid certain undertones of the word "basic."  Bishop Raphael Ndingi Mwana'a Nzeki of Nakuru Diocese, Kenya stated that to call our grassroots communities "small" instead of "basic" is another indication that the movement in Africa was growing on its own, quite independent of what was happening along the same lines in other places such as Latin America. See Raphael Ndingi, "Basic Communities: the African Experience" in A New Missionary Era (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1982), p. 100.

1978: The birth of Bible Sharing/Gospel-Sharing at the Lumko Missiological Institute in South Africa. Excellent SCC training manuals began to be published that popularized the Lumko "Seven Step" Method of Bible Sharing/Gospel Sharing. Later Blomfontein Archdiocese in South Africa went a step further in the pastoral planning and coordination that emphasizes SCCs by establishing this guideline: "If the pastor in a parish with active SCCs is transferred, there is an archdiocesan policy that his successor should also be committed to SCCs."

1979 (Zomba, Malawi): AMECEA Study Conference on “The Implementation of the AMECEA Bishops’ Pastoral Priority of Building Small Christian Communities: An Evaluation.” One pastoral resolution stated: “SCCs are an effective way of developing the mission dimension of the church at the most local level, and of making people feel that they are really part of the church's evangelizing work.”

1983:  African theologian Laurenti Magesa boldly stated: "Ecclesiologically they (SCCs) are the best thing that has happened since the New Testament."

1987:  Many interventions of the bishops from Africa at the World Synod of Bishops on the "Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful" in Rome were on Small (or Living) Christian Communities.

1989: John Paul II's Apostolic Exhortation on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful states: "Local ecclesial authorities ought to foster small, basic or so-called 'living' communities, where the faithful can communicate the Word of God and express it in service and love to one another; these communities are a true expression of ecclesial communion and centers of evangelization, in communion with their pastors."

1990:  John Paul II.  Encyclical Letter.  Redemptoris Missio/The Mission of the Church.  Section No. 51 on “Ecclesial Basic Communities” states that BECs are “a force for evangelization…good centers for Christian formation and missionary outreach…a great hope of the church.”

1992 (Lusaka, Zambia): The AMECEA Plenary Study Conference on “ Evangelization with its Central Issues: Inculturation, Small Christian Communities and Priestly, Religious and Christian Formation" reiterated its pastoral commitment by stating: "So we repeat that SCCs are not optional in our churches; they are central to the life of faith and the ministry of evangelization."

1994:  First African Synod in Rome in April, 1994.Theme: "The Church in Africa and Her Evangelizing Mission Towards the Year 2000 with five main topics: "Proclamation of the Good News of Salvation", "Inculturation," "Dialogue", "Justice and Peace" and the "Means of Social Communications."  Of the 211 interventions during the first two weeks of the First African Synod, there were 29 interventions on SCCs (the fourth highest number after the topics of justice, inculturation and laity).  Ecclesiology of the Church-as-Family.  In the Final Message Section 28 on "The Church-as-Family and Small Christian Communities" states: “The Church, the Family of God, implies the creation of small communities at the human level, living or basic ecclesial communities…These individual Churches-as-Families have the task of working to transform society.”

At the end of the four-week synod Bishop Anselme Sanon of Bobo Dioulasso Diocese, Burkina Faso stated that the three decisive steps in the development of the African Church have been as follows:

                        1. The publication of the book Pretres noirs s'interrogent in 1956.

                        2. The formation of Small Christian Communities nearly twenty years later (around 1974-75).

                        3. The 1994 African Synod with its emphasis on inculturation -- some twenty years later.

1995:  Publication and promulgation by John Paul II of the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa/The Church in Africa/Kanisa Katika Afrika. Synod in Yaounde, Cameroon, Johannesburg, South Africa and Nairobi, Kenya between 14 -20 September, 1995.

Numbers 23 and 89 treat SCCs.

                        Number 23 under "The Family of God in the Synodal Process:"  "If this Synod is prepared well, it will be able to involve all levels of the Christian Community: individuals, small communities, parishes, Dioceses, and local, national and international bodies."

                        Number 89 under "Living (or Vital) Christian Communities:" "Right from the beginning, the Synod Fathers recognized that the Church as Family cannot reach her full potential as Church unless she is divided into communities small enough to foster close human relationships.  The Assembly described the characteristics of such communities as follows: primarily they should be places engaged in evangelizing themselves, so that subsequently they can bring the Good News to others; they should moreover be communities which pray and listen to God's Word, encourage the members themselves to take on responsibility, learn to live an ecclesial life, and reflect on different human problems in the light of the Gospel. Above all, these communities are to be committed to living Christ's love for everybody, a love which transcends the limits of natural solidarity of clans, tribes or other interest groups."

                        Also Number 63 under "The Church as God's Family:" "It is earnestly to be hoped that theologians in Africa will work out the theology of the Church as Family with all the riches contained in this concept, showing its complementarity with other images of the Church."

SCCs become an important part of the National Plans for the Implementation of the African Synod in the AMECEA countries. The African Synod Comes Home -- A Simplified Text (Pauline Publications Africa, 1995) and other post-synodal documents stress the importance in SCCs in the follow-up and implementation of the recommendations of the First African Synod.  Developing SCCs as a concrete expression of, and realization of, the Church-as-Family Model of Church.  

1998:  Key turning point in Tanzania: “The implementation of the new Constitution of the National Lay Council in 1998 required that the election of lay leaders in parishes throughout Tanzania start at the level of SCCs and move upwards.  This insured that the parish council leaders would be chosen from those who were already leaders in their SCCs – thus true representation from below.  Such decisions gave full confidence to the faithful and opened new possibilities for the laity in the local church.” (See Chapter 14 in Small Christian Communities Today: Capturing the New Moment. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2005 and Nairobi, Kenya: Paulines Publications Africa, 2006).

2002 (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania): AMECEA Study Conference on “Deeper Evangelization in the Third Millennium.” Section 7 of the Pastoral Resolutions was on “Building the Church as a Family of God by Continuing to Foster and/or Revitalize the Small Christian Communities.”  No. 43 states: “We recommend that a program on the theological and pastoral value of Small Christian Communities be included in the normal curriculum of the Major Seminaries and houses of formation of both men and women.”

2002: Synod of Mwanza Archdiocese, Tanzania. Booklet: Sinodi ya Kwanza Jimbo Kuu la Mwanza: Sera, Maaazimo na Matamko.  Tabora, Tanzania: Tanganyika Mission Press (TMP), Contains 105 references to Jumuiya Ndogo Ndogo za Kikristo (JNNK), the Swahili expression for SCCs.

            2005: (Mukono, Uganda): AMECEA Study Conference on “Responding to the Challenges of HIV/AIDS within the AMECEA Region” had one pastoral resolution that emphasised: "Active involvement of SCCs in reaching out to people with HIV/AIDS. SCC members as caregivers, counselors, etc." NOTE: SCC members also reach out to refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), people traumatized by civil war, violence and tribalism/ethnicity, street children, sick people, bereaved people and other needy people. 

2006-2007: To promote the AMECEA Pastoral Priority of SCCs and to focus on ongoing spiritual and pastoral formation a "Year of Small Christian Communities (SCCs)" was celebrated in Dar es Salaam Archdiocese, Tanzania. Later this was extended to a "National Year of Small Christian Communities (SCCs)" for the whole of Tanzania.

2007: "RENEW Africa: Gathered as God’s Family", a totally new RENEW International process based in Africa, created by Africans and responding to the needs and issues of the church of Africa, starts in Port Elizabeth Diocese, South Africa.

2007-2008: Annual campaigns such as: Kenya's Good Governance, My Responsibility.  (Kenya Lenten Campaign, 2007). With a New Heart and a New Spirit (Kenya Lenten Campaign, 2008). The "See, Judge and Act" Process draws on the experience of SCCs on justice and peace-related themes/issues. The proposed action steps directly involve SCCs.

2008: (Lusaka, Zambia): AMECEA Study Conference on "Reconciliation Through Justice and Peace." See references to the role and mission of Small Christian Communities. Action Plan A4: “Revisiting the Small Christian Communities Pastoral Option as a means of responding to the ministry of reconciliation through justice and peace. Theology of the Church Family of God must be further explored in view of enhancing reconciliation and peace building.”

2008: World Synod of Bishops on the "Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church" in Rome in October, 2008.

Proposition 21 on “Word of God and Small Communities”: “The synod recommends the formation of small ecclesial communities where the Word of God is heard, studied and prayed, also in the form of the rosary as biblical meditation (cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae). In many countries there are already small communities which can be made up of families living in the parishes or connected to the different ecclesial movements and new communities. They meet regularly around the Word of God, to share among themselves, and receive strength from it. Some only rarely have the possibility to celebrate the Eucharist. They experience the sense of community and encounter the Word of God personally. Through the reading of the Bible they feel themselves loved personally by God. The service of the laity that leads these communities must be appreciated and promoted as they carry out a missionary service to which all the baptized are called.”

Proposition 22 on “Word of God and Prayerful Reading: “The synod proposes that all the faithful, including the young, be exhorted to come close to Scripture by means of a “prayerful” and assiduous reading (DV 25), in such a way that the dialogue with God becomes a daily reality for the People of God. For this reason, it’s important that…the faithful should be initiated in prayerful reading using the most appropriate method according to the circumstances, categories and culture, in both personal and community settings (Lectio Divina, spiritual exercises in daily life, the “Seven Steps” in Africa and elsewhere, diverse methods of prayer, and in ecclesial base communities, etc.)

2009: Justice, Peace and Reconciliation (Kenya Lenten Campaign 2009).

2009: Second African Synod to take place in Rome on 4-25 October, 2009: Theme: "The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace." See the Lineamenta (2006) and Instrumentum Laboris (March, 2009). SCCs are called "living ecclesial communities." The Church as Family of God Model is a new ecclesial option that focuses on building families and building SCCs that are involved in reconciliation, justice and peace in the Catholic Church and in the wider society." Tracking the shifts in this specific theme with the additional emphasis on “Reconciliation." SCCs are mentioned in 12 times in the Instrumentum Laboris and twice in the footnotes. This is significantly more than in the Lineamenta in which "living ecclesial communities" are mentioned three times in the document and twice in the questionnaire. This increase in the importance given to SCCs is clearly due to the many responses from the Episcopal Conferences in Africa and to other answers to the 32 questions of the original questionnaire.

2009: From the 29 September, 2009 “Statement from Bishops of AMECEA Who Are Delegates to the Synod of Bishops’ Second Special Assembly for Africa (in Rome in October, 2009)”: Under: B. OUR SERIOUS PASTORAL CONCERNS AND CHALLENGES. 3. “Centrality of Small Christian Community (SCC): we have experienced that a properly trained and led SCC adds great value to the promotion of reconciliation. This is because deeper biblical reflection and more regular use of the pastoral circle empower our Christians to engage effectively in the social life around them. Here formation in Catholic Social Teaching (CST) at all levels must be a priority.”

2009:   Second African Synod in Rome from 4-25 October, 2009. Theme: "The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace." From No 22 of the “Message to the People of God”: “Here we would like to reiterate the recommendation of Ecclesia in Africa about the importance of Small Christian Communities (cf. EIA, 93). Beyond prayer, you must also arm yourself with sufficient knowledge of the Christian faith to be able to “give a proof of the hope that you bear” (1 Peter 3:15) in the market places of ideas…We strongly recommend the basic sources of Catholic faith: the Holy Bible, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and most relevant to the theme of the Synod, The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church."

2009: The first African publication on the Second African Synod was: Courage! Get on Your feet, Continent of Africa. "Homily of his Holiness Benedict XVI at the concluding Mass" and "Message of the Bishops of Africa to the People of God".

2010: Towards Healing and Transformation (Kenya Lenten Campaign 2010).

Updated: 12 January, 2010
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Father Joseph Healey, M.M is a Maryknoll missionary priest who teaches a course on "Small Christian Communities as a New Model of Church in Africa Today" at Hekima College (Jesuit School of Theology) and at Tangaza College (CUEA) in Nairobi, Kenya. He is the co-editor of Small Christian Communities Today: Capturing the New Moment. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2005 and Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2006.

Rev. Joseph Healey, M.M
Maryknoll Society
P.O. Box 43058
00100 Nairobi, Kenya
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