Ivory Coast: The Inauguration of the Espace de Formation Missiologique

On the initiative of the Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU), a missiological training area, known as Espace de Formation Missiologique (EFM), has been established within the Catholic University of West Africa/Unité Universitaire d'Abidjan (UCAO/UUA) to serve the Church in Sub-Saharan French-speaking Africa. The initiative was carried out in collaboration with the Catholic Missionary Institute of Abidjan (ICMA) and the Faculty of Theology of the Jesuits of Africa and Madagascar (FTJAM).

The EFM will offer missionary formation courses for local clergy (bishops, priests, permanent deacons), men and women, religious and lay people, aimed at strengthening their abilities in evangelization, and to ensure that the connection between the Christian faith and the missiological formation is the only perspective of understanding of the openness to God and the world. The program is divided into three semesters and the courses are taught by university professors and experts in the field of missionary work.

With its formation activities, the EFM aims to delve into the faith as a continued deep relationship, an experiential communion and an intelligent activity aimed at establishing a personal and ecclesial relationship with God, One and Trine.

The EFM is therefore intended to be an effective instrument at the disposal of the Holy Spirit, the principal actor in the mission, so that it may be both the starting point and the culmination of what the Church is called to be in the world.

The establishment of the EFM is part of the decentralization of PMU’s activities. The decentralization seeks to strengthen the faith and Christian identity among the faithful in the mission countries, in this case the Church in Sub-Saharan French-speaking Africa, and to ensure that the mission is not limited to the mere distribution of material aid, establishing a mutually beneficial relationship between those who give and those who receive.