Boni becomes first United Methodist bishop of Cote d’Ivoire March 15, 2005 A UMNS Report
By Elliott Wright* The Rev. Benjamin Boni has been elected the first bishop of the newly constituted United Methodist Church of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). He was elected March 12 without opposition by the West Africa Central Conference meeting in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Côte d’Ivoire. The new episcopal leader received all 71 of the valid ballots cast on the first vote (three ballots were invalid). Delegates to the central conference also recognized Côte d’Ivoire as an annual conference of the international denomination. The country has 800,000 to 1 million United Methodists. Boni was president of the former Protestant Methodist Church of Côte d’Ivoire when that autonomous denomination applied for admission into the United Methodist Church. It was given the status of a mission in 2003 by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, and Boni became superintendent. The 2004 General Conference, the denomination’s highest legislative body, granted full membership on the basis of the history and organizational strength of Methodism in Côte d’Ivoire. The church on Africa’s west coast became a full member on May 7.
“Bishop Boni is my friend and a friend of mission,” said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the Board of Global Ministries. “We look forward to working with him in the great ministries already under way in Côte d’Ivoire.” The new bishop was born in Côte d’Ivoire in 1952. He did his basic college study in Abidjan, and received his theological education at an ecumenical seminary in Yaounde, Cameroon, where many United Methodist pastors from West Africa study. He also has advanced degrees in theology and family counseling from the University of Strasbourg in France. Boni and his wife, N’Gbesso Berthe Boni, have six children. *Wright is the public information officer for the Board of Global Ministries. News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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