Archbishop Vicente Msosa

A Visionary Leader for the Anglican Church in Mozambique and Angola

The Most Rev. Vicente Msosa is a dynamic and influential Anglican leader in Africa today. Elected in November 2024 and installed in January 2025 as the first elected Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola (Igreja Anglicana de Moçambique e Angola (IAMA)), he now leads the Anglican Communion’s newest province. At just 43 years of age when elected, Archbishop Msosa represents a new generation of African church leadership shaped by evangelism, discipleship, church planting and mission.

Born in 1981 in Chuanga, a rural village in Mozambique’s Niassa Province, Msosa was educated locally before training as a teacher. While working in education, he became increasingly involved in Christian evangelism and ministry, eventually discerning a call to ordained service. In 2010 he undertook theological studies at the College of the Transfiguration in South Africa, earning a Diploma in Theology. He was ordained deacon in 2013 and priest in 2014 and later completed further theological studies at Lake Malawi Anglican University. He is now a Ph.D. candidate in Mission, Leadership and Development at Gordon-Cornwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, USA reflecting his long-standing commitment to developing strong Christian leaders for Africa.

Archbishop Msosa first came to wider Anglican attention in 2017 when, at the age of 35, he was consecrated as Bishop of Niassa, becoming the youngest bishop in the Anglican Communion at the time. During his years in Niassa he built a reputation as an energetic leader with a passion for reaching rural communities and strengthening the Church’s witness in some of Mozambique’s most remote regions.

When the missionary Diocese of Zambezia was created in 2021 as part of preparations for the formation of the new Anglican province, Bishop Msosa chose to leave the more established Diocese of Niassa and lead the fledgling diocese. Under his leadership, Zambezia has prioritised evangelism, leadership training and the development of lay ministry in one of Mozambique’s poorest provinces.

Msosa said at his installation, “Our call in such a critical time to such a critical role is to help IAMA province to respond to mission, evangelism and intentional discipleship. We are joining you all as Anglican churches and provinces around the world in sharing this common goal to proclaim the Good News of the kingdom, to teach, baptise and nurture new believers. We are deeply committed and convicted with the ‘five marks of mission,’ which begin with the preaching of the Gospel and the call to personal conversion embracing the whole of life. We are deeply convicted in spirit that God is calling us as a new province in such a troubled time like this to shepherd the province to “fear the Lord our God, walk in all his ways, love God, serve him wholeheartedly, keep the commandments and his decrees.’ Each member contributes to his kingdom with what she/he has.”

Partnership with Anglican Aid

Archbishop Msosa has developed a close relationship with Anglican Aid an overseas aid, development, and ministry support agency based in the Diocese of Sydney in partnership with the global Anglican Church. Anglican Aid has partnered with the Diocese of Zambezia across a range of theological education and aid initiatives, helping strengthen churches and transform communities.

Through this partnership, Anglican Aid has supported theological education and leadership development in Mozambique for the growing church. The Anglican Church in Mozambique doesn’t have its own seminary and around 10% of its pastors have formal theological education. To address this gap, church leaders are being trained using the Portuguese version of the Moore College Preliminary Theological Certificate (PTC). The PTC program was piloted in 2025 in the Diocese of Zambezia with 68 church leaders studying Doctrine 1 and 2. In 2026, the course will be rolled out in Mozambique’s seven dioceses, aiming to teach around 240 Christian leaders per year for the next three years. Additionally, Anglican Aid’s partner the Diocese of Zambezia has been training church leaders through the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi (EBCoM) to help fill the critical shortage of trained church leaders across Africa following rapid church growth.

The partnership has also become critical during times of crisis. Since 2017, northern Mozambique has endured a violent Islamist insurgency that has displaced more than a million people. In 2024, Bishop Msosa issued an urgent appeal to Anglican Aid as renewed attacks forced families to flee their homes. Under his leadership, the Diocese of Zambezia has assisted displaced people with emergency food, shelter and pastoral care, demonstrating a compassionate and practical commitment to vulnerable communities. In 2026 three of the four provinces in Mozambique were extremely affected by floods due to seasonal cyclones. Emergency food was provided to households affected by the floods in Gaza Province, and Zambézia Province.

A Leader for Today

Archbishop Vicente Msosa has a commitment to biblical faithfulness, mission and church growth: a former village teacher who has become one of the most influential Anglican leaders in the Portuguese-speaking world, guiding a young and rapidly growing province while remaining passionately committed to training church leaders who will lead God’s people to love their neighbours and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Helpful Links

https://anglicanaid.org.au/mozambique-equipping-leaders-through-ptc/

https://anglicanaid.org.au/mozambique-relief-for-persecuted-christians/

https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/children-among-the-hardest-hit-in-mozambique-attacks/54026

New primate installed for the Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola – Episcopal News Service

Making disciples in the Missionary Diocese of Zambezia | Rooted in Jesus