Walter Obare

Who is Walter Obare?

Walter Obare Omwanza is the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, which is a member of the Lutheran World Federation and the International Lutheran Council respectively. On 5 February 2005 he consecrated a Swedish pastor, Arne Olsson, as bishop for a conservative group called the Mission Province, which opposes the Church of Sweden's policy on placing women and unrepentent homosexuals into the ordained pastorate based on the historic teaching and practice of the Catholic Church on the roles of men and women. The Council of the Lutheran World Federation subsequently terminated a leadership position Obare held within the LWF on 1 September 2005.

Concordia Theological Seminary, of the U.S. Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, awarded Obare an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 2006.