Evangelism in Africa: an example for the Anglican Communion
David Williams is Principal of Carlile College, an Anglican Theological College in Nairobi that trains men and women from throughout East Africa in mission and evangelism. Carlile College is a part of the ministry of Church Army Africa, an indigenous and autonomous African mission agency.
David Gitari, retired Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya, visited many Kenyan parishes during his long ministry as Bishop and Archbishop. He made it his habit to ask leaders in these parishes what the top three priorities were in their local church. He says that he received many different answers in relation to second and third place on that priority list, but always received the same answer for priority number one: evangelism. The result of this focus on evangelism can be seen in the extraordinary growth of the church in Africa. Only 150 years ago the Christian Church was non-existent in most of the African continent. Today there is no doubt that the centre of world Anglicanism lies in Africa. There are more Anglicans in West Africa than in the whole of Britain, North America and Australia put together. And while the Anglican Churches of the northern hemisphere continue to haemorrhage numbers, the African Churches continue to grow. Christians within the Anglican Church of Kenya and other African provinces can provide their brothers and sisters in the Church of England with powerful examples in a number of areas. I have focused on just three points, although the list could be a great deal longer:
Identity
African people tend to identify themselves in terms of their family and their relationships not by their job roles. So while an English person will introduce himself by saying “I’m John, I work in the city,” an African person will tend to say “I’m Kamau, the son of Njoroge, our family come from Muranga.” For the African Christian, Jesus Christ has become a part of the family and the relationship with Jesus has become a key part of the Christian’s identity and self-understanding. Consequently, a Kenya Christian will introduce herself by saying “I’m Wangui and I’m born again. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour.” It is unusual for a British Christian to reveal his faith in a first conversation with another person. It is unusual for an African Christian not to reveal her faith in a first conversation with another person. African Christians encourage us to remember that Jesus shapes and defines our entire identity, so that if we truly belong to him we will confess his name at every opportunity and every new introduction.
Reality
African people tend to be materially poor and experience very great suffering. The vast majority of Christians in Kenya earn barely £1 per day. Life is lived at a subsistence level, hunger is a reality that is often experienced and death is a close and constant threat. When life is lived in the face of this kind of suffering, the gospel of Jesus Christ is very good news. Jesus offers us confidence in the face of death and a future in heaven that is free from suffering. If you live in a reality where death is a daily possibility and life is characterized by dreadful suffering, this message is wonderfully good news. If we life in a western reality where we deceive ourselves into thinking that death lies 40 years in the future and our idea of dreadful suffering is a trip to the dentist, then the eschatological hope of the gospel may not bear the same significance. African Christians encourage us to value the promises of the gospel, so that our hope is truly based in heaven. One consequence of this reality is that the African Evangelist believes that she is sharing wonderfully good news when she shares the gospel.
Dependency
African people have little control over their futures. An African person living in a rural context lives life at the mercy of the rains and the quality of the harvest. A person working in an urban setting is often a casual employee, never knowing from day to day whether he will find employment and receive a wage. Such uncertainty forces African Christians to depend on Jesus Christ as the only person whom they can trust. Africans who pray “gives us today our daily bread” are offering a more real, immediate and meaningful prayer than their brothers and sisters in England. It is true that in some cases this lack of control can lead to attitudes that are fatalistic. But many African Christian people live lives that are deeply dependent on Jesus Christ for the most basic necessities of life. This dependence of Christ for every aspect of day to day life is a discipline that is largely lost in the West.
The African Christian is therefore a person who is poor and oppressed, but who is looking forward to a future in heaven with Jesus, a future that will be free from hunger and thirst and pain. A personal relationship with Jesus defines the Christian’s identity and this relationship is characterized by a deep level of dependency. One outcome of all of this is the wonderful confidence of African Christians in the goodness of the good news. There is never a sense of unease or embarrassment when an evangelist preaches the gospel. The message of human sin is not difficult to accept in societies that have seen such terrible levels of abuse and injustice. In this kind of context the concept of God’s anger against human sin is also in some senses welcomed. Nobody wants to believe that men like Idi Amin or the perpetrators of the Rwanda / Burundi genocide will escape divine retribution. Of course it is harder to accept personal culpability for my own rebellion against God, and yet the promise of rescue and redemption through the death of Christ on the cross provides a hope that is so compelling and attractive that men and women throughout the African continent continue to commit themselves to trust Jesus as their Saviour and obey him as their Lord.