Abstract
This article takes the theme of Pope Benedict’s Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Africae Munus, on reconciliation, justice and peace in Africa as its starting point. It analyses how the commitments of African Christians at the Second African Synod (2009) can be realized through a transformative missional theological praxis. This theological approach is proposed as a deeper concern on how to bring about the fruits of the eschatological harvest of God’s kingdom to bear on the present complex African social context. This article proposes two ways of doing this: The first is a socio-theological analysis of Africa’s social context, and the second is showing how to mine the spiritual, religious, cultural, human, and material resources of Africa. The article proposes an outline for an African transformative missional theology and a praxis of African development built on such a theology.
In Africa I saw a freshness in the ‘yes’ to life, a freshness of religious meaning and hope, a holistic vision of reality where God is not confined to that positivist perspective which, in the final analysis, extinguishes all hope. This tells us that the continent contains reserves of life and vitality for the future, reserves upon which we can rely, upon which the Church can rely.
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Introduction
The contention of this article is that it is in the areas of theological praxis that the social mission of Christianity in Africa faces the greatest challenge. This is because in many cases, little effort is given to social analysis of the social context. This leads to theological analysis and propositions which are very abstract, apodictic, and universalizing. As the Eastern African bishops pointed out in their synod recommendations, what is needed in African Christianity are solutions that are ‘very practical, very concrete, and very realizable.’ 2 However, concrete answers will demand an immersion in, and interpretation of the social conditions of the people and a praxis of accompaniment and social transformation. The Second African Synod’s apostolic exhortation, Africae Munus presents African Christianity with the challenge to seek the path of transformative missional praxis which raises some important questions: How can the church in Africa concretely engage the historical challenges of the moment, and cease the great harvest of faith in Africa to bring about the kingdom of God for Africa? What transformative theology can be proposed for realizing the promises of God’s kingdom in Africa through African Christianity? These are questions which I intend to answer in this article.
The Message of Africae Munus
The Second African Synod took place in Rome on 4–25 October 2009. The theme of the Synod was, ‘The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace: “You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world”’ (Matthew 5: 14). The Synod was ‘intended to be an occasion of hope and resurrection, at the very moment when human events seemed to be tempting Africa to discouragement and despair.’
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At the end of the deliberations, the Synod came out with a message of some 6,500 words and 57 propositions which were recommendations which formed the content of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Africae Munus. Proposition 42 captures the essential message of the Second African Synod:
Africa is not hopeless. Our destiny is still in our hands. All she is asking for is the space to breathe and thrive. Africa is already moving; and the Church is moving with her, offering her the light of the Gospel. The waters may be turbulent, but with our gaze on Christ the Lord (cf. Mt 14: 28–32), we shall make it safely to the port of reconciliation, justice and peace.
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Some of the challenges identified by the Second African Synod include: poverty eradication through commitment to justice and integral development; reconciliation and peace through addressing the root causes of conflicts, wars, division based on religion, ethnicity, political, economic, and social and cultural differences; and a renewed commitment to deepening the Christian faith through inculturation, Christian education and the mining of the cultural, spiritual and religious resources of Africa.
Peter Henriot points out the five significant aspects of Africae Munus which are germane for this article. 5 First, Pope Benedict acknowledges Africa as the ‘spiritual “lung” for a humanity that appears to be in a crisis of faith and hope’ (n. 13). The document recognizes the significant place of African Catholicism not only in World Catholicism, but also in the construction of a better world for African peoples in the very complex and challenging social context of Africa, especially in the urgent mission set for the church in Africa by the Synod, that is, the task of reconciliation, justice and peace (Africae Munus, n. 3).
The second important message of the document according to Henriot is ‘the discussion of the economic and social challenges facing Africa.’ 6 The document recognizes the need to reduce the biting poverty which is spreading in Africa despite the fact that Africa is blessed with ‘important natural resources.’ The Pope bemoans this situation when he writes: ‘Given chronic poverty of its people, who suffer effects of exploitation and embezzlement of funds both locally and abroad, the opulence of certain groups shocks the human conscience’ (Africae Munus, n. 79).
Third, Africae Munus continues the link which Pope Benedict made in Charity in Truth 7 between doing charity and working for justice, and between doing charity and seeing the integrity of the human person and the truth about the person even in their poverty as a summons to fight for justice and the good of order (Africae Munus, n. 18). Africae Munus continues the call of the Synod members that the church should march in solidarity with the people, embracing their joys and sorrows (Gaudium et Spes, n. 1) by proclaiming and living in her inner life and external acts the Gospel of love, hope, justice, peace and reconciliation (nn. 79–80).
Fourth, the document is very proactive in not only proposing how the church in Africa can become effective as agents for reconciliation, justice and peace, but it shows that in order to effectively mobilize the people, the Church in Africa must pay greater attention to training the pastoral agents at all levels especially at the grassroots. This formation should be comprehensive and involves all those who are in leadership in the church at all levels (nn. 74–78; 134–135). More significant in this proposal is that leadership training should be more focused on the social mission of the Church. In this regard, Africae Munus proposes that all members of the Church must be educated in social teaching of the Church (n. 109, 128, 134, 137). In addition, it calls for greater evangelization of the people hence the need for a deepening of the faith which will lead to better understanding and active involvement of Christians in building the kingdom of God. Thus through catechesis and faith formation across the life span, African Christians will be led to appreciate faith’s role in a praxis of development, and towards living a faith that is deeper and more relevant and contextual in order to meet the present challenges facing Africa and the world (nn. 32, 165).
Fifth, Henriot points out that Africae Munus also addressed specific issues which affect different people in Africa especially those on the margins. There is an attempt in this document to use the rich social teaching of the church and the social ethical principles drawn from an integral Christian humanism to examine the condition of the human person in Africa. Particularly to be noted is the question of the role of women in the church and the cultural and ecclesial structures in Africa, which perpetuate gender bias and inequality in Africa. The document recommends: ‘The Church has the duty to contribute to the recognition and liberation of women, following the example of Christ’s own esteem for them . . .’ (p. 7). 8
Particularly significant for this article is Emeritus Pope Benedict’s appeal to African theologians to come up with ‘transforming theology’ which can bring about ‘concrete pastoral ministry’ (Africae Munus, n. 10) to meet the challenges facing faith and life in Africa. Pope Benedict gave African theologians a serious challenge of moving African theology forward from mere principles, proof-texting, and accumulation of data, regurgitation of Western theological categories and terms, etc. to concrete and transformative African theological praxis. In his words:
Dear brothers and sisters in Catholic universities and academic institutions, it falls to you, on the one hand, to shape the minds and hearts of the younger generation in the light of the Gospel and, on the other, to help African societies better to understand the challenges confronting them today by providing Africa, through your research and analyses, with the light she needs.
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Among the challenges facing African theologians are: the scientific study of African cultures and religious traditions; in-depth study of the social and theological questions of the day; penetration of the various traditions of the church and immersion into the Word of God as the soul of theology; developing specific African theologies which are relevant to the search by Africans for enduring truths drawn from their cultural appropriation of a Trinitarian faith; publication and dissemination of books and the fruits of research to the faithful; and making available to the people of God catechetical, liturgical, moral, and spiritual guides which can help them to respond to the God who calls. 10
African Christianity and Africa’s Social Context
Many studies have concluded that sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing the fastest church growth than any other region in the world. 11 The momentum of African Christian expansion reflects Africa’s unique map of the universe, and the social, cultic, cultural, religious, and spiritual priorities and aspirations of African people. They also present opportunities for the renewal of World Christianity through the trends in African Christianity which reflect African types and models of Christianity. These new trends are already quietly undermining mainstream Western type theologies which still dominate the African academies and theological schools.
Another significant aspect of this emerging pattern is the public visibility of Christianity in African political, economic and social life. 12 African Christian identities have also emerged from and in direct involvements with social questions and prophetic witnessing in many publics of African complex social context. 13
However, African Christianity is being lived in a very challenging social context. It is necessary as a foundation for transformative theology that African theologians engage in social analysis and critique of the power-play and the social context which often creates unjust structures, and lead to poverty and human suffering. Indeed, the authenticity and relevance of any theology depends on the interpretation and judgment it brings to bear on the social context and its impact on Christian faith, history, mission, human and cosmic flourishing. There is the need, therefore, for a clear and critical theological reflection, and pastoral missional praxis informed by a vibrant and deep faith encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Social Context in Africa
Three realities characterize African social context which I frame this way.
1) Suffering and smiling
Many Africans are suffering because of poor living conditions and the absence of the basic necessities of life, but they are hopeful for a better future. The bases of their hope are rooted in their cultural and religious traditions as well as their Christian faith that the future will be better because it is in the hand of the Son of God who is the Lord of history.
2) Suffering and struggling
Poverty and increasing desperation is generating so much anger and frustration among Africans, especially the youth. However, in the midst of these, there is a new sense of urgency, hope and a commitment by many young Africans who see the present historical exigencies in Africa as a kairotic moment for the second liberation of Africa. This requires a prophetic struggle for authentic human freedom in order to create a new and healthy social space for Africans to apply themselves to their world to bring about a better society and better living conditions for all. It is these realities that gave rise to uprisings and radical political, social, and economic changes in North Africa, in Mali, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Sudan, and Malawi among other countries. One can also see the emergence of signs of hope among young Africans as they apply themselves to their world in arts, sciences, technology, medicine, sports, politics etc.
3) Suffering and believing
Many Africans find their Christian faith as the unshakeable ground for working hard, and for challenging oppressive structures, and an inspiration for social activism and acts of solidarity to reverse the course of history in Africa. The Christian faith in many instances have now become the strongest agency for the gradual and steady emergence of all forms of social capitals in Africa (women co-operative groups, capacity-building among the marginalized, all kinds of biblically-grounded prophetic witnesses against injustice, exploitation, and manipulation of the poor through ethnic, social, and cultural cleavages); and political activism to challenge the corruption and exploitation of the poor in some African countries.
In spite of all these signs of progress, it must be admitted that Africa’s social condition remains very troubling. How can one explain the hunger and starvation facing many people in the continent? How can Africans feel the presence of the good news in a situation where the life span in many African countries has remained below 50 years for over three decades? What is the relevance of the Christian message to the millions of children who are dying in Africa before their fifth birthday as a result of preventable early childhood diseases? What do we say of many African women who are dying in their thousands from maternal mortality because of the absence of basic healthcare? What do we say of millions of African women who are being treated as inferior creatures in male-dominated societies and who have no voice even though they disproportionately bear the economic weight and the hard and harsh labors which sustain their families? The poverty in Africa is shocking and sinful; the social condition of the continent is perplexing; and the human suffering is not only unacceptable, but also inexcusable and contrary to the abundant life which Africans believe could be found through any authentic religious experience. The reason religion is so central to Africans, is because most Africans believe that God can intervene in their longs nights and dark days of suffering and uncertainty about the future. For many people in today’s Africa, life is simply a burden too heavy to bear as they walk in the valley of darkness, and suffocate under the heavy yoke of suffering. Africa has in many ways become a land of cries and deaths, and a continent where people are asking the questions: Lord when will this be over? How long O God? We know that our redeemer liveth and we will continue to hope!
The statistics of African poverty are so real. Jeffery Sachs observes that one sixth of humanity is caught in a poverty trap, which makes it impossible for them to escape from extreme material deprivation; they are trapped by diseases, physical isolation, climate stress, environmental degradation, and by extreme poverty. 14 According to Investing in Development, an assessment report by the UN Millennium Project on how the different regions of the world are working towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals, in sharp contrast to Asia’s progress, most of Sub-Saharan Africa faces significant challenges in meeting the Millennium Development Goals on almost every aspect of poverty eradication. Many African countries are falling behind all other regions. The World Bank reported that in 1990, there were roughly 375 million people in China living in extreme poverty, on less than $1 a day. By 2001, there were 212 million Chinese living in extreme poverty, and by 2015, if current trends hold, there will be only 16 million living on less than $1 a day. In South Asia, primarily India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the numbers went down from 462 million in 1990 living on less than $1 a day to 431 million in 2001, and could go down to 216 million in 2015.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, unfortunately, there were 227 million people living on less than $1 a day in 1990, 313 million in 2001, and an expected 340 million in 2015. 15 In other words, half of Africa’s 880 million people live on less than $1 a day. The precipitous decline in Africa’s per capita income is such that some countries of Africa enjoyed a higher standard of living in 1960 than they enjoy today. Indeed, according to Martin Meredith, the entire economic output of Africa is no more than $420 billion, just 1.3% of the world’s GDP. Its share of world trade has declined to half of what it was in 1980, amounting only to about 1.6%, while its share of global investment is less than 1%. Africa is the only region where per capita investment and saving has declined since 1970. 16
Of the 32 poorest countries in the world in the 2009 Human Development Index, 30 are in Sub-Saharan Africa and the five countries with the lowest levels of human development (except for Afghanistan) in the 2009 rankings are all in Africa: Niger, Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone. Twenty out of 53 countries in Africa have been witnessing a frightening and heart-wrenching decline in the standard of living of their citizens since the 1990s. While there are significant signs of economic and social progress in countries like Botswana, Tanzania, Senegal, Namibia, and Ghana, there is a general decline in most parts of Africa. The average people in most African countries are poorer now than they were in the last decade. It is a tragedy that many people live in Africa without access to the basic necessities of life like water, electricity, education, healthcare services, and food. Some of the causes of poverty in Africa in the last two decades are: the impact of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, the debt crisis, foreign aid, international trade, rapid population growth, ecological crisis, and climate changes which have led to drought, and low rainfall in many regions, food insecurity and scarcity, urbanization and unemployment, deforestation and environmental degradation, marginalization of women in development process, domestic and international conflicts, global economic crisis and unstable world economy, structural adjustment program and the role of the World Bank, the IMF, the UN, the African Union, and internal problems of poor management and inefficiency. In some specific African countries, poor agricultural techniques, and the absence of science and technology, food crisis, soaring energy prices, and the lack of modern means of communication hamper development and spread poverty. 17 This kind of condition is totally against the ideals of the kingdom of God. Even though the 2013 Human Development Index shows some improvement in the quality of life in the Global South, it reflects no significant change in the quality of life of most Africans, and Africa is the only continent which will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
As I argued in The Church and Development in Africa, 18 the strong appeal to traditional theological method with its limitations to history and social analysis poses a serious challenge to mission studies in African Christianity. The theologians needed today in addressing the exciting frontiers of faith in Africa and the heart wrenching social conditions of many Africans are those who seriously engage the historical nature of the Christian faith in its engagement with the social context. In a very real sense, the cries of millions of Africans today for abundant life, for food, housing, healthcare, and peace have become the new text for African theology. By this I refer for instance to the cry of the 22-year-old poor Zimbabwean thief 19 who upon release for burglary asked to spend more time in jail because, according to him, life in prison was better than life in the streets for many young people like him in that country. The story of the African grandmothers who now have to provide for their orphaned grandchildren; and the stories of lost childhoods, of broken societies and endless wars in many parts of Africa have become the new narrative of God’s revelation to which African theologians must listen. God is revealing Godself today in Africa in the pains and groans of millions of Africans who flock to churches on Sunday. 20 The transformative missional theological praxis in African Christianity being proposed here is something that will involve an expanded field view of where God is to be found.
A Transformative Missional Theological Praxis in African Christianity
A transformative missional theological praxis correlates the presence of Christian faith across different cultural frontiers to concrete human experience of joy and sorrow, sin and salvation within that culture. It proposes that the mission of God and of the church for all people is that they should move from being on the margin of divine love and abundant life in Christ to being at the center of the saving and redemptive love of God revealed in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. 21 In other words, it is a theology which is concerned with showing concretely within history how God’s will is actively being enacted in order to organically and integrally change the human condition. It is, therefore, a theology which is immersed in the stories of persons and cultures touched by the Christian faith or those outside of the Christian faith. It seeks pathways towards creating a new narrative of history which can reverse the former times. This is with a view to inspiring and sustaining healthy and wholesome choices and practical acts which orient history and world processes to the will of God through authentic exercise of human freedom affected by grace. A transformative missional theological praxis seeks pathways to the realization of the eschatological fruits of God’s kingdom in concrete human and cultural histories. It will offer a concrete answer to the search for many Africans for abundant life in Christ and what this abundant life means concretely for their present social and spiritual conditions, and for their future.
This kind of theology faces five tasks among many others: Firstly, the challenge of perceptivity, that is, being immersed in the social context and developing the capacity of naming correctly what we see within history using the categories provided for us by our faith and from history; Secondly, the challenge of showing within particular and universal history through biblical and cultural analysis the presence, texture and characteristics of the kingdom of God which the Lord Jesus came to establish on earth; Thirdly, it seeks further how to locate particular and universal contexts of faith and non-faith within this understanding of the kingdom of God. Thus, it will be critical, constructive and creative.
Critically, it shows the sins and evils, and the limitations of cultures and social contexts which are anti-God’s kingdom in societies. It also brings a prophetic judgment on social and political systems within any society; creatively it will show how the transformative grace of God can operate in human societies and in human hearts to remove these evils; and constructively lay the groundwork on how to transform cultures and individuals from within, so that societies and individuals will rise to their dignity and play a decisive part in the emergence of God’s kingdom. This approach is concerned with what goes on in the lives of individuals who have embraced the faith as well as those who are outside the faith community all of whom are within the mission of God. Fourthly, a transformative theological praxis is missional because it is concerned with the enactment of the purposes of God in history and the concrete human response to this divine initiative through cultural knowledge, cultural symbols and multiple levels of cultural production. Thus, a theology of transformational praxis will be concerned with the human condition, the salvific import of the presence of the Gospel in human history; and how human beings co-operate with divine grace in making history to conform to God’s plan through a praxis of divine-human co-operation.
Fifthly, a transformative missional theological praxis will concretely use sources from the scripture, church life, lives of the saints and the examples of the early church and tools of socio-cultural analysis to show the steps towards bringing about change and conversion in the community through the attunement of hearts and cultures to the divine purpose. Thus, transformative missional theological praxis will be concerned with a phenomenology of faith (the content and nature of the claims of faith on the people who embrace it) on one hand; and a missional cultural hermeneutical phenomenology (how this faith is being lived concretely culturally and existentially, and the fruits of faith within history) on the other. This way, it is capable of giving an account of both the living faith expression, and the openness of cultures to transformation. It is also concerned about the transformation of human hearts and attitudes so that Christians in this regard can see themselves as empowered by their faith to work for changes in society.
A transformative missional theological praxis in Africa will accomplish what John Dunn proposed many years ago about a theoretical paradigm, that is, that it ought to diagnose a predicament and reflect on ways to confront and change that predicament. 22 Such a theology should (i) give an account of present situation, which in theological language will mean to name the presence or absence of God in human history at a particular point in time; point out the sin and evils in society at the present point of history, and give an account in the light of revelation and depth understanding and analysis of history how the people can follow the finger of God pointing towards a better future. It should also (ii) articulate an alternative situation which in the words of the World Social Forum requires showing how a new possible and better world situation can emerge for people in their social context. As Bryant Myers noted, the first question that a transformative development model informed by faith must ask is: What is the better future toward which it is pointing? 23 He believes that two realities must emerge in any transformational praxis, ‘changed people’ and ‘changed relationship.’ In this light, one can think of transformational praxis as holistic alteration of relationship and cultural, inter-cultural, personal and social identities through conscious and concrete acts clearly directed at reversing the course of history especially for those on the margins and those affected by injustice and sins in the social, cultural, economic, political and religious structures and systems.
My identity is not simply given; it is constantly emerging in the light of the various relationships which impact my life. In terms of relationship, it will involve bridging the gulf within communities between the poor and the rich, the insiders and the outsiders, the chosen and the rejected, the powerful and the powerless, the mighty and the weak, believers and unbelievers; and challenging and dismantling the structures of dependency and injustice in the social context. In terms of changing people, it will involve steps towards restoring the humanity of people and their sense of dignity, purpose and hope that there is a better future through the construction of a new narrative for social justice. This proposal for a theological praxis is not simply a secular humanistic search for the good of order, but is grounded theologically in the goal of the kingdom of God, the priorities and practices of the Lord, and the transformative grace of Christ which always draws humans and human societies from the pit of despair, injustice and evil to the glorious height of abundant life, peace, and justice in Christ.
Thus, it is not enough to dream dreams or to imagine about a new situation or offer to poor people an abstract theology of hope or visions of a better future, there is required a third element in the proposal of Dunn: (iii) showing what is required to move to the new situation, that is, what the people need to change in themselves and in their society in order to fight their own fight and bring about the future of their dreams and prayers. In a real sense, the proposal for the reordering of society has been given to us by Christ through his Words and deeds, hence the need for us to focus our vision on Christ and observe the steps and praxis which he offered for a new society as essential to the mission of the church and Christians. These steps are considered a missional transformational praxis in this article because it involves the kingdom of God crossing different cultural, social and personal frontiers; stimulating different levels of transitions from one level of meaning and social situation to another; and at each step preferring to hold on to a situation within which our human and cultural limitations approximates to our embrace of the values and virtues of God’s kingdom and stretches them to create conditions necessary for human and cosmic flourishing. This is similar to what Molefe Tsele proposes on the need to reintroduce in Africa faith-inspired motives in development, which seek to restore the dignity of work and which in turn make people subjects in their own human restoration project. This way, African Christians can seek transformation and liberation from poverty and oppressive governments and conditions. I believe that this is the primary goal of all transformative missional theologies. 24
From the foregoing, it is obvious that there is no transformative theological praxis which could be proposed to Africa today which will not first show how the Gospel has become Good News indeed to Africans in their present challenging social context. Secondly, African missional theology today will not fit into any apodictic theological system. It will be a different theology because the Christian mission field in Africa offers a unique challenge, and African Christianity and cultures are in many cases misunderstood, unexplored and unknown. Thirdly, African theologians who integrate a historical approach to their theologies will achieve better success in pastoral appropriation because their theologies will be drawn from, be informed by, and lead back to the living condition of the people and their dynamic Christian consciousness. Fourthly, a missional theology will undertake cultural hermeneutics as an important approach to seeing what God is doing in Africa. This way, it will help to give account of the often fragmented and rudimentary narrative of African cultures and traditions, and engage them on their own terms. Missional cultural hermeneutics is concerned with how the reign of God is being established in African Churches, how the fruits of the reign of God are being reaped in Africa, as the Church engages with and crosses different cultural frontiers and social contexts in Africa. It is also concerned with making concrete Gospel driven proposals for the transformation of Africa. Fifthly, African mission theology will be comprehensive by being open to those diverse faith experiences (visions, pneumatic experiences, witchcraft, sorcery, ancestral curse, etc.) which might seem strange to non-Africans, but which are decisive for the faith in Africa. Indeed, it must admit that the data for doing theology in Africa will demand an expanded understanding of the meaning of revelation. 25
A Reconciled Africa at Peace with Herself
There can be no social transformation or any missional praxis for human and cultural development embraced by African Christians and Africans in general without well ordered, peaceful and reconciled communities. Africa is in dire need of peace in families, homes, communities, churches, nations and among African nations. The first place where reconciliation is needed is within different churches in Africa. The only way the churches in Africa can play a leading role in bringing about reconciliation in Africa is to address the sources of conflicts and divisions in the churches and to engage in a more introspective and critical self-reflection on the internal factors which stymie the life of African churches. This will require inter-faith and inter-religious dialogue, as well as inter-denominational dialogues and promoting a culture of deep attentiveness to others and more respectful and tolerant attitudes to the reality of pluralism and diversity in religions, politics, worldview, etc. An African theology of reconciliation should draw naturally from the experience of the Church in Africa and the Christians in their struggle to make sense of the present complexities of Africa’s social context. Such a theology should confront honestly and directly the sources of divisions, and conflicts within the churches and the wider society.
A transformative missional theology in Africa which places emphasis on reconciliation must be both Trinitarian and Africentric. It must conceive reconciliation as the work of God and pastorally and practically work towards making it possible for God’s grace to be felt in those places where there is need for healing. Furthermore, it should also use the traditional spiritual and cultural resources within Africa for bringing about dialogue, reconciliation, healing, and restorative justice. These cultural instruments of reconciliation and restoration have worked so well in places like Rwanda, South Africa, and Malawi. African traditional means of reconciliation emphasize personal and communal dimensions for bringing peace and right order and right relationships. In this regard, they correspond with the two traditional Christian dimensions of reconciliation (personal and communal). Reconciliation begins with the conversion of the human heart by the grace of God and is manifest in inter-personal and communal life beginning with the healing of divisions and wounds of sin within the churches in Africa, and among ethnic groups and political groups.
The first task of an African theology of reconciliation should be to draw African Christians to personal, cultural and ecclesial conversion. Christ is the source, goal, and norm for building relationship in diverse societies. This is theologically grounded in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Africae Munus, when Pope Benedict XVI writes:
Human peace obtained without justice is illusory and ephemeral. Human justice which is not the fruit of reconciliation in the ‘truth of love’ (Eph 4: 15) remains incomplete; it is not authentic justice. Love of truth—’the whole truth’ to which the Spirit alone can lead us (cf. Jn 16: 13)—is what marks out the path that all human justice must follow if it is to succeed in restoring the bonds of fraternity within the ‘human family, a community of peace’ reconciled with God through Christ. (2011: 18)
Christ is our reconciliation and the way to reconciliation with God and with one another and the whole world of nature. On the Christological basis of reconciliation, St Paul writes:
And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5: 17–20)
Reconciliation also moves from conversion to restoration of the scale of value, and the balance of justice which are usually destroyed by the absence of right relationship. This is why reconciliation, dialogue, honesty, and a firm commitment to restorative justice, and social and ethical regeneration are decisive for an African theological proposal for reconciliation. People must honestly face up to the sad stories, brokenness, and wounds in the personal and group lives all of which bear the marks of sin and the fallen-ness of a fractured humanity.
What practical steps could be taken to bring healing, reconciliation, and peace to African churches and societies? The final proposition of the Synod states that the goal of reconciliation in Africa should be to overcome crises in churches, African countries and societies, the restoration of the dignity of individuals and the openness to dialogue, admission of guilt, forgiveness, restoration of justice, and conscious and courageous attempts to bring healing, lasting peace and development in the continent (cf. Proposition, 5). This will demand establishing a just order in Africa, the rule of law, tolerance of opposition in politics and of constructive and creative dissent in our religious institutions and organizations. In addition, there is the need to promote respect for the equality and dignity of all persons especially minorities, women, and the marginalized; and the formation of the conscience of Christians on the right way of conceiving relationship in pluralistic societies.
Furthermore, there are some fundamental challenges facing African Christianity with regard to ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue which include: the authoritarian structure of power and leadership, especially in the mainline churches and within the wider African political and cultural groups. The concentration of power in one person (a bishop for example, or a church founder) makes the exercise of ecclesial authority prone to abuses. It also leads to mismanagement, lack of accountability and transparency which sometimes create division in the churches and break up of communion and even schism. There is also the seeming inability of African churches to develop their own narrative and chart their own direction to addressing the challenging questions of church unity.
In some cases, African churches are divided when it comes to making joint statement on national issues and social questions of the day. A few examples come to mind. In 2008, the Association of the Kenyan churches could not come up with a joint statement condemning the post-election violence in the country. In Nigeria, different churches came out with different statements against the Christmas bombing to St Therese Church in 2012 because the churches could not come up with a joint statement, and there is ongoing divisions within the ranks of the Christian Association of Nigeria on how questions of church-state relations, dialogue with Nigerian Muslims, and conversation with African Traditional Religionists in Nigeria. This scenario is quite common in African Christianity.
Some questions are important here with regard to reconciliation and transformation in African Christianity: Why is it that African Catholics, African Pentecostals, and African Independent Churches are in different silos when it comes to issues of African culture, African Traditional Religions, and socio-political, socio-cultural, and socio-economic issues? Why is it that the religious persecution of Christians by Muslims in some parts of Africa has not be taken seriously by African Christianity? Why is it that continental ecumenical associations started by African Churches have not been sustained and that it is much easier to have continent-wide association for African Catholics, African Pentecostal churches, and AICs, but not for all church groups in Africa? Why is it that it is still hard for African Church denominational universities to work together? Why is it that there are some ambiguities and tension between ATRs and African Christianity and in many cases a failure of inculturation in African Christianity? It is important to note that the churches in Africa cannot implement any praxis of reconciliation without a firm commitment to lead by example. If the churches in Africa suffer from divisions, clannish sentiments and ethnocentric bias; if the churches in some African churches take sides in political issues based on factors that are opposed to Gospel values how can they be a light in the darkness?
Prophetic and Transformative Missional Praxis in Africa
The term prophecy as used by Yves Congar has many nuances of meaning which I will love to employ in my explication here: (i) Congar proposes that prophets are individuals who are possessed by God, caught in the grip of God. Such individuals are so seized by God that they are lifted beyond themselves; (ii) prophets co-operate in being seized by God, that is they allow themselves to be used by God, and they think less of themselves and more about God, the good of others and how they can become instruments to be used by God in realizing God’s purposes in creation. In this regard, prophets free themselves in order to be possessed by God, they open themselves to the experience of being converted, to the experience of being broken, humbled by divine love, and totally consumed by a passion to realizing the divine purposes through different levels of sacrifice. Prophets, according to Congar, listen to the Word of God in multiple places and they allow the Word of God to dwell in them so that they can undergo a second conversion. (iii) The prophet dedicates himself or herself to completing the demands made on him or her by God. Possessed by the revealed insight and empowered by the experience of rebirth, the prophet is distinguished by being fully committed to his or her mission irrespective of the obstacles they encounter. 26 The entire baptized are called to be prophetic. The Holy Spirit arouses Christians to prophecy spontaneously and occasionally as was witnessed in the New Testament. This prophetic function is primarily directed to equipping Christians to bear authentic and credible witness to the values and virtues of the faith through the service of love, reconciliation, justice, and peace. But the prophet is fundamentality one who reads the signs of the times and who is courageous enough to allow God to direct him or her in committing themselves to the construction of a better world through God’s grace. This calls for a spirit of humility and vulnerability. Humility is God’s way of changing the world. There are many ways of influencing the world – holiness, leadership, politics, cultural change, through new ideas or new cultural awareness among others – but Jesus has taught us that the pathway to changing the world is the path of meekness, servant and transformative leadership. Transformative praxis is only possible through broken vessels and the experience of brokenness. Communities of hope 27 are communities of broken people, African Christianity can only be credible in the service of transformation by embracing the brokenness and vulnerability of most Africans and African societies in their search for wholeness and rebirth. Transformative praxis emerges when the church and her leaders are immersed in the life of the community, so that they experience the joys and pains of people and fully identify with the people at the deepest level where our human fragility meets with divine transformative grace. This humble service of being present with people and walking and accompanying the poor reflect the method and means which Christ used in liberating the poor and the marginalized in his times.
A vulnerable mission proceeds from an incarnational kenosis modelled after the words and deeds of Christ. Authentic Christian identity is only possible when it is rooted in our identification with Christ. As a consequence, a vulnerable mission identifies fully with the poverty of the people because an essential dimension of the transformation of the secular sphere is an immersion into it. This way, Christians become one with those who are victims of injustice and those who suffer from the absence of an order of peace and righteousness. Vulnerable mission leads to a credible lifestyle because it helps Christian religious leaders and all Christians to live like Jesus, to speak the language of the people; to use the people’s spiritual, material, and cultural resources to serve them and to show the presence of Christ within the people’s active engagement with the tensions and ambiguities of their history. Vulnerable mission is the most effective praxis for transformative mission because it makes credible and concrete as well as validates the essential message of Christianity that victory comes from suffering and self-sacrificing love, and that strength is found in weakness. Vulnerable mission is the most concrete and meaningful praxis for transformation of African societies because it begins, continues and ends with authentic witnessing to the life and situation of people, and brings the agents of faith into face to face contact with the people, so that they speak from the side of the margins, and are totally committed to fighting with the people to remove the structures of sins and injustice in the social context.
A vulnerable mission is also very sensitive to the vulnerability of children, women, and those on the margins of society. It goes out in search of the poor and the weak in a comforting and supportive manner. That means that Church officials should not in any way treat the poor as objects for personal agendas, but rather as subjects of divine love. These vulnerable women, young girls, children, and men who flock to the rectories, churches, parsonage, and chanceries in many African churches in search of help are to be protected from any kind of verbal, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. The Church must be a safe haven where young people, women, widows, orphans, divorced persons, children, and all vulnerable people can come and feel protected from the harsh weather of abuse, poverty, and injustice. Vulnerable mission grounds the church in the very flesh of people’s history so that the church in Africa becomes the mirror of the poverty of the people as well as the agency for valorizing the people to fight the good fight for the procurement of abundant life for Africans.
Church leaders in Africa should become prophetic instruments for empowering the poor. They should not create a cycle of dependency wherein the poor and structures which promote poverty are sustained through all kinds of injustice and cultural and social structures which are in some cases legitimized through the Christian faith. The faithful are not clients to the priests and ministers, nor should they be encouraged to spend their ‘widow’s mite’ to feed an unsustainable lifestyle of some Christian leaders in Africa through exaggerated emphasis on tithing and offertories.
This is why a new participatory model for transformative praxis of justice and peace is needed in African Christian social ministries. This model begins from (1) where the people are, that is, their social context: this is the incarnational principle; (2) it identifies with the people’s condition through immersion in their socio-cultural situation, reading the signs of the times (this is the prophetic principle); (3) begins to build up the agency of the poor to fight their own fight when they are accompanied by the Church, leveraging their freedom, privileging their resources through a mutually embraced praxis and mission developed through the people’s initiative for empowerment and animated by a Christian vision (this is the principle of possibility); and (4) it develops participatory practices which place at the center, the active involvement of the people in articulating the vision, setting out goals, and day to day implementation of the vision through solidarity which triggers a chain of incremental change (this is the transformative principle).
Transformative praxis is not a miraculous intervention within history, but the irruption of a new urgency, energy, and grace, anchored on a new vision and mission within particular social contexts animated by love, faith and hope. These drive individuals and groups to co-operate with God’s grace in bringing to birth a new reality within human and cultural histories. Transformation is a new hermeneutic for cultural living which helps people to re-integrate their lives within the cultural system without being imprisoned in that system. 28 The service of African Christianity to justice and peace will require creating the situation in which the poor can participate in building up wealth by helping to remove the obstacles to this participation.
This transformative praxis model of participation is simple: it is in small African communities and villages that the birth of a new Africa will take place; African development will be achieved through humble and patient work in small ways and not through gigantic theological and developmental utopia about poverty eradication. There are in Africa robust local cultural networks, support systems, and economic models which are capable of taking higher responsibilities and creating wealth if they received some consistent financial and technical support from national government, church and voluntary organizations, and international donors. Small initiatives in these small communities have direct and immediate impact on poverty eradication. It is, therefore, important that social networks like women co-operatives, micro-credit unions, educational initiatives, skills development, and small businesses, as well as small agricultural loans initiatives in these small communities should be encouraged and supervised.
These kinds of initiatives could be started and effectively managed by parishes and local churches independently with little help and supervision from diocesan, state, provincial and national organizations. This ideal might appear far-fetched, but is rooted in the cultural world of Africans. My experience with some faith-based organizations (FBOs) and non-confessional charities in places like Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria with social justice initiatives has taught me one important lesson: many poor and disadvantaged people in Africa are people of faith with a strong hope, and resilient belief in their own ability to change their condition if they are given some spiritual, technical and economic support. The poor in Africa are tired of hand-outs from churches and organizations, they want to create wealth and use their natural and human resources to bring a better Africa.
Grassroots approaches will concentrate on the strengths and assets of the people; it will build on the energy and initiatives of intermediate agencies and social capitals like parishes, churches, women’s groups, age-grades, cultural groups, farmers, professional, and semi-skilled artisans. It is an approach that meets the people where they are building on their skills, assets and the untapped resources of the people. Grassroots approaches can operate in both rural and urban settings, because it always seeks some identifiers which can be used as platform for development. Discovering these small initiatives in Africa and strengthening them should be vital to the success of the church’s social and pastoral ministries.
African Christianity has continued to play some important roles in the resolution of conflicts, settlement and care of refugees and migrants, poverty eradication, healthcare and social services, support for those on the margins, and civic engagement among others. In a real sense, African Christianity is helping to reverse history in Africa by bringing the Good News to the poor, and hope to all people, fighting poverty, healing the physical, spiritual, and moral sicknesses in African society among others. What is obvious is that African Christianity is well positioned to expand the range of her activities and to formalize and streamline these activities as social capitals in meaningful, strategic, and transformative ways.
My proposal is that the churches in Africa should become strong social capitals by helping to empower and equip African Christians to fight their own fight for the eradication of poverty, for civic engagement, and as subalterns to some entrenched negative social, cultural, economic and political policies and programs. African churches can help to build inter-faith, and inter-denominational connections, networks and collective energies for promoting, preserving and protecting the common good. In the words of Africae Munus:
Before the obstacles, both physical and spiritual, that stand before us, let us mobilize the spiritual energies and the material resources of the whole body which is the Church, convinced that Christ will act through the Holy Spirit in each of her members.
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Conclusion
This article proposes some steps towards a transformative missional theological praxis in Africa’s social context building on the message of the Second African Synod and the post-synodal document, Africae Munus. In choosing the themes of reconciliation, justice and peace, the Synod set a new task for African theology. Part of this new task is that African Christianity should become salt and light to Africa and the world. This requires a new theological imagination, and a correlation of theology, faith expressions and claims of the Christian faith to the most pressing challenges and questions facing many African Christians. This article proceeded to give an outline of an African transformative missional theological praxis and paths to realizing this through the instrumentality of African Christianity and African Christians, and has argued that realizing the goal of transformative praxis in Africa is central to the mission of God in Africa.
This article proposes that Africa must address the challenges of division and conflicts in African churches and the wider African society, the complex challenges of inter-faith dialogue and inculturation, corruption in government, the abuse and misuse of spiritual and pastoral authority in many churches in Africa and some abuses in the use of aid and grants. There are also the challenges of poverty-eradication, gender inequality, and the gap between vibrant faith expressions and appeals to religion in Africa on one hand, and the realization of the fruits of the faith concretely on the other. In a socio-cultural and religious milieu where everything is clothed in religious language and posturing it is hard to identify what is authentically religious. This is why this article attempted to show how African Christianity can move from religious claims, doctrinal profession, and abstract theological propositions to a more concrete harvesting of the faith through a transformative praxis. This path is proposed as a valid attempt in helping African Christians to tap into their faith expressions and human and material resources to transform African Christianity and African society.
Footnotes
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.