Our Response
What still lacks in Africa is a values-engagement in which effective biblical teaching must cut through secular ethics for a social transformation. That alone can align the evidently Christian presence with the desired Christian impact. An incisive discipleship for Gospel values is what Africa needs.
Africa’s problems are not lack of resources but lack of leaders who know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus as their Savior and King, who model Christ-centered lives, and who see themselves as stewards of God’s resources. The Bible says, “The people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits” (Dan 11:32). Africa’s Christianity still lacks quality, spiritual strength, and in-depth discipleship. It lacks ample commitment and devotion to Christ. With a multitude of problems, Africa retains a single solution in the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the gospel that must be owned (through discipleship), not just in the superficial forms of borrowing it through a conversionist, statistically-driven agenda that ends with “… repeat this prayer after me …. and you are now a child of God!” While we appreciate conversions, we must not remain too simplistic in Kingdom work as to think that not much more has to follow.
Change will require more than the current “Churchianity”; it will demand a radical transformation of individuals and communities that hear God’s word and obey it at whatever cost. It is not human-improvement schemes that Africa needs but total transformation. This mission lies in the hands of the church. But the church can at best resemble her spiritual leaders, implying that transformation vitally begins with these shepherds of Africa’s Christian communities.
In order for Christ’s church to exploit its potential and seize the opportunity of transforming the peoples and nations of Africa, there is a need to form its leadership in a way that will enable the church to harness its vast latent resources for the desired impact. Convinced that such an impact can only be an outcome of effective teaching and preaching the Bible message, preachers and other messengers must be resourced urgently and well enough to be change-makers in a theology of transformational leadership.
To this, God has given us what every politician, every leader, every developer and everyone concerned should embrace. He has given us a vision to proclaim the “whole counsel (will) of God” for a better Africa, so that our yearning for continental and national virtues and pride can soon be in sight. We therefore wake up to a call in which we appreciate the African challenges, but a call in which we also see the immense opportunities that come with them. We must let Christ increase his charge through effective teaching and preaching of the Bible message. We have embraced the only solution to Africa’s paradox – The Gospel. And we have heightened the pulse to train preachers today in order to prepare leadership for tomorrow’s Africa, both in Christ’s church and the public arena – to shape the politics, the economics and entire strata.
Now through The Proclamation Task (PT), we evaluate the previous Christian mission efforts on the continent in order to relate the Christian message to the traditional background for the desired Christian impact. We are deeply concerned to seek a Christian response to the contemporary social, economic and political issues that affect this continent. We are working from a firm Bible base to deal with the felt struggle between African Christianity and our “Africanness”, bringing immediacy and relevance to the African situation. In the African context, we are working to give the right content to this faith and give it rightly.
Next: Our Vision