A New Evangelism that can Speak and Bring Christ to Africans

Dominican brother Kelvin Banda OP says that the heart of African religion was dismantled and that led to problems with Christian evangelisation in Africa

In the Western mind, Africa is a continent full of tropical diseases, parasites, conflicts, violence, war, poverty and hunger. But Africa is actually the prime mover of human life and civilisation since Africa is blessed with abundant natural resources.

In the face of these God-given resources, Africa continues to be exploited and divided. Before Africa was “discovered” it was known as the “Dark Continent”.

The Europeans who came to Africa believed that the people of the continent had no capacity to think nor to develop concepts. For the colonisers and missionaries, all that pertained to African religion was seen as evil; hence the brainwashing of an African mind and personhood.

As a result of these false perceptions, evangelisers faced many problems in spreading the Gospel.

Christ as liberator came to give full meaning to African religion, to the African human person. Christ came not to destroy nor distort African values and morality, but to enhance it and give it a vigorous character and flavour.

Today, in the 21st century, if people still refer to Africa as a “Dark Continent” in as far as its traditional religion is concerned, then such people are themselves living in darkness. Their minds and hearts have not been penetrated with the light and love of Christ and have not been given room to contemplate the Gospel of Christ.

The Western attitude to African religion led to many challenges to evangelisation in most parts of Africa. The heart of African religion which Africa valued most, on which Christianity could have built, was dismantled.

Evangelisation is made even more difficult by the politics that are brought to Africa by some investors, and wars that some superpowers inflict upon Africa in order to steal natural resources.

In countries where there is much violence, God is no longer seen as effective and powerful, but as a God who cannot even help the neediest.

Such violence has destroyed African indigenous values and ethics that can help to evangelise, promote life, peace, human rights and integral freedom which African people believe in.

To borrow from the medieval Church leader Deusdekit, evangelisation in Africa requires a paradigm shift so that the churches, by the virtue of Christ, can work together for a new African society and a new African humanitarianism.

As preachers of Christ, we need a new system of evangelisation that can speak and bring Christ to Africans, through an approach that would uproot injustice and restore social justice and morality by sustaining human dignity, life, joy and peace.

The Gospel of Christ can penetrate the challenges of evangelisation only if the mind and heart of an African woman and man strives to unity, working towards the ethnic/original/native backgrounds that once existed in African society; that is living in communities in which Christ can be seen as living among African people.

St Paul, as Christ’s evangeliser, recognised and affirmed different traditional religions and helped people build their faith on that towards Christ. Therefore, there is a great need for every Christian to find an approach to evangelise by uprooting the divisions and injustices that lead to much poverty and exploitation among African people and to speak out on injustice.

Every person, whether educated or not, must address vital issues and the crises affecting Africa, so that evangelisation can be visible by bringing a new hope, faith and healing to African personhood.