The Situation Of The Church In A Context Of Peace And Sustainable Development In Africa

THE SITUATION OF THE CHURCH IN A CONTEXT OF PEACE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

THE BIBLE AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

Obedience to God ensures the well-being of the people of God. In the Lord’s prayer Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God must come and that the will of God must be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10). The kingdom and the will of God bring the peace (shalom) and wholeness of God to the people of God which definitely bring both individual and societal transformation.

The Gospel moves its believers towards both personal and societal transformation. In the Book of Romans, the believers are called to be transformed by the renewal of their minds (Roms. 12:2). It is the individual transformed lives that serve as the light and salt of the world by the influences that they bring into society (Matt 5: 13-16). It is a historical fact that some western countries built their economies and communities basing on Christian ethics and principles. Missionary movements in some African communities have developmental trajectories that have made remarkable developmental examples in the provision of schools, hospitals, agricultural best practices, cultural transformation, language development etc. The Christian faith has enough to facilitate and contribute to the quest for social transformations in Africa.

THE SITUATION OF THE CHURCH IN AFRICAN

Christianity has found home in Africa. Not only has the African continent accepted the Christian faith but the continent has also witnessed a tremendous church growth. The phenomenal growth of Christianity on African soil has been scholarly established in the works of Kwame Bediako, Andrews Walls, Asamoah-Gyedu and many more. According to Andrews Walls the center of World Christianity has shifted from the northern hemisphere into the southern hemisphere with Africa being one of the beneficial environments.

CHURCH GROWTH IN FIGURES AND STATISTICS

The growth of the church in Africa is noted in the high numbers in church membership. Churches are recording sustainable increase in church attendance. New congregations are regularly planted both in the rural and urban communities. There are increased church activities that keep some church members in church activities sometimes throughout the week. Healing and Miracle services attract hundreds and thousands of members regularly. Church cathedrals and auditoriums that can take five thousand and some fifteen thousand church attendants are becoming a common phenomenon. There are congregations that are running averagely three to five separate church services on Sundays with each service attracting full capacity of the church facilities. The growth of the church in Africa is further seen in the dominant presence in media. There are churches with television and radio programmes that run twenty-four hours a day with preaching of sermons, demonstration of the power of God and testimonies. Livestreaming of church activities on social media has become a regular feature of church life.

The increased numbers of youth and students in church and church activities has also become very visible. There are students who spend their holidays in church planting and renewal of congregations. Academic campuses i.e. secondary, universities and other professional institutions have become full of Christian activities like all nights’ vigils, prayer and fasting meetings, crusades, musical festivals etc.

The growth of the church in Africa is moreover seen in the efforts of African churches sending missionaries, pastors and apostles into the Northern hemisphere. There are African churches being planted in USA, UK, etc. It is on record that the Church of Pentecost which has its International Headquarters in Ghana has branches in Ninety-Nine Countries around the various continents.

The growth of the church in Africa raises some existential questions that must attract academic, theological and missionary responses. Is there a correlation between church growth and sustainable development in the contexts where church growth takes place? Does church growth in any way facilitate transformation of societies and sustainable development?

A PARADOX OF CHURCH GROWTH (STATISTICS) AND HUMAN DIGNITY?

The massive growth of the church in Africa which has been raised earlier has also raised some pertinent questions. Christianity has witnessed a massive growth in Africa. Africa has also come to be known as the continent with massive poverty, hunger, conflicts, unemployment, corruption etc.

Africa is noted of high illiteracy rates with related challenges of quality and affordability of education. There is lack of quality health care delivery with reports of high rate pregnant women who die at the point of child birth due to challenges to health care delivery. There is high unemployment rates especially among the youth. There are young people with high university degrees without employment. Unemployment challenges have reach a point where some youth can remain unemployed in their whole life time.

Even though calls have been made for the young people to start their own businesses, access to capital for startups is a challenge including cost of doing business. Land accessibility for those who want to go into farming is uneasy. Another side of the youth who want to go into farming to solve their unemployment conditions again is challenges of entering into the market. There are instances where high yields of crops go waste because there were no buyers to buy or the price offered to goods do not break even as far as the cost of production is concerned. There are reports of such young people who have considered suicide as a solution to their plight in the food production business.