sign in sign up
<<
Home , Christianity in Africa, Christianity in Niger, Indigenization

Toward Indigenization of in : A Missiological Task

Zablon Nthamburi Historical Setting The Modern 'Movement

reas of Africa were Christianized long before Western Modern missionary activity in Africa traces its origin to the ex­ A Europe. Within the first three centuries of the church's ploratory zeal of Henry the Navigator of Portugal in the fifteenth existence, Christianity had been planted in , Roman North century. The religious aspect of this geographical enterprise re­ Africa, and . By the middle of the fourth century A.D. mis­ ceived an impetus from a papal letter of indulgence encouraging sionaries from Egypt were busy planting churches in . 1 Henry to carry the Catholic faith on all his expeditions." That the According to ancient tradition, it was 51. Mark who established papal injunction was taken seriously is illustrated by the fact that the church in Egypt in A.D. 42. Within the first two centuries when the Portuguese party reached LaMina on the coast of pres­ became one of the great centers of Christianity. ent , they celebrated Mass and prayed for the conversion North Africa produced such theological giants as Augustine of of natives so that they would be rescued from idolatry, paganism, Hippo, , and . had such renowned and witchcraft. apologists as Clement, , Athanasius, Antony, and Pach­ Vasco da Gama's legendary expedition around the Cape of omius. The latter two introduced , which had its Good Hope was considered a new venture by a Christian nation home in the deserts of Egypt before it spread to western Europe. 2 in its attempt to spread Christian influence and civilization to the The rise of in the seventh century challenged the ex­ Far East. A major concern of the Portuguese was to check Muslim istence of Christianity in North Africa. Islam as a new faith spread aggression, the impact of which was being felt in Europe. There like wild fire. Within a period of one hundred years after the were legends that indicated the existence of a Christian king in prophet's death, Islam had overtaken North African Christianity. Africa. The legendary king, "Prester John," was of primary Part of the reason was the preoccupation of the church with its interest to the Portuguese, who were looking for an ally that own domestic quarrels. For a long time Donatists and Catholics would lend a hand in stopping the Muslim aggression. fought for dominance and recognition, while at the same time By 1518 the Portuguese had consecrated a son of the ruler of the Roman empire was in a state of decay. The Donatists were the Congo as the first bishop. Even though the ruler and his 500 suppressed by means of imperial power, and the Catholics failed subjects were converted to Christianity, there was little evidence to evangelize the , who were the indigenous people of of radical change among them." (When Baptist en­ North Africa. Had the Donatist church survived, it would prob­ tered the Congo basin in the late nineteenth century, they la­ ably have played a significant role in the establishment of Chris­ mented that Sao Salvador, the former capital of the Congo tianity in North Africa, for, prior to its suppression, the church kingdom, did not show any trace of having been influenced by had been able to reach the Berbers. In fact, however, North Af­ Christianity.) By 1541 the Portuguese were already in Ethiopia, rican Christianity, at the time of the Muslim pressure, was mostly where they assisted Ethiopian resistance to the Muslim intrusion," Catholic and identified with the Roman element of society. When and by 1600 they had introduced Catholicism in Ethiopia and troubles came, these members of the upper strata left for Italy were finding fault with Ethiopian Christianity. They could not and Spain. The rapid disappearance of the church in North Africa come to terms with the Ethiopian practice of having married was due to its not having thoroughly taken root in the Berber priests, nor did they feel inclined to accommodate a church that population. Thus when the Berbers enthusiastically embraced did not recognize the pope. As a result they doubted the efficacy Islam, Christianity disappeared, leaving hardly a trace of its ex­ of Ethiopian sacraments and started to re-baptize and istence in the region. to re-consecrate churches. They attempted to replace the sacred Egyptian Christianity, which had been the bulwark of Chris­ Ethiopian language of Geez with Latin as a liturgical language. tendom, lost much of its vigor through Islamic pressure. Leading They went to the extent of wanting to replace the Ethiopian abuna Christians often retired to monastic life, leaving ordinary Chris­ (bishop) with a Portuguese bishop. At this point the Ethiopians, tians without the bond of fellowship that could sustain them in incensed by Portuguese paternalism, expelled them. Even though hard times. Many converted to Islam to avoid the economic and the Portuguese tried to plant Christianity in the lower Zambesi social pressure imposed by a Muslim society. Nubia gradually valley and , these efforts produced no permanent declined as well. In the midst of threat and intimidation, only Christian communities apart from ." Ethiopia persisted as a Christian stronghold. However, it re­ The Protestant churches were somewhat late in initiating mained isolated from other Christian countries. Through this iso­ their mission work. Part of the reason was that for two centuries lation the church in Ethiopia developed its own peculiar after the break with Rome, Protestants were largely preoccupied characteristics, which have played a significant role in its cultural, with the effort to establish themselves as viable Christian com­ economic, and spiritual development. munities. There were sporadic Protestant efforts early in the eighteenth century to establish Christian missions in Africa. The church of the United Brethren of Moravia arrived at the Cape in 1737 in an attempt to initiate work among the Hottentots. 7 Thomas Thompson, in 1751, decided to leave his position as a Zablon Nthamburi is Chairman, Department ofPhilosophy andReligious Studies, representative of the English Society for the Propagation of the Kenyatta , Nairobi, , and Secretary, Association of Theological Gospel in Foreign Parts in New Jersey in order to go to West Institutions in Eastern Africa. Africa as a missionary. Three years later he sent three Cape coast

112 International Bulletin of Missionary Research boys to England to be educated. proponents of this view, immediate adaptation is experienced Late in the eighteenth century the Evangelical Revival swept when elements of Christianity are taken to mean something that across Western Europe and North America. The revival owed its is already familiar. For instance, when missionaries went to dif­ genesis to the work of John and Charles Wesley, George White­ ferent African communities they adapted the term for God that field, and others. The Great Awakening in America led to the was used by the traditional religion. Thus in Zulu, God is Unk­ founding of missionary societies that would join their English and ulunkulu, in Kikuyu Ngai, in Meru Murungu, and in Lunda Njambi­ Continental counterparts to send missionaries to Africa. The Cla­ kalunga. This was intended to show that Christians worship the pham sect .within the Anglican church in Britain was concerned same God as the traditionalists, the difference being in the un­ not only with the abolition of slavery but with the extension of derstanding of who this God is. Christianity beyond their borders. Such household names as Wil­ The term "inculturation" expresses the encounter be­ berforce, Sharp, and Macaulay were members of the movement tween Christianity and African traditional religion, which is bas­ and were active in the establishment of the Church Missionary ically an encounter between two . Since Christianity Society (CMS) by members of the evangelical wing of the Church comes to Africa from another it is expected to grow within of England, in 1799. These people were very concerned about the the African culture in order to become truly African. There is a damage the slave trade did to the missionary cause. Later, David process of transformation that takes place in order for Christianity Livingstone, who initiated the founding of the Mis­ to reflect authentically the African cultural milieu. While "in­ sion to , felt that the central focus of missions was digenization" basically means the same thing as inculturation, to heal the "open sore" caused by the slave trade. indigenization is meant to emphasize the incarnational aspect. The missionaries to Africa believed in the supreme altruistic The concept, drawn from Christology, means that just as Jesus nature of the Christian gospel. They were drawn by the stories became human in order to redeem humankind so must Christi­ of the unfortunate condition of people who had been denied a anity become African in order to reach the African soul. Chris­ chance to hear the saving gospel of Christ. The descriptions of tianity must grow within the African environment so as to acquire Africa circulating in the West convinced them of the urgency of the characteristics, forms, and trappings of African spirituality. preaching the gospel to Africans. African barbarism, superstition, African spirituality is rooted in the traditional religions of the treachery, cunning, laziness, paganism, and general moral de­ African people, which existed long before other religions such as pravity had been depicted in a very dramatic and vivid manner. Islam and Christianity were introduced. Generally African people Few nineteenth-century missionaries doubted that these evils would soon succumb to the purging nature of the Christian gos­ pel. While it was widely believed that Africans were depraved African spirituality is creatures who lived in a perverted environment, no one doubted that they could be redeemed. What was needed in such a situation rooted in the traditional was the spread of Christianity coupled with Western civilization. 8 religions . . . , which The pamphlets and news reports from foreign fields generally existed long before . . . painted a dark picture of African barbarism, thus motivating po­ tential supporters of Protestant missions to rescue for the king­ Islam and Christianity dom souls destined for hell. were introduced. As a result of the effort of missionary endeavors of both Catholics and Protestants, Christianity was introduced not only along the coast but in the interior of Africa where no traders or believed in God as the supreme being, called by different names explorers dared to venture. In most places it was readily accepted in different communities. God was worshiped through different either as a way of enhancing the status of a community or as a rituals according to the traditions of the people. Africans believed means of obtaining literary skills that were important for com­ that everything had its origin in God and nothing came into munication to the outside world. Henry Venn, the skillful and existence without divine sanction. energetic secretary of the Church Missionary Society, urged that African people also believed that there were lesser spirits the strategy for missions should be to create as soon as possible through whom God spoke to people and who served as mediators an indigenous church that was self-propagating, self-supporting, between God and humans. Included in this category were the and self-governing. He envisioned a situation in which the mis­ ancestral spirits or the spirits of the living-dead who, together sion would give way to an indigenous ministry, which would be with the living, make up a community. Going back to time im­ suited to the local idiosyncrasies." Largely through Venn's fore­ memorial, African religion is interwoven with the experiences, sight Samuel Ajayi Crowther was appointed the first African history, and cultures of the African peoples. It pre~ared the bishop of the Anglican church in . Consecrated in ground for the reception of Christianity and Islam. 0 African 1864, Crowther made a remarkable contribution to the evange­ Christians see the hand of God at work in and through African lization of the delta. He endeavored to indigenize the Chris­ religion. We now recognize that mistakes were made by Western tian faith to make it possible for Africans to accept Christianity missionaries when they dismissed African religion as fetishism, without having to renounce their cultural values. His effort was, spiritism, animism, or paganism. however, undermined by missionaries who insisted on a rupture There were some missionaries who recognized quite early between Christianity and African culture. that Africa had a religion that was truly efficacious. Thus Placide Tempels, a Belgian missionary, believed it was necessary to study Definition of Terms and understand African traditional religion in order to Christian­ ize Africans without destroying their culture. His Bantu Philoso­ In the quest for indigenization different terms have been used: phy, published in 1945, paved the way for a sympathetic study adaptation, inculturation, , and indigenization. of African religion. E. W. Smith had already made similar studies.

IIAdaptation" refers to areas of apparent similarities and con­ The symposium he edited in 1936, under the title African Beliefs tacts between Christianity and African traditional religion. To the and Christian Faith, showed that Africans had a concept of God

July 1989 113 long before Christianity arrived. Such scholars, however, were thority. As a result of missionary disregard for and ignorance of an exception in an age or rhetorical misrepresentation of African that culture, a disruption occurred causing societal crises. He feels beliefs. The majority of missionaries saw African religion within that if Christianity is to be relevant to Igbo society today, its their Western understanding and concluded that it was heathen, theology must reflect the Igbo culture and social milieu. If it were anti-Christian, and repulsive. 11 more appropriately influenced by traditional beliefs and morality, African societies started to disintegrate when traditional re­ Christianity might better absorb and transform such practices as ligion was attacked. The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, in his polygyny. 16 book Things Fall Apart, portrays a situation in which an African African theologians see the relationship between the belief indigenous missionary succeeds in separating a son from his Af­ in ancestors and the Sanctorum Communio. Charles Nyamiti ex­ rican parents so that the son can become a Christian. As the son presses the view that Christ is our ancestor par excellence, since leaves his parents' house for the mission compound the mission­ he plays the role of mediator. As ancestor, Christ sustains his ary quotes the , "Blessed is he who forsakes his father people as he is able to embrace both the beginning, as the origin, and mother for my sake.,,12 Ngugi wa Thiong'o similarly depicts and the end, as the one in whom all people come together in a a situation in which the family is utterly divided as a result of common destiny. Nyamiti postulates Christ's ancestorship as the the parents' conversion to Christianity. A rift occurs between the source of Christian tradition and its stability. Christ's divine status family and the extended family. Instead of bringing reconciliation sets him apart from other ancestors. He is not merely an extrinsic and understanding, Christianity in this case brings division. This prototype of behavior for human counterparts but is the inner is because converts were instructed to leave everything behind, source and ritual principle of Christian life. In this manner Nya­ including families, for the sake of the gospel. African religion miti tries to integrate Christology with the African worldview.Y looked at life in a holistic way. There was no dichotomy between John Pobee also tries to explain Christology through African sacred and profane, hence many people were horrified when the ancestorship. For Pobee, Christ is the great and greatest ancestor first converts wanted to set themselves apart, away from other in the Akan understanding of Nana. As ancestor the God-man is members of the community. This is why indigenization is im­ characterized by power and authority. By virtue of being closest portant, as it enables the African Christian to see and experience to God and as God, Christ's ancestorship is superior to that of life in a holistic manner without doing needless violence to cul­ other ancestors. 18 John Mbiti uses the term Christus Victor to show tural values. Jesus' triumph over phenomena that Africans are afraid to face. To Mbiti the notion of Christ as cosmocrator provides traditional African Theologians eschatology with the teleological perspective that it lacked. He feels that titles such as "Messiah," "Christ," "Son of African theologians have wrestled with the problem of indigen­ David," and "Son of Man" have no special relevance to tra­ ization. The main question is: How can Christian faith be har­ ditional African concepts. What is relevant and appropriate are monized with African beliefs and practices so that Christianity such titles as "Son of God," "Lord," and "Servant of may truly become a religion for Africans? Justin Ukripo sees syn­ God," because such titles are continuous with traditional cretism among African Christians as a sign that Christianity has thought.19 not taken African culture seriously, nor has it been deeply inte­ Jean-Marc Ela interprets the current practice of Eucharist as grated with the indigenous culture. Ukripo refers to the liturgy alienating rather than reconciling. According to Ela, Christianity as an example of the problem. The liturgy in many mission­ tends to prioritize Western elements and forms. Imported bread founded churches seems to be insensitive to the African, for and wine are seen as cultural elements with a meaning for West­ whom worship is not merely an act of praying and singing. It ern society and connections with its history. Through the Eucha­ involves dancing, drumming, clapping hands, and making var­ rist the church unconsciously imposes Western culture and its ious bodily gestures. 13 Ukripo quotes a Nigerian novelist, Onuora symbolic structure on African society. If the church does not in­ Nzeku, who portrays the syncretistic nature of Igboland Chris­ digenize the Eucharist by using grains other than wheat in regions tianity: where wheat is not known, this inevitably renders the Eucharist itself foreign and, therefore, rneaningless." Africans like to cel­ That is why even though Christianity claims many millions of con­ ebrate life in all its fullness; hence Communion will be more verts among our people, real converts can be counted on your meaningful to Africans when rhythmic dancing is allowed. Body fingers and toes alone. Isn't it a shame that after a hundred years movement is essential, for it keeps the body and the spirit to­ of missionary activities here Christianity can only boast of millions of hybrids. Converts who are neither Christian nor traditional wor­ gether. There is no reason why maize, cassava, yam, or potato shippers, religious bats who belong to no particular faith, only cannot be used for bread, while locally brewed palm, honey, or claiming to be one or the other when it suits their purpose.l" banana wine could be appropriate for the occasion. While African theologians from the mission-founded J. Omosade Awolalu endeavors to demonstrate how a notion churches have endeavored to write on indigenization, not much of sin is evident within African religion. He asserts that Africans has been done to reflect this in local churches. On the other hand, live in an ethical covenant relationship with one another and with indigenous (locally founded) churches have said very little about their ancestors, their divinities, and the creator. Guilt is incurred it and yet that is where indigenization has taken place. To them when the established taboos are violated and when the ancestors indigenization is spontaneous and authentic, so they do not feel are neglected. Sin is also recognized in antisocial behavior such the need to talk about it. One writer has described indigenous as murder, theft, adultery, and individualism, for what disturbs churches as "a place to feel at horne.":" In fact, Eboussi Boulaga equilibrium in society disrupts the union between the human and accused African theologians of being "ivory-tower" theolo­ the divine. IS Awolalu sees compatibility between the Christian gians, already comfortable with middle-class Christianity and notion of sin and that of traditional African society, in that in doing nothing to put their theory into practice. Eboussi Boulaga both cases sin is primarily an affront to the righteousness of God. feels that what African theologians have done is to make up a Edmund Ilogu shows that Igbo culture prior to the colonial collection of "heteroclytic characteristics, gathered from the era was an integrated matrix with patterns of decentralized au­ Bible and various Western Christianities, with a few elements of

114 International Bulletin of Missionary Research "The way to freedom" (Exodus 14:31) by South Africanartist AzariahMbatha. Reprinted from Theo Sundermeier, SUDAFRIKANISCHE PASSION: LINOLSCHNITTE VON AZARIAH MBATHA. Copyright © 1977 by Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld, and Aussaat Verlag, Wuppertal. Used by permission.

the 'African genius' thrown in by way of anecdote, curiosity, nonexistent. Somewhat later, Moses Orimolade founded the and folklore."22 It is clear that we have to turn to African indig­ praying churches of Cherubim and Seraphim in . These enous churches to experience indigenization in practice. churches later acquired the name "." In Kenya the Kikuyu Independent Church arose out of the need to preserve African Indigenous Churches African traditions such as female circumcision and in the wake of missionaries' attack on such indigenous customs. In The African indigenous church movement can be traced in part , Ignatius Lekhanyane founded Zionism, which to the African reaction to the process of colonialization and sub­ spread into and . Zionism emphasizes hol­ jugation of African peoples by European powers. istic healing and the early return of Christ. preceded colonialization even though the two were often seen by What is significant in all these churches is that most of them Africans to have the same objectives. As Christianity swept the came into being as a protest movement against white domination continent, reactions to Western Christianity sprang up in the form in the mission churches. The new indigenous churches developed of indigenous churches.f The Providence Industrial Mission their own ecclesiology and polity, and incorporated elements of founded by Chilembwe of Nyasaland () in 1914 became the African religious ethos, such as healing, spontaneous expres­ the symbol of political and religious liberation. The movement of sions in worship, and veneration of ancestors. A few of them William Wade Harris in in 1913 and 1914 gave the tolerated polygamy, while all of them castigated witchcraft. By African indigenous movement a much needed impetus when the 1930s they were called "Spiritist Churches" because of the African leadership in the mission-founded churches was almost centrality of prayer in their churches and the emphasis upon the

July 1989 115 work of the Holy Spirit. Many of them formed a close-knit com­ blood of the is the seed of the church." munity that exemplified the early church community. Let us now Like other indigenous churches in Africa, the Kimbanguist look more closely at one of these churches. church has an indigenous ministry. It emphasizes the African spirit of wholeness, which embraces both body and spirit. It en­ The Kimbanguist Church compasses the whole community, for if the community is "sick" the individual will also be affected. To a certain extent, It was in 1918 when Simon Kimbangu received his call to be a the individual is subservient to the needs of the community, for prophet. After resisting the call for three years, he yielded, and the individual's wholeness can be guaranteed only when the com­ in 1921 began a fiery prophetic ministry. At N'Kamba, his own munity is whole. Healing is the central aspect of a worship service, village, thousands of people turned to Christ. Kimbangu exhorted reflecting the words of Jesus, "Your faith has made you well" his people to abandon fetishes, give up polygamy and dancing. (Matt. 9:22, 29). The same Jesus, according to the Kimbanguist He prayed for people who gathered to hear him preach. He also church, will do the same today, wherever there is faith. Faith performed miracles. In the words of an eyewitness, creates new strength for the handicapped, new relationships for broken families, new hearing for the deaf, new hope for the The healing of a deaf man followed, then a cripple called Thomas hopeless, new sight for the blind, and renewed vigor for the frail from Lombo. His mother brought him and laid him at the prophet's and weak. feet. "What do you want for your child?" the prophet asked. Water, which is a sign of washing away, is used when the "I want him to be able to walk," the woman answered. The sick are healed. When ministers and elders are praying for the prophet spoke to the child, "In the name of Jesus Christ, stand 24 sick, they use water from N'Kamba, which is the Kimbanguists' up and walk." The child arose and was able to stand and walk. New Jerusalem. Water is applied to painful parts of the body and Kimbangu's success was short-lived. Distorted reports of his may also be drunk for therapeutic effect. During pilgrimage to work were relayed across a thousand villages. After a little more N'Kamba a pilgrim can dip himself or herself in the pool three than five months he aroused the anger of the colonial government times using the trinitarian formula. Water in this case is seen as and the envy of missionaries. Kimbangu was arrested on Sep­ an outward sign of healing and does not have any magical prop­ tember 12, 1921, accused of treason and insurrection, and sen­ erties. It conveys an invisible blessing, which is effected through tenced to death after receiving 120 strokes of the cane. Kimbangu, faith, for without faith and prayer water is useless; it cannot purify who was a pacifist, had done no wrong and, on the petition of ex opere operato. N'Kamba water is important in that it is from the Baptist missionaries, King Albert of the Belgians commuted his home village where Kimbangu exercised his short-lived ministry of preaching and healing. It is the extension of the healing power of God through Christ, who demonstrated that he is not only the Savior from sin but also from disease and suffering. Since evil Western-trained clergy do and suffering are associated with bad spirits, the devil is accused of causing physical and spiritual calamities. Those possessed by not have time for the evil spirits are healed through exorcisms and then exhorted to "real problems" that live by faith, for it is faith that protects believers from such attacks. Archbishop Milingo of the Zambian pro­ haunt people, since they vides a strong supporting voice from outside the Kimbanguist have been taught that such circle. He has conducted hundreds of exorcisms and testifies to the need for exorcisms and faith-healing in African churches. He problems do not exist. feels that many times people go to church on Sunday to pray for "decent problems." The Western-trained clergy do not have time for the "real problems" that haunt people, since they death sentence to life imprisonment. He was deported 2,000 kil­ have been taught that such problems do not exist, and they dare ometers from his home to Lubumbashi, where he spent the rest not show that they exist, for fear of the consequences. In his own of his life, mostly in solitary confinement. He was never permitted words, Milingo observes: a visit from any member of his family or from a Protestant pastor. He was described by prison authorities as having an exemplary It is strange, then, that the people tend to believe that one can ask and amiable character, a self-effacing and very humble person. a priest only what he knows from his academic and theological He died in prison in October 1951.25 studies, and nothing beyond? The traditional spiritual consultant After the death of Kimbangu the mantle of leadership was speaks to the ancestors and other protective spirits and they give the answers. Yes, they often mislead the people, but does the taken up by his youngest son, Joseph Diangienda. Kimbanguists church offer alternatives and preach the absolute when the Chris­ continued to grow despite and threats by the colonial tians need answers to their problems?" government. Finally the government was forced to tolerate the movement because of its vitality and sheer numbers. The Church Indigenous churches feel that wholeness is a gift from God, of Jesus Christ on Earth through Simon Kimbangu gained official hence the church should be an instrument of recovering spiritual recognition after Zaire became independent. Through its rigorous and physical wholeness not only for the individual but for the evangelistic outreach, the church spread to other neighboring whole community. Many mission-founded churches shun faith­ countries, namely, Republic of Congo, , and . The healing for fear of syncretism or superstition. They need to learn church, which boasts a membership of 5 million, is self-support­ from such churches as the Kimbanguist church in order to dis­ ing and has organized a unique community life. 26 It has estab­ cover how this Christian practice can be incorporated into the lished massive farming projects in which members of the church liturgies of their churches. actively participate. It has a modern seminary and boasts of hav­ Prayer is also an important component of indigenous church ing some of the best-educated clergy in Africa. Through perse­ practice. The African attitude to prayer is one of great humility, cution and harassment the church came to know that "the reverence, and submission. Among the Kimbanguist Christians

116 International Bulletin of Missionary Research personal prayer is very important. One thanks God for protection faith that grows out of African life and is rooted in the Bible. during the night. Those who are sick or in prison are to be re­ What these churches have learned from African traditional reli­ membered during prayer. Before partaking of any meal, thanks­ giosity is the place of prayer in the life of a community. The church giving prayers are said for the provision of food and the is, above all else, a praying community. It is only after meaningful nourishment that food gives. Before work, one prays to be pre­ fellowship and prayer that the church can go out to evangelize served from all evil and be given the strength, intelligence, and by the strength of the Holy Spirit. In the Kimbanguist church wisdom toperform duties satisfactorily. Before one goes to bed, every Christian is an evangelist who must seek to make Christ prayers are necessary to invoke the protective power of God dur­ known to all others around.30 ing the night. Prayers are for all occasions, in times of distress or sorrow, in difficult circumstances, in joyful moments, in times of pain or loneliness, or in times of uncertainty. 28 The Task Ahead In public prayer Kimbanguists remove their shoes before en­ tering the sanctuary. The people are exhorted to remove their It is clear that the indigenous churches have challenged the mis­ watches, bracelets, and hats. Women are expected to cover their sion-founded churches in Africa to take traditional African values heads with cloth as a sign of reverence. Pockets are emptied of and religion more seriously. They have, for instance, challenged all money and other objects that may distract one's devotion, the half-Christian who goes to church respectably, but who in since one is expected to demonstrate human vulnerability and secret, with a measure of guilt feelings, also goes to the diviner unworthiness before God the creator. The community prays to­ to seek the cause and cure of illness. Indigenous churches, know­ gether, thus emphasizing community cohesiveness.f" Such fel­ ing that Africans cannot dichotomize life, combine the mundane lowship includes not only those who are gathered together at a and spiritual spheres of life. Salvation is seen in both material particular place but all God's people, including not only the living and spiritual planes. A holistic understanding of life is crucial for members of the community but the living-dead as well. the modus operandi of missions in Africa. On the whole an African The eucharistic celebration was not instituted by the Kim­ enjoys ritual and order as well as spontaneity. Africans employ banguist church until 1971. In April of that year 350,000 pilgrims their culture, their cosmology, experiences, poems, songs, came to N'Kamba from all parts of Zaire to participate in this dances, and celebrations to appropriate the Christian message, momentous occasion. This was also part of the celebrations of interpret it, and incorporate it into their daily life. I agree with the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the church. The bread Andrew Walls that there is a growing rapport between indigenous is baked from a mixture of potatoes, maize, and bananas, while churches and historic or /Iolder" churches.31 This distinction the wine is made of honey diluted with water. Honey is consid­ will disappear with time, to give room to a singular self-propa­ ered by many African communities to have healing properties, gating African church. thus symbolizing the Holy spirit who gives power and energy to The objective of indigenization is to give expression to Chris­ the Christian community. The Eucharist is indeed a moment of tianity in African religio-cultural terms. It is an attempt to create reconciliation and healing in the community. a synthesis between African culture and Christianity. It aims at What has been said about the Kimbanguist church could be abolishing syncretism, which renders African Christianity inef­ said of many other African indigenous churches, such as the fective. In presenting Christianity in a way that is congenial to Church of the Holy Spirit, Aladura churches, Cherubim and Ser­ the African experience and reality, African Christians will be en­ aphim, and hundreds of others. What they have in common is a abled to live out their faith authentically and creatively.

Notes ------­

1. August Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, tions: The Masasi Case," The Historical Study of African Religions, ed. trans. from German by Joseph Torrey, 5 vols. (New York: Hurd & 'E Ranger and I. N. Kimambo, (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1972). We should Houghton, 1871), vol. 2, pp. 143-45. Introduction of Christianity to point out that not all missionaries believed that Christianity should Ethiopia is credited to who, after initial contact with the be equated with Western civilization even though many did. Gustav Ethiopians, was consecrated bishop by Athanasius and sent back to Wameck denounced such a view as being "nothing but a form of Ethiopia. continuing slavery" (M. Wright, German Missions in Tanganyika, p. 8). 2. Kenneth Scott Latourette, History of the Expansion of Christianity: The 9. Wilbert R. Shenk, Henry Venn-Missionary Statesman (Maryknoll, N. Y. : First Five Centuries (New York: Harper & Row, 1937), vol. 1, pp. 354­ Orbis Books, and Ibadan, Nigeria: Daystar Press, 1983). See also 55. Henry Venn, The Founders of Church Missionary Society and the First Five 3. C. P. Groves, The Planting of (London: Lutter­ Years (London: Church Missionary House, 1848). worth, 1948), vol. 1, p. 121. 10. For further reading, see Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: Godin Yoruba Belief 4. Ibid., p. 131. Portuguese interest in the Congo kingdom declined with (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1965); Kwesi Dickson and Paul Elling­ the extension of Portugal's hegemony to the more lucrative markets worth, eds., Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs (Maryknoll, N. Y. : of Brazil, , and Asia. Orbis Books, 1969); John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy 5. R. Cornevin, Histoire de l'Afrique des Origines ala 2e Guerre Mondiale (London: Heinemann, 1969), and New Testament Eschatology in an (Paris: Petite Bibliotheque Payot, 1964), p. 199. African Background (London: SPCK, 1978). 6. C. P. Groves, The Planting of Christianity in Africa, vol. 1, p. 137. See 11. Oginga Odinga, Not Yet Uhuru (New York: Africana, 1967), p. 42. also J. Standes, The Portuguese Period in East Africa (1899), trans. and 12. Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (New York: Heinemann, 1959), ed. J. S. Kirkman (Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1961). p. 180. See also Felix K. Ekechi, Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in 7. M. Wright, German Missions in Tanganyika, 1891-1941: Lutherans and Igboland 1857-1914 (London: Frank Cass, 1972), p. 160. Ekechi am­ Moravians in the Southern Highlands (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971). plifies on the disrespect of society's customs and practices by half­ 8. T. Ranger, "Missionary Adaptation of African Religious Institu­ educated and utterly misguided catechists.

July 1989 117 13. Justin Ukripo, AfricanTheologies ofIndigenization (Eldoret, Kenya: Gaba ed.; London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1961); H. W. Turner, African Inde­ Publications, 1984), pp. 10-13. See also Joseph G. Donders, Non­ pendent Church, vol. 1: History of an African Independent Church: The Bourgeois Theology: An African Experience of Jesus (Maryknoll, N.Y: Church of the Lord (Aladura) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967). Orbis Books 1985), pp. 26-29. 24. Marie-Louise Martin, Kimbangu: An African Prophet and His Church 14. Ibid., p. 9. Ukripo explains such ambivalent situations as arising out (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976, and of a Christianity that has been transmitted in a vacuum without taking Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1975), p. 46. For futher reading on the Kim­ culture into consideration. Such an effort succeeds in producing only banguist movement, see Efraim Andersson, Messianic Popular Move­ ephemeral and superficial Christians. ments in the Lower Congo (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1958);Cecilia 15. J. Omosade Awolalu, "Sin and Its Removal in African Traditional Irvine, "The Birth of the Kimbanguist Movement in the Bas-Zaire Religion," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 44, no. 2 (june 1921," Journal of Religion in Africa6, no. 1 (1974): 23-76; Werner Ustorf, 1976): 275--87. Afrikanisch Initiative-Das aktive Leiden des Propheten Simon Kimbangu 16. Edmund llogu, Christianity and Igbo Culture (New York: NOK Pub­ (Bern: Herbert Lang, 1975). lishers, 1974), p. 170. 25. Kimbangu was admitted to the hospital seriously ilion October 9. 17. Charles Nyamiti, Christ as Our Ancestor: Christology from an African He refused to take any type of medicine and after three days he died. Perspective (Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1984). 26. The Baobab, a newsletter of the All-Africa Conference of Churches, 18. John Pobee, Toward .an (Nashville: Abingdon, 1979). vol. 3, no. 3, August 1987. 19. John S. Mbiti, Concepts of God in Africa (London: SPCK, 1979). Mbiti 27. Emmanuel Milingo, The World in Between: Christian Healing and the feels that if "Messiah" is a stumbling block for an appreciation of Struggle for Spiritual Suroioal (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1984), the humanity of Christ, traditional notions of intermediaries could p. 77. Milingo got into a misunderstanding with his church because adequately interpret Jesus' divinity. In African concepts divinities are of his persistent belief in faith-healing. seen to be parts of the deity and yet they are closer to humans and 28. John S. Mbiti, Bible and Theology in AfricanChristianity (Nairobi: Oxford do intercede in their behalf. Univ. Press, 1986), pp. 84-96. 20. Jean-Mark Ela, African Cry (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1986). 29. Diakanua Ndofunsu, "The Role of Prayer in the Kimbanguist 21. B. A. Ogot and F. B. Welbourn, A Place to Feel at Home: A Study of Two Church," in Fashole-Luke, et al., eds., Christianity in Independent Africa Independent Churches in Western Kenya (London: Oxford Univ. Press, (London: Rex Collings, 1978), pp. 595ff. 1966). 30. See Norman E. Thomas, "Evangelization and Church Growth: The 22. F.Eboussi Boulaga, Christianity without Fetishes: An AfricanCritique and Case of Africa," International Bulletin of Missionary Research 11, no. 4 Recapture of Christianity (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1984), p. 72. (October 1987): 165-74. There is a clear demonstration that the Eu­ 23. Indigenous churches have also been known as "independent charist is in essence a preparation for missionary outreach. churches." However, I prefer the term "indigenous" as it describes 31. Andrew F. Walls, "The Anabaptists of Africa?: The Challenge of the nature of these churches vis-a-vis mainline churches. For futher the African Independent Churches," Occasional Bulletin of Missionary reading, see Bengt G. M. Sundkler, BantuProphets in SouthAfrica (2nd Research 3, no. 2 April 1979): 51.

My Pilgrimage in Mission

Nico Smith "pilgrimage" in mission can be understood in several Discovering My First "New World" in A different ways. I consider my personal experience in mis­ Mission sion over the past three decades to have been "a journey of discovery." On this "road of mission," I have discovered It was during my studies in theology for the ministry in the Dutch "new worlds"-worlds completely fresh and unique to my Reformed Church in South Africa that I discovered my first new eyes. Each time I was exposed to a new world, my understanding world. Until I started my studies, the strong pietistic influence of of what mission is developed yet another dimension. Whenever my parents and the Student Christian Association led me to un­ I thought that I understood all that mission entailed, I would derstand mission as the winning of "souls" who had to be discover another new world, another way of understanding, an­ saved from this evil world and preserved for heaven. The world other "new" way of understanding mission. was ruled by the devil and destined to be eliminated by sulphur and fire. The only important thing about the-world was that the Christian had to flee from it. To me, living in South Africa, all Nico Smith, sixty years old, presently lives in Mamelodi, a black township that Africans (the prevailing term for black South Africans) were ob­ seroes Pretoria. He is pastor of the Mamelodi West Dutch Reformed Church in jects of mission to be brought to a definite conversion to God, a Africa,andActuariusfortheModerature oftheDutchReformed Church in Africa. turning away from this evil world, and the assurance that they He also holds a part-time position as lecturer in Missiology at the University of South Africa. Previously he served sixteenyears as proiessor of Missiology at the would inherit heaven. Afrikaans University of Stellenbosch, before which he and his wife served as During my four years of theological studies (mainly Reformed missionaries in the Northern Transvaal. theology), I was introduced to the theological thinking of John

118 International Bulletin of Missionary Research