TOWARDS A CHRISTOLOGICAL MISSIOLOGY FOR AFRICA: ON-GOING RELEVANCE OF JESUS CHRIST IN MISSIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA ___________________________________________________________________________ Siegfried John Ngubane Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Missiology At the University of the Free State Supervisor: Professor Pieter Verster July 2013 The opinions expressed in this thesis do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of the Free State. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful to God our Almighty Father and to the Lord Jesus our Saviour for his strength through the period of working on this thesis. Without the guidance, wisdom and strength of the Holy Spirit this would have been very difficult to complete. I would also like to heartily convey my gratitude to the following people for their contribution to this study: I want to thank Professor. P. Verster for his guidance and coaching, and his resolve in keeping me focused. He has been a great encouragement. I also want to thank the University of the Free State, especially the Department of Theology for the financial assistance which afforded me the means to conduct this research. My gratitude also goes to the staff of SIM for the support they gave me throughout my studies, especially Miss Elizabeth Chudleigh for her proofreading. Last but not least, my family: Maureen and our three children, and also our granddaughter for their sacrifice in allowing me to embark on and complete this research. i ABSTRACT In the multi-faith, multicultural context of South Africa today, we need Christological missiology that will orient the church and missions to an understanding of Christ as the centre of Christian missions in South Africa. This missiology should witness in a non-judgemental manner, without compromising and without losing its critical edge. This is a missiology that will acknowledge and respect, in a spirit of honest openness, the reality of the context of South Africa and the world today and the reality of other religions and their mission endeavours. This research thesis has eight chapters. The first chapter serves as an introduction to the research. It deals with the background of the research and proposal. My hypothesis is that Christological missiology will guide the church in South Africa in continuing to see the relevance of Jesus Christ in missions. The church and missions will have a healthy understanding that her calling to missions is centred on the person and work of Jesus Christ protecting and preventing her from syncretism and entanglement in politics. In order to test this hypothesis, three questions were raised: How does an evangelical church respond to this quest? Have the evangelicals in South Africa orientated themselves enough to an understanding of Christ-centred missiology to be able to help the church in missionary work? What is the importance of the person and work of Christ in missions? The second chapter is dedicated to the definition of terms that are used in this study. Chapters 3 and 4 look at Christology and missiology. Chapter 5 reveals the findings of interviews with three missionary organisations: AIM (Africa Inland Mission), OM (Operational Mobilisation) and SIM (Serving In Mission). Contextualisation in missions is dealt with in Chapter 6, while Chapter seven deals with missions in South Africa, focussing on Jesus as the centre of missions. Chapter 8 concludes with final remarks and recommendation for further study in related fields. ii OPSOMMING In die huidige meervoudige geloofs- en kulturele konteks van Suid-Afrika is daar ’n Christologiese missiologie nodig wat die kerk en sending rig op die insig dat Christus die sentrum van die Christelike sending in Suid-Afrika is. Hierdie missiologie moet getuienis lewer op ’n nie-veroordelende wyse, maar ook sonder kompromieë en sonder om die skerp kritiese beoordeling te verloor. Hierdie missiologie sal dus die werklikhede van die huidige konteks in Suid-Afrika en die wêreld en van ander godsdienste en hulle sendingondernemings in die gees van openlike eerlikheid erken en respekteer. Agt hoofstukke word in hierdie navorsing aangebied. Die eerste hoofstuk handel oor die agtergrond van en voorstelle vir die navorsing en lei dus die navorsing in. Die hipotese is dat ’n Christologiese missiologie die kerk in Suid-Afrika sal rig om die voortdurende relevansie van Jesus Christus in sending raak te sien. Die kerk en sending sal dan ’n gesonde begrip hê dat haar roeping tot sending gegrondves is in die persoon en werk van Christus, wat haar sal bewaar van sinkretisme en ook daarvan om verstrengel te raak in politiekery. Om hierdie hipotese te toets is drie vrae gestel: Hoe reageer ’n evangeliese kerk op die uitdaging? Het die evangeliese Christene in Suid-Afrika hulle genoeg georiënteer op die verstaan van Christusgesentreerde sending om die kerk te help om sendingwerk te verrig? Wat is die plek van die persoon en werk van Christus in sending? Deur hierdie vrae te oorweeg sal sekere antwoorde verskaf word. Dit is gedoen deur na Christologiese tendense te kyk, na tendense in die sending, en deur navorsing te doen deur vraelyste aan drie sendingorganisasies te gee, naamlik: AIM (Africa Inland Mission), OM (Operation Mobilisation) en SIM (Serving In Mission). Daar word gehandel met kontekstualisering en die voortgaande relevansie van Jesus Christus in sending. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this research to my wife Maureen and our three children Geraldine, Lungile and Nkanyiso and also our granddaughter Dimpho. They have given me unfailing support throughout the period of this study. I also dedicate it to all the staff at the SIM SA office in Cape Town, and SIM missionaries and other missionaries in the South African field and those who labour in other countries. iv DECLARATION I, Siegfried Ngubane, declare that this research is my own work and that all sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. All copyright is ceded to the University of the Free State. Signed …………………………. ….. Date………………………. v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Progression from Christology to Ecclesiology .......................................................... 23 Figure 2 Global urban percentages ........................................................................................... 99 Figure 3 Biblical Contextualisation ......................................................................................... 169 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 The urban and rural population of the world, 1950-2030 ......................................... 97 Table 2 Projections of populations of megacities ..................................................................... 98 Table 3 Various levels of contextualisation among missionaries who work with Muslims or in the Muslim world .................................................................................................................. 158 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... ii OPSOMMING ..................................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ...................................................................................................................... iv DECLARATION ................................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 13 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 13 1.2 Background of the study ............................................................................................. 15 1.2.1 The church in South Africa ...................................................................................... 15 1.2.2 African Christianity and African theology .............................................................. 17 1.2.3 The impact of cultural revolution ............................................................................ 18 1.2.4 Christ and culture ..................................................................................................... 19 1.3 Major influences on this study .................................................................................... 20 1.3.1 Roman Catholicism .................................................................................................. 20 1.3.2 Pentecostalism.......................................................................................................... 21 1.3.3 Reformed conservative evangelicalism ................................................................... 21 1.4 Limitations .................................................................................................................. 21 1.5 Problem statement ......................................................................................................