Central Africa: Freedom’s Aftermath

Of the nine countries here discussed, five were formerly under France (Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo [Brazzaville], and Gabon) and gained autonomy in 1960. Part of the former British trust territory became West Cameroon when federation came in 1961. Three were under Belgium (Republic of the Congo [Leopoldville], Rwanda, and Burundi) and became independent in 1962. All are republics except Burundi, which retains its hereditary monarch. The ninth and the only non-French-speaking member of the group is Angola, dominated and tenaciously retained by Portugal as a colony. Besides French and Portuguese (with English in West Cameroon) there exist hundreds of tribal vernaculars, with Swahili and Hausa spoken in wider areas. Estimated populations in millions are: Chad, 3; C.A.R., 1.3; Cameroon, 4.3; Gabon, 0.5; Congo (Brazza), 0.8; Congo (Leo), 14.8; Angola, 4.5: Rwanda, 2.67; Burundi, 2.2.

Roman Catholics outnumber Protestants in all nine lands (five times as many in Angola, twenty-three times as many in Rwanda and Burundi), and pagans outnumber Catholics except in Gabon. Islam claims over twelve times the number of Christians in Chad and is advancing southward as Muslim traders penetrate Central African commercial centers. Sanction of polygamy, willingness to intermarry locally, indifference to sin, and a smug attitude of religious superiority win converts to Islam.

Roman Catholic missions, traditionally linked with the state, suffered a temporary setback at independence. Evangelicals, on the other hand, having studiously avoided political alignment and having remained neutral in elections, caused the nationals to reaffirm their confidence in the spiritual purpose of evangelical missions. Despite long association with colonial regimes, the Catholic Church now seeks to become the spokesman for nationalism’s cause. Africans have been appointed to major bishoprics in all nine countries. Youth movements, clubs, trade unions, and other activities have been initiated in Rome’s intensive campaign to consolidate its position. Multiplying schools at all levels for both sexes, Rome is regaining ground lost in the transitional period and capturing the youth. The presidents of all these nations except Chad are Roman Catholic.

The current ecumenical temper is reflected in less overt opposition to evangelical witness, and unprecedented friendliness is general. Priests discuss the Scriptures and buy vernacular Bibles and French Bibles and Testaments from evangelical bookstores to distribute among students and clergy. In Kasai (Congo Leo) Catholics are cooperating with Protestants in a joint translation of one version of the Bible.

In Angola the Portuguese government, unjustly blaming Protestants for the uprisings, has expelled numbers of missionaries and refused re-entry visas to others. African pastors and other leaders have been killed.

As well as opening the way for Islam, religious freedom in the new states has involved the rise of dissident splinter groups and independent sects of bizarre doctrines. These beguile the unstable, deceive the uninstructed, and provide face-saving alternatives for backsliders under church discipline. In Kasai, perhaps one-third of the total church membership has been lost to these false religions. Independence has also encouraged re-evaluation of African traditions. Tribal customs, art, music, and heathen beliefs are esteemed as national expression and revived with approval. The witchdoctor is restored to favor; paganism is in resurgence. Even prominent personages use charms; even clever scholars resort to talismans and magic to succeed in difficult examinations. Polygamy is again a status symbol, and there is a breakdown in basic moral values, with prostitution on the increase. Drunkenness is the curse of Central Africa.

African family loyalty extends to include the whole tribe, but little beyond. Tribalism is the obstacle to national unity; inveterate repressed feuds have erupted in fierce and cruel combat. In Rwanda and in Congo’s Kasai this has cost thousands of lives, uprooted families, brought famine and indescribable sufferings.

Communism is not in popular favor in these African states, but its exponents fan racialism in anti-white demonstrations. Communications carried by Russian diplomats from a local Communist in Brazzaville brought about the expulsion of the Soviet embassy’s hundred-strong staff by the Leopoldville government.

Educational Work

The degree of literacy varies greatly in these nine countries. Angola is lowest (1 to 5 per cent), Congo (Leo) highest (42 per cent). Young believers from bush schools operated by evangelical missions eagerly imparted their meager book knowledge to village children and sought to win them for Christ. Literacy enabled converts to read the Scriptures in their own language.

Belgium and Portugal discouraged Protestant schools, classing them as “foreign” and the Roman Catholic as “national.” Curriculum information and subsidies were withheld, though in Congo (Leo) after 1949 Belgium made some financial aid available. However, the general result has been that Protestant candidates are less qualified educationally than Catholics to compete for appointments in government service or to obtain business executive posts. Several Protestant secondary schools in Congo (Leo) and elsewhere have been the vanguard of Protestant education, overcoming nearly insurmountable obstacles to prepare Christian youth for usefulness in their African communities.

States formerly under French rule tend to nationalize education; others plan a limited number of official schools and a larger number of government-subsidized mission schools. Evangelicals now wish to enter the Christian education field. Inter-mission Christian high schools, technical schools, medical training centers, institutions on a university level, and Bible colleges and seminaries are already functioning or are in immediate prospect. Without them, Christian youth eager for education will be directed to Roman Catholic or non-Christian educational establishments.

Angola, Gabon, Congo (Brazza), C.A.R., and Chad have no universities, but one each has been established in Cameroon (518 students), Burundi (85), and Rwanda (50). Congo (Leo) now has three universities: the Catholic Louvanium University near Leopoldville (1,200), the state Official Congo University at Elisabethville (450), and the “Protestant-inspired” University of the Congo at Stanleyville (40) opened in October, 1963. Conservative evangelicals view the latter with hopes and apprehension, for much depends on the appointment of a faculty composed of Christian scholars who believe in the infallible integrity of the Bible and are personally clear in their testimony to the person and work of Christ. Qualified Christians are badly needed to teach in this university, which could contribute inestimably to evangelical witness in Central Africa.

Missionary and Christian African linguists have tackled the tremendous task of translating the Scriptures into African languages. The Bible societies have published the versions and sell them at a fraction of their cost. Already in Congo (Leo) the Bible is available in fourteen different African languages, and comparable progress is reported from other areas. Bookshops are functioning in most major commercial centers, colporteurs are being employed, and the flow of Christian literature is steadily increasing. Inter-mission literature committees in major language areas have virtually eliminated duplication of effort by concerted planning.

CABCO, the Central African Broadcasting Company, Inc., plans to increase its power to reach all of Central Africa. Evangelical programs from Monrovia and Addis Ababa are clearly received in all Central Africa, in French and in the linguae francae. The “Back to the Bible” French gospel tapes are broadcast regularly over five Congo stations.

Through the Congo Protestant Relief Agency, material help in medicines and equipment has been supplied and food distributed for famine relief. The C.P.R.A.’s short-term staffing program for mission hospitals has brought effective relief in many cases, but permanent medical personnel are urgently needed. Missionary doctors are considering the establishment of consolidated medical institutions in strategic central points, with a minimum of four doctors, and a medical training school with a strong spiritual emphasis to equip Christian African students to asssume medical responsibilities.

New Roles For Missionaries

Generally speaking, under the new autonomy missionaries are earnestly desired, not to serve in the paternalistic spirit of earlier days but to take more humble roles as instructors, advisors, counselors, technicians, and skilled artisans. Ministering the Word to believers with increasing capacity for spiritual truths, training African Christian workers, and producing a scriptural African-oriented literature—these could well comprise the missionaries’ task for the next decade.

An alarming note has sounded from one area. Present leaders in the Congo Protestant Council, seeking to advance the ecumenical movement, are aiming at the formation of one Congo church, with central authority vested in the general secretary as the sole avenue of official Protestant approach to the government. This policy will inevitably produce a rift in Congo Protestant testimony. Already in Congo and elsewhere “Evangelical Fellowships” are being formed of Christians who desire to resist tendencies toward visible unity that go beyond the scriptural doctrine of the true existing spiritual oneness of born-again believers as members together of the Body of Christ.

Central Africa has been one of the most fruitful of all mission fields; millions of souls have been won through godly missionaries who brought the Gospel there. The dangers today are different but just as real, the task as overwhelming, barriers as apparently insurmountable. But unchanged is the Gospel and the wonderful omnipotence of him who said “Go ye,” with the assurance that his presence would bear them company.

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