The Christian Surge in Africa: Part I

Christian eyes have turned often to Africa in recent years. The growth of the Church on the African continent is one reason. Another is the much discussed search for theological identity there. A third is the great material need in many African countries. Institutional Christianity will focus its interest on Africa later this year when the World Council of Churches holds its fifth General Assembly in Nairobi.

To briefCHRISTIANITY TODAYreaders on opportunities and problems in Africa today, the Editors recently interviewed Dr. Byang H. Kato, general secretary of the Association of Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar. Dr. Kato is a citizen of Nigeria. He attended schools of the Sudan Interior Mission, went on to London Bible College (England), and earned the Th.D. in the United States from Dallas Seminary. Before assuming his present post he served as general secretary of the 1,400 churches associated with the Sudan Interior Mission in Nigeria.

Here is the edited distillation of the interview with Dr. Kato:

Question. Dr. Kato, is it true that, as some experts have predicted, Africa will be a Christian continent by the year 2,000?

Answer. Christian growth in Africa has been phenomenal. In many areas the Christian population is doubling every four or five years. In my home town in central Nigeria there was not a single Christian seventy-five years ago. Even when I was a boy a very insignificant percentage called themselves Christians. Today you will find about 65 per cent of the townspeople attending places of worship each week. But sometimes the growth figures are exaggerated, and other aspects and dangers are not taken into consideration.

Q. What do you mean?

A. I mean, for example, that there is a lot of nominal Christianity in Africa along with the real thing.

Q. The statisticians get a little carried away?

A. Well, you just have to understand that in Africa many people put up their hands and want to become Christians and are automatically counted as Christians. If you go to the market place and preach and then ask how many want to receive Jesus, many listeners would put up their hands. It doesn’t mean much in the heart, but it is indicative of the desire.

Q. And what are the dangers to which you refer?

A. Look at the independent church movements. Admittedly there are probably some born again Christians in their midst who have got the teaching, but many of them don’t know the meaning of the new birth and the doctrine that leads on to conversion.

Q. How about Christian accommodation to African religions?

A. There is an emphasis on cultural revolution. Today it is a live issue. Many Christians do not think it wrong to take on many of the pagan practices, like dancing to the pagan gods, and offering libations to ancestors. You also have some liberal theology coming into the continent through some intellectuals who have been trained in liberal schools in North America and Europe. So there are forces at work that cause us concern. We need to work really hard so that the quality of true Christianity may be seen.

Q. What are the theological issues in Africa?

A. I would say the primary thing in Africa today is a search for identity. The African has been exploited and oppressed over the years, and he is asking to be recognized. He wants to assert himself as a first-class human being, but unfortunately in the effort to assert people are going beyond what the Bible teaches. Even Christians are comprising in order to assert their identity in Africa. One thing that is gaining ground is black theology. It originated in the United States and now has gained prominence in Africa.

Q. How do you conceive black theology?

A. My understanding is this: They say that white theology has exploited the black man. White people came to us about a God who is up there and about a life to come. Many black people do not differentiate truly born again whites and the pagan whites. The white man says, “Don’t be concerned about what happens in this world. Such things as money, cars, and good food are of this world. Just enjoy poverty because it is a virtue and someday God will give you wealth.” When the white man told the black man that, the black man said, “Okay, I accept that theology” and began looking up to heaven and to the future, and while he was doing this the white man took hold of all that belongs to this life. Black theology wants to turn the tables. It calls for black economy, black power, and so on. It thus ideologically aligns itself with the Black Muslim movement, which is gaining some prominence among intellectuals in Africa.

Q. What is your response?

A. We must sympathize with some of these yearnings. It is true that many whites have abused Christianity and cheated the black man. Even in slave trade some white American slave dealers would quote Scripture to support this evil practice. We are now reaping what we have sown. The Bible and God remain true even though people are unfaithful. The vertical relationship must have priority even though the horizontal relationship was abused. While black theology raises the right questions, it lacks the terms of reference. It is not a black Christ or black God we need, but the same eternal God of the Bible speaking to the black man in his need. Christians should put to practice what they learn in the Bible.

Q. Is African theology the same as black theology.

A. It is not quite the same. It does not emphasize blackness as such. It argues that Africa has been Christianized, so now it is time to Africanize Christianity. African traditional religions are being revived on the theory that the worship they represent is of God, and only the means of worship is different. The gods being worshiped are even said to have been instituted by God. The idea is to pick out some elements of African religions and include them in Christianity. Syncretism is a real danger. My position is that I do see the point of expressing biblical Christianity in the context of every people. Biblical Christianity should be expressed in Africa in such a way that the African can feel at home in the Church of Jesus Christ. But we must realize that “forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89).

Q. How strong is Christianity in Africa right now?

A. There are said to be about 91 million Christians in Africa. That is out of a total population of about 350 million.

Q. To what extent are evangelicals a part of the Christian surge in Africa?

A. They are in the forefront. The organization of which I am a part has as its main purpose to establish the evangelicals’ identity and have fellowship and have them presented as a voice of Bible-believing Christians in Africa. This organization, the Association of Evangelicals in Africa and Madagascar (AEAM), is the outgrowth of the biblical message taking hold. The fundamental-evangelical missions opened an office in 1966 for fellowship. As they gathered African churchmen in meetings, the demand grew for a permanent fellowship, and now we have it. We seek to defend and propagate the faith. We promote sound biblical teaching. That’s why we have two commissions, one on theology and the other on Christian education.

Q. Would you regard the AEAM as competitive with the World Council of Churches?

A. It’s certainly different from that, but it runs as a parallel organization to the WCC presence in Africa, which is manifested in the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC).

Q. Are the concerns different in the two organizations?

A. Well, the primary objectives are different. While we appreciate the emphasis on social concern and political liberation today, we of the AEAM do not view that as our primary occupation. Rather, our emphasis is on evangelism and church development basically in the spiritual realm.

Q. How many evangelicals do you represent?

A. Put it this way: there is an evangelical cooperation in about twenty-seven out of the forty-seven countries in Africa. Our direct membership is about three million, but in the total evangelical constituency, there should be about ten million.

Q. Could you elaborate a bit on the AEAM purpose?

A. Well, as you know, we contend that the content of biblical theology remains the same wherever it goes; the change is made only in the expression of that content, translating it into the context of the people so that they can understand. This differs sharply with the presuppositions of regional theologies like the theology of liberation, which has its roots in Latin America but is being advocated for Africa. Its advocates see the fundamental problem of man as being class struggle, so they align with Marxism. AEAM does not only defend the faith, but through our Christian education we promote the teaching of that faith.

Q. How has the theology of liberation affected the African scene?

A. Some of our people in Africa such as Canon Burgess Carr, general secretary of the AACC, have reflected it. It may be behind his thinking when he advocates a theology of violence. He said at the AACC conference in 1974 at Lusaka, Zambia, that “in accepting the violence of the Cross, God, in Jesus Christ, sanctified violence into a redemptive instrument for bringing into being a fuller human life.” He called for the church to support the so-called liberation movements. He says he looks forward to the time when the church in Africa will be recognized as a major liberation movement. To me that is a violent distortion of the purpose of the death of Jesus Christ. He died to strike a final blow to sin, which is the source of violence.

Q. How do African evangelicals feel about the fact that the WCC has channeled money into the liberation movements?

A. You should be aware that even some people in the ecumenical movement would tell you that this money is being given not to buy guns but to buy food and medicine for refugees. And from the evangelical point of view, we are of course concerned for the needs of people who have been displaced for political reasons or whatever. Unfortunately, there is no clear evidence that the money is not used for arms. The primary concern of the liberation movements is not relief but war of liberation through use of force.

Now regarding political liberation, I feel that Christians as individuals should be involved in their nations as citizens because we are citizens of both heaven and our respective countries. We should perform the duty we are called upon to do. I think individual conscience should be a guide to Christians’ response to the powers that be in their different countries. But for the Church, I don’t think it is the responsibility of the Church as such to be in the forefront of political liberation. And the main reason is that the Church has the primary task of bringing about reconciliation in the world, reconciliation first of all between man and God, and secondly between man and man. Both the oppressed and the oppressor are in need of the Gospel of reconciliation, the Gospel of peace. If the Church identifies itself with one sector or the other, then it is jeopardizing its right to conciliate the two parties, both of whom need the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so I am not in favor of an ecumenical movement giving money to liberation movements unless there is sufficient evidence that the money given will be used for peaceful purposes. I would encourage the Organization of African Unity, the United Nations, the respective countries, and other secular movements to do what they can in this area. Justice must be done. As Christians, our primarily responsibility is the moral aspect, and of course we should preach justice and help through peaceful means. To clarify my position, I am also opposed to the Church as such aligning with an oppressive regime. In doing so, it forfeits its right to speak to the oppressed. But I don’t think that this is the number-one responsibility of the Church.

Q. You were an observer at the Lusaka conference, where there were demands for a moratorium on missionaries. What are the ideas behind that?

A. The main argument is that all missionaries and all resources, financial and otherwise, that are invested and used in the Third World should be suspended for four or five years. This is supposed to give the churches time to discover themselves. And after five years if the Third World churches feel they now need the money and the workers from the West, they will say so. Perhaps the best-known proponent of the moratorium argument is the Reverend John Gatu of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. He is its general secretary, and currently also the chairman of the Central Committee of the AACC.

Q. How do you feel about moratorium?

A. I really sympathize with the basic motive behind it. From what they have told us, it is a desire for the selfhood of the Church. They want Christians in Africa to be self-reliant, and I agree with that. I think Christians should learn to depend on what they can do and what the Lord is able to do through them, rather than be begging help from others outside. I think it is good stewardship. However, I feel also that the call for withdrawing resources and personnel is not necessary and unscriptural.

Q. Why?

A. It is unnecessary because I feel that while it is true that foreign aid could cripple initiative, it does not necessarily do so. Our situation in Nigeria has shown this. Today we have in one church denomination, ECWA, the church of the SIM, between 1,200 and 1,500 pastors and evangelists, and almost all of these are paid by the local churches in Nigeria. We also have a missionary society. We support about 120 families who are working in Nigeria and beyond, including the countries of Niger, Dahomey, and Chad. We have undertaken many other projects, too, and we have not had to call for missions to stop supplying resources before we could assume this initiative.

Q. Why do you say a moratorium is unbiblical?

A. Because of the universal nature of the Church. It is the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is the Lord of the harvest who has the final say in sending people into his field. If it pleases the Lord to send Americans to work in Nigeria, or to send Indians to work in England, we just say “Praise the Lord!” and advise those workers not to have a superior attitude but just to see themselves as servants of God who are working together with the nationals to uplift the cause of Christ. Since the Church is one, we should not say, “No more personnel from this side.” In fact, we have missionaries from Kenya who are working in the United States today, two or three families. The churches in Africa sent them with the support of some mission organizations that come from North America.

Q. What are they doing?

A. They are involved in evangelism and helping people to understand the way of salvation. One family is working in the New Jersey area, mainly among black Americans. I think this give-and-take approach should be encouraged, and therefore I see no scriptural basis for moratorium. But I appreciate the motive behind it, and I think we should work hard to encourage self-reliance in our churches. Unfortunately, a superior attitude does perhaps come through in some missionaries. The call for moratorium also serves notice that we Africans have come of age; we want people to realize that we want colleagues, not masters.

Q. How do you look upon the forthcoming Fifth Assembly of the WCC in Nairobi?

A. It certainly is going to have a great impact, along with the second World Festival of Black African Arts and Cultures, which is going to take place in November and December in Lagos, Nigeria. When the WCC meets, I think there will be much emphasis on Africanizing Christianity. The cultural revival will be a vital issue. This involves bringing in some worthwhile elements, but it also runs the risk of a syncretistic Christianity. This would include dialogue with people of other faiths, and this is a major issue in ecumenism today. I wish that the idea of this dialogue was just to understand what others are saying. But many are seeking dialogue on an equal-to-equal basis: I have something to contribute, the pagan has something to contribute, and so we come and meet to contribute to each other. This stifles evangelism, because under this arrangement we would be offending the person from the other faith if we were to say that Jesus Christ is unique and that ours is the only way of salvation. The call for the uniqueness of Christianity must be played down because you want to give respect to other religions that are operative in Africa. And then there is the whole issue of unity.

Q. What do you mean?

A. You know, the theme for the WCC assembly is, “Jesus Christ Liberates and Unites.” They are going to push for the unity of Christianity in each country, and I think they will probably try to give impetus to governments that would choose to deal with Christians, all Christians, as one entity.

Q. Do you feel that the leaders of the conciliar movement are promoting this development?

A. Some are beginning to suggest that each country have a ministry of religious affairs, and that all churches unite and be treated as one by this ministry.

Q. What do you think about such a thing?

A. I would be for this approach if the unity were to be based on the Word of God. That is why I am working for the AEAM. I feel there are some divisions that are unnecessary within the body of Christ. But the most unfortunate thing is that the call for unity in ecumenical circles overlooks doctrinal differences. Their slogan is, “Where doctrine divides, services unite.” The feeling is, Let’s forget about theology but get on to practical service where we can work together.

I think this is disastrous. Biblical theology must have the prominence. If I come upon someone who is not born again and I will say, “Well, I mustn’t talk about the uniqueness of Christ but just talk from the fact that we are both Africans and that we are both black and let’s work together on this,” then I am not being fair to him because I am neglecting his basic need, which is new life in Christ. He may die without Christ, and I will be accountable before God.

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