Mission Possible
Mission Possible
Mission Possible
Volume 18
“Mission still possible?”
Global Perspectives on Mission Theology and Mission Practice
Contributions to a Conference
of the United Evangelical Mission
20 Years after Internationalization
Dumaguete, Philippines, June 26th – June 30th, 2016
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, translation, repro-
duction on microfilms and the storage and processing in data banks.
Printed in Germany
ISBN 978-3-938180-55-6
www.vemission.org
Table of contents
Introduction
Mission still possible
Jochen Motte and Andar Parlindungan9
Appreciation11
Message of the Conference 13
From the Constitution of UEM 16
UEM Statement on Corporate Identity 19
Report on the Conference
Wolfgang Apelt23
Keynote speeches
Changing Paradigms in Mission Theology in View of global Challenges,
interreligious Conflicts, and secular Scepticism towards religious Institutions
and Movements
Dieter Becker29
New Challenges for Christian Mission in the Context of religious
Fundamentalism and Radicalism: Learning from the Indonesian Context
Jozef M.N. Hehanussa47
Changing Paradigms in Mission in View of Changing global Christian
Landscapes and growing pentecostal and charismatic Movements:
An African View
Véronique Kavuo Kahindo67
Development
Leadership in Protestant Churches and its Contribution to socio-economic
Development in Africa
Faustin Leonard Mahali115
Table of contents 5
Mission and Ethnography
Rainer Neu123
Abundant Life for All: Mission and Development Perspective from
an Asian Church (UCCP)
Reuel Norman O. Marigza131
Diaconia
The Role of Diaconia from the African (Tanzanian) Perspective and
how it contributes to the global Situation
Willbrod Mastai139
Mission and Diaconia in the Sri Lankan Context
Sujithar Sivanayagam 147
Diaconia from an international Perspective – Opportunities for Cooperation
among Churches from different Countries
Caroline Shedafa153
Evangelism
The Relevance of some contemporary African Pentecostal/Charismatic Themes
in African Christianity: A contemporary missiological Quest
Faith K. Lugazia163
Multicultural Dakwah and its Challenges in Southeast Asia
Syafiq Hasyim175
Together towards Life – Germany’s new Impulses for Evangelization and Mission
Werner Engel181
Partnership
Partnership in Mission within the UEM: Whence and wither
Willem T.P. Simarmata193
Transforming Power Relations
Xolile Simon203
Partnership and Encounter among People in Mission: Sharing my Work
and Experience as a Mission Co-worker in the Philippines
Josephat Rweyemamu215
A Comment
Rethinking Mission after an Encounter with a Statue
Volker Dally227
Contributers and Participants 229
6 Table of Contents
Introduction
Mission still possible!
Global perspectives on mission theology and mission
practice, twenty years after the internationalization
of the United Evangelical Mission
Introduction 9
different life contexts, for example the minority situation of Christians in Indonesia
and Sri Lanka.
This is why the recommendations from the participants include giving more at-
tention to the question of how to engage in encounters with people of other religions
and faiths in a critical, sensible, and respectful way.
Furthermore, the participants encourage the UEM to continue to address gender
justice and to strengthen the support and assistance for refugees in Africa, Asia, and
Germany.
In view of the common goal to work for equality of opportunity in the UEM
communion, further strengthening of the South-South exchange has also been sug-
gested.
Even with all of the diversity in mission practice and mission action discovered
during the conference, the participants also emphasized the common goal of mis-
sion for today, as expressed in John 10:10b: “…that all may have life in abundance”
(John 10:10b).
Mission therefore is not only still possible, but urgently needed. The mission
theology and practice within the UEM, as initiated and established through the in-
ternationalization of 1993/1996, has brought into being a living communion that
acts in mutual respected diversity.
10 Introduction
Appreciation
We express our deep gratitude and appreciation to the staff of Silliman University,
the Faculty of Theology, and especially the preparation committee of this conference
for their hospitality and commitment to make this conference successful. Explicit
thanks go to Dr Ben S. Malayang III (President of Silliman University), Dr Jeaneth
Faller (Dean of Silliman Divinity School), Dr Dennis Solon (Lecturer at Silliman Di-
vinity School), and Bishop Norman Reuel Marigza (General Secretary of the Coun-
cil of the UCCP Bishops).
We thank the staff at our place of residence, the Private Residence VIP Resort
near Dumaguete, for providing such marvellous service.
We are also very grateful to the many people in the UEM office who supported
our conference.
We would also like to thank all of the conference participants for their inspiring
and challenging contributions on mission and mission theology.
We especially thank Ms Casey Butterfield for her excellent editiorial work with
regard to the English language.
Great appreciation goes to the Evangelisches Missionswerk and Dr Michael
Biehl, who supported the conference as chairperson of the message committee and
whose expertise and great experience contributed to a smooth process that resulted
in the adoption of a joint statement on mission.
Finally we would like to thank Mr Wolfgang Apelt, head of the archives of the
Archives and Museum Foundation of the UEM. Mr Apelt documented the results
of the conference, guided the process to finalize this publication, and contributed to
the success of the whole conference through his outstanding knowledge of mission
history, especially with regard to the process of the transformation of the German
UEM into an international mission organization from 1973 to 1996.
Appreciation 11
„Mission still possible“?
„Mission still possible“?
“Mission still possible?”
Global perspectives on mission theology and mission prac-
tice: A conference of the United Evangelical Mission
20 years after internationalization
Dumaguete, Philippines, 26-30 June, 2016
Taking this as God’s promise to his creation and all humankind, we, the participants
of the UEM conference, confirm our willingness to encourage our churches to con-
tinue to be united in mission. We, 27 representatives from the three regions of the
UEM communion – Africa, Asia, and Germany – including one Muslim scholar,
were hosted by the Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Philippines. Looking
back on 20 years of internationalization of the UEM as a communion of 35 mem-
ber churches in three continents and the von Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel,
we realize that together, we have grown closer. Over the years, the communion is
no longer just a vision, but has become filled with life. Solidarity and equality have
developed, and visiting ecumenical teams have strengthened the relations between
churches. We are thankful for the sharing of prayers, ideas, and resources, and for
the successful exchange of personnel. Partnership is being lived intensively, and we
have reason to be grateful for what has been accomplished by our sharing and serv-
ing of one another during the last two decades. We recognize achievements in the
struggles against human rights violations and in living out a common mission. We
rejoice to see a generation emerging for whom our communion and its exchange and
cooperation are a reality. This generation has been educated and formed through
UEM programs and will continue the journey of internationalization.
Having listened to the contributions during the conference, we present some in-
sights and recommendations to the General Assembly:
1. Mission: In our deliberations, we agreed that mission is still possible today and
therefore we affirm to continue to be united in mission. The conference con-
firmed the UEM’s understanding of mission as it is spelled out in the respective
articles of the constitution and Corporate Identity: Justice, Peace, and the In-
tegrity of Creation; Development; Diaconia; Evangelism; and Partnership (see
appendix). However, the contexts for mission are changing, and consequently
these concepts have to be developed and contextualized. Hence, we recognize a
diversity of understanding and of interpretation of the Corporate Identity. In this
perspective, the issues are approached by individual member churches within
their respective contexts.
There is also a tradition of mission as defending and promoting justice, peace
and the integrity of creation. Beyond that, some have highlighted mission as
sharing the Gospel with all and an invitation to trust in Christ; others high-
(1) The United Evangelical Mission is founded on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and
New Testament, and shall serve the purpose of joint action in mission.
(2) a) The United Evangelical Mission operates within a network of churches in
Africa, Asia and Europe and wherever it may be called upon to serve.
b) Together these churches shall proclaim Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour
of all people and shall face the challenges of present-day mission.
c) In a world torn apart, they commit themselves to remain members of the
one Body of Christ, and therefore to:
¡ grow together into a worshipping, learning and serving community;
¡ bear witness to the Kingdom of God in striving for justice, peace and the
integrity of creation.
(3) The UEM shall take part in the missionary responsibilities of its members by
¡ providing opportunities for encounter and dialogue, sharing of experience,
open discussion, as well as joint reflection on mission history and pres-
ent-day tasks of the mission;
¡ promoting the training, sending-out and exchange of personnel for the
missionary and diaconic service in the churches and in new areas of united
mission;
¡ encouraging the sharing of gifts received, and by providing financial sup-
port for missionary, diaconic, humanitarian and social functions of the in-
dividual churches and the joint programmes of several churches and ecu-
menical organisations.
(5) The UEM shall fulfill the aforesaid objectives inter alia through the functions
and activities described in § 3 (1).
§ 3 Charitable Objects
(1) The UEM exclusively pursues church-related, public welfare and charitable pur-
poses by promoting church-related aims, further education and training, devel-
opment co-operation, international understanding, children and youth assis-
tance, the public health and welfare system, as well as by charitable support of
needy persons within the meaning of § 53 of Abgabenordnung (AO). These aims
may also be pursued in and in relation to foreign countries.
a) Church-related aims, within the meaning of § 54 of AO, are attained par-
ticularly against the background of § 2 (2), by fulfilling the objects under
§ 2 (3) and (4) and by the promotion of partnerships particularly between
church-districts of the members.
b) Further education and training, and understanding among nations are
particularly promoted by arranging and implementing educational courses,
workshops and seminars, the operation of conference centres particularly
in Wuppertal and Bethel as well as through the award of scholarships.
c) Development co-operation and international understanding are particular-
ly promoted through diaconal emergency assistance during disasters, the
planning and implementation of projects for the sustainable improvement
of living conditions in developing countries, the sending of volunteers, hu-
man rights work, the arranging of partnerships between church-districts,
congregations and church institutions in different countries, as well as by
arranging and implementing exchange programmes.
d) Children and youth assistance are particularly promoted by the awarding
of scholarships and the arranging and implementation of educational pro-
grammes for children and youth.
e) The furtherance of the public health and welfare system is particularly pro-
moted by the planning, arranging and implementation of preventative mea-
sures against illnesses and diseases.
f) A further objective of the UEM is the acquisition of resources, within the
meaning of § 58 (1) of AO, for the promotion of church-related aims, fur-
ther education and training, development co-operation, understanding
among nations, children and youth assistance, the public health and welfare
system, as well as for charitable support of needy persons through local or
foreign legal bodies, or through a public body. The bestowing of benefits
does not entitle beneficiaries to claim any further assistance from the UEM.
Have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honour him as Lord. Be ready at all times
to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you (1Peter 3:15 ).
Following the Biblical call we are a communion of 34 Protestant churches1 in Af-
rica, Asia and Germany and the von Bodelschwingh Institutions Bethel united in
mission. Our roots are in the Rhenish Mission (founded 1828), the Bethel Mission
(founded 1886), and the Zaire Mission (founded 1965). Since 1996, the UEM has
been internationally organized and staffed with its headquarters in Germany.
Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you (John 20: 21).
As a mission community we are taking part in God’s mission on earth. Together
we give witness to the message of the Father´s reconciliation with all humankind
through the Son Jesus Christ. We trust the power of the Holy Spirit, with whose
help we work for justice, peace and for the integrity of creation. In this light we also
acknowledge the responsibility to critically face the history of our mission work.
¡ Evangelism
We confess that all human beings are created in the image of God, therefore:
– we maintain grassroots networks to fight HIV and AIDS and to care for orphans,
the widowed and for people infected with HIV.
– we work to improve peoples’ living conditions, especially for those with special
needs.
– we strive to improve medical care and to promote physical and psychological
health for all people.
– we support churches as they assist people in need as a result of human made or
natural disasters.
¡ Advocacy
We believe that human beings are created in the image of God and therefore have
inalienable dignity and rights. Therefore
– we promote and defend human rights.
– we support initiatives to solve conflict peacefully.
– we join efforts to achieve just economic conditions and good governance.
– we strive for the protection of the environment.
¡ Development
¡ Partnership
Two are better than one, because they have a better reward for their toil. For if they
fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have
another to help. (Ecclesiastes 4: 9)
Our members from Africa, Asia and Germany have equal rights in governance. Our
decision makers – women, men and young adults – come from all three continents.
Wolfgang Apelt
24 Wolfgang Apelt
1. What achievements of the UEM can you identify twenty years after internation-
alization?
¡ The work of the regional offices (Dar es Salaam and Medan) brings the UEM
2. Which questions should be discussed and which issues addressed in the UEM
in the years ahead, in order to lead the communion into the next phase of its
existence?
¡ There is still a need for better connection with local congregations
¡ The emphasis on diaconia needs to be reflected in the UEM structure
¡ The exchange of leaders from different denominations should be encouraged
3. With whom – other faiths, Pentecostals, civil organizations – can we journey and
cooperate for a dignified life for all of creation?
¡ UEM should work with open-minded Muslim organizations
¡ UEM should not cooperate with extremists and groups that violate human
dignity
4. How do you see the UEM’s understanding of mission today, in the context of
other understandings of mission (such as those of Pentecostal movements,
Charismatics, Christian extremists, other religions, etc.)?
¡ The UEM is taking a non-denominational path; many Protestants can work
together on this
In addition to the answers above, there was one further issue mentioned for the
UEM to take up: the UEM should look into the role of theological institutions.
The formulation and discussion of the message, an exposure day to Apo Island,
and a sending prayer closed the conference.
The result of the conference, besides its message, was that twenty-seven people
from three continents came together with all their differences, which included quite
a number of cross-cultural experiences. The sharing and discussions showed clearly
that there is not only one understanding of mission within the UEM, but many. We
learnt also that we are able to work together and to agree on the statement of the
conference, as well as on the UEM’s understanding of mission as expressed in the
UEM constitution and corporate identity.
Dieter Becker
1 For an historical overall study, compare David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm
Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991).
30 Dieter Becker
Aloysis Pieris argues that Christianity’s contact with Hellenistic culture at the
roots of its existence coincided early on with the religion’s rise as a political pow-
er. The spread of Christianity happened at the same time as the Roman Empire
was expanding. Rooted in the centre, the church spread its branches all over
ancient cultures and destroyed their ancient pagan religions. Influenced by the
emperor-centred religion of Rome, the church eventually became authoritarian
and monolithic. When the imperial power was destroyed by barbarian attacks,
the citizens of the Roman Empire turned to the new religion, Christianity, for a
revival of culture and empire. In other words, Christianity saved the Greco-Ro-
man culture from extinction.2 Anton Wessels argues that right from the begin-
ning, in ancient times, the conversion of the pagan world into Christendom took
place on the battlefield. Even Roman Christianity had its origin in war – Christus
victor! The Christian God was revealed as a “God of war” and a conqueror. 3
However, with regard to the work and individual personality of concrete men and
women doing mission,5 many Christians of the global South take a different stance,
tell other stories, and even feel that there is much to be grateful for in how these mes-
sengers brought the gospel to their local world.6 Lamin Sanneh argues that it was the
translation of the Bible into the local languages that helped to stabilize the older local
cultures and, in the long run, to get rid of the colonial regimes. Certainly there were
missionaries who were supported by and benefited from the colonial enterprise, but
we should also keep in mind the perspective of the local Christians of today.
Several doctrines shaped the mission paradigm during the nineteenth century
in the realm of Christendom. In his “Protestant Doctrine of Mission” (1892–1905),
Gustav Warneck argued that the world of religions was waiting for Christendom.
2 Aloysis Pieris, An Asian Theology of Liberation (Edinburg: T & T Clark, 1988), 53.
3 Wessels refers to the decisive battle at the Milvian Bridge in Rome on 28 October 312 AD.
Compare Anton Wessels, Europe: Was it Ever Really Christian? (London: SCM Press Ltd.,
1994), 51.
4 Compare Jonathan J. Bonk, “Europe: Christendom Graveyard or Christian laboratory?”,
International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol 31, No. 3 (July 1, 2007), 113f.
5 The contribution of women in mission work was and is extraordinarily important. To
highlight this would, however, go beyond the limits of this paper.
6 Fidon R. Mwombeki, Begegnung auf Augenhöhe? Mission seit der Entkolonisierung und
im Zeitalter ökumenischer Netzwerke, in: Interkulturelle Theologie – Zeitschrift für Missions-
wissenschaft Heft 1 (2010), 72 – 85, 72f.
Beginning in the middle of the last century, Mission theologians have under-
lined that all theologies have to respond to local needs while at the same time
searching for their relation with ecumenical perspectives. “The universal theol-
32 Dieter Becker
ogies … were in fact universalizing theologies; that is to say, they extended the
results of their own reflections beyond their own contexts to other settings, usu-
ally without an awareness of the rootedness of their theologies within their own
context.”12 Today there is a growing consensus in mission theology that plurality
is normative.13
No longer is any confessional version of Christianity – no Lutheranism, Angli-
canism, Methodism or any other Christian denomination, not even Roman-Ca-
tholicism – in a position to present itself as if it were the normative model and as
such should dominate. However, as Christianity unfolds its intercultural dynam-
ics and establishes itself in a multitude of local Christian dialects, the debate as
to what constitutes an “authentic”, proper response to the Christ event is heating
up, and the identity of Christianity remains a contested concept.
12 Robert J. Schreiter, The New Catholicity: Theology between the Global and the Local
(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997), 2; 49.
13 Ambrose Ih-Ren Mong, Dialogue derailed: Joseph Ratzinger’s War against Pluralist The-
ology (Eugene, OR: Pickwick/Wipf and Stock Publications, 2014), XXVII – XXVIII; Ambrose
Mong, Are Non-Christians Saved?: Joseph Ratzinger’s Thoughts on Religious Pluralism (Lon-
don: Oneworld Publications, 2015), XVI – XVII.
14 Change and oscillation between advance and retreat seems to be a continuous phenom-
enon in church history. Compare Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of
Christianity, 7 vols. (New York: Harper & Brothers), 1937–1947; A History of Christianity, 2
vols. (New York – London: Harper & Row), 1953.
34 Dieter Becker
Paradigm II
Mission from the margins
Following the Second World War, the imperial dreams of Europeans faded and – as
Andrew Walls puts it – the “empires struck back”.20 New challenges began to arise.21
I limit myself to a quick survey.22
A first challenge arose from the renewed affirmation of cultural identity among
those churches and communities which had received the gospel through mission-
ary efforts. New indigenous forms of church life and liturgy began to emerge, and
the development of contextual theologies became the centre of attention. This led to
a lively discussion about the dynamic interaction between gospel and culture, rais-
ing new questions about how to incarnate the gospel in each culture while acknowl-
edging the power of the gospel to challenge and transform all human cultures. The
presentation by the Korean theologian Chung Hyun Kyung at the Canberra assem-
bly of the WCC in 1991, and the subsequent controversial debate focusing on the
presence and work of the Holy Spirit, brought many of the issues dramatically to
the fore.
A second challenge emerged with the theologies of liberation. These theologies
are some of the most important developments in the history of the twentieth cen-
tury. After the disastrous experiences of colonialism, liberation theologians enabled
Christianity to recover credibility in suffering societies of the global South. In many
village homes, the Bible began to be greatly cherished and valued because it con-
tained such inspiring stories of liberation and salvation. If hermeneutical theology
had traditionally excluded the voice of the “wretched” of the earth, liberation theol-
ogy helped the poor to discover their own experience in the message of the gospel
and find an appropriate approach to theology.
A third challenge concerned the relationship between mission and interreligious
dialogue. Traditional mission communities held on to the claim of the Christian
faith to be absolute truth. They feared that interreligious dialogue would open the
door to syncretism and relativism. At the other end were those theologians, mostly
from Asia, who promoted a “wider” or “macro-ecumenism” that included peoples
and communities of other faiths. They found that we should not set limits to the
saving power of God. In particular, Indian theologians were calling for a “de-dog-
matization” of theology, questioning the presuppositions behind some of the church
doctrines that have had a negative impact or influence on the lives of the faithful.23
suriya, An Asian Perspective, in: K.C. Abraham, ed., Third World Theologies (Maryknoll, NY:
Orbis Books, 2002), 114.
24 Compare Claudia Währisch-Oblau, The Missionary Self-Perception of Pentecostal/Char-
ismatic Church Leaders from the Global South in Europe: Bringing Back the Gospel (Leiden:
Brill 2009, paperback edition 2012).
25 The following impressions concentrate only on the Pentecostal movement and churches.
26 Compare J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, “To the Ends of the Earth”: Mission, Migration
and the Impact of African-Led Pentecostal Churches in the European Diaspora, Mission
Studies 29 (2012), 23-44.
27 Building networks across the world, this new diaspora is maintaining its ties with its plac-
es of origin. Almost everyone in Accra or Lagos seems to have relatives in London, Hamburg,
or Berlin.
28 In Kyiv, Ukraine, the huge Pentecostal/Charismatic church of Sunday Adelaja is called the
“Church of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for all Nations”.
36 Dieter Becker
graphic and religious contours of major religions and provide a vital outlet for
proselytism and missionary expansion.29 These churches advocate a new intriguing
pattern of mission theology and have the vision to bring a particular type of trans-
formative Christian experience into contexts in which Christianity is in decline.
They try to give new life to the early experiences of Christians in biblical times,
stressing that conversion is a transformative change that comes into a person’s life
upon receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. They lay emphasis on the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, with its accompanying “speaking in tongues” and signs and won-
ders. Pentecostals show great sensitivity for the powers of evil and oppression. They
relate biblical stories about victories over the powers of evil to their own sickness of
body and soul. When immigrants in Europe suffer from problems of legal documen-
tation, employment, and security these churches provide help and a social safety
net. They understand the evidence of salvation as something that is more than just
spiritual; it must also bring material change within people’s socio-economic circum-
stances. Such churches tell us that in the West as well, many members of the main-
line churches are in favour of the accumulation of wealth and prosperity.
“A person must look well, take control of resources channelled away from pre-
viously wasteful lifestyles, seize opportunities in education and business, and be
prosperous in life’s endeavours through the application of the principles of ‘sow-
ing and reaping’, commitment and hard work.”30
What, in the eyes of these Pentecostals, is wrong with Western Christianity? It has
been observed that people often express that they feel the Christian tradition is no
longer “true”. The exclusive claims of Christianity are only one possibility among the
many valid options for faith, and often an unacceptable attempt at restricting the free-
dom of the mind. The texts of the Bible have lost their privileged position in Europe’s
cultural and religious life. Other texts have come in and found a home. All texts, how-
ever, religious or not, tend to be seen as products of human construction and history.31
Relations or even cooperations among these Churches and established church
communities in Germany are quite diverse. A kind of conviviality32 may develop that
includes having services and celebrations together. At its best, then, an elder of the
German congregation could be a visiting member of the board of the guest congrega-
tion, and vice versa. Young people overcome cultural and spiritual barriers, and men
and women of the congregations reduce prejudice and begin to mediate between the
29 Jehu J. Hanciles, Migration and Mission: Some Implications for the Twenty-First Century
Church, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, vol. 27, no. 4, 146-153.
30 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, “To the Ends of the Earth”: Mission, Migration and the
Impact of African-Led Pentecostal Churches in the European Diaspora, 30.
31 Compare Werner Ustorf, Reverse Mission – Treating Europeans as Africans, in: Werner
Ustorf, Robinson Crusoe Tries Again: Missiology and European Constructions of “Self ” and
“Other” in a Global World, 1789–2010. Selected essays edited by Roland Löffler (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010), 189–202.
32 Theo Sundermeier, Konvivenz als Grundstruktur ökumenischer Existenz heute, in: Wolf-
gang Huber, Dietrich Ritschl, and Theo Sundermeier (eds), Ökumenische Existenz heute I
(Munich: Kaiser, 1986), 49-100.
Together towards Life states in its introduction that in our present-day global
landscape, there is a big disparity between those who control and are in pos-
session of wealth and resources and those who are denied access to them. Many
are constantly and systematically marginalized based on gender, ethnicity, skin
colour, geographical location, even religion. Those at the margins are forced to
live without choices and resources. They are often denied education, health care,
daily food, safe drinking water, and/or healthy living conditions. Together to-
33 A caretaker of a Church of African Origin in the Diaspora (CAOD) once said: “At noon,
the Germans go home preparing their Sunday meal, and at 2 p.m. the foreigners come and
make noise”. Benjamin Simon, Identity and Ecumenical Partnership of Churches of African
Origin in Germany, in: Chandler H. Im, Amos Yong (eds), Oxford Centre for Mission Studies
2014, 166–174, 172.
34 A different model of integration is being worked out by the German Pentecostal Commu-
nity (Bund Freikirchlicher Pfingstgemeinden – BFP), however. By integrating CAODs, this
association has grown by 20 per cent. The outcome of this intercultural step is not yet clear.
35 The text of this declaration was designed by the WCC’s Commission on World Mission
and Evangelism (CWME) and is the first ecumenical affirmation of mission by the Council
since 1982; it draws insight from Protestant, Evangelical, Orthodox and Roman Catholic mis-
sion theology.
38 Dieter Becker
wards Life clearly states that “mission from the margins invites the church to
re-imagine mission as a vocation from God’s Spirit who works for a world where
the fullness of life is available for all”.36
Together towards Life shows Jesus and his mission emerging from the context of
the margins. Because of the social and geographical location that determined his
position and status in society, there was scepticism about Jesus’s mission and min-
istry during his time. The question that Nathanael posed when he was informed
about Jesus, “Can anything come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46), speaks clear-
ly about how those who are considered to be at the margins of society are looked
upon. Jesus challenged the scribes and Pharisees in whom political and religious
powers were invested. He refused to submit before them – those at the centre of
power – but instead confronted them and unmasked the oppressive structures
they were promoting and upholding (Matthew 5:20).
Today, Christians in Europe can gain new insights into the Reign of God through
dialogue with Christians from the global South in which they recognize the presence
and activity of God’s Word and Spirit. Thus, mission does not equate to church ex-
pansion, but rather to “bringing the power of the Word to bear on any human situa-
tion to which it has a relevant message”.39 The need to develop a Christian discourse
appropriate to the pluralistic nature of German and European societies cannot be di-
vided from the enriching input coming from theologies from developing countries.
Taken from Paul’s letter to the Romans, it reads: “Welcome one another, just as
Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God”. Rom 15:7
Increasing forces that fragment communities and prioritize the values of individual-
ism are shaping the structure of Western societies. To live a Christian life apparently
means to understand that loving God and loving one’s neighbour always go together.
Hospitality includes the willingness to accept others in their “otherness”. Communi-
ty means that people share their joy and pain, laugh and weep together, share their
common meals, etc.41
I was always happy when meeting brothers and sisters in the rural villages of the
global South and experiencing how they often live a modest life and share their faith.
But I always wonder how we in the North can really participate in an ecumenical
encounter and intensify community in the “global village”. Often I feel locked in a
prison of wealth.
Practical hospitality and a welcoming attitude to foreigners create the space for
mutual transformation and even reconciliation. Offering and experiencing communi-
ty life helps to remove the causes of religious animosity and violence that often come
with it.42 The central hermeneutical reason for this interpretation is the notion of
“hospitality”, i.e., of receiving the “other” as God has received and accepted humanity.
40 For the wider ecumenical context compare Stephen B. Bevans, Roger P. Schroeder, Con-
stants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books 2004).
41 In the mission theology of Theo Sundermeier, this idea of community is described as
“convivence”, which describes a way of living together in working, sharing, and celebrating.
42 Religious Plurality and Christian Self-Understanding: A Resources Paper to the Mission
Conference at Athens 2005, Section V.
40 Dieter Becker
I am happy that a term like hospitality can now be associated with the name
of our country again. “Welcoming culture” – what a wonderful expression! Of
course, there are also those who are frightened by it. And the appalling rise in
violence against refugee hostels and their residents shows how much is still to
be done. The churches have always promoted Europe as a peace project. Today
they come out against the closing of Europe’s external borders. The continent of
Europe divided by national borders secured by military force is a vision from a
nightmare; the church can play a major role in shaping the way people live to-
gether in our country.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in
him may not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
In Christ, God became one of us, sharing our lives, our joy, and our pain. In him and
his cross, we discover God’s passionate and compassionate love. Just as God entered
into solidarity with humankind by becoming human himself, we have to develop
a theology of bringing mission and solidarity together. Solidarity starts with com-
passion and is our way to participate in the compassionate love of God revealed in
Christ. Solidarity also leads us into prayer and intercession.
Mission therefore includes being actively engaged in lobby and advocacy work.
Mission means becoming active members of human rights networks on a national
and international level. Developing a culture of living together on equal footing is a
Christian responsibility. Feeling accepted is one of the finest things people can ex-
perience. Thus, mission is much more than charity. Before God, all of us stand with
empty hands. Each one of us is called to serve God with the gifts God has given him
or her. We never can call ourselves “donors” because God himself is the donor, and
we all are recipients first of all, sharing only what he has given. When talking about
mission, we should eliminate the word donors. We all are partners in God’s mission.
“Always be ready to make your defence when anyone challenges you to justify the
hope which is in you. But do so with courtesy and respect”. 1 Peter 3:15
All forms of religious expression can reflect wisdom, love, and compassion, but they
can also function to support systems of oppression and exclusion. The mystery of
God’s salvation is not exhausted by our theological affirmations. We do not stand
in judgement of others. When witnessing to our own faith, we seek to understand
the ways in which God intends to bring his purposes to fulfilment.43 But it is also
43 Ecumenical Considerations for Dialogue and Relations with People of Other Religions,
Statement of the Central Committee of the WCC, Geneva 2003. Compare The Global Charter
of Conscience: A Global Covenant Concerning Faiths and Freedom of Conscience, www.
charterofconscience.org. (12 May 2016).
“I struggle strenuously with how my Christian faith commitments are not ex-
clusive of other faiths. Part of the challenge is that some traditions of Christian-
ity consider any association with other religious traditions in negative terms …
While being for Christ will entail being against some aspects of other faiths, this
does not necessarily involve complete repudiation.”49
The dialogue here envisioned often takes place in “basic human communities”. There
are many different associations in our society where the common work includes
both Christians and non-Christians engaged in work for the welfare of society.50
44 Paul F. Knitter, Jesus and the Other Names (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996), 156-157.
45 Michael Amaladoss, Making All Things New (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990); Felix
Wilfred, Evangelii Gaudium – Reflections from Asia, in: Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft
und Religionswissenschaft, vol. 1-2, no. 98 (2014), 138–141.
46 Ibid., 110.
47 Michael Amaladoss, Making All Things New (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990), 108,
110.
48 Compare John Macquarrie, Christian Unity and Christian Diversity (London: SCM Press,
Ltd., 1975), 24.
49 Amos Yong, From Every Tribe, Language, People, and Nation, in: Chandler H. Im, Amos
Yong (eds), Oxford Centre for Mission Studies 2014, 253–261, 257f.
50 Paul F. Knitter, Introducing Theologies of Religions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002),
96-97.
42 Dieter Becker
Mission as taking a stand against Islamophobia
Christians claim that there is one and only one God. As a consequence of this
claim, if Christians hold that Muslims do not worship the one God, we must hold
that they worship nothing, an empty created idol, or else something demonic.
But Muslims also claim that there is one and only one God. So for Christians to
deny that Muslims worship the one God is to deny the heart of their confession
of faith. No matter how respectfully Christians try to communicate that denial,
many Muslims will undoubtedly receive it as deeply disrespectful.
Some Christians claim that Christians should not refer to God as “Allah” because
Muslims reject that Jesus was and is the incarnate Son of God and because they
deny that God is a Trinity. I agree that these are two of the most important claims
of the Christian faith. Without them, we Christians miss the decisive revelation
of God and the very heart of who God is. However, when someone denies these
claims, that does not by itself mean that he or she does not believe in or worship
“I have come that they may have life, and may have it in all its fullness.” John 10:10
The growing domination of global capitalism in the area of finance and economy
also has an ideological dimension and presents a kind of “secular eschaton”. There
is a quasi-religious message of universal salvation through the global market and
advanced technology. This ideology contrasts with the Christian vision of faith
and solidarity through an alternative way of life in community. In Germany today,
there is a widening gap between the rich and the poor, between those in political
power and those who elect them. While some have benefited from the current
economic climate, the lower classes are struggling in the face of rising prices and
fewer opportunities. If the church is to become a lighthouse or beacon in society,
there are difficult choices it needs to make, choices that are uncomfortable and
sacrificial.
The paradigm of life in its fullness includes the theme of reconciliation and heal-
ing for a sustainable community, for the healing of memories, for overcoming vi-
olence, and for resisting the tendency to instrumentalize religious loyalties in the
struggle for power.53 To announce the kingdom of God as the gift of salvation and to
52 But even granted Christian and Muslim agreement on the claims of monotheism, some
would raise the objection that the character of Allah in the Qur’an and Islam radically differs
from the character of God as revealed by Jesus. Monotheism aside, they would say, it is mis-
leading to treat these two concepts as the “same” in any practically important sense. There is
no way to answer an objection like this definitively here in brief, but there are good reasons to
reject this argument. Compare the document “A Common Word between Us and You”, issued
by many of the world’s leading Muslim scholars and clerics in 2007, which points out how
central a love of God and love of one’s neighbour is to Islam. Compare further Miroslav Volf,
Ryan McAnnally-Linz, God and Allah: What’s in a Name, 7-8.
53 There is a need to take seriously the influence of “wounded” memories on relationships
44 Dieter Becker
call people to faith in Christ is the mission of the church. But mission and evange-
lism aim at more than the call to conversion and faith in Jesus Christ as the only way
to salvation. Salvation belongs to God; we only participate in it. We only witness to
it. We do not decide who will be saved; we leave it to the providence of God.54 The
proclamation of God’s kingdom looks for the establishment of God’s reign over all
creation. It embraces all of history. God’s action in history extends beyond the limits
of the church.
Lifting up the healing ministry of the Christian community opens new opportu-
nities for sharing with marginalized communities. Marginalization has many con-
figurations. Humans at the margins are those who are left behind, people whose lives
have been curtailed by oppressive constraints and life-denying forces, those who
had been denied opportunities to move forward or upward in life, and those who
suffer injustices simply because of who they are. They are left outside of the power
structures and remain outsiders, excluded from enjoying the fullness of life that God
has envisioned for all.
The WCC document Together towards Life affirms that Jesus Christ’s ultimate
concern and mission is life in all its fullness (John 10:10) and that we are all invited
and empowered to participate in the “life-giving mission of the Triune God” and
“bear witness to the vision of abundant life for all in the new heaven and earth”.55
Authentic mission takes place when humans encounter God and receive the fullness
of life that he offers.
We need to rethink how we include and embrace in our mission those at the
margins. Jesus clearly understands the nature of being marginalised and how people
are being systematically pushed to the edges. He identifies those who are victims and
prisoners of their circumstances and therefore need to be freed in order for them to
enjoy the fullness of life that is promised to all.
I hope that the last chapter of this paper in particular captures some of the main
points of a renewed understanding of mission as it has emerged during the last two
decades. It is my hope that this UEM consultation will serve to provide some helpful
orientation for our common journey.
between the mission and the Pentecostal movements. Conversations have begun and must be
continued.
54 Religious Plurality and Christian Self-Understanding: A Resources Paper to the Mission
Conference at Athens 2005, Section V.
55 Together towards Life, paragraph 1, p. 4.
The interpretation of religious teachings always gives the impression that religious
teachings have two faces, namely, the face of love and solidarity and the face of dis-
connection and antagonism. These two faces can have a strong impact on the re-
lationships among people in their own society, or relationships with people from
different parts of the world. They can create tension between people of the same
faith and between people of different faiths. The conflict between Sunni and Shi’ah
Muslims; the tensions between conservative and liberal Muslims or between main-
stream, evangelical, and Charismatic Christians; the conflict between hard-line
Muslim groups and Ahmadiyah or the conflict between people of one religion and
people of another religion are all examples of relationships caused by these two fac-
es of religious interpretation. Winston David noted for example that the influence
of the Shinto religion and the teaching that Japanese people are unique were used
for propaganda during the Second World War. Japanese people then believed that
they were different from other people, and this created the divisive concept of “us
against them”.3 Interpretation of the Muslim idea of jihad also brought Muslims into
a divisive position. Conservative groups tend to look at jihad as a struggle against
non-Muslims, while liberal groups tend to understand the idea as a war against
poverty, insults, injustice, unrighteousness, etc., even within Muslims’ own religion.
During the Moluccas conflict in 1999-2002, which pitted Christians and Muslims
against on another in Moluccas, Indonesia as a result of provocation from radical
Muslim groups such as Laskar Jihad Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah, many Muslims
thought that killing their Christian brothers and sisters was legal and permitted un-
4 See R. Scott Appleby, The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation
(Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000), 85-107.
5 “Many Sharia-Based Cities Not Truly Islamic: Maarif Institute”, Jakarta Post, http://www.
thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/18/many-sharia-based-cities-not-truly-islamic-maar-
if-institute.html, accessed 1 June 2016.
6 “Aceh Fully Enforces Sharia”, Jakarta Post, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/
02/07/aceh-fully-enforces-sharia.html, accessed 1 June 2016.
12 This case reminds me of the jizyah (fee protection) that is supposed to be paid by
non-Muslim permanent residents (dhimmi) in Muslim lands and under Islamic law. Only
by paying such fee protection can non-Muslim permanent residents practise their faith and
be protected by local rulers against any type of threat from Muslims or non-Muslims. See
Ibrahim Kalin, “Islam and Peace: A Survey of the Sources of Peace in the Islamic Tradition”,
Islamic Studies 44, no. 3 (2005): 352-53.
13 “Komnas HAM: Ada Pemerasan terhadap Gereja di Jawa Barat”, Tempo.co, https://na-
sional.tempo.co/ read/news/2016/06/05/058776953/komnas-ham-ada-pemerasan-terhadap-
gereja-di-jawa-barat, accessed 4 June 2016; “Komnas HAM: Tempat Ibadah di Sekitar Band-
ung Raya Suka Diperas Ormas”, Tribun Jabar, http://jabar.tribunnews.com/2016/06/04/kom-
nas-ham-tempat-ibadah-di-sekitar-bandung-raya-suka-diperas-ormas, accessed 4 June 2016.
14 Rachel Ehrenfeid, Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed – And How to Stop It, (Chica-
go: Bonus Books, 2003): 1-2. 173-74.
Religious radical groups always focus on their own ideology and mission. They are
disrespectful not only of other religions, but also to their fellow believers who do
not support their ideology or regard it as an obstacle to their mission. ISIS is an ex-
ample: they want an Islamic state, but they kill more Muslims than non-Muslims.16
They commit to their own ideology, which causes violence and harms more than the
religion of Islam. They are building a territory that is not for all people, but only for
themselves and their loyal supporters. This makes it impossible for them to live side
by side with others. The idea of our planet as a home for all living faiths will hardly
become a reality in this context. Yet it relates not only to ISIS, but also to the funda-
mentalist ideas all around us.
People around the world, but especially US citizens remember Republican presi-
dential candidate Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim campaigning in New Hampshire and
some national TV channels. He used the accident or terrorism in San Bernardino by
a Muslim, the issue of illegal immigrants, and the terrorism of radical Islamic groups
in his campaign to ban the religion. Many Americans, especially Muslim-Americans
consider Trump’s rhetoric to be fascist. Trump forgets that there are many Muslims
who have been part of the US community for many generations. As a result of the
incident in San Bernardino and Trump’s speech, some mosques have been victims
of vandalism, and Muslim prayers have been interrupted by disrespectful actions.17
This is why the radical ideology of ISIS and the fundamentalist thinking of Donald
Trump will never give space or possibility to making the idea of earth as a home for
all living faiths into reality. They will never respect religious plurality, much less car-
ry out Raimon Panikkar’s idea of respecting and preserving the incommensurable
differences of religions.18
19 “The Hunter; Modern Tower of Babel”, Finance Wire, 16 Nov 2010, Finance Wire, http://
search.proquest.com/ docview/792952174?accountid=40625.
20 See Theodore Hiebert, “The Tower of Babel and the Origin of the World’s Cultures”, Jour-
nal of Biblical Literature 126, no. 1 (2007), 34.
21 Gerhard Kittel (ed.), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Volume V, (Grand Rap-
ids, MI: 1968), 119-134.
22 Mary L. Coloe, Dwelling in the Household of God: Johannine Ecclesiology and Spirituality,
(Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2006), 109.
23 Korinna Zamfir, “Is the ekklesia a Household (of God)? Reassessing the Notion of οἶκος
θεοῦ in 1 Tim 3:15”, New Testament Study 60 (2014): 512.
24 Korinna Zamfir, Men and Women in the Household of God: A Contextual Approach to
Roles and Ministries in the Pastoral Epistles (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH,
2013), 70, 84.
25 Jozef M.N. Hehanussa, Der Molukkenkonflikt von 1999: Zur Rolle der Protestantischen
Kirche (GPM) in der Gesellschaft, (Muenster, LIT Verlag, 2013), 55-63; Jozef M.N. Hehanussa,
“Understanding Relationship Between Moluccans, in Images of Enmity and Hope: The Trans-
formative Power of Religions in Conflicts”, eds Lucien van Liere and Klaas Spronk (Zurich
and Muenster: LIT Verlag, 2014), 89-95.
26 Jozef M.N. Hehanussa, Der Molukkenkonflikt von 1999, 43-45.
27 Jozef M.N. Hehanussa, “Understanding Relationship Between Moluccans”, 84-85.
28 “Gus Mus: Kaget Soal Islam Nusantara Berarti Tidak Pernah Ngaji”, NU, http://www.
nu.or.id/post/read/ 60914/gus-mus-kaget-soal-islam-nusantara-berarti-tidak-pernah-ngaji,
accessed 6 June 2016.
32 See Song-Mi Suzie Park, “Israel in Its Neighnoring Context”, in The Wiley Blackwell Com-
panion to Ancient Israel, ed. Susan Niditch, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell, 2016, 32; Sigmund
Freud, Moses and Monotheism (London: the Hoghart Press and the Institute of Psycho-Ana
lysis, 1936), 60-61.
33 Theo Sundermeier, “Konvivenz als Grundstruktur ökumenischer Existenz heute”, in
Ökumenische Existenz heute, eds W. Huber, Dr Ritschl and T. Sundermeier, (Munich, 1986),
49-100.
Besides its religious pluralism, another context or reality of Asia is poverty. Aloysius
Pieris said that true followers of Jesus are called to struggle to be poor and to struggle
for the poor.34 Such thinking is not only biblically right, but also contextually right,
since in reality the majority of people in Asia are poor. Asian contextual theologies
like Dalits’ theology and Minjung theology clearly express Pieris’s thinking of the
struggle to be poor and the struggle for the poor. These theologies have the same
spirit, with their idea of a “preferential option for the poor” as first used by the Jesuit
Father Pedro Arrupe and popularized by Gustavo Gutierrez. In the Indonesian con-
text, poverty is another factor that cannot be ignored by the Indonesian churches.
Economic injustice and corruption in today’s Indonesia exacerbate the conditions
of poverty there. The Papua province of Indonesia is a clear example of econom-
ic injustice in the country. Papuans have many natural and mineral resources, and
through PT Freeport Indonesia, a world-class mining company of American origin,
they pass along huge revenues to the United States. However, according to 2013 data
from Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics, Papua Province was ranked eighth of
thirty-four provinces in the number of poor people, thirty-fourth (last) on the hu-
man development index, and first for illiteracy in children up to fifteen years of age.
The issue of poverty has recently become a more serious problem as religious
fundamentalists and radical groups have taken advantage. Corinne Graff, for exam-
ple, has written about the Republic of Yemen, where radicals have taken advantage
of the situation faced by most young Yemeni, who have no prospects in life. She said
that in some countries radical groups have recruited uneducated and often impover-
34 Aloysius Pieris, An Asian Theology of Liberation (London and New York: T&T Clark,
1988), 15-23.
35 Corinne Graff, “Poverty, Development, and Violent Extremism in Weak States”, in Con-
fronting Poverty: Weak States and U.S. National Security, eds Susan E. Rice, Corinne Graff,
Carlos Pascual, (Washington, D.C.: Brooking Institution Press, 2010), 45-46.
36 Menkopolhukam: Kemiskinan Salah Satu Faktor Aksi Terorisme,” ANTARA Sumbar,
http://www.antarasumbar.com/berita/175122/menkopolhukam-kemiskinan-salah-satu-fak-
tor-aksi-terorisme.html, accessed 6 June 2016.
37 As quoted by Claus Dierksmeier and Michael Pirson. Claus Dierksmeier and Michael
Pirson, “Oikonomia Versus Chrematistike: Learning from Aristotle About the Future Orien-
tation of Business Management”, Journal of Business Ethics 88 (2009): 419.
38 Cf. Ladislas Orsy, “In Search of the Meaning of Oikonomia: Report on a Convention”,
Theological Studies 43, no. 2 (1 June 1982): 319. 312-319.
39 Ladislas Orsy, “In Search of the Meaning of Oikonomia”, 317.
40 Tamara Grdzelidze, “Using the Principle of Oikonomia in Ecumenical Discussion: Re-
flections on ‘The Limits of the Church’ by George Florovsky”, The Ecumenical Review 56, no.
2 (2004): 235-236.
41 “Intelektual NU: Hukum Islam Tak Melarang Warung Buka Siang Hari pada Bulan Pua-
sa”, Kompas, http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2016/06/11/18583451/intelektual.nu.hukum.
islam.tak.melarang.warung.buka.siang.hari.pada.bulan.puasa, accessed 11 June 2016; “Atur-
an Penutupan Warung Selama Ramadhan Dianggap Menabrak Nilai Kemanusiaan”, Kompas,
http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2016/06/12/08343121/aturan. penutupan.warung.selama.
ramadhan.dianggap.menabrak.nilai.kemanusiaan., accessed 11 June 2016; “Netizens Dona-
tion to Victim of Satpol PP Raid Scores New High”, the Jakarta Post, http://www.thejakar-
tapost.com/ news/2016/06/11/netizens-donation-to-victim-of-satpoll-pp-raid-scores-new-
high.html, accessed 11 June 2016.
References
43 Agus Suyanto and Paulus Hartono, Laskar dan Mennonite: Perjumpaan Islam-Kristen
untuk Perdamaian Indonesia, Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 2016, 55.
The context(s) in which we affirm our faith in Christ and engage in the mission decides
the agenda for the mission of the Church. The specific but varied characteristics of that
context set the pace of its momentum (Prasad 2010:99).
Introduction
1. Background situation
The twenty-first century has been marked by global challenges such as social and
economic crises, interreligious conflicts, growing fundamentalism and extrem-
ism based on religious ideologies, secular scepticism towards religious institutions
and movements, and even the growing Pentecostal and Charismatic movements,
to mention just a few. As regards the fast growth of these latter movements, the
phenomenon has been experienced almost everywhere in the world. Sometimes,
traditional mission churches (in the West1) and particularly churches born from
Western missions (in Africa) find themselves overwhelmed or suppressed in the
midst of these diversified, even competitively challenging Pentecostal/Charismatic
movements. In the present paper, I have chosen to address the above-mentioned is-
sue in an African context. This question indicates that I am following the same path
as other African theologians in the search of a model for mission theology and the
praxis of evangelization in Africa (Oborji 2008:1) and everywhere else in the world
where Africans live.
It should be pointed out that Africans are deeply religious people. They belong
to three important religious traditions: indigenous religions, Christianity, and Islam
(Ukah 2007:1). In this period of rapid social change with its extraordinary distor-
tions of economic, social, and political lifestyles, and with “the global demographic
trends of internal migration to the city and international immigration to countries
of the Northwest region” (Wan 2010:7), for many Africans today religion offers a
veritable means of anchoring and stability, and a pathway to meaningful social ex-
2. Challenge
Alongside the previously mentioned growth of Christianity in Africa, the most
widely known things about the continent are the “breaking bad news” that the global
media disseminates about the continent and its many peoples. Africa is presented as
a continent of poverty, disease, corruption, wars, political instability and repression,
inequitable treatment of workers in the public and private sectors, dysfunctional
health care services and wages, ethnic (tribal, clan) disunity, etc. (Vumisa 2012:121;
Ukah 2007:1). In such a paradoxical context, new models for an African missiology
need to be formulated. This formulation depends largely on the answers one can give
to the following questions: Why do the Pentecostals and Charismatics keep growing
in a paradoxical African context (religiosity and crisis)? Is this fast growth the result
of a holistic evangelisation on the continent? Has this growth had any impact on
improving the multidimensional African crisis? How can traditional churches in Af-
rica be full participants in the holistic evangelization of the continent and the world?
In exploring the above questions, I have chosen to approach the topic in the follow-
ing order:
1. Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements in Africa: An overview
2. Growth of African neo-Pentecostal movements in the context of multidimen-
sional crisis
3. Towards new paradigms for mission theology in Africa
4. Conclusion
The appointed leaders function within the confines of a team with much consul-
tation and consensual decisions are commonly reached. Authority of leadership
is not invested in any one individual but as much as they recognize the authority
of the position occupied by the person, checks and balances are in place in order
to prevent any abuse of power or unbridled authority.
On the other hand, and unlike the mission-based Pentecostal churches, African
Pentecostal/Charismatic movements are new entrants in Africa. Their precursor is
the “African indigenous Christianity” initiated by African indigenous prophets or
religious leaders upon whom separatist churches were founded at the beginning of
3 The Church of Christ in Congo (CCC) is the English translation for the French Église du
Christ au Congo (ECC).
Indeed, in many cultures of the world, and especially in Africa, a major attrac-
tion for Pentecostalism has been its emphasis on healing. In these cultures, the
religious specialist or “person of God” has power to heal the sick and ward off
evil spirits and sorcery. This holistic function, which does not separate the “phys-
ical” from the “spiritual”, is restored in Pentecostalism, and indigenous peoples
see it as a “powerful” religion to meet human needs. For some Pentecostals, faith
in God’s power to heal directly through prayer resulted in a rejection of other
methods of healing. The numerous healings reported by Pentecostal evangelists
confirmed that God’s Word was true, God’s power was evidently on their efforts,
and the result was that many were persuaded to become Christians. This empha-
sis on healing is so much part of Pentecostal evangelism, especially in Africa,
that large public campaigns and tent crusades preceded by great publicity are
frequently used in order to reach as many “unevangelised” people as possible.
4 In a very limited number of cases, Charismatic movements will break away from non-Pen-
tecostal churches.
5 For example Isaiah 9:5: Jesus, the Prince of peace in human-generated conflicts, is sup-
porting his people and he will bring peace. People do not have to fight for peace because Jesus
himself will bring an end to armed violence at the right time (Ex 14:14). On the other hand,
the reading of 2 Chr 6:24-25 has resulted in prayer groups of believers who spend their time
praying and fasting, confessing their sins and worshipping. The aim is to seek the face of their
lord, the Prince of peace, so that he may restore peace in their region.
6 The content presented in this section is largely drawn from Asamoah-Gyadu’s article “Af-
rican Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity: an Overview”, pp. 3-4.
c. Good health, success, and prosperity in life make possible the realization of God-giv-
en abilities
Thus, it is possible to view deliverance theology as a response to, or the mutation in
the face of, the shortfall of faith preaching. When things are not going well, appeals
to the work of demons and witches come in handy as explanations. African Pen-
tecostal prosperity theology may have some ground to recover with respect to its
weak theology of suffering. Nevertheless, the cross of Christ is not just a symbol of
weakness, but also one of victory over sin, the world, and death. Pentecostals draw
attention to the fact that the gospel is about restoration, so it is expected that the
transformation of the personality would be manifest in personal health, well-be-
ing, and care; in short, salvation is holistic and includes spiritual as well as physical
abundance.
7 The contents of this subsection are freely inspired by the contributions of Oborji to the
“African Model and New Language of Mission” (2001).
4. Re-education of Africans
Using the available resources God has blessed Africa with, African theologians must
do this work of re-education of their people with the great sense of responsibility
based on the love of God and neighbour. They need to appreciate Africans first, to
love their brothers and sisters before they can expect others to appreciate and love
them. Let them make their people their friends and develop the all-important spirit
of cooperation. They need to re-educate themselves and the people on how to stop
the fighting and seeking of ways to destroy one another. Since individualism and
intolerance have been identified as the major weakness of contemporary Africans,
the re-education must aim to correct the excessive intrigue and antagonism that is
often the lifestyle of many today. Theologians must tackle the question of eradicating
the dependency syndrome that has eaten deep into the fabric of their continent. This
implies that from now on, seminaries and houses of formation in Africa must stress
self-confidence, hard work, self-reliance, self-sacrifice, and uprightness, along with
an intensive spirit of collaboration.
D. Conclusion
Mission is still possible in the midst of growing Pentecostal and Charismatic move-
ments. I suggest that traditional churches critically revisit and evaluate their missi-
ological and theological understandings and practices in order to see how they can
adopt new orientations in developing models for the holistic evangelization of Af-
rica. In addition, they need to move away from the “speculative mission reflection”
that has been developed in some influential African universities and seminaries,
and to correct the “superficial mission action” that has characterized many African
churches (Lygunda li-M 2010:1), towards the construction of an authentic African
mission theology capable of dealing with African challenges (cf. Oborji 2001:1-13;
Vumisa 2012). In the specific case of the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) twenty
years after its internationalization, the African church members of the UEM need to
engage in the same way as well.
Anderson, A. 2003. Towards a Pentecostal Missiology for the Majority World. Inter-
national Symposium of Pentecostal Missiology. Centre for Missiology and World
Christianity University of Birmingham: Selly Oak, Birmingham.
Asamoah-Gyadu, K. 2006. African Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity: An Over-
view. Lausanne World Pulse Archives. Available at http://www.lausanneworld-
pulse.com/themedarticles-php/464/08-2006; viewed on 21 June 2016.
Ayinmode, A.B. 2001: The African Mindset: Too Much Intrigue, Lots of Intolerance,
Too Little Selflessness”, in Nigeriaworld (website home page), 4 Feb 2001, pp. 1-4.
Lumbe, M.K. 2008. Origins and Growth of Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal Church
Movements In Zambia Between 1989-2000.
Lygunda li-M.F. 2010. Studies on Applied Missiology in African Context: Some
Guidelines. Available on http://www.cemica.org/cemica_french/pdf/pdf_Stud-
iesOnAppliedMissiologyInAfricanContext.pdf; viewed on 15 March 2016.
Nebechukwu, A.U. 1992. The Prophetic Mission of the Church in the Context of
Social and Political Oppression in Africa. Evangelization in Africa in the Third
Millennium, 103-112. Port Harcourt: CIWA Pr. Oborji, F.A. 2001. Missiology
in an African Context: Towards a New Language. A paper given as a talk to the
Association of Igbo Priests and Religious in Rome under the title: Missiology in
an African Context: The Igbo Orientation, 25 March 2001.
Padilla, R. 2004. Holistic Mission. Holistic Mission Issue Group Report. Edited by
E.H. Campbell and J.F. Plake, Pattaya, Thailand.
Prasad, M. 2010. The Context Decides the Agenda and Pace for the Mission of the
Church: A Case Study of the First Christian in the Western Hemisphere (Acts 16:
6-15). In Varughes, K.P. (ed.) Challenges and Prospects of Mission in the Emerging
Context: Essays in Memory of the Rev. Mathew Thomas. Haryana: Dharma Jyoti
Vidya Peeth, pp. 99-115.
Ukah, A. 2007. African Christianities: Features, Promises, and Problems. Institut für
Ethnologie und Afrikastudien: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität.
Vumisa, P. 2012 (ed.). Evangelical Christian Missions: An African Perspective. Bloem-
fontein: Sun Press.
Vumisa, P. 2012. The African Missionary. In P. Vumisa (ed.) Evangelical Christian
Missions: An African Perspective. Bloemfontein: Sun Press, pp. 117-138.
Wan, E. 2010. Rethinking Missiology in the Context of the 21st Century: Global De-
mographic Trends and Diaspora Missiology. Great Commission Research Jour-
nal, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 7-20.
Jochen Motte
(1) The United Evangelical Mission is founded on the Holy Scriptures of the Old
and New Testament, and shall serve the purpose of joint action in mission.
Given this context, it seems significant that the new UEM Constitution, completed
in 1993-1996, had as one of its objectives a community that would allow more equi-
table forms of cooperation than had previously been the case, as well as the creation
of equitable relationships on a global scale. On the other hand, it also enumerated a
commitment to joint missionary action in the external world.2
Section 2b of the constitution qualifies this external world, one characterized
by the fact that it has been torn apart: a world of violence and of economic and so-
cial disparities, whose borders mainly run between the global North and the global
South. The new form of community in the UEM therefore implicitly targeted over-
coming this separation within the UEM community first, to set an example, as well
as joint action for just and peaceful relations among human beings across the globe.
Section 2 (2) b references the shared commitment to justice, peace, and the in-
tegrity of creation as a part of the missionary activity of the UEM community, im-
plying that responding to current missionary challenges is not a one-off task, but
a continuous duty. In this way, over the past twenty years the UEM has been com-
pelled to face diverse challenges time and again in its advocacy for justice, peace, and
the integrity of creation. Some of these challenges will be detailed below.
In my view, with reference to the understanding of mission that was formulated
twenty-three years ago and finalized three years later, it is of fundamental impor-
tance that the insights from the conciliar process of the ecumenical movement were
not set alongside or kept separate from the core issues and content of mission, but
rather turned into an integral component of mission. Indeed, they even became a
commitment pledged by all of the participants of this new community.3
1 United Evangelical Mission, Constitution, (2008), (excerpts cited are identical to current
Constitution), cf. http://www.vemission.org/fileadmin/redakteure/Bilder/Newsbilder/010_
UEM-Constitution.pdf .
2 Cf. Jochen Motte, „Auf dem Wege zur mündigen Partnerschaft’. Hinweise und Bemerkun-
gen zum United–in–Mission–Programm, in: Zeitschrift für Mission 22, no. 4, (1996), p. 228
– 248.
3 Whereas the first two bullet points cited under § 2 (2) c are directed inwards, bullet points
three and four are directed outwards. As already indicated above, the fourth bullet point from
1993 still appears groundbreaking today in its understanding of mission, and will continue
to be. With respect to the third, christologically accentuated bullet point, “call all people to
repentance and new life”, the UEM community should be asked whether this requires a read-
80 Jochen Motte
Although some UEM members, particularly in Africa and Asia, had few points
of contact with the issues of the conciliar process in the nineties, it appears to me
that the then-groundbreaking formulation of this understanding of mission has now
become common sense in the UEM community. Churches in all regions of the UEM
represent the issues from this process in their programmes: they actively seek out
and use the opportunities for networking, exchange, and joint advocacy work in the
UEM and beyond. This development was made possible largely because UEM mem-
ber churches in Asia and Africa were able to know each other better through the
new forms of collaborative work in the UEM. They were confronted with examples
of dedicated and professional work for justice and human rights in their own re-
gions, such as in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), where the
churches have been championing human rights since the Marcos dictatorship. More
than 25 of their pastors have been victims of political violence since 2005. Another
example worth mentioning is the ELCRN, which did most of the development and
start-up work on the Basic Income Grant project to reduce poverty.
The commitment to joint advocacy for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation
expressed in the constitution led to the establishment of a JPIC programme division
by the now-defunct United in Mission Committee, a group that had included inter-
national members. The JPIC division was created after approval from the German
mission administration of the UEM. The stated commitment was to be fulfilled as
soon as possible, even before the full legal transformation into an international com-
munity of churches. This made it clear that the commitment was not just lip service,
nor was it a particular interest of the German members of the UEM.
From the beginning, the advocacy for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation
took a rights-based approach based on universal human rights. This development
was influenced by the following factors:
– Biblical theological reasons for a human-rights approach within the missionary
action for justice, peace, and integrity of creation;
– The orientation towards developments in UEM member churches from the per-
spective of the victims of human-rights violations;
– The general debate on human rights in the context of the Vienna Conference on
Human Rights of the United Nations.
justment, in view of the current missiological discussions and statement by the WCC from
2012/2013, “Together Towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes”. Cf.
https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/commissions/mission-and-evange-
lism/together-towards-life-mission-and-evangelism-in-changing-landscapes
4 Emilio Castro, Human Rights and Mission, in: IRM 56/263, (1977), p. 215f.
5 Cf. Jochen Motte, Our Common Mission: To Protect Human Dignity by Promoting Hu-
man Rights and the Rule of Law, in: Mission Continues. Global Impulses for the 21st Century,
eds Claudia Währisch-Oblau and Fidon Mwombeki, Regnum Edinburgh 2010 Series. vol. 4
(2010), p. 119.
82 Jochen Motte
2.2. The orientation towards developments in UEM member churches from
the perspective of the victims of human-rights violations
Along with the biblical and theological grounds, the reason for a human rights-
based approach to advocacy for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation can be
found in the current developments and events underway in the member churches
of the UEM and the “challenges of present-day mission” as stated in §2 (2) b of the
constitution.
The schism in the Christian Protestant Toba-Batak Church in Indonesia that oc-
curred under the government of President Suharto in 1993 brought government en-
croachment and violence with impunity. Human rights organizations in Indonesia
documented these incidents. The UEM and other non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) such as Watch Indonesia publicized them in the international community.
Against the background of the dictatorship in the Philippines under Ferdinand
Marcos, and his removal from office in 1986 during the EDSA Revolution (in which
the church played an active part), the United Church of Christ in the Philippines de-
veloped high-profile national and international work on human rights in collabora-
tion with the National Council of Churches and many non-governmental organiza-
tions. This is also reflected in article 2, paragraph 11 of the church’s constitution: ”In
accordance with the biblical understanding that all persons are created in the image
of God, the Church confirms and upholds the inviolability of the rights of persons
as reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other agreements on
human rights, the international covenants on economic, social and cultural rights
and on civil and political rights, the 1984 Convention against Torture and other cru-
el, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and those that relate specifically
to refugees, women, youth, children, minority groups and other persons who cannot
safeguard their own rights.”6 Since 2005, there has been a cluster of political killings,
disappearances, and criminalization that has resulted in the UCCP requesting sup-
port from their ecumenical partners and the UEM. The UEM obliged this request
and is supporting the UCCP in their human rights work, including the Philippine
Action Network for Human Rights that the UCCP co-founded.
The end of the dictatorship of President Suharto in 1998 offered the first-ever
opportunity for the Protestant Church in West Papua, Indonesia to speak publicly
about the years of oppression, racism, and serious human rights violations against
Papuans committed by Indonesian security forces. This included their wish to put
the issue of self-determination on the ecumenical agenda. Since then, the UEM has
supported the GKI in its advocacy for the rights of indigenous peoples. The GKI has
established a renowned Office for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation known
beyond Papua, whose reports and record-keeping are finding their way into the pub-
lications of the West Papua Network, co-founded by the UEM, and the International
Coalition on Papua (ICP).
Following a consultation process of over ten years among the UEM member
churches in Asia, a project was developed by the Chinese Rhenish Church (CRC) to
6 United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Amended Constitution and By-Laws of the
United Church of Christ in the Philippines, (2008), 2nd Edition, p. 7. - http://uccpchurch.com/
wp-content/uploads/2015/07/UCCP-Constitution-and-By-laws.pdf
7 On this see: Jochen Motte, Theodor Rathgeber, and Angelika Veddeler (eds), Think BIG:
Inputs and Reflections on Social Justice and the Basic Income Grant, (2010).
84 Jochen Motte
es in Indonesia advocating for workers’ rights in free trade zones8 and opposing
human trafficking (especially the trafficking of women and child labour) as well as
fighting against land grabs caused by palm oil cultivation.
Civil and political human rights, such as the right to religious freedom, have also
repeatedly been brought to the attention of the UEM community as concerns. This
has happened against the background of the harassment of Christians and followers
of other religious communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania, as well as
in the face of extremist violence, for example Boko Haram and its impact on the
churches in Cameroon.
The member churches of the UEM in Germany have also increasingly indicat-
ed to the UEM community in recent years their interest in providing support and
exchanging information on human rights issues. This has happened, for example,
with the issues of stopping human trafficking (especially the trafficking of women),
combating racism and discrimination, protecting refugees and their rights, and pro-
tecting people with disabilities.
2.3. The general debate on human rights in the context of the Vienna Confer-
ence on Human Rights of the United Nations
Even after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and
the adoption of two major pacts on civil, political, economic, social, and cultural
rights in 1966, the universality and indivisibility of all human rights as established in
1948 has repeatedly been called into question.
The controversy about the universality of human rights also shaped the discus-
sions during the UN Human Rights Conference in Vienna in 1993. The basic criti-
cism by many states was directed against the presumably Western and individualist
image of humanity underlying human rights, which they claimed contradicted the
collectivist legal traditions that had developed in, e.g., Asian societies. The critics
were not able to prevail in the final Vienna document, contrary to initial fears. This
is how the basic principles of universality and indivisibility were reaffirmed, and the
equivalence of the two covenants stressed.9
It is a coincidence that this important human rights conference in 1993 was held
in the same year as the founding assembly of the international UEM, where the
common foundations for the statutes of a church community in Asia, Africa, and
Germany were resolved. Starting from Vienna, it appears logical that, against the
background of the proprietary faith traditions explained above (on the image of hu-
manity and the role of the law, as well as the current challenges concerning the issue
of justice within the UEM community), we take the universal values and legal foun-
8 Cf. Jochen Motte, Challenges to the Churches in a Changing World: Churches in the
United Evangelical Mission striving for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, Chal-
lenges to the Churches in a Changing World: Texts from the 4th International Consultation
in Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation – Batam, Indonesia, February 2008, eds Jochen
Motte and Thomas Sandner, (2008), p. 9-12.
9 On this see Jochen Motte, Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen im Bereich des Men-
schenrechtsschutzes seit der Wiener Menschenrechtskonferenz 1993 in zivilgesellschaftlicher
Perspektive, in: Digitales Handbuch der Menschenrechtsarbeit, eds Felix Kirchmeier and Mi-
chael Krennerich, (2015), p. 29 - http://www.fes.de/handbuchmenschenrechte/
The human rights orientation of the work for justice, peace, and the integrity of
creation is also reflected in the themes of the actions for International Human
Rights Day that have been carried out in annually in Germany since 1996. Posters,
resources for devotions, and informational materials, combined with a request for
donations, are sent to all regional congregations of the
UEM member churches in
Germany. Beginning with words from the Old and New Testament, and against the
background of the aforementioned challenges in the UEM member churches, fun-
damental human rights were and are being addressed today. Specific human rights
projects and initiatives from UEM member churches were presented as part of these
actions, first from the regions of Africa and Asia, and now from Germany as well for
the last several years.
The UEM actions have included the following topics: women’s rights; econom-
ic and social human rights in connection with the debt relief campaign; children’s
rights; the right to food; the right to housing; the right to life, liberty, and security
of one’s person (protection from violence); life without poverty; climate and human
rights; impunity; religious freedom; land rights; the human rights of people with
disabilities; the right to education; human trafficking; asylum; and human rights.
The topics of the more recent actions – on education, religious freedom, the rights
of persons with disabilities, human trafficking, and asylum – demonstrate that the
issue of human rights and their enforcement no longer describes only problems and
challenges largely limited to the global South, i.e., Africa and Asia. In a globalized
world, the issues of justice are relevant in all countries. This is also reflected in the
projects of the UEM, which increasingly also include support for German organiza-
tions and churches.11
86 Jochen Motte
4. Peace and the Integrity of Creation
Peace and reconciliation work, dealing with civil conflict, and protecting the climate
and the environment are all a part of advocating for justice. They also constitute pri-
orities in their own right that cannot be addressed in detail in the present context.
For this reason, reference is also made below to works on these topics that have been
published elsewhere.
widow” – Jeremiah 22:3; “You cannot serve God and Mammon” – Matthew 6:24; “And I will
grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid” – Leviticus
26:6; “Seek the welfare of the city” – Jeremiah 29:7; “Share your bread with the hungry” – Isa-
iah 58:7; “Bring the homeless poor into your house” – Isaiah 58:7; “He bandaged his wounds,
brought him to an inn, and took care of him” – Luke 10:34; “He judged the cause of the poor
and needy” – Jeremiah 22:16; “Let justice roll down like water” – Amos 5:24; “I was a stranger
and you invited me” – Matthew 25:35; “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” – Genesis 8:22; “Justice will
return to the righteous” – Psalm 94:15; “Live in peace with all” – Romans 12:18; “The land will
yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live on it securely” – Leviticus 25:19; “When God
created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God” – Genesis 5:1; “How much better
to get wisdom than gold” – Proverbs 16:16; “When some traders passed by, they sold him for
twenty pieces of silver” – Genesis 37:28; “You shall love the alien as yourself ” – Leviticus 19:34.
12 See, among others, the articles in: Justice and Reconciliation: Contributions to a Work-
shop on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, eds Jochen Motte and Thomas Sandner,
(2000)
13 Cf. Jochen Motte, Foreword and Statement, in: 100th Anniversary of the Beginning of
the Colonial War of Liberation in Namibia: Documents - Texts - Pictures, ed. Jochen Motte,
Wuppertal 2005, p. 7-11.
14 For more details see: Jochen Motte, Climate Justice and Environmental Protection: A
Challenge to Churches in Africa, Asia and Europe, in Making Peace with the Earth, ed. Grace
Ji-Sun Kim, (2016) p. 97-108.
15 D. Preman Niles, Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, in: Ecumenical Dictionary,
“Article of the Month Series”, (11/2003)
88 Jochen Motte
The WCC World Convocation on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation
took place in Seoul in 1990. Here the conciliar process reached its zenith: the dele-
gates reaffirmed in their message (“An act of covenanting”) that the time had come
“to commit ourselves anew to God’s covenant”.16 Injustice, war, and environmental
destruction were interpreted theologically as consequences of people breaking the
covenant. From a Christian perspective, the appropriate way to counter these conse-
quences is to confront them: “Now is the time to consolidate all struggles for justice,
peace and the integrity of creation.” Christians were also called upon to free them-
selves from “bondage to power structures which blind us and make us accomplices
in destruction”.17
This spirit of shared commitment to resist the destruction of nature and to oppose
oppression, economic and social inequality, and other forms of injustice remained
vibrant at the Seventh Assembly of the WCC in Canberra in 1991. It continued until
the Eighth Assembly in Harare, where the assembly in its message deplored the cat-
astrophic effects of globalization, which casts the countless people living in poverty
onto the margins of society and renders them “invisible”. The assembly called for the
safeguarding of human rights, especially those of the poor, and for respect for the
dignity of all people. But by now the conciliar process had been reinterpreted and
somewhat transformed, with the resolution in Harare for a Decade to Overcome
Violence. No longer was fundamental resistance and shared commitment and cov-
enanting first and foremost; instead, emphasis was put on the many concrete steps
to be taken by the churches to overcome violence in all its dimensions. This shift of
emphasis continued in Porto Alegre at the Ninth Assembly of the WCC, at which the
churches were again called upon to take part in the Decade to Overcome Violence.
Struggle and resistance are being superseded by concrete action that is changing the
world and constitutes a sign of hope.
The resolution in Busan 2013 for a pilgrimage of justice and peace represents a
further step towards the transformation of the original conciliar process. Commit-
ment is no longer the issue here: instead, the member churches and the recipients
of the message are invited to join this journey. The path is not described; instead,
God is called upon to show the pilgrims the way. Above all, however, the chosen
image of the pilgrimage – an original element of Catholic tradition rejected by the
Reformation, a path to a holy site for the purpose of atonement or the fulfilment of
a vow – shifts to become the focus here. Elements of spirituality, meditation, and
contemplation come to the fore. Struggle, resistance, and protest against the system
transform into a decidedly spiritual movement of Christians in the world advocating
for justice and peace. How justice and peace will specifically be realized is not de-
fined from the beginning; the reply is requested of God, and must spring forth anew
in each process of pilgrimage.
16 WCC World Convocation, Message of the World Convocation on Justice, Peace and the
Integrity of Creation. (1990) - http://oikoumene.net/eng.home/eng.global/eng.seoul90/eng.
seoul.1/index.html
17 Ibid.
18 Cited in: Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches, Statement on Univer-
sal Declaration of Human Rights, (2008), https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/docu-
ments/executive-committee/2008-09/statement-on-universal-declaration-of-human-rights
19 Cf. Jochen Motte, Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen im Bereich des Menschen-
rechtsschutzes seit der Wiener Menschenrechtskonferenz 1993 in zivilgesellschaftlicher Pers-
pektive, in: Digitales Handbuch der Menschenrechtsarbeit, eds Felix Kirchmeier and Michael
Krennerich, (2015), p. 29-40 - http://www.fes.de/handbuchmenschenrechte/
90 Jochen Motte
such as family, religion, etc. then make up a filter for the implementation of these
rights. Critics fear that this will be a means of legitimizing discrimination against
women, acts of racism and xenophobia, and religious discrimination. Those criti-
cizing the proponents of traditional values demand that priority be given to human
rights and the obligations that follow from them for the UN member states. The
support Russia has received for its initiative includes that of a number of African
countries. The Russian Orthodox Church has expressly welcomed and supported it.
After the WCC assembly in Porto Alegre in 2006, the Russian Orthodox Church
spokesperson responsible for ecumenical relations, Bishop Hilarion, talked of a
schism between the “churches of tradition” and the “churches of the liberal belt”.
In 2011, at the peace convocation of the World Council of Churches in Jamaica, he
criticized the churches’ joint advocacy with civil society to support human rights
and called for human rights work to be restricted to religious freedom in order to
protect persecuted Christians.20
Although human rights remain high on the agenda of the WCC, there is no
denying that their significance is receding ever more into the background given the
controversies described here.21 This is particularly the case when it comes to sticking
to the universality and indivisibility of these rights and defending them from all
attacks by states that would like to restrict the validity of human rights to only those
that reference traditional values.
This discussion has not yet had any direct effects within the UEM community of
churches. Even so, the subject of “sexual orientation” has also been taken up at the
level of the General Assembly, and a procedure has been elaborated by the council
on how to handle it with sensitivity. This looming conflict has not materialized in the
community to date, nor have the fundamental confessions in the constitution and
the Statement of Corporate Identity been called into question.
22 General Assembly of the United Nations, Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development. Preamble, (2015) - http://www.un.org/pga/wp-content/uploads/
sites/3/2015/08/120815_outcome-document-of-Summit-for-adoption-of-the-post-2015-de-
velopment-agenda.pdf
23 Loc. cit., p. 4 pt. 8.
92 Jochen Motte
With respect to the UEM member commitments to advocacy for justice,
peace, and the integrity of creation, as mentioned in the UEM Constitution,
there are no reporting requirements as yet. However, the change in perspective
implemented in 1993-1996, from a German mission society to an international
community of churches and the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel, has had
sustainable effects on cooperation, exchange, and the content of topics from the
conciliar process, as well as advocacy for human rights, as explained above. The
question is whether this model does not also represent a request to continue with
conventional bilateral forms of church cooperation, like those in church devel-
opment cooperation.
In the movement initiated by the General Assembly of the UEM in 2014, UEM
member churches discussed at a meeting in November 2014 how Christians can
create and be living examples of inclusive communities as models for their churches
and societies.24 It became clear in the process that advocacy for justice and human
rights, peace, and the integrity of creation that harks back to Jesus’s proclamation of
the coming Kingdom of God is possible, beginning with strong personal relation-
ships. Jesus also and especially turned towards people on the margins of society,
thereby overcoming boundaries of tradition, culture, and religion. He spoke God’s
blessing to them, even though they lived outside or on the fringes of established
religious, economic, and social structures. The idea of inclusion, as has interest-
ingly been explicitly taken up in the 2030 UN Agenda, as well as by the WCC in
the mission statement from 2013 adopted in Busan, opens up new perspectives on
injustice, violence, and poverty.25 Based on the biblical traditions of Jesus, and given
the life he led, from a Christian perspective it is not enough to consider the issues
24 Jochen Motte, ‘I was a stranger and you invited me’: Inclusive Communities and the
Churches – Realities, Challenges and Visions, in: Inclusive Communities and the Churches
– Realities, Challenges and Visions. Documentation of the UEM International Conference in
Stellenbosch, South Africa. (2014) p. 11-14.
25 Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME), Together Towards Life: Mis-
sion and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes, https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/
documents/commissions/mission-and-evangelism/together-towards-life-mission-and-evan-
gelism-in-changing-landscapes ,
p. 18 - “The good news of God’s reign is about the promise of the actualization of a just and
inclusive world. Inclusivity fosters just relationships in the community of humanity and cre-
ation, with mutual acknowledgement of persons and creation and mutual respect and suste-
nance of each one’s sacred worth. It also facilitates each one’s full participation in the life of
the community.” In my opinion, the concept of “mission from the margins” introduced in the
context of the affirmation on mission and evangelism merits discussion, but to engage in such
discussion would go beyond the context of this article. The internationalization of the UEM in
1993-1996 illustrates the altered landscapes in the mission, in that the partners formerly “on
the margins” became full members of the community.
9. Conclusion
It has been shown here how the commitment to defend justice, peace, and the in-
tegrity of creation formulated in the UEM Constitution of 1993 is to be understood
in the context of the ecumenical discussion, and in what way this discussion has
evolved.
It became clear that, in the context of the internationalized UEM community,
the former commitment has been clarified in practice from the beginning – because
of an orientation to universal human rights and the inalienable dignity of all people
that is grounded in theology and occasioned by members’ respective realities. This
clarification was included in the UEM Statement on Corporate Identity of 2008.
The context of the advocacy for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation is on
the one hand a world that has been torn apart and is no longer primarily understood
as a North-South disunity, as it used to be, but rather one whose fragmentation is
evident in all regions. On the other hand, the context of the advocacy is also the
coming Kingdom of God, in which God puts us and all people into an inclusive
community and gives us all ties to one another.
As part of this community of the body of Christ, members face both new and
continuing missionary challenges in their advocacy for justice, peace, and the integ-
rity of creation.
They do this not with a know-it-all attitude, or by making demands on others
without accepting responsibility themselves, but by sharing gifts, insights, and re-
sponsibilities with one another, reminiscent in some ways of the image of a pilgrim-
age for justice and peace.
The commitment to advocacy for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation
resolved in the UEM Constitution of 1993-1996, in connection with the entire § 2 of
the constitution and the clarification of human rights in the Statement on Corporate
Identity of the UEM, remains groundbreaking and current to this day.
Against the background of the internationalization of the UEM, these commit-
ments have contributed to strengthening solidarity in the UEM community, helping
members to stand by those whose dignity and rights are being violated and to invite
them into inclusive communities where the presence of God and his Kingdom are
becoming a reality.
94 Jochen Motte
The Role of Churches in the Process
of Justice and Reconciliation: Justice
and Reconciliation as a fundamental
Mission of the Churches in the African
Context and the Case of Rwanda
Pascal Bataringaya
Introduction
We are living in a world whose people cry for peace almost every day. Through the
media, we learn that more countries have no peace because of various conflicts, even
though the central message of all religions is peace among the people. The conflicts
and wars in the world continue to challenge Christians to view peace as their central
task.
Because the Gospel is peace, and Christ himself is peace. Jesus came to bring
about peace between humans and God. This kind of peace extends to peace among
humans and between humans and nature. So the task of Christians, as far as peace is
concerned, is therefore of vertical and horizontal dimensions.
But peace without reconciliation is not possible, and in the case of Rwanda,
where we experienced the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, the process of recon-
ciliation will show us how the Christians take reconciliation and peace seriously as
their central task and message. That is why the churches in Rwanda have to play a
central role in the process of reconciliation.
Rwanda has gone through a history of political violence that culminated in 1994 in
a genocide against the Tutsi. It is estimated that more than one million people were
killed in a period of a hundred days. Besides the loss of human lives, the genocide
caused considerable damages to socio-economic structures, properties, and family
and community cohesion.
Social relations were destroyed, the sense of community was not taken into con-
sideration, and the cultural orientation was without meaning as the genocide was
committed.
In 1994, most observers considered Rwanda to be the most Christian country of
all the African nations. Some 90 per cent of the population self-identified as Chris-
96 Pascal Bataringaya
Actualizing social reconciliation
While there are already governmental and NGO reconciliation efforts underway
in Rwanda, including the creation of Gacaca courts in 1996 and the Presbyterian
Church Unity and Reconciliation Commission, there is also a role for the church in
Rwanda to play in bringing about reconciliation: The church’s role in Rwandan re-
conciliation may need to begin with a humble admission of moral failure and com-
plicity in the genocide, where appropriate.
The first step was to reconstruct the basic structures and to provide the basic
necessities. Churches needed to find paths to reconciliation through active par-
ticipation in the life of the society.
Churches have been instrumental in peacemaking, the term for the promotion
¡
Today churches have increased their awareness and capacity about the role they
could decisively play in peacebuilding. Using their extensive educational facil-
ities (60 per cent of schools in Rwanda) and training centres, churches are be-
coming increasingly better equipped at analysing and understanding the causes
of conflicts and their dynamics.
The education of the young is the key to the future of a country where the popu-
¡
lation is renewed rapidly. It is therefore the duty of the church to educate children
and young people in the values of the Gospel that will be, for them, a compass to
show them the way. It is necessary for them to learn to be active members of the
church and society, as the future is in their hands.
Churches are building the capacity of their members and the society at large to
¡
prevent violent conflicts and sustain peaceful interactions among their believers.
Another indispensable contribution of the church to the reconciliation process
is its contribution in the sector of healthcare.
98 Pascal Bataringaya
Challenges and recommendations
¡ The first challenge is to set up adapted post-genocide pastoral work for peace-
building that is rooted in basic moral values, memory purification, and reconcil-
iation with our past.
¡ Research in Christian theology would be also useful in developing a means to
make relations between Rwandans stronger in baptism than in ethnic relations.
¡ All churches must have programmes in their liturgy to commemorate the geno-
cide, so as to enable their full and active involvement in both preparation and
implementation of commemoration actions.
In addition, we recommend that church members participate actively in commem-
oration actions, especially young people.
In this way, the work and the role of the Commission of Unity and Reconciliation
has shown that reconciliation in Rwanda is possible. But it requires patience, mutual
respect, and dialogue, which is why we say that it is a long process.
The work organized and done by the church is the key function in the healing
of memories to achieve better and peaceful relationships. This is how human beings
find security and orientation in their personal lives.
All preachings and teachings given in the church are prepared with consideration
for the past history, meaning that the past has a big role in correcting the present and
planning for the future. To commemorate the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi is our
life’s work as Rwandans. Because commemoration is one answer to enable human
beings to continue to live: if you stop remembering, you also stop existing.
Reconciliation and social justice belong together. So there can be no forgiveness and
no reconciliation if there is no justice. That forgiveness, reconciliation, peace and
justice belong together is an interpretation of the teaching of the Bible. But it is im-
portant to understand that reconciliation is a process, because although it is a long
path, it is the centre of life in a country like Rwanda.
The reconciliation process must be supported by many people, and the majority
of the population in Rwanda have expressed their willingness to accompany this
process through the Gacaca courts. For this reason, political and religious education
about the relationship of social life plays an important role.
The Kinyarwanda concept of Gacaca is one of the very culturally rooted strategies
of reconciliation in neighborhood. The term means the grass around the residences
in villages where people would gather to listen to different parties involved in the
conflict and let themselves be organized by the most trustworthy elders of the com-
munity.
The Gacaca courts process was initiated with the following objectives:
1. Identifying the truth about what happened during the genocide
2. Speeding up justice for the genocide
3. Fighting against the culture of impunity
4. Contributing to the national unity and reconciliation process
5. Demonstrating the capacity of the Rwandan people to resolve their own prob-
lems and conflicts
It was rightly pointed out that only after fair justice had been administered would
the reconciliation and unity of Rwandese society that was broken by the genocide
be possible.
In this way, Gacaca served to promote reconciliation by providing a means for
victims to know the truth about the deaths of their family members and relatives.
These courts also gave perpetrators the opportunity to confess their crimes, to show
a feeling of remorse, and to ask for forgiveness in front of their community.
Victor Aguilan
Today, churches are facing a challenge that threatens humanity and creation. This
is the challenge of climate change, or as some prefer to call it, climate justice. This
paper will focus on the possible convergence between mission and ecology to deal
with the challenge of environmental degradation and climate justice. It will identify
responses from the church and the theological themes that warrant such response
to climate change.
Changes brought about by global warming will affect us all, but the major negative
impacts will not be evenly distributed. Some places, such as poor communities,
low-lying deltas, and communities dependent upon glacial melt and snowpack for
their water, will be hit harder than others. Greenpeace has identified several vulner-
able communities in the Philippines. The rise in sea levels could submerge coastal
communities in over 700 municipalities covering Sulu, Zamboanga del Sur, North-
ern, Samar, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, Maguindanao, Davao del
Norte, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Cebu, Bohol, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Catanduanes,
Samar, Masbate, Palawan, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, and Quezon, including
Manila, the capital city.7
4 https://pubfiles.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/climps/climateforum/ClimatechangeinthePhilip-
pines.pdf, accessed 26 January 2016.
5 What We Know, http://whatweknow.aaas.org/get-the-facts/, accessed January 27, 2016.
6 Climate Change US EPA, http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/science/overview.html,
accessed 27 January 2016.
7 Greenpeace Philippines. Maps Show RP on Road to Climate Change Catastrophe. http://
www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/News/news-stories/on-the-road-to-a-climate-catas/, ac-
cessed 16 April 2016.
Environmental stress has often been seen as the result of the growing demand
on scarce resources and the pollution generated by the rising living standards of
the relatively affluent. But poverty itself pollutes the environment, creating en-
vironmental stress in a different way. Those who are poor and hungry will often
destroy their immediate environment in order to survive: They will cut down
forests; their livestock will overgraze grasslands; they will use marginal land; and
in growing numbers they will crowd into congested cities. The cumulative effect
of these is so far-reaching as to make poverty itself a major global scourge.16
Hence, responding to the challenge of climate change cannot be divorced from the
question of social justice and development. Therefore, climate change cannot be di-
vorced from issues such as foreign domination and the inequitable distribution of
and access to wealth and power.17
Churches in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe should not close their eyes to
the ongoing degradation of our environment. In responding to this challenge, the
United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) has made integral to its mission
the struggle for justice, peace, and the integrity of Creation (JPIC).
The UCCP’s involvement in the world finds authorization in the doctrine of cre-
ation. God is the creator. Moreover, creation is good. This doctrine is based on the
biblical creation story (e.g., Gen 1&2, Ps 24, John 1, Romans 8:22-24). What is the
implication of this doctrine for the mission of the Church? It is what makes our
mission theocentric and earth-oriented.
Our mission is theocentric because the very source of our mission is God. The
imperative to do mission comes from the divine.18 It is earth-oriented because the
mission of the church is not other-worldly but rather in this world. Hence, we are to
discern what God is doing in the world.19 It entails an ethic that is “earth-honouring”.
I take this phrase from the title of Larry Rasmussen’s book, “Earth-Honoring Faith:
Religious Ethics in a New Key”. Earth-honouring faith is discipleship, a calling and
a praxis. In other words, it is a “shift from the human subject to nature comprehen-
sively as the starting point and measure”.20
All species, the earth, the waters, and the air are good, since they are integral
parts of the planet which sustain their shared existence. This is how God created
the universe and declared it good. The goodness of creation implies the integrity
of creation. The various creatures, the land, the waters, and the air are all intercon-
nected. Moreover, humans are part of and integral to God’s creation. When all parts
function in relation to one another as intended by God, the universe is indeed good,
manifesting God’s highest goodness and divine glory.21 This interaction among cre-
ated beings includes sustaining other creatures. Disrupting the integrity of creation
diminishes its goodness.
Since creation is good, God entrusted it to human beings. Humans are God’s
stewards. Central to the theology of creation is the notion of stewardship. If all of
God’s creation is “good”, then his followers must have the same regard for it that he
has. This is to counter the tendency among pious Christians to withdraw from the
world thinking that it is evil, corrupt, and hopeless. For some, the world is so evil
that we have to avoid it so as not to get contaminated. However, God declares that
creation is good. There is a divine imperative for humans to take care of creation.
ty-wealth-and-ecology/neoliberal-paradigm/agape-consultation-budapest-call-for-cli-
mate-justice, accessed 27 April 2016. See also Theodor Rathgeber. Climate Justice, Human
Rights and the Role of Churches. pp.13-22.
18 James Gustafson. Ethics from a Theocentric Perspective, Volume 1 (University Of Chica-
go Press; Reprint edition 1983)
19 Norman C. Habel. “Earth-Mission: The Third Mission of the Church.” Currents in Theol-
ogy and Mission 37, no. 2 (1 April 2010): 114–25.
20 Larry Rasmussen. Earth-Honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key, (New York, NY:
Oxford University Press. 2014) p.24. See also Larry Rasmussen, Earth Community Earth Eth-
ics (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1997)
21 Aquinas, Summa theologiae 1, q. 65, a. 2.
This is the latest incidence of harassment against the church because of its diaconic
engagement and solidarity with the struggling communities. Some have sacrificed
their lives. To mention just a few:
24 UCCP. Stop the Plunder of Our Natural Wealth: A Unity Statement for the Protection
of the People and the Environment; statement calling for the scrapping of the Mining Act of
1995 and to stop mining exploration in Region 8 (Rev. Jerome Baris. SAMAR ISLAND DIS-
TRICT CONFERENCE United Church of Christ in the Philippines, 18 November 2010.) The
UCCP leadership has called upon the government to do the following: 1) Scrap the Mining
Act of 1995 and stop the government’s Mining Revitalization Program. 2) Stop foreign and
large-scale mining operations and projects.3) Nationalize the minerals industry. 4) Defend
our communities against human rights violations and militarization. 5) Pass the proposed
Philippine Mineral Resources Act of 2012 and declare a moratorium on mining operations
and processing of applications. 6) Expose the deceptive “greenwashing” offensive being done
by mining TNCs. 7) Support the grass-roots initiatives against large-scale and destructive
mining.
25 Bishop Hamuel Tequis and Bishop Melzar Labuntog. “Haran Mission Centre of UCCP in
Davao City (Philippines) Set on Fire.” http://www.vemission.org/en/home/news-detail-view/
archive/29/february/2016/article/anschlag-im-haran-mission-centre-der-ucci-in-davao-
philippinen.html, accessed 27 April 2016.
United Evangelical church in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, was shot and
killed in May 2010.26
Rabenio Sungit: 44 years old, summary execution, 5 September 2011. An active
¡
lay leader of the UCCP in Quezon, Palawan. Interpreter of the Palaw’an tribe,
leader of the indigenous group Pagsambatan (Unity of Indigenous People). His
brother Avelino Sungit was the victim of an extrajudicial killing in 2005.27
Abundio Mantugohan and Datu Erning Mantugohan were extrajudicially killed
¡
her death at the hands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during their mil-
itary operations in Lacub, Abra, in September 2014. She was not and had never
been a member of the New People’s Army (NPA).30
26 Another UCCP member shot dead in front of UCCP Church in Mindoro Oriental. http://
www.globalministries.org/news/eap/uccp/another-uccp-member-shot-dead.html#, accessed
1 May 2016.
27 Church worker and brother of EJK victim also gunned down by suspected state securi-
ty forces in Palawan, Philippines http://www.karapatan.org/UA+Church+worker+gunned+
down+by+suspected+state+security+forces+in+Palawan, accessed May 1, 2016.
See also Philippines: indigenous activist killed in the lates t of a series of deadly attacks -
See more http://www.minorityvoices.org/news.php/en/829/philippines-indigenous-activist-
killed-in-the-latest-of-a-series-of-deadly-attacks#sthash.1iB5Yqrp.dpuf, accessed May 1, 2016.
28 UCCP Bishops’ open letter to President Aquino dated 7 December 2012. http://davaoto-
day.com/main/inbox/uccp-bishops-open-letter-to-president-aquino/, accessed 2 May 2016.
29 Ibid. Killings of Environment Advocates Unpunished, 18 July 2012 https://www.hrw.org/
news/2012/07/18/philippines-killings-environment-advocates-unpunished, accessed 2 May
2016; see also Jimmy Liguyon http://www.menschenrechte-philippinen.de/index.php/en/
jimmy-liguyon/, accessed 2 May 2016.
30 Statement of the Family of Engr. Fidela Bugarin–Salvador dated 16 October 2014.
31 Interview of Rev. Junwel Bueno (Facebook private message: 17 May 2016). See also
Batangas Priests Lead Fight Vs Coal-Fired Power Plant. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/688636/
batangas-priests-lead-fight-vs-coal-fired-power-plant#ixzz49i1PMjWA
Conclusion
To do mission today requires the integration of justice, peace, and respect for the
integrity of Creation (JPIC). The mission of the church is derived from the mission
of God that includes honoring and caring for creation. God created the universe.
God sent his Son into the world that God created. Our mission is theocentric and
earth-oriented. This is the basis of why the church cannot separate its mission from
God’s creation. The UCCP strives to remain faithful to this mission. The church has
concretized its JPIC mission in two approaches - prophetic witness and diaconic en-
gagement. The church has issued statements for the protection, realization, and ad-
vancement of the rights of the communities for a healthy environment. The church
endeavors to engage in diaconic work with communities in solidarity with their
Introduction
From the second half of the twentieth century to the present day, Protestant church-
es1 in Africa have registered significant growth. Moreover, in the same epoch, Afri-
can countries south of the Sahara have experienced enormous social, political, and
economic transformations. Most of the promises of these political and economic
reforms have not been fulfilled, since most Africans live in abject poverty.2 This is
the context where Protestant churches and their affiliated institutions live and fulfil
their commission of spiritual and diaconal services.
Being part of these communities in Africa, Protestant churches and their respec-
tive institutions need visionary leaders to make them agents of social and economic
change. A strong leadership in Protestant churches is needed to meet the theological
and pastoral demands of the recorded growth of the church. In a context where
many states are blamed for having failed to sustain the livelihoods of their people,
churches remain their only hope. Ultimately, good leadership of churches is needed
to spearhead and revitalize a spirit of good governance and accountability in order
to set a good example for other religious and secular institutions to follow suit.
However, it is unfortunate that Protestant churches are in either a latent or ex-
plicit leadership crisis. The growth in members of the church has been in those of
whom the majority are poor and cannot recruit and sustain qualified theologians
and church administrators for the ministry. As a result, the church is lead by under-
educated ministers who cannot interpret their environment well or turn challeng-
es facing the church into opportunities.3 Poor leadership is the very root cause of
1 By these I mean strictly those African World Council of Churches members that trace
their origins to Reformation times, namely those related to Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican,
Methodist, and Presbyterian churches (https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches).
2 Few African countries , viz., Botswana, Egypt, Gabon, South Africa, Cape Verde, Moroc-
co, Namibia, Congo (Brazzaville), Zambia, and Ghana, exhibit medium human development,
while the rest of African countries are low human development, Human Development Report
2015 (New York: The United Nations Development Programme, 2015), 234-237, accessed 2
February 2015, http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2015_human_development_report.pdf.
3 Hans-Martin Wilhelm Jr., “Walking Far Together: Theological Education and Develop-
ment in African Pastoral Formation”, (Pretoria: University of South Africa, PhD Dissertation,
2003), 20, accessed 2 February 2016, http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/1207/
Thesis.pdf?sequence=1.
The establishment of Protestant churches in Africa went hand in hand with the pro-
liferation of African states. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, churches
were founded as centres led mostly by missionaries from Euro-American Protestant
countries. Many mission centres were established along Western colonial territorial
boundaries.6 Thus, in their early stages of establishment, Protestant churches largely
practiced an authoritarian style of leadership, with the power centred on a mission-
ary.
Early church historians affirm this when describing the crisis of leadership ex-
perienced during and after the First World War, and confirm the orphanage of the
churches because of repatriated and interned missionaries.7 From this experience,
missionaries returning to these stations after the First World War began to make
initiatives of training indigenous catechists and pastors.8 These ministers were pio-
neers in planting, governing, and sustaining these churches. However, the structures
There is a leadership crisis in Africa in both secular and religious institutions. Dis-
turbances of sociopolitical identities through the slave trade, colonialism, and hege-
monic systems from Western and Eastern countries have caused persistent instabili-
ty in Africa. The partition of Africa along colonial and ethnic boundaries has caused
animosities among ethnic groups that once existed peacefully. The introduction of
new governing systems that have seen the replacement of kingdoms with chiefdoms
that by force became part of colonial governing systems disturbed the leadership
system that was meant to protect these communities and their natural environment
and resources. A king, who was once considered to embody divine power to per-
form divination, was reduced to a mere chief and an instrument of the colonial mas-
ter. Hence, African leadership systems influenced by colonialism were trapped into
tyrannical, irresponsible, and unaccountable governing styles.
The same applied to the church’s organizational structures. There are too many
structures in the church in comparison with the resources to sustain them. Church-
es are organized from the grass-roots to the national level through structures that
need qualified human resources: pastors/priests, deacons, administrators, members
of councils, and church elders. Different systems are adopted on how to recruit and
retain them. In the case of pastors, evangelists, and administrators, some structures
centralize their administration of remuneration, while others leave the pastors
to look for their own remuneration from their particular congregations. This has
caused pastors to compete for rich congregations and parishes or to lobby higher
authorities to be placed at a rich congregation or parish.
Another problem is that many churches are situated in rural areas where most
members face extreme income poverty. Most mission centres were established in
rural areas. With African economies remaining agriculturally based, many current
congregations suffer from income deficits to run their congregations. Congregations
cannot support the work and projects initiated by their councils. This has caused a
dependency syndrome of church administration by sister churches, which in turn
weakens the accountability of leaders to the grassroots.
Reflection and reinterpretation of the Reformation discourse offers a chance for Af-
rican Christians and theologians to arrive at a meaningful transformation of leader-
ship. There is a need for African churches to go back and discuss early traditions of
reformation and see how they can be transferred into our contexts. Thus, recalling
the standpoints of reformers in relation to the universal priesthood theory is inev-
itable. Like the reformers who called for a return to scriptures, Africans should call
for a return to the same, and to traditions that make the very nature of the universal
priesthood.
One of the ingenious tools of Luther’s Reformation was his theory of a “priest-
hood of all believers”. This tool is shown clearly in his work, An Open Letter to the
Christian Nobility of the German Nation: Concerning the Reform of the Christian Es-
tate, when he breaks through what he calls “the three walls” that gave the pope the
absolute power to decide on all matters related to the church.12 Of the first wall,
which assumes clergy to embody the “spiritual estate [walk of life]” against the “tem-
poral estate” of the laity, Luther says that there is no such dichotomy, since all bap-
tized Christians “are consecrated into priesthood”.13 What make Christians distinct
from each other are their specialized carriers (office), through which they are still
consecrated priests and bishops. From those offices they serve and compliment the
body of Christ, since they are all members of this one body.14 The other two walls, of
attributing the power of interpretation of scriptures to the pope and of the calling of
councils to be approved by the pope, become automatically broken.15
Luther further contended that “[Christ] takes from the bishops, theologians and
councils both the right and the power to judge doctrine, and confers them upon all
men, and upon all Christians in particular”.16 He insists that a Christian through
the Gospel has the right, power, and is “duty bound, according to the obedience it
12 Works of Martin Luther, Vol. II, “An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German
Nation: Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate”, (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania, A. J.
Holman Company and The Castle Press, 1915), 65.
13 Luther uses a quotation from 1 Pet 2:5.
14 “Letter to the Christian Nobility,” 69.
15 Ibid. 73-79.
16 Works of Martin Luther, Vol. IV., “The Right and Power of a Christian or Community to
Judge All Teaching and to Call, Appoint, and Dismiss Teachers, Established and Proved From
Scripture” (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania, A. J. Holman Company and The Castle Press, 1915),
76-77.
17 Ibid., 79.
18 Ibid., 79.
19 John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics
Ethereal, 1509-1564), 875, accessed 29 January 2016, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/insti-
tutes.html.
20 Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 893.
21 Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 316.
Conclusion
It was found in this paper that the foundations of pastoral formation for competent
leadership in African churches were weak. As a result, the leadership of institutions
has been pastor-centred or evangelistic-centred in the name of spiritual inspiration.
Moreover, misinterpretation of African divinities has distanced churches from rich
resources for contextualizing the priestly office.
The discussion on the theory of universal priesthood reaffirmed its potential in
contextualizing participatory leadership in Africa. Its paradigm of regarding priest-
hood as a God-instituted office is inevitable in an African context where the priestly
office is increasingly privatized and usurped for power and economic ends. More-
over, this theory criticizes the manipulation of African religiosity for individuals’
gains and calls for a religiosity that supports sustainable life for humanity and cre-
ation.
Rainer Neu
1. Introduction
1 Traditional handbooks for the introduction of Christian missionaries to the use of ethno-
graphic methods have been E. A. Nida, Customs and Cultures: Anthropology for Christian
Missions, New York 1954; Lothar Käser, Fremde Kulturen. Eine Einführung in die Ethnologie
für Entwicklungshelfer und kirchliche Mitarbeiter in Übersee, Bad Liebenzell 1997.
3. Anthropologists vs missionaries
In the 1970s, the work of these missionary-ethnographers was more and more
denigrated and blamed for being ethnocentric or even colonialist. The relationship
between anthropologists and missionaries became increasingly ambivalent.2 Mis-
sionaries apparently personified what anthropologists found most distasteful - eth-
nocentrism - for they proclaimed their own way of thinking and living. Missionaries
were seen as people who brought about change, whereas anthropologists liked to
see themselves as custodians of culture. Missionaries were accused of destroying
culture and of making traditional knowledge, beliefs, values and practices, rituals,
and objects of art disappear. Mission was said to lead to alienation, anthropology
This new trend started with a dramatic change in ethnographic research: cultur-
al anthropology is no longer understood as the study of “pagan” ethnic minorities
dwelling in remote areas. Already in the 1950s in the Philippines, long before the
outset of colonial criticism, there started a trend towards studies of lowland commu-
nities, rural lowland communities, and lower-class urban communities. While prior
to 1950 more than 90 per cent of all titles on Philippine ethnography dealt with tribal
societies, between 1950 and 1960, already 50 per cent of the pertinent books con-
cerned lowland peoples.5 This was a dramatic and pathbreaking shift in the strategy
of ethnographic research and led, in the end, to a much broader and more applicable
understanding of cultural anthropology.
Soon, a new generation of Filipino academics educated in Philippine universities
entered the field of ethnographic research, and research was undertaken along dif-
ferent aspects of social and cultural life. The new stress on lowland studies produced
a more reasonable balance of effort, for the great majority of Filipinos are, of course,
lowland people and Christians, most of them being rural smallholder-farmers or
members of the urban working class.
5 Davis, William G., and Hollnsteiner, Mary R., Some Recent Trends in Philippine Social
Anthropology, Anthropologica, New Series 11/1969, pp. 59-84, p. 64.
Let me draw now a short sketch of how to make use of applied anthropology in mis-
sion and church work. Let us imagine a missionary or a church worker is assigned to
a new place. He/she should take time and go out to join in the life of people where
they live. This might require learning the local dialect of the people or living in
difficult circumstances. Such research may require long hours of careful listening to
people’s lives. Such listening cannot simply be structured by a narrow set of prede-
termined questions, as was done in the past by traditional ethnography, but should
lead to open-ended interviews. Questions should emerge in response to the salient
points raised by the person interviewed. Most of the time, such interviews take a
narrative form, allowing the highways and byways of life lived to unfold.6
The researcher needs a spirit of openness to what others have experienced, what
they know and live. He or she is a learner who wants to be taught. A posture of hu-
mility and friendly curiosity is needed. The researcher needs a desire to learn and to
be taught by others. People who are the subjects of interviews often possess very dif-
ferent kinds of knowledge and expertise. Related to learning from the lives and wis-
dom of others is the willingness to being changed by what one observes and learns.
Ethnographic research is a self-critical and reflexive process. The researcher is
part of these enquiries and dialogues. Ethnographic research does not stand outside
that which it explores. Ethnographers need to interrogate themselves as much as
they seek to learn from the people with whom they want to work. Ethnography is a
process of attentive study and learning of people – their words, practices, traditions,
experiences, insights, beliefs – in their specific times and places. The ethnographer
tries to understand how these people make meaning and what they can teach us
about reality, truth, responsibility, the divine, etc. Ethnography takes people serious-
ly as a source of wisdom and a way to correct our own assumptions and evaluations.
6. A lesson learned
Since we are asked to share our own local experiences and lessons learned while
doing mission and church work in our home region ,let me share this experience:
In 1979, I was assigned as a young pastor to a rural parish in the Lower Rhine
area close to the German-Dutch border. I was in charge of three villages with far-
flung farmlands and plenty of farms. The farms were apparently flourishing, and I
had a somewhat romantic idea of farmlife. Since my Protestant church members
were living within a Catholic majority, most of them had a strong affiliation to their
church. I was quite eager to visit them and to get to know their farms. In our dia-
logues I had to learn that although the productivity of these farms was high, prices
were decreasing and in the long run farmers saw no chance to make a living out of
agriculture. These years were the beginning of the so-called farm die-off (“Hofster-
ben”), and the farmers worried about the future of their farms and their families.
It was the beginning of a real tragedy. In these years, the late 1970s, there were still
about one million farms in Germany. Nowadays, in 2016, there are about 280,000.
In the late 1970s we could not yet fully realize how badly farmers would be affect-
ed and that nearly three out of four farms would disappear. In my conversations
with the farmers I understood their worries and anxieties. I also realized that these
farmers had no chance to change their way of living. Since farming was all that
they had learned, they couldn’t just look for another job. So, our conversations soon
turned to the next generation, and we realized the urgent necessity of sending them
to secondary schools for higher education. I took it as my urgent task as a pastor to
encourage parents to send their children to secondary schools or to provide them
with professional training. Since sufficient and adequate educational centres were
in the vicinity, it was no problem to make the choice, as long as the parents realized
that farming had no future. The problem was frequently with the grandparents, who
couldn’t or didn’t want to realize that their traditional way of life was bound to come
to an end. Under these circumstances, pastoral counselling could be quite helpful
and encourage people to look confidently to the future.
Now, 35 years later, I may say that many peasant families made the right decision,
and out of the ranks of these families came quite a high number of professionals.
From its beginnings, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) has
taken on development issues and concerns as part of its mission. Today, the UCCP is
known for its progressive stance on issues such as justice, peace, and human rights;
climate justice; and pro-people development.
But to understand how it arrived here, we must go back to see how its under-
standing of mission and development has developed, in the same way that we need
to look back at the twenty years of the UEM’s internationalization in order to be able
to chart the course forward. The Chinese have a quaint way of putting it: “one step
backward, two steps forward.”
Let me take you back to 1960, when the UCCP Statement of Social Concern
was issued. This was a landmark statement, in the sense that it provided “a guide for
Christian thinking and action in meeting the present problems of Philippine soci-
ety” and dealt with issues in a comprehensive manner not done before.
Prior to this, the resolutions and statements of the UCCP tended to be on an
issue-to-issue basis. This new statement signalled the start of a shift in the generally
collaborative partnership the church had with the government.
The statement reflected on the church’s role in society, noting that “throughout
Asia … people and their governments are in the midst of a political, economic and
religious upheaval”, shaking “the old foundations of Asian culture and making way
for the building of new political, economic and religious structures”.
It is in the midst of such a context that the church must reflect on its mission
and role, for, as the statement noted, “the Church cannot hold itself aloof from the
world in which it lives”. The UCCP realized that while individual Christians may be
“dwarfed by the enormity of social evils and confused with the complexity of the
issues of life … [they know they] can neither abdicate [their] responsibility to face
social evils, nor can [they] comfort themselves with easy answers to difficult social,
economic, and political problems.”
On the whole, the statement has a generally positive outlook on governmental
reform efforts. The section “The Church and Economic Development” notes that
“immediate economic development is today a pressing problem for all Asian coun-
tries. To meet the demands of their people, the governments of Asia have concen-
trated their energies [o]n discovering the right economic formula for increasing na-
tional income and alleviating their nations’ economic poverty.”
The Statement of Social Concern was an initial attempt by the UCCP to do social
analysis:
iit raises the question of the ability of the earth’s resources to meet the demands
¡
and industrialization.
The statement warns of neglecting the nation’s agricultural base in favor of industri-
alization. It sees the correlation of productive and efficient agriculture with indus-
trialization: the income from the former can provide the capital for the later. But
statement’s solution seems to border only on increasing the productivity and income
of the agricultural areas.
The analyis by the UCCP at this time did not go deep enough to see the cause of
the endemic poverty in rural areas. To avoid the “urban pull” and urban blight, the
church proposed the decentralization of industry over a wider area and provisions
for addressing the social problems (e.g., low-cost housing, social welfare).
As industrialization was becoming a major force in the development of Asian
life, the church saw the value of trade unionism as a vehicle to make benefits more
inclusive: “benefits of the industrial system are more equitably distributed to those
who help produce these benefits”. Responsible trade unions were “not only a means
for seeking justice, but also provide[d] a new social grouping for workers drawn
away from the older social patterns of the countryside”. The trade unions were also
seen as a means of educating workers, not only in the discipline required by the
new industrial society but also in responsible citizenship. As a mission impetus, the
UCCP in its statement encouraged Christian labourers to “support the trade union
movement and to provide the responsible participation and leadership necessary to
achieving the goals of freedom and justice in society”.
While the church anticipated that “in a commercialized society, things become
more valued than people and that [sic] religion may be pushed in a corner, relegated
to the practice of ancient rituals & special observances”, the church reminded its lay
members “of their obedience to Jesus Christ in all areas of life”. “We recognize”, the
statement further stresses, “the importance of the layman’s witness in his work and
call upon our people to live out their Christian calling responsibly in the political,
social and economic realms of daily life. We declare that the Lord of the Church is
also the Lord of the factory, the farm, and the office, and is sovereign wherever men
live and work.”
The 1960 Statement of Concern, while tame by today’s standards, was quite
ahead of its time and set the ground for the deeper involvement of the church in the
affairs of Philippine society: by the mid-sixties, there seemed to be emerging some
disenchantment with the ability of government and private agencies, namely the
business sector, to address the burning issues of the day.
In the Statement of Responsibility Concerning Economic Development, issued
by the 1964 General Assembly of 31 May to 5 June 1964, the UCCP observed that
the poverty it had hoped would be addressed by the governments in Asia had ac-
tually worsened and that the miracles promised by industrialization and modern
technology were not filtering down to the majority of the people.
The statement noted that “the development of a sound economy is a major con-
At the 1970 General Assembly in Bagulo City (24–28 May), the UCCP reissued
the Statement of Concern. What was telling, though, was what the 1970 General
Assembly added to the statement: it included in-depth social analysis that was not
present in the earlier version. Whereas the previous statement had a guarded op-
timism about the government effort and the progress that could be brought in by
development, the 1970 statement presented a negative diagnosis of what was hap-
pening in Philippine society. “More than ever, the Christian Church must actively
engage itself in the task of bringing about social justice”, the statement enjoined.
“Development and progress have been impeded because of the imbalance exist-
ing in all sectors and levels of Philippine society. This has resulted in the virtual
oppression and deprivation of the many and the abusive affluence and preferential
treatment of the few.”
For the first time, the UCCP officially and directly addressed the issue of land
monopoly and land grabbing: “Where the land is concentrated in the hands of the
few, the Church must seek all available and appropriate means within the struc-
tures of government and society to cause [the] bringing about [of a] fair and equi-
table distribution of land resources. Where people are being dispossessed of their
land holdings by unscrupulous entrepreneurs and speculators, the Church must
In the 1978 General Assembly, from 21 to 26 May, the UCCP approved the position
paper “On Church and Development”. Reflecting on the “Christian presence in the
last quarter of the century”, the church asserted that “the process of development
must have meaning only if set into motion by the direct participation of people
themselves”. Awareness of the concrete situation leads the church to repentance, and
the experience of forgiveness must result from “definite action to change de-human-
izing situations, the brutal effect of which are significantly felt by the poor, oppressed
and the dispossessed”. Development becomes a continuous liberating process where-
in God’s children respond to and participate in God’s redemptive plan for the world.
In the same statement, the UCCP adopted two documents that it recommended
as guidelines in the quest for solving social problems and in any development pro-
grammes and projects the church might undertake: “The Epistle to the Christians
of Today” and the NCCP Executive Committee’s “The Statement on Priority and
Strategy on Development”.
The church reflected on the following development-related issues in the 1978 state-
ment:
¡ the increasing concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few;
¡ the preferential treatment accorded multinational corporations, resulting in the
exploitation of our natural resources for the benefits of these foreign interests;
¡ the irreparable damage inflicted on our environment due to the uncontrolled
operations of agricultural and industrial corporations;
¡ political and economic inequality as the primary divider, particularly in Mind-
anao and Sulu, rather than the cultural religious differences that are often over-
emphasized;
¡ the reinforcement by the institutionalized Church of the unjust social structure;
¡ the political climate, described as the violation of the basic human rights of “the
greater majority of our people”, including the right to food, clothing, and shelter.
tenant farmers, we exhort and enjoin you to approve a just and equitable land
distribution program effective January 1988”;
Call for nationalist industrialization: “Knowing that management, labor and in-
¡
dustry are key factors to our nation’s self-sufficiency progress, we enjoin you to
adhere to a nationalist-oriented industrialization scheme, the implementation of
which will contribute to a massive employment of our people”;
Call for the protection of workers’ rights: “The government should ensure and
¡
defend the rights of workers to just wages and benefits, and to self-organization
to redress of [sic] grievances.”
Willbrod Mastai
Tanzania has been an independent republic since 9 December 1961; with a popu-
lace of 47.6 million, the country covers 945,087 square kilometres. Dodoma is the
capital, and Dar es Salaam is the metropolitan commercial city. The city is a setting
for many dialectically prototypical life contradictions: learned people alongside the
grossest ignorance, wealth juxtaposed with extreme poverty.
With a populace of five million people, Dar produces 85 per cent of the national
income per annum. This causes 28,100 people to immigrate to the city every year,
making it Africa’s third- and the world’s ninth-fastest-growing city, with an annual
increase of 8 per cent. As will be depicted, these and many more situations set an
imperative for diaconia.
Although Tanzania dawned with great promise of prosperity and growth, pres-
ently it is swamped by many challenges, which include:
Destruction of wildlife
Reports show that elephant population has declined by 60 per cent (from 109,051
to 43,330) just between 2009 and 2014 because of poaching. The Chinese demand
Family violence
Tanzania has a domestic violence problem, with a high rate of abuse of women and
children. According to a WHO report for the period between 2000 and 2003 involv-
ing a study of women between the ages of 19 and 49 in the Dar es Salaam and Mbeya
regions, 41 per cent of women in Dar es Salaam and 56 per cent in Mbeya had expe-
rienced physical and sexual abuse from their partners. 17 per cent of women in Dar
es Salaam and 25 per cent in Mbeya had experienced severe physical violence (being
hit with a fist or something else, kicked, dragged, beaten up, choked, burnt on pur-
pose, threatened with a weapon, or attacked with a weapon. Of this number, 15 per
cent of women in Dar es Salaam and 23 per cent in Mbeya had lost consciousness at
least once as the result of a beating.
Pregnant women are victims of domestic violence in Tanzania as well, and are
also a vulnerable group in terms of their health status. In this report (WHO 2000-
2003), in Dar es Salaam about 7 per cent of women who had ever been pregnant re-
ported having been beaten during at least one pregnancy, of whom 38 cent reported
being punched or kicked in the abdomen. In Mbeya, the numbers were 12 per cent
and 23 per cent respectively. Consequently, such violence might lead to spontaneous
abortion, miscarriage, or even death, to say nothing of permanently physical injuries
and emotional trauma.
Yet regardless of all this harm, a high percentage of the victims are likely to not
inform anyone of what has happened to them or to have sought help from any for-
mal service. Many believe that the violence is normal and that its victims does not
require help. This is due to the patriarchal social system.
Health
In this, sector indices point out that the under-five mortality and neonatal mortal-
ity figures are 81 per cent and 45 per cent per 1000 live births, respectively, against
MDG (Millennium Development Goals) targets of neonatal mortality at 26 per 1000
live births and maternal mortality of 432 per 100,000 live births, while the total fer-
tility rate in Tanzania is 5.2. Deliveries in health facilities under a skilled birth atten-
dant are under 60 per cent, way off the 80 per cent target for 2015.
Malaria causes 30 per cent of deaths, and the second-worst killer is tuberculo-
sis, then pneumonia, followed by diarrheal and skin diseases. For adults, diabetes,
cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and road accidents are among the leading causes of
death. Poor sanitation, shortages of safe drinking water, and malnutrition constitute
another gap. The health workforce of three doctors, nurses and midwives per ten
thousand people is far below the WHO minimum threshold of 23 per ten thou-
sand. The annual budget for health care is 8 per cent, against target of 15 per cent as
per the WHO Abuja declaration in 2001.
Poverty
Approximately 68 per cent of Tanzanians live below the poverty line of $1.25 a day,
and 16 per cent of children under 5 are malnourished. Poverty is persistent for rea-
sons that include unsustainable harvesting of natural resources, unchecked cultiva-
tion, climate change, and encroachment on water sources.
Tanzania is expected to become a middle-income country by 2025, characterized
by peace, good governance, high-quality livelihoods, and a healthy, wealthy, and ed-
ucated society. A series of poverty reduction strategies, including the National Strat-
Gender inequality
Tanzania recognizes that gender inequality is a major obstacle to socio-economic
and political development. Development depends on the full utilization of human
resources, both women and men. The patriarchal system of customs and traditions
that discriminate against women continues to perpetuate gender inequalities in Tan-
zania, and efforts to promote gender equality and equity include the following goals
and challenges:
¡ Empowerment of both women and men equally on the basis of merits
¡ Ensuring that macro and micro policies are gender-sensitive
¡ Ensuring that the legal framework is gender-sensitive
¡ Strengthening institutional mechanisms for gender development
¡ Ensuring sustainable partnerships and collaboration
¡ Ensuring that adequate resources are available to address gender inequalities and
Education
Government education and training policies focus on access, equity, quality, and
internal efficiency. Of the total population, 24 per cent have never been to school,
and 40 per cent of those age 5 and above have completed various levels of educa-
tion. Attending education are 30 per cent of the population, whereas 7 per cent
have dropped out. Primary education enrolment is reported to have declined from
83 per cent to 80 per cent between 2008 and 2011. One study on the quality of ed-
ucation showed that of the children who finished primary education, seven out of
every ten were unable to read basic Kiswahili, and nine out of every ten were unable
to read basic English. Enrolment in tertiary education is low. More challenges are
present in the area of retention, completion, and transition to the secondary level;
other challenges include quality of education, actual learning outcomes, and the
relevance of skills graduates bring to the rest of their lives.
Public theology
This is a new diaconia paradigm concerned primarily not with repentance and con-
version, but rather with seeking the welfare of the public inclusively (Altmann). It
investigates on the interface at which theological precepts underlie sociocultural and
political discourses, and thus adopts the public agenda and strives to offer distinctive
and constructive insights as for a way forward. This church caters for its secondary
domain from its treasures of faith. This way our country partners with the govern-
ment and other players in tackling domestic challenges, especially in bridging the
gap overlooked by the government.
Social tranquility
Social science data has increasingly documented a strong antithetical correlation
between religious commitment and social pathologies. The same is said to less-
en the tendency of both children and adults to engage in counterproductive be-
haviours that range from delinquency to addiction and result from the dissatis-
faction among many with the government’s performance. Church counselling,
preaching, teaching, and ministry of prayers for healing and exorcism are available
to people of all religions and backgrounds, with all kinds of distresses, frustrations,
and depressions.
Church services also help people to become more fully involved in various as-
pects of social, economic, and political life. Studies further show that students who
frequently attend church have an improved ability to manage their time and achieve
their goals. Religiously connected students are five times less likely than their peers
to skip school. It has also been noted that parents with higher levels of religiosity
raise children who more consistently complete homework, attend class, and com-
plete degree programmes. In this manner, the church is thus fulfilling its role of pro-
viding an educational, psychological, and moral and ethical baseline to civil society.
Because of its divine calling towards forgiveness and reconciliation, the church in
Tanzania has not retaliated against Muslim extremists who in the past three years
have burned down church sanctuaries and valuables and murdered priests and pas-
tors as well. The ECD partnership established a programme and centre for interfaith
dialogue in Zanzibar called Upendo (love) and Mbagala at the site of a previous
parish fire. This provides a bulwark against civil unrest and war.
In the field of education, the ELCT runs more than fifty secondary schools, about
twenty vocational training institutions, two colleges for teacher training, and one
university with three colleges. The ELCT aims to keep together learning and faith in
Conclusion
The above initiatives by the ELCT constitute much added value in the undertakings
to fight poverty. It is also an unequivocal fact that the diaconia work by the ELCT
in this part of the world has a massive positive impact on the global situation in
terms of alleviating the affects of climate change, which are currently a cross-cutting
issue. Intervention on advocacy and sensitization on issues like patriotism for the
nation and the world using phrases like “love your neighbour as you love yourself ”
do undeniably save a lot of resources that would otherwise have been spent to curb
the vices of terrorism and violent behaviour against other nationalities and religions
from the increased hate.
However, the church still ought to do more than it is doing. Church deficiencies
in the areas of skilled personnel, professionalism, and commitment, as well as the
abuse of resources with a lack of transparency honesty, accountability, integrity, or
respect for science are some of the reasons for the backlash against the church ful-
filling its diaconia role and attempting to fast-track development processes for the
people in collaboration with other stakeholders.
Sujithar Sivanayagam
Directors of this mission conference, special speakers, organizers, friends and col-
leagues, it is my great privilege to be here with you to share some of my thoughts on
mission and diaconia and some practical issues/challenges in the present context in
Sri Lanka.
“We used to give to the people who asked for something when they were in need.
But after the tsunami and conflicts, we have become a community that asks for ev-
erything for our daily survival.” This is a statement from a young widow with two
children who lost her husband during the time of the conflict.
For the tourists, Sri Lanka has been known as an island of paradise, with its
picturesque natural beauty. The island’s image as a paradise was shattered in 1983
with the escalation of the ethnic conflict. Thirty years of conflict and tsunamis have
affected the people in Sri Lanka in various ways. The outcome of these calamities is a
population of young widows, orphans, and people with disabilities (the other-abled
people). This has made the mission of the church a huge paradigm in diaconic fields.
Diaconia is an essential expression of the Christian discipleship of every Chris-
tian and Christian community, and diaconia is an integral part of mission of God.
Diaconia must affirm the dignity of the people it seeks to serve. In a world where
people are treated as commodities and are also mistreated on account of their iden-
tities such as gender, race, caste, age, physical and mental disability, and economic
and cultural locations, diaconia must build persons and communities in ways that
would help them to experience God’s gift of life. In other words, diaconia must not
only heal and restore but also defend and nurture.
The churches today (the mission) need to find new possibilities for diaconia in
actions and allegiances towards justice, liberation, and transformation.
Diaconia is not merely binding the wounds of the victims or doing acts of com-
passion. While such actions may be necessary, if diaconia does not challenge in-
justice and the abuse of power, it ceases to be diaconia. To that extent, diaconia is
subversive, seeking the repentance and transformation of people and systems that
cause evil and suffering while healing and restoring the victims.
It is not merely an act of service offered in humanistic or humanitarian concern,
but an expression of faith that turns things upside-down (Acts 17:1-9).
These realities challenge the ways that the church has been carrying out mission
in its limited understanding on diaconia.
There are many issues, ambiguities, and questions for the church to re-evaluate
within itself in order for it play an active role in the society to which it has been
called or sent to witness the mission of God and the God of justice.
Diakonia is part of the essence of the mission; indeed, of the spiritual life of
everyone.1
Diakonia is a Greek word that could be translated as “service”. The word “diaconia”
refers to the ministry of Jesus and the various ministries of the early church. If we
examine more closely how this word is used in the New Testament, we find both the
verb “to diaconate” and the two nouns “diaconia” (service) and “deacon” (a servant).
The verb describes serving in a broad sense (Luke 8:3, Matthew 25:44) but, more
specifically, it describes preparing meals and waiting at table (Luke 17:8, John 12:12).
The noun “diaconia” can also be used in several ways, but it seems to have become
an accepted term for describing certain duties within the congregation, in particular
duties of leadership (I Corinthians 16:15, II Corinthians 5: 18 – 19). The term also
applies to particular support efforts organized by the congregation. The collection
of money to support poor people in Jerusalem, for example, is referred to simply as
“diaconia” (Romans 15:31, 2 Corinthians 8: 1 – 6, 9: 1, 12 – 13). In the early church,
it seems that the responsibilities of all people undertaking leadership were described
as diaconia, but as time went by, the term “deacon” was applied to a particular group
of people among the leaders of the congregation (Philippians 1:1, Timothy 3:8 – 12).
The word ”diaconia” cannot be associated with the cult of power, exclusiveness, or
the right to privileges. On the contrary, it is about “readiness to serve”. At the same
1 Walter Altmann 2012, Theology of Diaconia for the 21st century, WCC Conference on
Theology of Diaconia for the 21st Century, Colombo, 2-6 June 2012, pg. 8.
The diaconia of the church is rooted on the person and work of Christ. This
Diakonia is essentially one of love and sharing that sustains the inter-Trinitarian
relationship of God and discloses him to human being. Diakonia is not just a
moral duty of the church in regard to the needs of society, but an indispens-
able expression of her being. It is sacramental action of the whole church for the
whole of mankind, for the whole cosmos. Diakonia is not a human initiative, but
God’s grace (Charis), love (Agape) and mercy (Eleos) in action.2
Consequently, diaconia is an act of service for the promotion of a full life for all of
God’s creation. Diaconia should emphasize preventive action. Real interest in peo-
ple or community makes one ask about the causes of people’s needs. Diaconia is
concerned with structural or political dimensions. When the diaconal task is seen
as preventive, comprehensive, and holistic, it must pay attention to the structural
political causes of misery, enslavement, or suffering, and take action in this respect
where possible. The church must have a concern for justice. Diaconia is “humanitar-
ian” (WCC), which means that it is not limited to churches and Christians. Human
life and human dignity must be the ultimate value of diaconal mission.
Wati Longchar says:
As Keshishian says, diaconia is rooted in justice. It challenges all the unjust struc-
tures in society that oppress the poor. According to him:
Diakonia is not an act of charity but one of justice; as such, it has political im-
plications. Diakonia, taken in its authentic sense, is not giving aid to the poor;
2 Aram Keshishian 1992, The Christian Witness at the Crossroads in the Middle East, Mid-
dle East Council of Churches, Beirut, p. 34–36.
3 Reinerio Arce-Valentin 2012, Church, Mission and Diaconia, WCC Conference on The-
ology of Diaconia for the 21st Century, Colombo, 2-6 June 2012, p. 2.
4 Wati Longchar 2012, p. 5.
When Kjell Nordstokke sees the relationships between justice and diaconia, he says:
Diaconia is about action with a purpose: what has been broken can be restored;
wounds can be healed; injustice can cease and, through reconciliation, be turned
to peace and justice.6
Still, there is confusion about the proper understanding of “Diaconia and Mission”
or about how we are to look at both at the same time. What is the relationship or the
difference between them?
The mission of the church is, as has been said:
To continue the mission of Jesus Christ as defined in St. Luke, chapter 4:18-20.
Mission belongs to the very nature and being of the Church.7
Diaconia is not an aspect of mission. It is the central intrinsic aspect of the mis-
sion of the church.8
The Lutheran World Federation found that diaconia and mission could not be sep-
arated, and they said:
One is that diaconia is a theological concept that points to the very identity and
mission of the church. Another is its practical implication in the sense that di-
aconia is a call to action, as a response to challenges of human suffering, injustice
and care for creation. Diaconia is seen to be an integral part of mission in its bold
action to address the root causes of human suffering and injustice. A particular
concern for many engaged in diaconal work is that its action has to be shaped
according to the context and the nature of its work. These concerns should not
allow for a separation between mission and diaconia, as has sometimes been the
case, but should urge all of us to continue to reflect on how the different dimen-
sions of mission are interconnected and mutually support each other.9
cious mood always threatens to become part of diaconal engagements. The issue
of religious conversion is one of those issues. How do we see and accept each
other?
¡ The matter of multitudes is another challenge where the present church seems to
and context).
References
¡ Blyth, Myra & Robins, Wendy S. 1988, No Boundaries to Compassion: An Ex-
ploration of Women, Gender and Diakonia, World Council of Churches, Gene-
va.
¡ Eurodiaconia 2010, Diaconal Identity Faith in Social Care: A Reflection from
Caroline Shedafa
All members of the UEM communion are doing diaconia work. There is no doubt
that diaconia is among the core tasks of the church following the gospel and the life
of Jesus Christ. If one would be asked to define the kind of job Jesus was doing in his
life, one could say that Jesus – besides being a preacher and a teacher – was a deacon.
He spent a large share of his time caring for people in need and healing them. He
cared for the most vulnerable and marginalized and he asked us to follow his exam-
ple and do as the Good Samaritan did.
Although all churches do diaconia work, the emphasis or importance given to di-
aconic activities varies among the UEM member churches. However, in many cases,
the UEM member churches are key stakeholders in the provision of social services
and health care services. Churches are running hospitals, dispensaries, and mobile
clinics, e.g., for mothers and children or HIV/AIDS affected people. The churches
also run elderly care centres and elderly care programmes, schools and other institu-
tions for people with disabilities and for orphaned children. The churches also have
programmes for street children, widows, prostitutes, drug abusers, prisoners, and
other vulnerable and marginalized groups.
Diaconia is one of the integral parts of the work of the UEM. The roots go back to
the first missionaries from the Bethel Mission and the Rhenish Mission, for whom
diaconia was an important pillar of their mission work, just like education. From
the beginning, evangelism was combined with diaconia activities such as health care
and meeting the needs of orphans and other marginalized people. In the Bethel Mis-
sion – one of the two first founding organizations of the UEM – mission was even
understood and specified as “Diakoniemission” (diaconia mission). More than other
mission societies of the time, the Bethel Mission, under the leadership of Friedrich
von Bodelschwingh, sent out teams of missionaries with different professional back-
grounds: nurses, pastors, doctors, teachers, deacons and deaconesses.
So from their early days until the present, the churches in Africa and Asia have
The UEM wants to facilitate mutual learning about the diaconia work of its member
churches. But what are the concrete opportunities that lie in this? Who can benefit
from it? In what way can the member churches benefit?
With regards to the experience from the UEM diaconia programme, the first
step must be to do a situation analysis. This can be done in different ways. One
commonly used way in the UEM is to bring the people who are concerned with
the respective topic in the different regions and countries together. This enables the
member churches to exchange experience. They learn from each other, they get to
know each other, and therefore they get closer together. This is a very important
aspect in all areas of the UEM.
But there is another important reason it is so important to bring people together:
it allows us to find out where the common areas are. Cooperation in the diaconia
sector can be very fruitful and effective when there is common ground, for example
a certain challenge that the member churches have in common or challenges that
are very closely related. An example is the challenge of street children. One will find
that the challenges connected to street children in Berlin, Dar es Salaam, Manila,
Jakarta, and Hong Kong are quite similar, although the settings are quite different.
Compared to Dar es Salaam and Jakarta, the social service system in Berlin and
Hong Kong is highly developed, well financed, and staffed with many well-trained
experts, but there are street children in all these cities because their existence is a
phenomenon connected to urbanization, and the challenges they represent are very
similar. This can be a common ground on which all sides can learn from each other
and cooperate.
If there is no common ground or the common ground is very limited, the ex-
change will stay at the level of getting to know each other, and therefore getting clos-
er to each other and becoming friends. Or it may stay at the level of giving support
in only one direction, e.g., sending funds from a “richer church” to a “poorer church”
or sending well-trained experts to places where there are no experts. This does not
mean that this sort of exchange is not valuable. It has a high value in that it widens
people’s horizons and can also be the source of essential support. However, if the aim
of the diaconia work within the UEM is to facilitate exchange and mutual learning,
and through this to improve the diaconia work in its member churches, there must
b. Disability Sector
Many of the UEM member churches run institutions for children and adults with
disabilities. In many cases, these facilities are among the main service providers for
people with disabilities.
Among the institutions for disabled children within UEM member churches
c. Ageing
Ageing was identified as one of the main focus areas of the UEM International Di-
aconia Programme.
The world is witnessing a phenomenon unprecedented in human history: the
ageing of the population. Today, there are about 800 million people worldwide at
or over the age of sixty. That is about four times as many as in 1950. The number of
older people is predicted to rise to 2 billion in the year 2050.
The ageing of the world’s population is one of the great achievements of human
history. Fewer and fewer people die in childhood or as young adults. More and more
people have the chance to reach an advanced age. This increase in life expectancy is
possible through increased living standards, food stability, hygienic standards, and
advances in medicine.
The phenomenon of population ageing is already being seriously felt in highly
developed countries. In Germany, more that 20 per cent of the population is age 65
or older, and this figure will increase to about 35 per cent in 2060. The percentage
of people age 80 and older will increase from 5 per cent to almost 15 per cent. In
The second international programme on ageing was a study trip with pastors from
Germany to Hong Kong that was organized by the International Diaconia Pro-
gramme in collaboration with the Chinese Rhenish Church (CRC). The idea for this
trip was developed after the study visit by social workers from the CRC to Germany.
The objective of the study trip to Hong Kong was to gain insight into the situa-
tion of older people in a megacity like Hong Kong that has an increasingly ageing
population. The programme included presentations from different experts, visits to
congregations, homes for the aged (church-run as well as public or Buddhist institu-
tions), and community centres for the elderly as well as home visits to older people.
Hong Kong has a well-developed social security and elderly care system. The partic-
ipants got a broad picture of the situation of older people in Hong Kong and of how
the society and the church are reacting to the demographic changes.
4. Capacity-building
As stated before, capacity-building is the second major objective of the UEM diaco-
nia programme.
Capacity-building has always been an important aspect of the diaconia work of
the UEM – even before the internationalization. In Tanzania, there are quite a num-
ber of people working in the church, as well as retired church staff who were trained
in Germany. Many of them were trained in Bethel as deacons and deaconesses. For
many years, qualified staff, mainly from Germany, would facilitate short trainings in
Asia and Africa.
The aim of the UEM diaconia programme is to support churches in mutual
learning for their diaconic work, and to provide training. This training is at all levels,
including at a more grass-roots level, e.g., from short trainings for community work-
ers up to university-level programmes.
Nowadays, the capacity-building concepts for the diaconia work of the UEM
reflect much of the internationalization of the UEM. The capacity-building is done
Faith K. Lugazia
Introduction:
Mainline churches have been struggling to meet the challenges of the church in Af-
rica through missiological methodologies of evangelism andsocial service (build-
ing schools, health centres, and pastoral care and counselling). These methods
have constructed neither a redemptive and empowering theology nor a Christian
Identity that could have helped alleviate pauperization1 in the continent. Chris-
tians in Africa are still living with their existential questions. Questions like: How
can we eradicate the poverty mentality of both mind and economy so that we can
liberate our communities to be self-creative with the resources available? Or, how
can we heal broken hearts, bodies tortured by demons, and other evil mystical
powers? The above questions have remained untouched for a long time, especially
in mainline Christianity. Christians consulting diviners and medicine men have
been some of the reactions of dissatisfaction with mainline Christianity in the con-
tinent.2
Most Africans have opted to embark on contemporary Pentecostal/Charisma-
tic Christianity because it claims to have the answers to many pressing existential
problems.3 This typology of Christianity has claimed “to respond to their indige-
nous explanations for misfortunes that have survived in the modern urban space
or emergent culture, issues such as Demonic oppression, witchcraft activities, and
the scourge of poverty. People want release from the untoward conditions through
prophecy and word of knowledge.”4 Also at issue is “their pneumatic Christianity,
which insists that belief must be proven by ‘experience’”,5 and that “they sing their
1 Ruth Marshall, “Power in the Name of Jesus”, Review of African Political Economy, 52,
(November 1991): 21-37.
2 Abednego Keshomshahara, “The Lutheran Doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the Challenge
of the Traditional Spirit Beliefs among the Haya People” (MTh. Thesis, Makumira University
College, June 2000).
3 Paul Gifford, Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy,
(Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004), ix.
4 Ogbu Kalu, “Sankofa”, Pentecostalism and African Cultural Heritage” in Spirit in the
World: Emerging Pentecostal Theologies in Global Contexts. Templeton Foundation, 2007),16.
5 Jahnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, “Neo-Pentecostalism and the Changing Face of
The paper argues that, unless the spiritual and social convergence instigated by
modern contextual realities is addressed, genuine mission themes will continue to
be sought in the continent.
Key Concepts: Mission, Healing, Reconciliation, Borrowing, Current Pentecostal/
Charismatic groups, Prosperity as doubling material possessions
The Brandenburg Missionary Conference in 1932, through the work of Karl Barth,
defined mission as “Missio-Dei”,8 meaning that mission is God’s, but we are also
participants. Our role is to do “everything that the church is sent into the world to
do: preaching of the Gospel, healing of the sick, caring for the poor, teaching the
children, improving international and interracial relations, and attacking injus-
tice”.9
The mission of doing everything as defined above has been following Western
patterns in the continent, however, and has failed to fulfil its call. Doing mission
in Africa requires a specific contextual approach, because Africa has encountered
slavery, colonialism, deadly diseases, demon possession, natural calamities, ethnic
adversity resulting in civil wars, unstable political wars, poverty, and memories of
both apartheid and genocide.
Mainline churches have done healing ministry, for example, including the prac-
10 Jacques Matthey (ed.), You are the Light of the World: Statements on Mission by the WCC:
1980-2005 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2005), 139.
11 For an explanation, see John S. Mbiti, “Theological Impotence and the Universality of the
Church”, in G.H. Anderson and T.F. Stransky (eds). Mission Trends no. 3 (New York: Paulist
Press, 1976), 6-8.
12 Paul Isaak, “The Contribution of Missiological Theology to Theological Education in Af-
rica” in Handbook of Theological Education in Africa. Isabel Apowo Phiri and Dietrich Wer-
ner, eds (SA: Clusters Publication, 2013), 543-554.
13 Matthey, ed., ibid.
14 Paul Isaak, The Contribution, 543-554.
The Gnostic ideology tended to emphasize the spiritual realm over the materi-
al, often claiming that the material realm is evil and hence should be escaped.17
Christian traditional belief holds that a “lack of material things and poverty are
considered a spiritual state of blessedness” (Luke 6:20).18 Taken together, these
two ideas have led poverty to be accepted by the church and its people even to-
day, especially since mission churches did not insist on how to eradicate poverty
through the ethics of work19 or through community mobilization20 strategies. In-
stead, people were simply prepared to wait for heaven. Protestants would criticize
15 Sebastian Kim, Pauline Kollontai, and Greg Hoyland (eds), Peace and Reconciliation: In
Search of Shared Identity, (Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2008), 7-20.
16 Robert Schreiter, The Ministry of Reconciliation: Spirituality and Strategies, (Maryknoll
Books, 1998), 13.
17 Stanley J. Grenz, et al., Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, (Illinois: Intervarsity Press,
1999), 56.
18 James B. Shelton, “A Pendulum Swing between Prosperity and Suffering: What is the Role
of Faith?” in Vinson Synan (ed.), Spirit–Empowered Christianity in the 21st Century, (Lake
Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2011), 358.
19 Wilson Niwagila, From the Catacomb to the Self-governing Church (Ammersbek 1988)
20 Faustine Mahali, “A Biblical Perspective on Mission Amidst Unsustainable Livelihoods in
Africa” in Claudia Wahrisch-Oblau and Fidon Mwombeki, (eds), Mission Continues: Global
Impulses for the 21st Century. (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2010), 28- 37.
21 See the interview of Frieder Ludwig and Protestant Church leaders in Tanzania in: Frie-
der Ludwig, Church and State in Tanzania: Aspects of Changing in Relationships, 1961-1994,
(Netherlands: Brill, 1999).
22 Lutheran World Federation statement, “So the Poor Have Hope, and Injustice Shuts Its
Mouth” Poverty and Mission of the Church in Africa. Karin Bloomquist, ed. (Geneva: LWF
Document, 2007), 16.
23 Lusekelo has refused to be called a pastor, bishop, apostle, archbishop, or evangelist with
the claim that prophets and apostles were given those titles by God during their time and
that the rest are worldly names, whereas he is anointed. When and where he was anointed, he
knows, and he claims that no one needs to confirm this.
24 Lusekelo, Tutashinda, 23 Jan 2014.
25 Duncan Williams, Destined to Successes, (Tulsa: Harrison House, 1979) 41.
26 G.O. Florian, “Contemporary State of the Prosperity Gospel in Nigeria”. The Asian Jour-
nal of Theology, 21/1 (2007), (69-95), 73.
27 L.Togarasi, “The Pentecostal Gospel of Prosperity in African Contexts of Poverty: An
Appraisal”, Exchange 40/4, (2011), (336-350), 340.
Proponents of prosperity as the increasing of material wealth interpret the Bible lit-
erally to let it support their ideas. They select some text with “proof ” and interpret it
to tell their listeners that God wills all believers to prosper in this life, without taking
into consideration the sovereignty and transcendence of God and the fact that in
God’s will there are some who in this life, despite their deep devotion and sincere
worship of God, will still live in poverty, pain, or sickness. As an example, they don’t
touch on starving children, rampant diseases, oppression, or the ethnic wars that
have arisen from the bad governance and leadership in many African countries.
Teachings like Mark 10:2-30, on “hundredfold” in a family, lack the flipside of
the reward of Jesus’s disciples: that they must be accompanied by “persecution” in
this life. In Acts 9:16, Jesus sends Ananias to a newly converted Paul to tell him how
much he will be suffering for the sake of his name. Much of Paul’s theology is built
on knowing Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings. For it is in becoming like
Christ, in his death, that resurrection may be attained (Phil 3:10-11).
Although these churches/groups are addressing the problem Africa faces, they do
not dig up to its causes and link them to the transformative power of God. Neither
do they emphasize the will of God, but rather insist on their own self-will. Spiritu-
ally, promoting materialistic prosperity as the prime indicator of faithful Christian-
ity marginalizes the poor and vulnerable, and in some cases even the few material
possessions that poor Africans have are taken as tithes.28 K. Asamoah Gyadu said
that contemporary Pentecostals have developed what he refers to as a “transactional’
approach to giving…faithfulness in tithes and offerings virtually guarantees security
and protection to one’s endeavors”.29 Social economical upheavals must be addressed
in a theologically sound manner that prioritizes the will of God, rather than the gifts
of an individual, for transformation.
Way forward
In mission, African churches and groups should borrow the suggested titles, namely
Healing and Reconciliation and Prosperity as doubled earnings of material wealth,
but they should reform and modify these to fit the needs of the continent. Healing
and reconciliation should expand church ministry to attend to all of the unhealthy
problems in our continent. It should also engage in and advocate for an ethics of
28 Faith K. Lugazia, “Empires Export of Prosperity Theology: Its Impact on Africa”, in Karen.
L. Bloomquist (ed.), Being the Church in the Midst of the Empire: The Trinitarian Reflections.
(Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2007), 191.
29 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Sighs and Signs of the Spirit: Ghananian Perspective on Pen-
tecostalism and Renewal in Africa (Accra: Regnum Africa, 2015), 171.
Conclusion
I would like to conclude with the words of Kwabena that the Gospel of Jesus Christ
must have content that speaks to the rich and the poor, the winners and the losers,
the champions and the defeated, the successful and the struggling, those celebrating
and those mourning. Jesus had a message for Nicodemus, but he also had a message
for the woman who was haemorrhaging. Two families may appear in church on Sun-
day morning to worship: one to thank God for the gift of a new child and the other
to attend a memorial service for the loss of a child of the same age. The Christian
message must have something to say to them both.32
30 David Maxwell, “Delivered from the Spirit of Poverty? Pentecostalism, Prosperity and
Modernity in Zimbabwe”, Journal of Religion in Africa, 28/3, (1998), (350-374), 362.
31 Faith K. Lugazia, “The Gospel’s Promises of Fullness of Life and Critical Considerations
of the Prosperity Gospel”, paper presented at AACC 6th Theological Conference, Nairobi, Oc-
tober 2015.
32 Kwabena, Sighs and Signs, 174.
Syafiq Hasyim
Definition of dakwah
The word dakwah is taken from the Arabic da’watun, literally meaning proselytiza-
tion or call. In broad meaning, dakwah can be defined as religious activity devoted to
propagate community under the belief of Islam. The activities of dakwah are consid-
ered an obligation for all Muslim people. In the discourse of Islamic legal jurispru-
dence, conducting dakwah is justified as a kind of compulsory collective endeavour
(fard kifayah), meaning that all Muslims must engage in it; however, if one of them
has engaged in it, other Muslims are no longer commanded to do it.
Frankly speaking, dakwah activity is actually not only common in the tradition
of Islam, but also in that of other religions. Although there is similar activity to dak-
wah in the traditions of different religions, dakwah is usually only associated with
and more popular among Muslim communities, perhaps because this term is taken
from the Arabic language, the religious language of Muslim people. Sociologically
speaking, the position of dakwah in Southeast Asian Islam is highly important, be-
cause the spread of Islam in this religion is almost impossible without the activity
of dakwah. Muslim traders from India were identified as the first group to conduct
dakwah in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. This group
landed in Aceh, currently one of the provinces of Sumatera, in the twelfth/thirteenth
century, and from there disseminated Islam throughout Southeast Asia.
Methods of dakwah
Generally speaking, dakwah targets not only non-Muslim but also Muslim people.
For the non-Muslim people, dakwah is aimed at attracting them to belief in Islam; for
Exclusive dakwah is a kind of dakwah activity that seeks to proselytize Islam to oth-
ers who use the exclusive understanding of dakwah. In this regard, dakwah is only
understood from the perspective of Islam. This dakwah wants to promote and con-
vince believers or non-believers to become interested and finally to accept Islam as
their religion. In this regard, any activities that have goals and objectives for con-
verting other believers and also non-believers into Islam can be judged as part of the
conducting of dakwah. The method of dakwah used here is of having a mujadalah
(debate or polemical) and inviting others to join the debate in finding the truth of a
Multicultural dakwah
Despite discursive debates about when and where Islam came about and who
brought this religion to Indonesia, we cannot deny that the spread of Islam in South-
east Asia is the result of dakwah activities. Interestingly, Islam in Southeast Asia is a
homogeneous rather than heterogeneous phenomenon. Islam in Southeast Asia has
its own dynamics that are different from Islam in the Middle East. Although Indo-
nesian Islam often refers to Sunnis as the majority faction of Islam, the significant
minority group of Shias is also part of Indonesian Islam. We can say that Islam in
Southeast Asia is plural. The multiculturalism of Islam in this region is related to
the actors, models, and strategy of dakwah. The actors in dakwah are not only dom-
inated by Sunnis and Shias, but also by Ahmadiyyah spreaders. In Southeast Asia,
Islam also merges with indigenous beliefs, as indicated by the dakwah of the Wal-
isongo of Java, Indonesia. The model of dakwah is not conducted merely through
religious and commerce activities, but also through cultural and social encounters
and interminglings such as marriage and trade. The dakwah strategy is also mostly
peaceful and therefore has an influence on the making of the multicultural identity
of Southeast Asian Islam.
Reflecting on Muslim people’s past experience in successful dakwah brings us
to the role of the Walisongo (Nine Saints of Islam) in Java. Many historians state
Some Challenges
The multicultural dakwah of Southeast Asia remains significant, but some challeng-
es have begin to appear in the last two decades. The significant challenges are from
salafi, radical groups, and transnational movements of Islam. All these groups have
a tendency to create the mono-features of Islam.
1. Public morality
Raising public morality in Southeast Asia is becoming a serious challenge for mul-
ticultural dakwah. Some Islamic groups in Indonesia and Malaysia, for instance,
are moving to enforce public morality for their people, for which they sometimes
use violence, leaving communities with only one option of public morality. These
groups want to monopolize the definition of public morality so that it is only from
the perspective of their own groups. One example is the enforcement of state law on
Multicultural dakwah can be an alternative model for dakwah activity among Mus-
lim people in the near future of this globalized world. However, the success of mul-
ticultural dakwah also depends on other factors: sociological, political, and legal.
The serious challenges facing multicultural dakwah are actually not coming from
external factors (others), but rather from internal factors: those doing multicultural
dakwah are labelled as liberal and pro-Christianity. State actors have a very import-
ant role to play in creating favourable circumstances for multicultural dakwah. What
we need from other believers is support in spirit and brotherhood. Last but not least,
I believe that the prominent feature of Islam in Southeast Asia is not the result of an
exclusive model, but the multicultural model of dakwah.
Werner Engel
1. Introduction
In the early 1990s – Germany was still digesting the reunion of its formerly sepa-
rated halves, now becoming more and more one state. Evangelization and mission
came back into focus in Germany, mainly through “faith courses” (Glaubenskurse)
1 Paul Zulehner speaks of the “Ende der Christentümlichen Verhältnisse“ in: Huber W.,
Art. Volkskirche I, TRE 35 (2003), 249-254.
2 Hennecke C., Kirche, die über den Jordan geht. Expedition in das Land der Verheißung,
Muenster 2006, 9ff.
3 Now, in 2016, Germany is approximately 30% Catholic, 30% Protestant, and 34% secular
– the rest are Muslims, other Christian groups and others. By 2030 the EKD expects member-
ship to fall by another third (making it 21% in Germany) and its budget to fall by 50% from
2015 levels.
4 Cf. Luke 10:9: Heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, the kingdom of God is
come nigh unto you (KJV).
God approaches people of all times and contexts. No context in itself is categorically
closed to God or in itself particularly near to him. Every context has specific affini-
ties to the Gospel and at the same time particular barriers to it. This ambivalence is
plain everywhere, including the contexts of present-day Europe. We maintain that
these contexts are not in principle resistant to the Gospel and in consequence we
do not meet them with any pessimism about the culture or the Zeitgeist. In what
follows, we will highlight some ways in which the European contexts challenge our
churches to missionary activity and the new opportunities which they open up for
the offer of the Gospel.
dignity those who are threatened by breakdown under the pressure of the per-
formance-orientated society, giving them material support and opening up new
opportunities in life for them.
People who are suffering from alienation or the loss of employment can discover
¡
a new meaning for their lives through their (voluntary) work in local churches
and church-related institutions.
4. Impulses
According to Michael Herbst,8 two ways should remain closed for those of us who
follow Jesus and love our neighbour: We cannot but speak the things which we have
seen and heard (Acts 4:20 KJV), and we cannot speak without love, compassion, and
esteem for and of those we want to reach.9 Instead, he suggests measuring all our
doings by Jesus Christ:
We respect that, seen from an outside perspective, we do not have a monopoly
on truth. These times, beginning with the Constantine era in the fourth century,
are over. This can be seen as a loss – or as a newly won freedom. Without political,
strategic, or influential power, we can only serve, beg, and ask. Seen from an outside
perspective, Jesus’s truth is one truth among others – but it is not a truth like all the
others. Our testimony is a showing of the way – away from us and presenting Jesus.
If there is opposition, we do not oppress, but keep on praying, hoping, and telling of
the power that worketh in us (Eph 3:20 KJV).
Like Jesus, we set off, start moving, and take steps across borders and over well-
known lines. We leave the safe environment or our church and we make our way
“down” and “among”. Not only do we beckon others to come, but we also get out, get
up, and go. We go to where people suffer and get hurt, where people moan and die,
where people laugh and celebrate: in companies, schools, and hospitals, in factories,
8 The following is excerpted and translated from: Herbst M., Für die Wahrheit Christi in
einer pluralistischen und globalisierten Welt überzeugend argumentieren in: Winterhoff B.,
Herbst M. u.a. (eds), Von Lausanne nach Kapstadt. Der dritte Kongress für Weltevangelisa-
tion, BEG Praxis, Neukirchen 2012, 53-58.
9 Herbst, Wahrheit, 56, citing an Indian aphorism: “Once you cut off a person’s nose, there
is no point in giving him a rose to smell.”
Literature:
Bärend H., Wie der Blick zurück die Gemeinde nach vorne bringen kann, BEG
Praxis, Neukirchen 2011.
Bünker M., Friedrich M. Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE),
Evangelizing. Protestant perspectives for the Churches in Europe, Vienna 2007.
Cotrell S., How Can We Grow Again, in: H. Bärend, U. Läpple (eds), Dein ist die
Kraft, Dokumentation zum 4. AMD-Kongress in Leipzig, Leipzig, 2007, 145-
148.
Hennecke C. , Kirche, die über den Jordan geht. Expedition in das Land der Ver-
heißung, Muenster 2006, 9ff.
Herbst M., Wie finden Erwachsene zum Glauben in: P. Elhaus, C. Hennecke et al.
(eds), Kirche2 eine ökumenische Vision, Würzburg, 2013, 239-256.
Herbst M., Evangelisation und Gemeindeaufbau in: H. Bärend, U. Läpple (eds),
Dein ist die Kraft, Dokumentation zum 4. AMD-Kongress in Leipzig, Leipzig,
2007, 71-92.
Herbst M., Für die Wahrheit Christi in einer pluralistischen und globalisierten Welt
überzeugend argumentieren in: Winterhoff B., Herbst M. et al. (eds), Von Lau-
sanne nach Kapstadt. Der dritte Kongress für Weltevangelisation, BEG Praxis,
Neukirchen 2012,53-58.
Huber W., Art. Volkskirche I, TRE 35 (2003), 249-254.
Pompe H.-H., Mitten im Leben, BEG Praxis, Neukirchen 2014.
Zimmermann J., Bausteine für eine Theologie der Evangelisation in: H. Bärend, U.
Läpple (eds), Dein ist die Kraft, Dokumentation zum 4. AMD-Kongress in Leip-
zig, Leipzig, 2007, 106-116.
Zimmermann J., A.-H. Schröder (eds), Wie finden Erwachsene zum Glauben? Ein-
führung und Ergebnisse der Greifswalder Studie, BEG Praxis, Neukirchen 2010
I. Introduction
At a time when various changes have taken place globally, regionally, nationally, and
locally in our societies and in our churches, and those changes are bringing chal-
lenges to mission challenges, it is crucial for us as the United Evangelical Mission
to take some time to pause, retreat, look back on our partnership work successes
and shortcomings, observe where we are now through our analysis of the challeng-
es of mission today, and listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in answering the
question of where we are going. We should do so responsibly, lest we find ourselves
doing what is no longer needed in our time. We want to avoid what is now called
“copy-pasting”, a term used to criticize the lack of seriousness in addressing the pres-
ent situation.
In the following I will undertake a short survey of the role of partnership work
in mission in our life as churches together in the United Evangelical Mission. There-
after I will present my humble observations of what we are facing as members of the
UEM in the present world. I must acknowledge here the limitations of my observa-
tions, as determined by my context. I see them as a starting point in our discussion
during our meeting here. Finally, I will submit some proposals on what we should do
as UEM members in partnership work to enable us face these challenges.
It has up until now been known and acknowledged that without “partnership”, God’s
mission would not have achieved its universalistic, inclusive, creative, innovative,
progressive, and transformative outlook as it has been from the beginning in Gali-
lee and thereafter. God the Initiator, the Energizer, the Provider, the Protector, the
Sustainer, the Renewer, and the Perfecter of God’s mission of saving the universe
(humanity and other created beings) has always in many ways been carried out and
will always be so in cooperation with the created beings, not only human beings, but
also other created beings. Oftentimes God has worked independently of their coop-
eration and partnership, for instance in the act of creation by God. But so far as we
can see and observe, many of God’s doings have not been without the participation
of human beings. In the mission of God’s love in Jesus Christ from Galilee to the
ends of the world, from the first century until now, the role of those chosen, called,
4. The challenge posed by the implementation of the integrated free ASEAN Eco-
nomic Community
The integrated free ASEAN Economic Community was implemented in January
2016. Uneducated and less skilful Indonesian workforce will surely be left behind.
Efforts by the Indonesian government to prepare its workforce are being under-
taken, but this will take time. What kind of South-South Asia Region partnership
can be conceived to strengthen the Indonesian workforce, especially those in less
privileged regions such as the Tapanuli, Dairi and Pakpak Areas; east Java; northern
central Java; and Papua, where most members of the UEM in Asia live and give wit-
ness to this poorer community in ASEAN? What can our friends in the Philippines
offer to assist the less privileged unskilled workers in Indonesia, perhaps through
their skilled members already working in Indonesia in this community? The part-
These are some of the new and renewed challenges that we as the UEM have to cope
with. We cannot do it alone. We have to cooperate among ourselves and with oth-
ers to meet the challenges of mission in our respective areas. I trust that each of us
can share some other challenges that the time does not allow me to explore here. I
invite you to bring in your observations and experiences so that together we can be
aware of them and meet them through our partnership work under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit. Let me close by saying that the challenges of mission are automatic;
they are at our doors and in our midst. But we can meet them if we work together
in partnership.
Xolile Simon
1. Introduction
Concepts and models of mission and partnership or mutuality and mission contain
various propositions about power relations and their transformation (e.g., Barnes
2016; Nothwehr 2004; Bosch 1978; 1988). Of interest to different stakeholders in
ecumenical partnerships and networks is the question of how and why a model of
mission practice can enable or constrain the transformation of patterns of power re-
lations between agents and their social systems structures: individuals (interperson-
al relations), groups (inter-group/social relations), and communities (inter-commu-
nity relations) as well as community structures. Collaboration between stakeholders
in mission is essential for exploring contextual and theological propositions about
how and why partnership, friendship, mutuality, and other missional modes of be-
ing together with and for the poor, as historical and contemporary resources of mis-
sion theology and mission practice, can trigger interactions between mission agents
(A) and social structures (B) which may or may not transform power relations in
ecumenical mission contexts (C). Some of the basic propositions are outlined under
the three sections that follow: The poor as yardsticks and bearers of the gospel in ec-
umenical mission literature – power relations and mutuality; the agency of the poor
in AICs and power relations –perspectives from the African notion and practice of
ubuntu; from policy and other documents to parameters or a model of transforming
power relations.
1 World Christianity and the responses and interactions of faith-based individuals and
groups in local and global contexts are approached from intercultural theology and missiolo-
gy: Intercultural theology recognizes that “there is a need for a theory (theology) of intercul-
tural encounter and understanding, just as there is a theory (theology) of interreligious dia-
logue. This is what intercultural theology is all about, carefully balancing between the unity
and diversity of cultures” (Wisjen 2003:42). On the other hand, missiology is a “theory (logos)
of intercultural communication of religious meanings (missio)” across temporal, geographic,
religious and ideological Boundaries” (Wisjen 2003:47; 49; 50, italics in original). Both inter-
cultural theology and missiology need to deal with the new transcultural faith-based commu-
nities in World Christianity. The new interest is in “becoming transcultural, responding to the
realities of globalization by actively and intentionally engaging in activities that span borders.
Transcultural congregations give priority to programs that honor their commitments at home
but also seek to be engaged in the lives of others around the world. A transcultural orientation
connects local commitments with churches, communities, and individuals in other coun-
tries” (Wuthnow 2009:6).
2 Aguilar, Mario 2002. “Postcolonial African Theology in Kabasele Lumbala”. Theologi-
cal Studies 63:302-323. Ford, David (ed.) 1997. The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to
Christian Theology in the Twentieth Century. Chapters 22(1) African Theology (Kwame Be-
diako); Chapter 22 (2) “African Theology: South Africa” (John de Gruchy); Asamoah-Gyadu,
J. Kwabena “Bediako of Africa: A Late 20th Century Outstanding Theologian and Teacher”.
Mission Studies 26(9):5-16; Bediako, Kwame 2002. Theology and Identity: The Impact of Cul-
ture upon Christian Thought; Gifford, Paul 2008. “Trajectories in African Christianity” Inter-
national Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 8(4):275-289; Maluleke, Tinyiko Sam
1997. “Half a Century of African Christian Theologies”. Journal of Theology for Southern Afri-
ca 99:4-23. Maluleke, T.S. 1996. “Black and African Theologians in the New World Order: A
Time to Drink Form Our Own Wells. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa. 96:3-19; Knigh-
ton, Ben 2004. “Issues of African Theology at the Turn of the Millennium”. Transformation
21(3):147-161; Munga, Stephen 2000. “Encountering Changes in African Theology”. Swedish
6 For interactions between the social realities of context and culture in CER approaches,
see “mission as liberation” and “mission as inculturation” (Bosch 1991), typologies of con-
stants in mission, and “Mission as Liberating Service in the Kingdom of God” (Bevans and
Schroeder 2004), paradigms of inculturation, liberation and reconstruction in postcolonial
Africa or post-apartheid South Africa; paradigms of liberation, healing, and reconciliation in
post-Berlin world (Schreiter).
This has implications for immersion and encounters with the poor in local and
global contexts of poverty for the sake of partnership, mutuality, and the trans-
formation of power relations. An immersion or an encounter is “not simply cog-
nitive, an intellectual exercise leading to understanding. It is also affective and
effective: Affective in the sense of touching the deepest of our values and strong-
ly motivating our responses. Effective in the sense of organizing our responses
with planning, execution and evaluation” (Henriot 2005:16, italics in original).
Such encounters imply the participants being propelled and affected by them;
immersion should be meaningful and effective according to the yardsticks of
embodiments of the gospel by the poor – the bearers of witness to the gospel in
the social realities of cultures and religions (Matthey 1999:228). Since the 1970s,
this has been one of the main “unfinished tasks” of ecumenical mission theology
and practice.
7 Although Coertze (2001), an anthropologist, omits the religious dimension and empha-
ses the critical dimension of ideology, the elements of ubuntu he mentioned correspond to
broad semantic shifts in South Africa. First, the “original” moral connotation of ubuntu in
the early rural African indigenous communities (Coertze 2001) relates to “humanity, human-
ness, or even humaneness” (Louw 2005). Second, ubuntu structured hospitality, shaped so-
cial interaction, and impacted ritual practices in rural contexts. It informed and encouraged
individuals and communities to negotiate exclusion and inclusion when they encountered
missionary Christianity and, later, interacted with “others” in urban contexts. A relational
ethos or an ethos of belonging, as an essential aspect of ubuntu, was inferred upon individuals
Ubuntu has been used since the 1990s to approach the AIC as a social and religious
movement. This was especially the case when “the expansion of the AIC move-
ment … [was] recognised as a major social phenomenon worthy of investigation
by scholars of social movements in South Africa” (Oosthuizen 1997:2; 2002:4).8 The
perspective explains mutuality in relation to the complexity of religious agency, so-
cial relations, and social transformation, including faith-based transformation. It
means that the complexity of power relations in an AIC “must be studied within its
own frame of reference and by the logic internal and particular to it” (Oosthuizen
1993:67). Oosthuizen takes ubuntu as a frame of reference to argue that
The AIC movement’s success lies in the principle of ubuntu, mutual support with
social responsibility. Ubuntu is the foundation of the traditional African soci-
ety…based on the support networks within the extended family. Ubuntu lives on
in the AIC movement, where it finds its complement in the essential teachings
of Christianity. Every Christian church should be mutualist, communal and sup-
portive. The AICs are thus able to become a substitute society that looks back to
traditional society and renews it. (Oosthuizen 2002:9)
the principle of caring for each other’s well-being…and a spirit of mutual sup-
port…. Each individual’s humanity is ideally expressed through his or her rela-
tionship with others and theirs in turn through a recognition of the individu-
al’s humanity. Ubuntu means that the people are people through other people.
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. It also acknowledged both the rights and respon-
sibilities of every citizen in promoting individual and social well-being. (Repub-
lic of South Africa Government Gazette (1996, February 2). Government Wel-
fare Paper on Welfare no. 16943. Pretoria, South Africa, 18).
David Chidester (a religious scholar) and Desmond Tutu (a theologian and religious
leader) have explained how the AICs have used ubuntu as a strategy to deal with the
cultural, religious, and contextual challenges of Christendom and world Christianity
among the identity formations and mission expressions of AICs in post-colonial
colonial contexts.
Since the 1980s, the postcolonial worldview analyses by Chidester have ex-
plained ubuntu in the AICs as a quest for a sense of identity, belonging, and social
justice. This analysis of religion and ideology underscores the agency and resistance
of members of AICs to colonial mission encounters and domination. Referring to
the inaugural address of the Archbishop of Cape Town, Chidester states that Tutu
did not translate ubuntu as just “an Africanised version of the Christian ‘golden rule’”
informing mutual respect and caring. The archbishop employed it as a critical per-
spective and rejection of the “violent strategies” of imperial and postcolonial power
encounters and negotiations (Chidester 1989:18). In the 1980s, Tutu’s “Worldview
Analysis of African Indigenous Churches” critiqued the colonial and imperial worl-
dview analyses of religion as “distinctively dehumanizing enterprise[s]” (Chidester
1989:15). Referring to his own contributions, Chidester concludes, “I was particu-
larly critical of two things: unreflective generalizations about western and African
worldviews and (2) unexamined power relations in the (mostly theological) assess-
ments of African religions” (Chidester 1989:15). Placing mutuality on a continuum
between indigeneity and hybridity, as two distinct but related strategies of connect-
ing agency, power relations, and transformation, the question is: With whom, for
whose interest, and how have members of AICs and the AICs as institutions used
ubuntu to negotiate their identities, power relations, and socio-economic justice?
This question remains relevant.
Answering such a question requires that we move beyond immersion and en-
counters, which are “only points of departure” in a mission practice, to the in-
corporation of agency and social power in a postcolonial theoretical framework
(Chidester 1988:20). Chidester pleads for deep encounters with the poor through
informative, reflective, and empowering engagements [participatory-action re-
search (PAR)]. PAR is proposed as the primary mode of ecumenical engagement
to recognize and affirm the self-identifications and “negotiation of multiple iden-
Bibliography
Introduction
The words of the refrain of “Onward Christian Workers”, a hymn sung during our
UEM conference opening devotion on the evening of 26 June 2016 and led by Silli-
man Divinity School, captures well the essence of partnership and exchange in mis-
sion, in my view. The words read: Here’s my hand, co-workers / Give me your hand,
too / Let us work together, there is much to do.
Partnership suggests the ability to see the need for working together with oth-
ers in fulfilling certain tasks or responsibilities. It is the action of giving our hands
to each other – here’s my hand, co-worker / give me your hand, too. In the context
of mission, partnership may be understood as an affirmation and acknowledging
of the place of others in complementing one another as we all seek to participate
meaningfully in Missio-Dei. It is a result of acknowledging the strength of unity and
solidarity and rejecting the weakness of disunity and individualism. In other words,
partnership in mission suggests an expression of a joy of working with others, af-
firming each other’s talents, strength, knowledge, and experiences as an important
ingredient in building God’s kingdom on the planet Earth.
I think that partnership and encounter should be one of the important themes in
the area of mission in our postmodern pluralistic world of the twenty-first century,
for the sake of a peaceful, respectful, meaningful, and relevant missional engage-
ment. In this presentation, I intend to share some ideas around the above topic based
on my own experience as a mission co-worker in the Philippines through the UEM
South-South exchange.
How do I do this?
I spend at least one month or more introducing the subject matter, in order to allow
students to have a glimpse of the course and the themes to be discussed. In short, I
cultivate a ground or lay a foundation for the students to know the subject. After-
wards, I distribute several topics to students and suggest literature related to their
topics. I challenge them to do research and write academic papers that they will af-
terwards present in the classroom for discussions. Students are challenged to submit
their papers at least three days before, so that other students may read the papers and
prepare questions, criticism, and contributions. During class presentations, students
will raise critical and pertinent questions and contribute significantly to the topic
and the debate around that topic. When they do, I normally guide and moderate the
discussions and challenge the students to make sense of the theoretical ideas that
are being presented along with the practical dimensions of the ideas and concepts in
relation to their churches, cultures, and country-specific contexts. Through listening
to their stories and their application of the knowledge, I learn quite a lot about their
ways of thinking, worldviews, experiences, cultures, and contexts. The classroom is
among my best spaces for encounter.
Exchange, partnership, and encounter create a space for both explicit and implicit
dialogue between people of different cultures, which is a more appropriate way of
doing mission in our contemporary times than taking a confrontational approach.1
Moreover, exchange and encounter requires openness and humility, with a readiness
to learn from another’s faiths and cultures and see what can be emulated and/or
perhaps be integrated within our own faiths and cultures. The activity entails both
boldness and humility in a missional approach, a model which is affirmed by emi-
nent missiologists like David Bosch and Bevans and Schroeder.2
Mission today is much more than the extension of God’s love towards the world.
We are no longer living in those times of forced conversion and persuasive Christian-
ization. Exchange and encounter, in sum, suggests a broader possibility for a model
of mission that leads to the discovery of one’s strength and weakness and furthers the
maturity of all people involved in it. At the WCC ecumenical conference in Whitby,
Canada (1947), “Partnership and Obedience” was a central theme that had been sug-
gested as a means to improve the relationship between churches in mission. The so-
called younger churches in the global South were to be seen as equal partners in mis-
sion with their brothers and sisters from the West (the older churches). I am not sure
if this goal has been adequately attained among many church members of the global
North with their counterparts in the global South, but it is very impressive indeed to
see how the UEM has been working hard towards this development. The celebration
of two decades since its internationalization attests a greater achievement of this ecu-
menical call for partnership and obedience, something probably worth emulating by
all other mission organizations as they take part in mission, since our understanding
of mission today has shifted from mission being a movement of “West to the rest”
into a movement of “from anywhere to everywhere”. I personally have seen that my
participation in the UEM South–South exchange programme is an opportunity to
strengthen the mutual relationship between churches in the global South. It contrib-
utes to seeing partnership as an opportunity to recognize each other as important, as
people whose experiences, knowledge, talents, and spirituality can benefit all in the
kingdom of God, as we all live in one world under the lordship of one Christ.
Exchange and encounter in mission necessitates the act of learning from each oth-
er. By learning from each other, we both discover that we need to have a common
approach to today’s global challenges. Cultural encounter helps us to see more of
The title [of this book] can easily be changed into “Conversion Discourse in the
Philippine Perspective”, the similarities in the culture and missionary experience
the resulting problems in the Philippines [P]rotestant churches are [that] uncanny.
I challenge mission practitioners, as all UCCP pastors and workers are, to sort out
our understanding of conversion and the way of doing mission through reading this
book. For in many ways, as we fail to learn from the missionaries’ mistakes and our
own, we perpetuate [W]estern Christianity and contribute to the disfigurement of
Filipino identity and culture. More importantly, we fail in the bar of the life-affirm-
ing message of the gospel to the Filipino.3
From this assertion, it goes without saying that both Asia and Africa have some
common blessings and challenges that necessitate the need for us to learn from one
3 In Silliman University Divinity School, 54th Church Workers Convocation, August 28-30,
2015, Proceedings “Rediscovering the Biblical, Historical and Theological Roots of Worship”,
p. 30.
Maggay, in this case, calls us to an understanding that has a more sensitive approach
to Filipino indigenous consciousness and stimulates an evangelistic practice that is
genuinely incarnated in the cultural reality of the population. I personally find that
Maggay’s observation would doubtless be quite relevant not only in the Philippines
but also in the African context as well.
Furthermore, the place of faith healing, traditional music, women’s roles, the role
of sacrifice in traditional indigenous beliefs, and the indigenous perception of the
physical and spiritual world5 form a fundamental ontological arena among the tra-
ditional Filipino religions,6 just as in Africa, and this can and will continue to enrich
Asian Christian spirituality even in our modern times. These realities inform the
context of what the Philippines’ Christian faith will mean to the majority of ordinary
Filipino Christians today. I believe that, just as in Africa, traditional beliefs in the
Philippines did not completely die with the introduction of Western Christianity but
have been transformed and continue to reproduce in more modern ways.7
As pointed out earlier, through culture, partnership, and encounter we further dis-
cover that our cultural differences are not more than what we share as people created
by God in his own image. We discover that we can work together and enrich each
other in many ways, even in the area of theological reflection, as our missional en-
gagement. As a mission co-worker in the Philippines I have learned and continue to
learn about several issues, some of which I intend to briefly share here below:
The traditional Filipino worldview, just like the African worldview, suggests that
life is connected – the visible and the invisible are not separated, and this concept of
holism is clearly manifested in people’s daily rhetoric. The dead live in the spiritual
world – in another dimension, but not far from us. Stories from students and many
others about the concept of third eyes are very common. One with a third eye can
see the invisible spirits. The presence of spirits of dead people can sometimes can be
felt or seen. A girl whose father died several years ago and who wanted to sell me
the car she had inherited from him told me: “I am happy my dad’s car is going to
be bought by a pastor. I am sure my dad will also be happy, because he was a good
Christian. Please take good care of my dad’s car.” She told me that she believed her
father was now all-seeing and knew why she was forced to sell the car: she wanted
money to buy a flight ticket in order to go to Germany. The implication was that even
if her father had died some years before, he still knew and saw what was going on
this physical world. Elaborating on how Filipinos see reality in holistic form, Mag-
gay writes:
This worldview is completely shared by Africans. Neither Africans nor Filipinos sep-
arate these realities. In Africa, the dead are referred to as the living dead. They are
still alive and can influence the physical world. The spiritual world and the meta-
physical world among the Africans are not fundamentally dichotomized, just as is
the case among the Filipinos and in some other Asian countries.
Based on these facts, I find that we “South to South” partners can share our
theological experiences and expertise. How can, for example, our understanding of
9 See for example the work of Laurent Magesa, 1997. African Religion: The Moral Traditions
of Abundant Life. Much work on the role of ancestors in African traditional society has also
been extensively done by another Tanzanian Catholic theologian, Charles Nyamiti. See for
example, Christ as our Ancestor (1984); “Some Moral Implications of African Ancestral Chris-
tology” (1992), Journal of African Christian Studies 8(3): 36-51; “African Ancestral Veneration
and its Relevance to the African Churches” (1993), The Journal of African Christian Studies
9(3):14-37; “African Christologies Today” in Schreiter, R.J. (ed). Faces of Jesus in Africa (1995);
“The Trinity from an African Ancestral Perspective” (1996), Journal of African Christian Stud-
ies 12(4): 38-72.
10 I am aware that this understanding has shifted in many of the scholarly and academic
discourses among the majority of Western thinkers. I therefore do not intend to generalize in
this case, but it is clear from my theological interactions with students that the legacy left on
the ground has not died yet.
11 See for example the work of Jesse Mugambi, From Liberation to Reconstruction: An Af-
rican Theology after the Cold War, 1995, East Africa Educational Publishers Ltd. See also
Sam Tinyiko Maluleke, ”Half A Century of African Christianity Theologies: Elements of the
Emerging Agenda for the Twenty-First Century”, in Ogbu Kalu (ed.), African Christianity: An
African Story, p. 423.
We are challenged to welcome one another in our diversity, affirm our membership
through baptism in the One Body of Christ, and recognize our need for mutuality,
partnership, collaboration and networking in mission, so that the world might be-
lieve.13
In Africa, we have a life philosophy that we call “ubuntu”. Ubuntu literally means
“humanness”. One is a human not because of what he/she physically looks like, but
because of the inner nature of being that connects him/her with other human be-
ings. Thus, a human being’s life is realized in connection with others. This can be
12 Cf. the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), an opposition party in South Africa led by
perhaps the most prominent and controversial younger politician in South Africa in recent
times, Julius Malema. His new party has gained massive support from many younger gener-
ations because, among other things, his message resonates well with the majority of younger
people, who have for decades been deprived of their basic needs, including quality education.
Their political fight aims to dismantle the economic system that has placed them at the mar-
gins, the system that seems to perpetuate the apartheid legacy.
13 As quoted in Jonathan Y. Tan, Christian Mission among the Peoples of Asia, 2014. Maryk-
noll, NY, p. 55.
Conclusion
Finally, let me mention to you that I find it an impressive and worthwhile opportu-
nity to be part of this UEM South-South faculty exchange. It is indeed an enriching
experience, one which contributes to the broadening of my scope and perspective
as I am not only sharing my knowledge with my students in Silliman University
Divinity School, but also learning a lot from them, as well as from my colleagues
and even through my interactions with people in the communities. This encounter
experience in mission exchange, I believe, will not only stay with me but will also be
shared with my people in Africa upon my return at the end of my working contract.
As the UEM already sees it, exchange and partnership should continue to be seen as
another dimension of mission in our times, in a modern world characterized by the
era of globalization.
Volker Dally
Thinking about mission has always been part of my life. Having been born and
raised in a region in Germany where almost any member of a church would talk
about mission, I understood it as a substantial part of Christian life. The pastor of
my local Reformed congregation was a missionary himself, the Baptist congregation
in the village financed a missionary family and their work, missionaries were invited
by the YMCA to talk to us young people, and the Wycliffe Global Alliance had its
German headquarters in the town where I was born.
So why should I have had any doubts about mission at all? Mission was not only
possible, but a matter of course to me. Consequently, I supported mission with my
prayers and some money.
When I was growing up, however, my school religion teacher raised some critical
questions about mission and studying theology in the eighties in Germany. Mission
was not an issue in the faculty where I studied, but it was treated with suspicion,
especially the “colonial interest of mission” that some scholars and students imputed
to it. Somehow I lost sight of mission and my interest in mission until the year 2003,
although I have been in many mission fields without recognizing those situations as
mission settings.
In the year 2003, I was in India for the first time to join a pastoral training on
interfaith dialogue. It was abundantly clear that we would discuss the impact of mis-
sion during the seminar. And since we were a group of German theologians, the
contributions about mission were critical. I did not even realize that the Karnataka
Theological College in Mangalore in South India, where we had met with Indian
theologians, would never have existed if not for the German missionaries who had
been there in the nineteenth century. Following the seminar I had the chance to visit
Bengaluru (Bangalore), the so-called Silicon Valley of India. Walking down Ma-
hatma Gandhi Road, a busy shopping district, I found myself in front of a statue
showing a person in a Prussian church robe. People had given him a special honour
by decorating him with flower chains. The person honoured there turned out to
be a German missionary who had worked in Karnataka in the nineteenth century.
What’s more, the statue was not an old one. The Hindu government of Karnataka
had installed it only two years before, as a symbol of its gratefulness for the work
that the missionary had contributed to the society of his time and the culture of
Karnataka.
This encounter with Ferdinand Kittel brought me back to mission, and his
work became somehow a kind of paradigm for how I see mission today. Kittel,
Apelt, Wolfgang
Head of the library and written archives of the Archives and Museum Founda-
tion of the UEM.
Bataringaya, Dr Pascal
Church President of the Presbyterian Protestant Church in Rwanda since 2014.
He completed his Doctor of Theology at the University of Bochum in 2012 on
the research theme of: “Versöhnung nach dem Genozid: Impulse der Friedensethik
Dietrich Bonhoeffers für Kirche und Gesellschaft in Ruanda” (Reconciliation after
the Genocide: Impulses of the Ethics of Peace of Dietrich Bonhoeffer for the
Church and the Society in Rwanda).
Biehl, Dr Michael
Head of the department of theological formation and policy issues at the EMW
(Evangelisches Missionswerk – the Association of Protestant Churches and Mis-
sions in Germany) in Hamburg, Germany. From 2001 to 2012 he was Director of
Studies at the Academy of Mission at the University of Hamburg.
Engel, Dr Werner
Head of Division for missionary education at the AMD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Missionarische Dienste – Committee of Missionary Ministries) in Berlin, Ger-
many. Formerly a Protestant pastor, originally from Austria.
Dally, Volker
Pastor, General Secretary of UEM since 2016, 2011-2016 director of the Leipzig
Mission, 2006-2011 co-worker of UEM in Indonesia.
Hasyim, Dr Syafiq
Senior Director at the International Center for Islam and Pluralism in Jakarta,
Indonesia and Professor at Jakarta Islamic University. He is also a researcher
at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (BGSMCS), Freie
Universität Berlin, from which he obtained his PhD.
Hehanussa, Dr Jozef
Lecturer at the Theological Faculty of Christian University Duta Wacana in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia since 1999. His teaching subjects: mission, history of
Christianity, and social theology. He completed his Master of Theology at Trin-
ity Theological School in 1997. He then finished his Doctor of Theology under
the supervision of Prof. Dr Dieter Becker at the Augustana Theological Semi-
nary in 2010. The theme of his dissertation: “Der Molukkenkonflikt von 1999:
Zur Rolle der Protestantischen Kirche (GPM) in der Gesellschaft” (The Conflict
of the Moluccas 1999: The Role of the Molucca Protestant Church (GPM) in
the Society).
Herfurth, Ms Barbara
Doctoral student in church history at Wuppertal/Bethel Theological Seminary.
Lugazia, Dr Faith
Dr Lugazia, originally from Tanzania, is a UEM co-worker at PIASS (Protestant
Institute of Art and Social Science) in Rwanda, as a theological lecturer in the
Theological Faculty. She completed her PhD at Luther Seminary, MN, USA, with
her dissertation: “Towards an African Inculturation Biblical Pneumatology: A
Response to the Rise of Neo-Pentecostalism in Tanzanian Christianity”.
Malayang, Dr Ben S.
President of Silliman University, Dumaguete City, the Philippines.
Motte, Dr Jochen
Deputy General Secretary of the United Evangelical Mission and Head of the
Department of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) in Wuppertal,
Germany. He completed his Doctor of Theology at Wuppertal Theological Sem-
inary in 1994. Some of his publications include: “Challenges to the Churches in a
Changing World”: Texts from the 4th International UEM Consultation on Justice,
Peace and the Integrity of Creation – Batam, Indonesia, February 2008; Landrecht
- Perspektiven der Konfliktvermeidung im Südlichen Afrika - Ein Symposium der
Archiv- und Museumsstiftung Wuppertal in Zusammenarbeit mit der Vereinten
Evangelischen Mission – 2002.
Rweyemamu, Dr Josephat
UEM co-worker from Tanzania at Silliman Divinity School, Dumaguete City,
the Philippines as a professor of mission. He completed his PhD at the University
of Stellenbosch, also as a UEM scholarship holder, with his dissertation: “Con-
version Discourse in African Perspective: A Social-Missiological Study among the
Haya in the Lutheran Church, Northwest Tanzania”.
Shedafa, Ms Caroline
Project Coordinator of Mlandizi Vocational Training Centre in the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Eastern and Coastal Diocese. She was born and
raised in Germany. She was a trainer for the UEM at the Centre for Mission and
Diakonia (CMD) in Bethel.
Solon, Dr Dennis
Lecturer on the New Testament at Silliman Divinity School, from the Philip-
pines. He completed his Doctor of Theology at Heidelberg University, Germany,
under the supervision of Prof. Dr Gerd Theißen.