Reformed mission in Southern Africa

The road ahead

 

Things are not going well with mission/evangelism by the Reformed churches in Southern Africa. Neither do prospects look good. But still the Lord gives plenty of opportunities to proclaim His gospel. What is urgently needed is renewed enthusiasm and a number of adjustments.

      This is the key message in a recently published book on this topic. In the book, Reformed mission in Southern Africa. The way forward, 24 mission experts mostly from the Reformed Churches in South Africa (GKSA), explain why things are not going well. There are reasons such as a lack of enthusiasm and passivity; finances, the continual shrinking number of church members; also far too few missionaries, mission workers and especially black ministers being trained; and of course Satan’s work, inter alia competition with unbiblical churches, for example those who preach the prosperity gospel or who preach Christ as an ancestor. And don’t forget the assault by Islam.

     According to the GKSA 2022 yearbook, the Almanak, there are 384 churches in the GKSA. Approximately a third are so-called black or multi-cultural congregations due to mission and church planting activities. However many of these churches are without pastors, mainly due to financial woes. Those churches that do have pastors are fortunate enough to be subsidised by other more established churches or denominations.

    

 

Watch out for . . .

 What can and should be done about all this? The authors of this book plentifully advise what to do and what not to do. Firstly, what not to do:

 

Plenty of positive indications in the book

The 24 authors provide many indications of what to do. The most important indication is that a congregation which is not fully and totally involved with mission work and does not see and jump at opportunities, is a poor, yes, a pathetic church. A number of contributions in the book repeatedly emphasise this point. Also, several authors clearly state that only those congregations that exhibit the true and Biblical characteristics are really mission/evangelism driven.

      Another indication of what to do is that Western missionaries over the centuries proclaimed the gospel according to a Western way of thinking. But in Africa people live according to a traditional African way of thinking. Both ways of thinking are wrong. Missionaries must proclaim the gospel according to the Bible which in a certain way is between the Western and African ways of thinking. There are different ways to do this.

     Yet another positive indication of what to do, is in a number of chapters emphasising that all mission work must be founded on prayer and the pure proclamation of the entire Word of God.

     What to correctly and effectively do can also be learned from Christ’s and Pauls activities as well as the lessons learned by other successful missionaries. 

 

Church planting

Proclamation must not be a once off, but must be continual and persistent. Mission is a long term activity. It must lead to the planting of a comprehensive and sustainable church.

     The matter of church planting, being of considerable importance, is discussed in a few chapters. A commonly experienced challenge for a new church is her financial survivability. Could it perhaps be that missionaries did not sufficiently emphasise the need for offerings or is it that funds came from other sources too readily?

      The more interest that is created in churches for outreach and the proclamation of the gospel, the more people will come forward to want to become involved actively. Then ways and means will also be found to be trained.

      Traditionally mission is undertaken in the rural regions. But mission work and church planting in cities present great opportunities, inter alia because most people have urbanised, are relinquishing their traditional cultures and way of thinking, and are able to listen to the gospel with an open mind.

      Although the use of modern communication and study tools such as social media and the internet have become very effective and temptingly easy to use, don’t forget an observation in one of the chapters that people can most effectively be approached personally one-on-one.

 

The new juncture

A few authors refer specifically to the present kairos or the cyclic ecclesiastic juncture, a movement of Christianity away from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia and Latin-America.

      This does not imply that the proclamation of the gospel, the Great Commandment, must in any way become less important. It does mean that new approaches and methods must be identified and applied. And everything possible must be done to reverse the shrinking of the church. This demands prayer, conversion, motivation, faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It also means that the church must review her relation with the academy and her training of pastors and other church leaders. All theology must be reviewed from a missionary perspective.

       All this impels a return: return to the Bible, back to the local church and back to a missionary drive. As one author remarks: mission must today save today’s church, humanly speaking. God’s chosen and sent children received from God privileged knowledge and must proclaim it worldwide. Only then will the end come. (Matthew 24:14),