The growth of the Church in Africa, namely at numerical level 1 is tremendous. However, we notice that her impact on society and public life is not so visible as the growth is, since Christian values are embodied by Christians. Yet, the Church has huge human resources1 pastors, missionaries, lay leaders and theologians. The challenge for the Church in Africa is to incarnate and inculturate these values and the living message of the Gospel.
In this thesis we question the co-operation between the Church and mission agencies, between native pastors and western missionaries. We notice that since 150 years, there has been a huge gap between these two entities. This is due to the fact that Theology and Missiology look like two lines that never meet. This situation leads us to revisit not only the current paradigm Church-Mission but also the current link between Theology and Missiology.
We propose the following theses:
1. Theology is mission-centered. The goal of Theology is to extend the Kingdom of God by the prodamatlon of the Gospel so that every nation (ethne) may be represented in the
Kingdom, and by the communication of Christian values so that a new society or a new civilisation may emerge and may take over the current and corrupted society.
2. To explore the Biblical data on Church and Mission, the only ontological approach appears to be limited, therefore the functional approach must be added. The right question is not only “What the Church Is" but also "For what the Church Is"
3. The local Church is the representation of the Universal Church in a given location. This local church is culturally rooted. Cultural plurality is a sine qua non condition for the Universal Church.
4. The local Church is the basis of mission. The basic reflections on mission must take place within the local Church, at the grass root level. All human resources, from mission
agencies and para-church organisation are accountable to the local Church.
5. The major themes of healing, liberation and identity are at the core of the Gospel.
Theologians must articulate these themes in their discourse.
6. Co-operation between local Churches, or within a duster of local Churches, gives opportunities to succeed in term of mission since no local Church can do mission alone.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/820 |
| Date | 01 January 2002 |
| Creators | Andriatsimialomananarivo, Solomon |
| Contributors | Mbiti, J., Saayman, W. A. (Willem A.), djagegjj@unisa.ac.za |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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