East Africa: Future Face of the Global Church

In one of his expositions of Psalm 73, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “There is no possible growth in the Christian life unless we are ruthlessly honest with ourselves.” And yet, as we well know, being ruthlessly honest often reveals unpalatable truths about ourselves and our situations.

If we consider the twin themes of Christian growth and ruthless introspection, are we willing to consider both as we look around at the world? More specifically, what should we think of the church’s expanse here on the African continent? If we’re honest, it’s both encouraging and concerning.

The African church, which is poised to become the face of global Christianity, desperately needs biblically faithful and humble expositors of God’s Word in the context of healthy local churches.

African Trends

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said in an interview, “The average Anglican is an African woman in her 30s living in sub-Saharan Africa on less than $4 a day.” That brief statement captures several stark realities that call for a close and honest examination. But in this article, we’ll just look briefly at some general trends in Africa, and in African Christianity specifically, encapsulated in Welby’s assertion.

1. Africa Is Populous

Whereas birth rates are declining in the West, populations in Africa tend to be on an upward march. According to some projections, “by 2050, a list of the 20 countries with the world’s largest populations will include at least six black African nations: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya.” If Welby is right in his assessment, and if these projections for 2050 hold, we’ll likely see the face of global Christianity become not simply African but decidedly sub-Saharan. In fact, it could be predominantly East African.

We’ll likely see the face of global Christianity become not simply African but decidedly sub-Saharan. In fact, it could be predominantly East African.

2. Africa Is Young

Whereas many Western nations grapple with both declining and aging populations, in East Africa, 80 percent of the Kenyan population is younger than 35. Tanzania’s median age was 17 in 2014. Uganda’s is 15.9. These statistics show the future global population—and the face of the global church—will be largely East African.

3. Africa Is Suffering

Welby’s comment about an African woman living on $4 per day is a reality many sub-Saharan Christians have to contend with. Given the rising costs of living, $4 per day is barely enough to hold skin and bone together. Walk into the urban slums—say, in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi—and you’re immediately beset by haunting scenes of the most abject economic deprivation. It’s heartbreaking.

4. Africa Goes to Church

On any given Sunday in Nigeria, there’ll be more Anglicans in church than in “all the British Isles and North America combined.” This goes beyond the mainstream churches (Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, etc.): The Hand of God Cathedral led by David Ibiyeomie will open the doors to its 120,000-capacity auditorium. In Lagos, Nigeria, David Oyedepo’s Living Faith Church Worldwide meets at The Ark, a church building comfortably seating 109,345 souls. In sharp contrast to the declining church attendance in the West, African Christians go to church.

Hard Truths

While we rejoice that there’ll be millions in church on any given Sunday morning across Africa, we must be honest with ourselves, taking a long, hard look at what exactly happens in those churches. Of the six nations listed earlier in the population projections, five are in the greater Eastern Africa region, while Nigeria stands by itself in the West. Yet Nigeria is the country that has wielded the greatest influence on the sub-Saharan church, especially in the phenomenon of the “man of God.”

Many in sub-Saharan Africa hold to a superstitious worldview where all that happens under the sun is understood to have been influenced supernaturally. “Good luck” means the recently departed, the ancestors, and the gods (or god) are at peace with you, hence you’re experiencing their benevolence. When things go wrong—the crops fail, the child dies, or the business goes belly up—then something must be wrong in the spiritual realm.

What the typical African wants to do is to find a mediator, a power broker, who’ll intercede on his or her behalf in the spiritual realm to resolve these issues in the physical world. Traditionally, this person has been the witch doctor. But with the rise of the African brand of Christian charismatism, the “man of God” has taken that role. This man offers a way out of poverty, sickness, failure, and every other ill that afflicts the congregation—at a price, of course.

Many Western Christians are aware of prosperity theology’s dangers. However, on a more practical level, our adversary in Africa isn’t so much the prosperity gospel but rather the man who wields it: the enigmatic, captivating, shrewd, and calculating “man of God.”

Our adversary in Africa isn’t so much the prosperity gospel but rather the man who wields it: the enigmatic, captivating, shrewd, and calculating ‘man of God.’

The masses believe him because his worship services are filled predominantly with displays of “power.” Demons are allegedly cast out, all sorts of miracles are supposedly performed, and, of course, lots of money changes hands—enough to buy private jets and make him an exemplar of success. The undergirding theology is about power as much as prosperity.

The difficult truth is that Nigeria is home to the most influential “men of God” on the continent. Based on the Nigerian example, we see not only that the “man of God” becomes hugely popular and subsequently wealthy but that he’s able to open branches all over the world. The number one exporter of this art has a branch in Paris and one in Malindi, Kenya, where I live. Such is the reach and appeal of these global brands. What it shows is that the growth of African Christianity is poised to influence and shape the global church’s future.

Correcting Course

We must acknowledge and intentionally rise up against the influence of the “man of God” and his dangerous teachings. If we don’t, the future of Christianity will still be African, yes. But it’ll be a future fraught with danger. Here are a few recommendations for how we can change course toward a better future for both Africa and the world.

1. Expository Preaching

In contrast to prosperity preachers who lust for power and twist God’s promises, Africa’s church needs more faithful and biblical expository preaching. We need true men of God who recognize the power of God’s Word rightly handled. And, by God’s grace, Africa isn’t without a witness when it comes to faithful exposition.

The Zambian church is leading the way in training and deploying men in their country and in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda to be careful teachers of Scripture. These aren’t men with any inherent power in themselves; rather, they’re weak vessels in the hands of Almighty God. I’m grateful for the preaching example set by brothers such as Joe Simfukwe, Conrad Mbewe, and Ronald Kalifungwa. Their land is home to Victoria Falls, known as “the smoke that thunders.” But praise be to God for how true preaching has thundered even beyond their borders.

2. Church Planting

Africans need to see that the local church is meant to be living proof of the gospel’s power. A community marked by holiness and love, living ordinary lives to the glory of God, shows the gospel truly is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16, KJV). In Malindi, an end-time Branhamite cult (under the influence of a “man of God,” Paul Mackenzie) led 446 people, children among them, to starve themselves to death. In the aftermath of these horrors, even some Muslims began engaging me in conversation, seeking to find out what a true man of God is and what his message should be.

But only healthy churches, where the gospel is visible in changed lives, can provide clear answers to this watching and questioning world. Africa needs more of these kinds of kingdom outposts. We need more church planting.

What these people need is to see that the local church is meant to be living proof of the gospel’s power.

3. Missionary Sending

An hour and a half from Malindi is the small town of Rabai. There, the German missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf set up a mission station in 1846, after losing his wife and child further south in Mombasa. Krapf began work on a Swahili translation of the Scriptures assisted by, of all people, a Muslim judge. This gifted linguist went on to give us the first grammar and dictionary of the Swahili language.

As a Swahili translator myself, seeing firsthand the power of unleashing biblical truth in a language our people can understand, I’m grateful for Krapf’s life and work. However, we’re nearly 200 years removed from this exemplary man, and one of the questions of the hour is this: Do we need more missionaries to come in from the West? The answer, in all humility, is no. At least not in the same way.

Whereas Krapf landed in a place where there was no Christian presence and little if any education among the locals, the situation on the continent today is vastly different. We have faithful and capable local men serving in God-honoring local churches. We need a new missions paradigm.

The time has come for the church in the West to consider coming alongside these brothers and churches to help equip them to do the work on the ground. Send us a team of scholars to teach a modular course at our seminaries. Take some of our young men and help them further their theological training. Mentor and feature our fledgling authors. Help us fund translation and local publishing efforts. These are some ways the church in the West can faithfully steward its resources and walk hand in hand with the African church into this future that’s so vividly sub-Saharan, nay, East African.

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