News
By Elias Massicame
There is an urgent need in Africa for the development of a new theology which responds to peoples' needs and frees itself from its 19th-century European ties. That is the challenge to churches and theological institutions throughout the continent.
It was one of the messages from a World Council of Churches (WCC) conference on theological education and ecumenical formation held near Johannesburg, South Africa, from 17-22 September 2002.
The conference attempted to critically evaluate the current situation of theological education and ecumenical formation in Africa within the framework of a "Journey of Hope for African churches and people in the 21st century".
For Rev. Dr Nyambura Njoroge of the WCC's Ecumenical Theological Education team, the conference sought to "cultivate a spirit of togetherness and unity in theological education and ecumenical formation, for the renewal of the church and Christianity, and to produce theologies, ethics and spiritualities that are life-affirming and life-giving in Africa".
About 87 participants, including 32 women, attended the conference. They represented churches, theological education institutions, Christian training centres, confessional and inter-confessional ecumenical fellowships, libraries, media, mission boards, interfaith networks and associations in 33 countries in Africa, North America and Europe.
The Journey of Hope started in 1991, explained WCC president Dr Agnes Abuom. Under this umbrella, ecumenical delegations have monitored general elections in several African countries, and ecumenical partners have promoted several other democracy-building initiatives. It is also an invitation from African churches to other churches throughout the world to join them on their journey, Abuom said.
South African Council of Churches (SACC) general secretary Rev. Dr Molefe Tsele told participants at the opening ceremony that in Africa, theological seminaries, colleges and faculties "remain oriented to 19th-century Europe, equipping their students to answer questions designed to answer a European audience seeking to make sense of [...] growing secularism and tensions between reason and faith - two problems which [...] are far from the African experience."
Calling the 20th century "a century of missed opportunities, failed promises and deferred dreams" for Africa, Dr Tsele suggested that "We have not been responsible with public resources, we failed dismally in directing the little we had to the most needy, and as publicly elected ministers, we used our position to hoard and unjustly benefit ourselves rather than those who put their trust in us."
Today, Tsele noted, many African Christians are asserting that the starting point for resolving the continent's predicament is when Africans begin to admit to these failures rather than externalize them.
Dr Vuadi Vibila, dean of the Protestant University of Congo's theological faculty, observed that theological education in Africa is becoming more denominational and less ecumenical. For Vibila, theological education and ecumenical formation must not forget African realities, traditions and cultures. "Africa is our space, and we need to organize it," she said. Vibila also suggested that African churches should engage in re-evangelism "although we have been already evangelized".
While evoking the major challenges Africa faces today - from widespread poverty to mismanagement of public revenue, from unsustainable land use to the decimation of entire communities by HIV/AIDS, from cultural alienation to the decline in foreign investment - Journey of Hope participants noted that African churches face their own problems: like gender injustice, disunity, denominationalism, fragile ecumenism and leadership and management crises.
New methodologies of teaching theology within the African theological institutions, they said, should deal with social, political, economic, ethnical and gender issues, as well as conflict resolution and management, HIV/AIDS and other opportunistic diseases. They stressed that theological education and ecumenical formation should be open to both ordained and lay people, youth, women and all the people of God.
Participants called for the unity of the church in Africa, and for ecumenical action as an imperative of the Gospel. Several ecumenical partners committed themselves to continue and increase support for the Journey of Hope by "telling your story to each of our constituencies".
At the end of the conference, participants approved a plan of action that addresses communication and information-sharing, accreditation and standards, HIV/AIDS and other opportunist diseases, the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV), publishing and teaching methodologies.
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NEPAD
One-day workshops on African women in leadership, and on NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) preceded the conference.
Addressing a joint meeting of the two workshops, Rev. Dr Frank Chikane, director of the office of the South African president, explained that NEPAD is a new vision and an initiative of African leaders, as well as a programme "to place Africa on a path of sustainable growth" and development.
Although churches were neither included nor consulted on NEPAD, workshop participants urged churches, theological and lay training centres to study, discuss and disseminate the NEPAD document within their communities. They also acknowledged that NEPAD shares the same vision as the Journey of Hope for African Churches: that of a meaningfully abundant life for all Africa's people.
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Elias Massicame from Mozambique is a journalist and editor for the Christian Council of Mozambique. He attended the September Journey of Hope conference in Johannesburg.