Africa
-
Pastoral Ethics and Belief Baggage: A Critical Look at Animal Symbolism in Witchcraft
Introduction One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl… So begins the old British rhyme about magpies. I would have dismissed this as silly superstition, but for my experience one spring afternoon in 2014. I was writing in my studio in North London, seated at a desk facing the window. Outside, a magpie nestled on a big tree facing my direction and stayed there all day. In time, it moved to other branches but did not fly away. Occasionally, I looked up, hoping it was no longer there, but it stayed put, still staring in my direction. The following morning, I was back at my desk, and…
-
Evangelising Africa in the 21st Century: What it Takes to Create Impact and Convert Souls
Missionaries first arrived in Africa employing various strategies to convert native populations, such as providing education, healthcare and other civilizing services, that were often successful at drawing followers to Christianity. Recently, however, many of these duties have fallen to governments instead, leaving a lesser role for churches in these areas. Yet despite this shift in responsibility, churches continue to play an essential role in education and healthcare provision. Due to decreasing church attendance rates in Africa, churches need new methods of evangelism to attract and keep followers. I will share my own experiences on what has proven successful at engaging people and cultivating commitment to church attendance. Church-run institutions across…
-
When Christian Fasting Turns into Child Abuse
Introduction In late April and until end of May 2023, national and international media reported at least two hundred and twenty-seven bodies of children and adults discovered in shallow graves in a forest near Shakahola village of Magarini Constituency, Kenya.[1] The victims died from the religious directions given by Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a taxi driver-turned-founder of the Good News International Church, that they must fast to death in order to meet Jesus. Those rescued were beyond recognition because of their emaciated conditions. Fundamental questions remain regarding the classification of religious movements. The issue now arises whether Makenzie’s organisation is a Neo-Pentecostal church or cult group, as it has now…
-
Subverting Political Powers through the Power of Advent
Christianity has always been an act of translation. So argued the Gambian missiologist, Lamin Sanneh, who spent many of his years at Yale University. The tradition of advent, celebrated in many western Christian traditions, has travelled a long distance from medieval Europe to the urban towns and villages of the global South. Here in Africa, Christmas trees litter selfies on Instagram profiles. Christmas lights adorn various buildings in a way that enlightens the complicated courtship between faith and consumeristic ideals. Advent hymns ring through songs and prayers in liturgies across various churches in the city of Nairobi. What this act of translation has potential to do is to speak to…
