I was talking to a good friend recently and she was sharing about a Togolese man who recently moved to the US and who has been greatly influenced by John Piper. He told her something that has been on my heart for years now. Something I first shared in the post I titled: The Paradox of African Christianity. My opinion is that Africans do not need more international missionaries to tell them about Jesus. Most African countries are already deeply religious. The many megachurches on the continent can afford to sponsor any additional evangelism efforts.
What we need is DISCIPLESHIP.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)
Many Africans confess Jesus as Lord, but have barely been transformed even after years of being saved.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (NKJV)
It is possible to be saved, but carnal. In the above passage Paul clearly implies that we are expected to grow in Christ. Carnal men are those who have known the Lord but remain alive in their flesh due to the absence of growth. The absence of transformation. They remain babes in Christ.
I am of the strong opinion that many of us African Christians remain babes in Christ for years and even decades after giving our lives to Christ. And the primary reason for this is our blind loyalty to mindsets defined by tradition. If our minds are not renewed, how can there be transformation? Most of us are bound by the shackles of cultural ideologies. These are the strongholds that hold us back from experiencing God's best for us in Christ.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the family dynamics of the average African Christian family. Even though there is usually a strong commitment to church activity, the family is typically driven by traditional African values, not Christian ones. And I think this is the real reason why we as African Christians fail to impact our communities. The real reason why we pray much, but our results are few in comparison.
The Togolese man I mentioned earlier shared with my friend about how he learned what it meant to be a Christian husband and father from John Piper. And how it differed greatly from what was taught and accepted in Togo. It is the same in Cameroon and most other African countries. There is barely any effort put towards correcting the cultural norms that do not align with scripture. The family is the basic unit that builds a society. If we don't get it right, is there hope for our communities and nations?
We desperately need Focus on the Family in Africa.
Focus on the Family is a ministry I have been following for a few years now. Their work is centered on building and supporting strong Christian families based on biblical truth. I have learned a lot about marriage and parenting from their resources. I hope someday they find expression in Africa, because the Christian community there could really use their discipleship.
Breaking strongholds can be a long arduous task, but it is worth it. Because what is on the other side is much better than what we typically hold on to. It is a spiritual battle, for the devil works extra hard to keep us believing a lie. The Bible should be the ultimate authority in our lives, not archaic traditions. I am not saying we should completely throw away our identity as Africans. Far from it. I am rather encouraging us to use wisdom to identify and reject those aspects of our culture that do not agree with scripture.
Scripture over culture, always.
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