THE RESILIENT MISSIONARY SPIRIT REMAINS THE HOPE OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH TODAY

Reflecting on the song “Beebale Amansi ne Mapeera abaleeta ekitangala” That is thanks to Br. Haman and Fr Loudel who brought us faith. Sometimes it means enlightenment. One wonders how on a person would leave the known to explore wilderness (unknown) to persistently evangelize strangers amidst life threatening challenges. Often times they were attacked by diseases, local people, harsh environments, lack of requirements, sometimes they were misunderstood and mistreated but they did not give. Even in the current society, many have been taken for a ride, have had their property plundered yet they have not given up on hoping that humanity will change for the better. I once asked one missionary where he gets the energy to hang on. He replied for the success of his
missions, that sometimes it is good to
use listen to the heart than the head.
This spoke volumes to me. Reflecting
on the statement, I realized that
much as the head is very vital in our
decisions, it is easily infiltrated and can
be corrupted. The heart on the other
hand is angelic. No wonder it is ideally
the source of love. The love I mean
here is that of self sacrifice, service
and dedication as contrasted from
that of self seeking and gratification
of personal desires. Taking Uganda as
an example, until recently when the ministry for Karamoja was created, the missionaries have been serving with unlimited hope. When growing up, I used to hear...you go to Karamoja at your own risk....we shall not wait for Karamoja to develop.... All these imply how vulnerable, isolated, illiterate, powerless and poor the people of the region have been. Imagine what if the gap covered by the missionaries was absent?

The missionaries have had a resilient spirit that has enabled them move to indefinite journeys; meet strange people, learnt different languages and be acclimatized to different conditions. The aforementioned qualities require denial of material attachments and dedication to the essence. In the contemporary society, it would be a tough choice for one to choose a humble life in the time of consumerism and imaginary abundance. Missionary life requires one to get out of personal comfort to reach out the community in need. Jean-Marc Ela (1988) observes that “God is not wounded in the divine sanctuaries. God is wounded in the women and men who are the divine dwelling place in history”. God is wounded in miserable men and women languishing in the streets, slums, war zones, and modern slavery etc. By the way, currently; there is a special group of needy and vulnerable people. These are the rich! Often times they are misjudged, exploited and marginalized by the poor. Although since time immemorial, attention has been directed to the poor; the rich too are in special need of spiritual attention and need social protection. The church of the time needs to devise means of reaching both the rich and the poor with equitable amount of effort. The gap between the rich and the poor is not ideal, but it is the reality. Considering this, the missionary of the time needs to learn how to manage diversity. Through the self sacrifice and resilient spirit of the missionaries, we have been exposed to formal education, political skills, medical attention, and technological progress and have been open to the world. One would wonder whether or not, Africans would not evolve to this level at one time. Basing on Cheick Anta Diop (1973 & 1978) one would say yes we would. However, not to fantasize, there were vices which albeit have persisted and compromise human dignity until today.

The presence of ethnocentrism, intolerance, religious discrimination practiced in governments, workplaces, and neighborhoods reveal that having African unity and interactions as a bigger entity would have been a bigger challenge and task to realise. History has it that neighboring ethnic groups were often at war. During the era of slave trade, the weak neighbors would be the victims of slavery. For apparent unity among people, we should credit the missionaries. They quickened this process of bringing unity among humanity. They brought not only concepts but practice of universalism, pluralism, cosmopolitanism, transnationalism and right now globalization. Without much fear of how you will be received, you can now visit new places to non relatives with much confidence. On getting stranded, often plan A is going to a church; a Catholic one to be specific.

I hereby credit Catholic missionaries for their contribution towards universaling humanity regardless of colour and sex. Dalon (2008) describes the word catholic (Greek katholikos) means “universal” and has been used to designate the church since its earliest period, when it was the only Christian church. Achola (2008) describes the Catholic Church as a conservative “multi-national corporation”. These descriptions call for theological reflections which are out of the scope of my reflection and knowledge base. However, the core issue in the two assertions is the resilient dedication to the values and virtues of the community, more specifically the Christian community.

In the contemporary society, one would think that we have reached the epic of civilization, and no longer need missionary activities. Surprisingly, as the church in Africa celebrates its maturity, it seems to be in need missionary activities and spirit more than before. The urgent need is to concretise the values of the Christian community in a permissive community with loose bonds. A community with less responsibility but more claims, more resources but less sharing, more information less actions, more human rights, less human responsibilities and rear common sense. Where technology and money rule the world yet cannot solve its problems. There are no more homogenous ways to guide communities. The truth is not what real but what one feels and wants it to be. All these realities are also based in communities that supposedly know. The early Christians in Africa embraced Christianity with curiosity. The evangelizers where we the source of information, this probably helped in spiritual concentration and growth. The Christians of the time are elite, exposed and have access to all sources of information and some of which may not be healthy for the church. In the name of modernity, we at times risk embracing what is not necessary and may compromise our integrity.

On 25th December 2014, Archbishop Kizito Lwanga was also decrying the so called modernity that has compromised human dignity. In his homily, he called upon the Christians to embrace the spirit of service and avoid vices that negatively affect human dignity. He emphasized the need for purposive selection of what is needed in our context from what is wanted just for the sake of consumerism. But then, who will throw the first stone by restraining oneself from unnecessary extravagance and consumerism. The repercussions of these are another source of need for another era of evangelism.

The developments of the time affect the Church and several Christian ideologies. The Church leaders and the followers are all people of the time. They subscribe to the new developments yet are aware that not all is wanted (as opposed to needed) will promote human dignity. In his Christmas message of 2014, Pope Francis called upon people to spend less and share more but is this practical in the time of consumerism and exposure? Will the media allow reducing on the illicit advertisements and earn less in order to save the public? Will the wedding budgets be cut to half even to a quarter to save money to rehabilitate and equip maternity units, preventive and curative health programmes and facilities in the country, at least in our church medical facilities? Will the academic institutions at all levels withdraw the ideas of each owning buses to reduce on the school fees? I have always wondered why students in a boarding school need a school bus when 80% of their time is spent in an enclosure. Hiring a bus when need arises would cut costs of operation. I would appreciate if the buses were fetching students to and from school on a daily basis. What about the church projects, are they all needed or just wanted simply because a certain church A, B or C runs the same projects? Do they build and bound the Christian community at a local church? I am afraid, some of them are not building the community and are expensive often times they are a discouraging social pressure that distracts spiritual commitment.

More questions than answers! Am sure the reader now sees that author as fanaticizing and living in utopia. The fact I bring forward is that the solutions to our problems in the church/ communities are within us. We only we need an ethical will to take action! We need a resilient missionary spirit that chooses to begin and never gives up until tangible benefits that promote human dignity are seen. Ethics is needed to rationally differentiate what we need from what we want if we are to remain on track as a church. The need falls more on our church leaders to lead and guide so that the followers can follow. The missionary spirit of humility, availability, dedication, innovation, is highly needed to build and bound the Christian community today. The missionary spirit of denial and restraining from material attachment will greatly help in this battle. Otherwise subscribing to the contemporary social pressure, the church leaders risk losing their authority to critique and demand positive changes. The current church leaders will not go through the wilderness of animals but of criticisms and backlashes from the beneficiaries of the vices in the consumerist society. But with the resilience spirit, change is possible and basing on already existing structures of our church, positive change can be universalized.

  

Dr. Tabitha Naisiko