MISSION IN AFRICA: A RENEWED FOCUS
Appreciating the Korean Church as a Missionary Partner in Africa 
by Dr. Richard M. Verreynne
Moderator of the Christian Reformed Church in South Africa

(NOTE: This paper delivered at Stellenbosch to a conference of mission and church leaders of the Presbyterian Church of Korea)

Introduction 

This generation in Africa has been lauded as the one that would see sons and daughters of Africa rise up and take their place in the world as bearers of hope and partakers in a blessed renaissance. Africa has undoubtedly become the focus of attention for the rich (and ever lacking!) developed countries of the West as well as the oil and industry rich (and ever growing!) developing countries of the East. This is mainly because of the enormous natural resources that this sparsely populated continent has to offer. It possesses most of the known minerals of the world, and in significant quantities (Adeyemo 1983:26). Africa is the second largest continent on the face of the earth, and can easily fit the maps of populous countries like India, China, the Russian Federation, Europe, Argentina and New Zealand into its own total map space.

Africa has a collective climate that is conducive for human existence (1983:24) and some of the most arable land in the world. Many believe that Africa could become the food pantry of the world in the next generation – that is if it can set itself free from its depressing colonial past and repressing “liberated” present. Perhaps the greatest asset of Africa is its people – from the warm-hearted Malawian people to the war-torn, yet forgiving, people of Uganda and Rwanda; from the enterprising Nigerian peoples to the South African peoples, who in the spirit of Madiba have chosen to be reconciled rather than separated by skin colour and culture. And then we have not even yet mentioned the open and receptive spirituality of the African peoples.

Still, Africa is like a teeming nightmare where unhurried, hungry children keep missing the bus of chance and opportunity; where budding young ones find life escaping them through the dread finger grips of liscentious living and the ensuing pandemic of HIV/Aids and STD’s; where any sense of security keeps slipping away from mothers and fathers due to the unrelenting demands of quasi politicians.

In the midst of this dichotomous image of a much varied African population, the church seeks to understand its mission field and missional task. That is the purpose of this paper: to understand afresh what mission in African context involves and requires.

1. Mission in Africa 

Recent statistics have shown that Christianity is growing faster in Africa than in any other continent. The initial missionary and explorational efforts that both led the way, and followed in the wake of the colonization of Africa, have fortunately given way to an indigenous church movement and (of late) an ensuing mission movement that is showing forth the character traits of an African theology that is both new in its reflection as well as its practical obedience to the Lord’s Great Commission.

Yet it is obvious that the church in Africa face challenges when it comes to being church and exercising its vocation in the continent. The African indigenous church has seen the development of a syncretistic theology that endeavours to marry animism and the Gospel. In evangelical circles sound doctrine has been forced to take a back seat. A fervour for missionary activity, evangelism and church planting have taken pre-eminence over the development of sound theology and the defence of the truth of the Gospel. Furthermore extreme social needs have developed in Africa, and although the church has proved faithful in giving and providing on a micro-scale, the macro-factors causing these social needs have remained unaddressed. Poverty and dependency have become the norm in great parts of Africa. Urbanization has further impacted family and cultural structures, while globalization has opened the way for either an escape from the plight of poverty in Africa, or left the door open for economic and cultural rape.

Any expatriate mission efforts in Africa will need to comprehend the many-faceted nature of life on the continent, the forged images of church life as well as the praxis of mission as it is expounded here.

1.1 Mission and theology 

It has been stated authoritarianly and quite paternalistically that church growth and leadership in Africa “is a mile wide and an inch deep”. For that reason just about every expatriate mission effort to Africa has included theological training of leaders as its primary goal and purpose. This tended to ignore the difference in nature of leadership in Africa to that which is prevalent in Western and Eastern philosophy. It also applied teaching paradigms to Africa that was spawned from the West and tended to disregard the soil-clinging, metaphor-rich training paradigms of African cultures.

It should now also be understood that in general there is a fundamental shift taking place in the method of doing theology. Instead of analysing and systematising the faith as was generally done in the last few centuries, another way to do theology is surfacing. This has to do with participation in the Missio Dei (Hendriks 2004:24). God and His mission is one and the same. Therefore the church, which is His body, has come to know and understand Him in a missional sense. The church is now learning to do theology as and when it participates in His universal and ongoing mission. Theological training is thus no longer to be a static exercise of trying to internalise bulk volumes of intellectual stuff, but rather to participate in the Triune God’s missional praxis.

Expatriate missionaries to Africa can therefore no longer simply unfold their encyclopeadiae of theology, unpack their libraries of theological resources, establish their institutions of higher learning. Rather, they need to learn from and listen to the heartbeat of God’s mission in Africa; they need to share their missionary call and have it reflected upon by African believers; they need to do mission as they understand it and have it corrected and influenced by the missional approaches of believers in African context. By definition, Christian theology is contextual (Hall 1991:69). Expatriate mission will have to enter the context of their mission field and learn from it before endeavouring to teach to it. Doing theology in Africa will require a study of social, economic, political megatrends globally and locally, and determine how they influence Africa as a continent (Hendriks 2004:27).

Theology is about interpreting the time and place of your missional existence. From the bottom upward the church has to interpret the local realities in order to bear witness in accordance with the Word of God they carry in hand and heart (2004:28). If expatriate mission efforts bypass this essential nature of being church, it will hinder the growth of the African church and the coming of the Kingdom in this context.

1.2 Mission and caring 

Care has become the buzz word of this generation. Globalisation and the information revolution have brought our world to the best understanding ever of the plight of the poor, the diseased, the migrant, the marginilised and the dehumanized. Care has become secularised, with politicians, business people, entertainment artists and the like all vying for a spot in the care-train and in the care-givers limelight.

For the church, care is a mandate given us by the Lord Jesus Christ. He called His disciples to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, accommodate the poor, visit the incarcerated, and give water to the thirsty. His disciples echo His commission by calling the church to not simply say, “Get warm!” but to give a blanket; to not only say, “Be fed!” but to give of your own food supplies; to not only say, “Be strong!” but to administer healing to the sick in His name. Through the years those obedient to the Great Commission have often needed to broaden their scope of ministry when they reached the mission field and found the objects of their mission suffering because of some condition to which they as missionaries were able to bring redress. To this the great monuments of the past can testify: hospitals, schools, training centres, hostels, clinics, hospices and orphanages.

Poverty is the most pressing of all Africa’s many depressing problems (Kinoti 1994:15). Poverty manifests itself in hunger, famine and food shortages. Tens of millions of African children suffer from malnutrition, issuing forth in physical and mental retardation, disease, disability and premature death. Besides the inability to feed, clothe and educate their children, poor people in Africa find themselves imprisoned within the snares of ignorance, superstition and general lack of life quality (1994:16). Close to 60% of rural Africans live below the bread-line. African people suffer the indignity of being the poorest people on earth, with two-thirds of the poorest 40 nations in the world being African.

Because of their poverty, many Africans are plagued by numerous diseases, infectious diseases, many of which are curable and preventable. The poor state of Africa’s health is indicated by high infant mortality rates and low life expectancy (1994:17). The scourge of HIV/Aids has madly escalated this tragedy.

Expatriate mission work in Africa will require a strategic and consistent involvement of ministry and resources to alleviate this extreme need. This would mean that poor areas and worst affected regions should be targeted, rather than focusing attention on relatively well established communities. Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel to the poor. Will we finally see obedience that complies with this divine command?

Obedience to this command will however not just require an alleviation of the need of the poor, but also an active involvement in the process of correcting structural injustices. Just as in India where poverty has been imbedded in an injust caste system, so also poverty in Africa is often indelibly written into the destinies of the poor. One of the richest nations in Africa, is South Africa, where the economy has blossomed beyond all expectations since the first ever free and fair elections of 1994. Yet, in spite of the obvious prosperity and affluence, the numbers of the poorest poor have just continued to rise. South Africa still remains one of the nations competing for the top position on the Gini coefficient, a measuring tool that shows the gap between the richest rich and the poorest poor in a nation.

Finally the missional task will require a process of healing of inner mentalities, a re-education and reframing of the collective mind of Africans in society. Klaus Nürnberger rightly claims that “a change of collective consciousness is critical for social transformation” (Nürnberger 1999:142). He makes a profound statement: “Without internalised mindsets (that is, shared assumptions, beliefs, values, norms, conventions, statutes, roles, procedures, goals and so forth), no social system could operate.” (ibid).

Kinoti believes that in African culture a fatalistic attitude to life and a tolerance towards evils, such as oppression, corruption, famine and humiliation lie at the root of the economic and social wretchedness of societies in Africa (1994:46,47). He states: “Development ought to mean an improvement in the quality of life such that every human being has their basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, health, education) met adequately, their dignity and self-esteem respected, their freedom honoured, and their potentiality given full scope for realization. Such development is only possible if it has a strong moral basis. Moral failure is at the heart of the prevailing socio-economic crisis in Africa.” (1994:54,55).
It is clear that in a ministry of caring there is much more needed than a mere hygiene plaster to the bruise. Once more mission will have to be comprehensive in the fullest sense of the word.

1.3 Mission and partnership 

In his latest book on partnership, Well Connected, Phill Butler (2006:21f) points out that the idea of people working together is a God Design. God made man in His image with a communal inclination. The establishment of Israel as the people of God rested upon the principle of community and concern for the other. When Christ founded His church as a living body, He gave them gifts for community ministry. It was never God’s plan to see man crowned in an individualistic thrust for self-attainment and self-aggrandisement. Yet that became the pattern for many churches, denominations and organisations in missions. Often resistance to the Gospel simply came as reaction to this kind of individualist, domineering, turf-protecting, self-acclaiming approaches. Those on the receiving end of these mission approaches were confronted with ministries that each sought to form its own beach-head even though it proved to be a duplication of what others had already established. In some parts of Africa mission efforts have become so confusingly competitive that African pastors and leaders have been tempted into joining a competitive scramble for the most lucrative organisation to give themselves to.

However, in the development of global missions today, Africa has emerged as a significant partner. As in other parts of the so-called two-thirds world a new paradigm in being church and doing mission has emerged (D’Souza 2003:101). The church in Africa is proving to be better equipped and ready to cooperate with the global church in fulfilling the task of world evangelisation. Not only are there more available workers now offering themselves to be sent from Africa into mission fields on other continents, but there is a rapid growth and availability of national workers in Africa that need to be recruited, trained and sent out among their own people and others in different parts of Africa. D’Souza says that the support of nationals in Africa and partnering with them to accelerate the task of mission, is no longer an either/or issue (ibid).

An old African proverb is often quoted: “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.” Any expatriate mission efforts on African soil, will need to be partnership based. The church in Africa has much to offer in terms of grassroots structure and deployment. It is not good at administering top structures, but it is extremely good at keeping the ear on the ground and ensuring that hands are held when the storm-waters rush in. A case in point are the orphans of Letsitemba, just north of Bronkhorstspruit, who got orphaned when parents and grandparents died in the AIDS pandemic that swept through their community. They were ostracised by a community who themselves were poor and fearful of the scourge of AIDS. So these kids organised themselves under the leadership of an eleven-year-old boy. They rigged a run-down shack to give them cover against the highveld cold, and begged for scraps to feed the micro-community of 13 – all of them under the age of 11. A local church found them and wanted to take them into foster care, but ran up against the strict laws concerning child trafficking and kidnapping. So they decided to let the boys stay where they are, but set aside a small facility at their church site where these kids could come before and after school to be fed, bathed, clothed, and assisted with homework. This has become their playground and home away from home. Thirteen kids required some volunteer hands and generous funding, with which the church coped. However, as more children emerged from their hide-outs the toll on available funding became too steep. What a wonderful opportunity for partnership this offers an expatriate mission effort, that really is willing to become sacraficially involved in Africa.

2. The Korean Church: A Partner in Africa 

Korean missionaries are indisputably an extraordinary phenomenon in mission. There are already close on 17 000 missionaries from South Korea spread all over the world in more than 173 countries. Their missionary fervour has become an inspiration to many in the body of Christ globally. Even secular news media have of late taken up the story of Korean missionaries compelled by the Biblical mandate, surrendering their lives for the cause of Christ.

How can the Korean mission enterprise in Africa be appreciated and utilised at best? Herewith some strategic suggestions that flow from the above study:

2.1 Africa is a ripening harvest field. Southern, Central and West Africa are open and receptive areas for mission endeavour. Many countries in these areas were affected adversely by colonialism, and still react negatively to mission efforts from the West, but they warm to the overtures of those from the Eeast that come to serve them. 

2.2 Countries in North Africa remain either closed or antagonistic to mission work, and yet the signs are there that God is at work building His church and executing His mission. Korean expatriates living in North African countries should be encouraged and equipped to live out their Biblical calling to make disciples. 

2.3 Africa has gained a measure of maturity and that should be respected. Foreign missionaries will close their doors of opportunity in Africa if they allow themselves to be tempted towards any form of paternalism. Mission work should actively seek to show respect for the human beings who are the objects of their mission, and build upon their sense of human and cultural dignity. 

2.4 Mission work in Africa should be utterly and completely evangelical, that is focused on communicating the good news of Christ into every situation. For that reason Korean missionaries should subject themselves to a committed process of language learning and cultural adaptation. The multi- cultural and multi-lingual context of Africa should be seen as a beneficial learning opportunity and each missionary should be compelled to enrol for vernacular language study. A learner is more humble by nature than a teacher. Submit to a learning curve. 

2.5 Seek to partner with people in the community both in learning language and culture, as well as communicating the Gospel. No Korean missionary should work on his/her own. Partnership with nationals should be compulsory for at least the first three years of living in Africa. 

2.6 Partnership should be expanded to include decision-making, research, community development, project planning and budgeting. Partnership should therefore go deeper than just the veneer of hospitality and courtesy visits. It will prove invaluable for the Korean sending church/body to begin identifying key denominational and/or organisational indigenous partners with whom a longstanding relationship can be built. 

2.7 Ensure that missionaries are informed about the socio-political and socio-economic factors governing life in the country to which they travel. Also ensure that their missionary training and equipping is sufficient for and targeted towards the ministry needs on a social level. 

2.8 Choose to go where poverty levels are low and choose to dwell as close as possible to the people that will be ministered to. This will be needed for credibility as well as cultural orientation. 

2.9 Let any form of theological or missiological training be a secondaryor tertiary goal, subject to sufficient exposure to the need in context, and research to determine what educational lines such training should follow. 

2.10 Ensure that all missionary efforts culminate in the strengthening of at least one part of the existing church structures that are found on the field.

3. Bibliography

Adeyemo T 1997 Is Africa Cursed? Nairobi: CLMC

Bosch D 1991 Transforming Mission. Maryknoll: ORBIS

Butler P 2006 Well Connected. Waynesboro: Authentic

D’Souza JD 2003 Global Missions and the Role of the Two-thirds World
Church. In Greenlee D. Global Passion. London: Authentic

Cope L 1995 Clearly Communicating Christ. Seattle: WYAM

Guder DL 1985 Be My Witnesses. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans

Kinoti G 1994 Hope for Africa, and what the Christian can do. Nairobi:
AISRED

Kritzinger D (Ed) 2002 No Quick Fixes. Pretoria: IMER

Nürnberger K 1999 Prosperity, Poverty & Pollution. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster

Verkuyl J 1978 Contemporary Missiology. An Introduction. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans