Dialogue with Traditional Religion Pushes Christianity in Africa Forward

A recent study seminar entitled “Ancestors and Healing in African Spirituality: Challenge to the Lutheran Churches in Africa” organised by Lutheran World Federation (LWF) allows representatives from African Traditional Religion (ATR) and Lutheran churches in Africa to enter a new dialogue, which will be one of the determinative steps in advancing Christianity in the continent

The strong influence of ATR across Africa has concerned the Lutheran missionaries. ATR is deeply infiltrated into the culture and philosophy of Africans, and that hinders the African Lutherans to plant the Christian faith fully in their heart.

Facing to this challenge, the objective of the seminar is to promote study, research, reflection and interfaith dialogue on ancestors and healing in the ATR, so as to probe the implications for African Lutheran identity today, according to Rev. Dr Ingo Wulfhorst, study secretary for the Church and People of Other Faiths in the LWF Department for Theology and Studies (DTS).

Some participants of the seminar said that almost all of African cultures were defined and regulated by traditional religion, and this has resulted in an identity crisis for Lutheran Christians. They even commented this is the “biggest challenges facing any African Christian”.

The question on the authority of sangomas (healers) in the ATR is highlighted on the seminar. Professor Isabel Apawo Phiri, a lecturer in African theology at the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa, pointed out that Christians openly recognise the role of traditional healers and accept them as effective.

Rev. Pukumah Yakubu, teaching at the Bronnum Lutheran Seminary in Nigeria, preached that the healing ministry was a gift from God, aimed at energising the church and bringing people to God’s saving grace. However, he argued the challenge was not whether the church should incorporate African religion and sangomas in its healing ministry but rather, “what has happened in the church to smother and nullify the healing, restoring power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”

Sangoma argued that unanswered questions and misunderstandings are the reasons limiting the true growth of African Christians, but not the culture of ATR. Dr Nokuzola Mndende, a sangoma who presented herself as non-Christian but not anti-Christian, said that “If a person gets healed, does it really matter who did the healing, the Christian God, a sangoma or the ancestors?”

Dr Sylvester B. Kahakwa, lecturing in systematic theology at the Tumaini Makumira-University College, Tanzania, presented his paper titled “Christ and the Ancestors in African Christian Theology.” In this paper, he urges to seek an African christological model that could reflect on the meaning and significance of Jesus in an African cultural context, including the ancestors.

“It involves an interpretation and understanding of Christ according to the African frame of reference, without betraying the biblical witness of him,” he said.

This is the fourth regional meeting in a series that was begun in 2002 under a new LWF study program “Spiritualistic Movements as a Global Challenge for the Church”.

“During this seminar we have had dialogue because we learnt to respect, listen and understand each other,” asserted diviner and healer, Dr Nokuzola Mndende, professor of religion and theology, University of Fort Hare, South Africa.

Dr Reinhard Veller, lecturer at the United Theological College in Harare, Zimbabwe, and a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe, added “the study seminar also showed that the churches should take courage regarding their own abilities, gifts and talents in their healing ministry.”

Rev. Dr Ingo Wulfhorst, study secretary for the Church and People of Other Faiths in the LWF Department for Theology and Studies (DTS), described the outcome of the regional discussions as fruitful, as the processes had paved the way for a new level of awareness especially about the different approaches to dialogue at the grassroots level.