Africa is a vast landmass. All 50 U.S. states, China, and India comfortably fit inside its continental boundary. Equally staggering is the diversity of its cultures. With no less than 3,000 ethnic groups and over 2,000 linguistic groups, it is a beautiful mosaic of the image of God. Yet as the rest of the world has become increasingly aware of how rich the continent is in natural resources, it is easy to forget its greatest resource – Africans themselves.
In the eyes of God, Africa is bursting with beauty, creativity and vitality. Its population is now expanding toward 1.5 billion people, and more than half of them are under 25 years old. What can the church in America learn from Africa? Lots, first the American church must answer this: Does it want to learn from Africa? This is an important question to answer because, in God’s providence, Africa stands to play a very important role in His redemptive plans for the nations.
The global church’s demographic center of gravity is shifting (or has shifted already) to the Global South. Yet even in 2024 Africa, for many of us, remains shrouded in mystery. My brother once traveled to South Sudan on a business trip, and before departing for a trip, he asked a colleague what he could bring back for him. “Bring me a spear,” his colleague said. It’s humorous and yet, revealing. Africa remains a place of savagery and mystery to many of us.
I am an American missionary writing from Dakar, Senega, a medium-sized city on the western edge of the continent. There is simply no way I can adequately communicate the great variety of differences between Africa and America from my limited perspective. Yet as I stand with one foot in American culture and one in West African, I offer a way of framing the many differences.
Compared to much of the African church, most American Christians live what could be called a “buffered existence”. There are certainly exceptions to this claim. However, when one considers access to nutritious food, potable water, adequate medical care, reliable transportation, and a competitive education with prospects for employment, the differences are staggering. All these issues are worsened in a context of systemic corruption, environmental degradation, war, and political upheaval.
It is hard to exaggerate the gap between African and American societies when one considers a myriad of human level concerns. The vast majority of Americans, even those living at lower income levels, are playing on a different field. They are buffered from circumstances that most Africans consider part and parcel to daily life.
Because of the challenges our African brothers and sisters face every day, their lives are fraught with a level of precarity that is difficult for American Christians to understand. As I have watched my Christian friends patiently bear the perils of their unbuffered world, I am reminded of James’ encouragement to “count it all joy” when we are met with “trials of various kinds.” Why? Because “the testing of [our] faith produces steadfastness” which leads to our lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4). As missionaries, my wife and I are blessed to witness daily how James’ encouragement is fleshed out in the lives of our friends.
I hope the American church can learn the same as we seek to learn from the African church. Here are some aspects of the African church I have grown to appreciate:
The Energy of the African Church
In “Knowing God,” J.I. Packer remarks that those who know God have great energy for God. This is an apt description of the African church. Consider the work of getting to a worship service. In our local church, no one owns a car, so getting to the service is going to involve perseverance and effort. Whether someone walks a great distance, or, if they have the money, takes public transportation (which always involves walking to and from the bus stop), African Christians spend quite a bit of energy in getting to corporate worship.
Africans display energy in their worship, too. As they are event-oriented people rather than time-oriented people like most of the West, punctuality and the duration of events are much more fluid in Africa. Here worship services can go long – much longer than most Americans would be comfortable with. Singing will sometimes go on uninterrupted for 30 minutes or longer., and there can be long “seasons” of prayer as the worship leader moves through the liturgy. The 30 to 40 minute sermon common in the American church is a rarity in Africa.
This event orientation is even more prominent during special occasions like weddings, baptisms, and all-night prayer vigils. American Christians could learn and be inspired as they reflect upon the energy African Christians exert in traveling to church where they passionately engage in corporate worship with little concern over time.
The Spiritual Mindedness of the African Church
Africans are also keenly aware of the spiritual realm of human existence. Many can offer you first-hand accounts of the ways spiritual forces impinge upon our visible reality. Sickness is often attributed to demonic attack, magic spells, or both. Sometimes demonic activity gets blamed for problems with a much more benign source, like when a college student in our ministry told my wife that she thought Satan was stealing her money. She never seemed to have enough for what she needed. My wife gently pointed out to her that most likely the problem could be solved by learning how to keep a budget. This struck our friend as a novel idea!
The African church greatly needs solid biblical teaching about the demonic realm, but I believe equally that the American church could sharpen its sensitivity to the unseen spiritual world which is also a biblical reality. Here is a great opportunity for biblical understanding to move in both directions as we learn mutually from each other.
The Confidence of the African Church
If there is one thing I would hope to see exported from Africa to the American church, it would be a steadfast trust in God’s promises given in the Bible. If it’s true that Africa never went through a cultural enlightenment as Europe did in the 18th century, the happy result is that most Africans receive the Bible as a divine address: it is a word from God.
Without a doubt, the church in Africa needs to grow in theological depth. But confidence in God and His word is strong in most African churches. For the most part, my African friends are not wrestling with whether God and His word can be trusted. They trust Him and believe what He said is true, one difficult day after another.
Don’t miss the gravity and profundity of what is at stake. Confidence in the truth and sufficiency of God’s Word is arguably one of the greatest matters pressing upon the American church. The twin “scandals” of biblical morality and the particularity of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone are not going to fade into the background any time soon. As America’s secular culture continues to turn up the volume on how odd, even evil, it is to live consistently according to biblical teaching, Christians will need to lean further into the truths of Scripture. Is the Bible a divine address, an authoritative word to God’s people? The African church has answered “yes.” Let’s hope the American church will learn from them and join them in this bold affirmation.
In conclusion let’s consider a vignette from Israel’s history described in 2 Chronicles 20. King Jehoshaphat faced the armies of the Moabites and Ammonites, and he had a decision to either collapse in fear or hold fast to the Lord in trust. Knowing that his only recourse was to cast himself and his people into the hands of God, Judah’s king stood before the assembly and cried out to the Lord, “O our God…We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12).
This could be a theme running through many of the prayers of the African church. With scarce resources and few opportunities to better their lives, many find themselves like Jehoshaphat crying out to the Lord, “O our God…we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
And here is a lesson for the American church. While most of us do not find ourselves in the throes of grinding poverty, many of us are anxious and struggle to find hope in God’s promises for us in Christ. With our African brothers and sisters, let us shift our eyes away from fear and despair and onto Him who is our refuge and strength, the Lord in whom we find the deepest wells of hope.
Collin Jennings serves as RUF campus minister in Dakar, Senegal in partnership with Mission to the World.