End-month news January 2024.
From Jim Harries
Nascent Christianity
Working with indigenous churches in Africa is like living in 1st Century Rome, I at times think to myself …
Entering this particular church building, an observant person might quickly notice a prominent photo behind the brightly-robed ‘priests’ lined up facing the congregation. The photo is of the late Ondeto.[1] Ondeto, considered the founder of a break away from Catholicism called Legio Maria, is a Kenyan-Luo man who died in 1992. Considering him the ‘black Jesus’ saves indigenous churches from the ‘embarrassment’ of having to have a picture of a very unfamiliar looking pale alternative representation of Christ in their building. This includes many indigenous churches who are not actually a part of Legio Maria. How should I respond to the claim that a Luo-ancestor is Jesus? I am immediately faced with a theological challenge – can I participate in a gathering of people facing a ‘false’ image of God?
My answer to the above question has been: ‘Yes I must, that is why I am a missionary’. A missionary who wants to take people from deception into truth cannot but move onto sometimes “ambiguous” territory’. Just by way of example, the prophet from Judah confronted Jeroboam as he stood at his altar (1 Kings 13:1-2). Getting an audience with people requires moving onto their territory. Loving people requires relationship with them. It requires acknowledging their value, while testifying to He who, when we believe in him, can save us all from our sins.
Local people struggle with the same issue. The ‘announcements’ during our meeting included reference to a conflict. A member of this indigenous church who recently died was part of a family that was very Catholic. While the late had asked for this indigenous church to bury her, the Catholic relatives had apparently refused. Leaders of the indigenous church were to meet with those relatives to try to resolve this impasse.
I was very encouraged by a message of ‘castigation’ given by one of the church’s elders. A young man (or more young men …) had evidently entered into relationship with a girl (girls) in the church. Weeks after the girl concerned moved in with him, the young man kicked her out again. The outcome, we were told: major heartache, and either the boy, or the mother-in-law and ex-wife, leave the church. The message was: you must consider entering into sexual relationships with a woman as the basis for a lasting union. Hence this church stands for ‘Christian marriage’, and thus by extension, for the singular grace of God. (As the love required between husband and wife in a Christian marriage, should reflect the love of God for sinful-mankind (Ephesians 5:22-33).)
I am amazed at, despite my using the Luo language on a daily basis since 1995, how much I do not understand in indigenous churches. The bishop gave some announcements about what people should stop doing. Later, over a cup of tea, I asked him what he meant. I did not understand his response! Hence there is ongoing need for my delving ever deeper into local languages and ways of life.
I consider my work with indigenous churches to be vital. Many of them ‘hang’ in a kind of religious ether. A strong push from Muslims could push some over the edge towards becoming Islamic. Some adherents to mainstream Christian denominations fear indigenous churches. They are deeply rooted in local traditions, although they also stand strongly against many of them. Indigenous churches seek to know Jesus from the perspective of their traditions. (Much dancing, drumming, sometimes getting messages from people in a trance, interpreting dreams, etc.) My position uniquely enables me to share a clear Gospel message with them every time I join one of their branches. (I typically visit any one branch of an indigenous church every 2 or 3 months.)
Saying that these churches are ‘deeply rooted in local traditions’ could be taken as a criticism. In another sense, it is a compliment. It is saying, that these churches are honest about where their teachings are rooted. This honesty can enable them to break out of those traditions (like in the example of marriage above). Christians in mainstream denominations are more likely to conceal their adherence to traditions. This can have them more stuck, as it is difficult to transform something the existence of which one does not acknowledge in the first place.
Another Indigenous church (that I visited a few days later)
I attended another indigenous church a few days later, also in January 2024. The pastor of this church is very interested in theological education. This is strangely ironic. Why do I say this? Because the practice of the church would almost certainly offend all but the most spirited of Western theologians. It included on this day: loud drumming and cymbals as people danced. It included a dancing prophetess going into a trance while spinning. It included women sitting on the floor, but men on chairs. It included prophetic words communicated by ancestors through the possessed. After the service the pastor showed me a course for church leaders that he was doing by correspondence in English, that ignored all these concerns.
I could not help but be awestruck by the spinning prophetess. With arms outstretched, she spun repeatedly, basically on the spot, presumably as she was receiving prophetic revelation. Despite doing this often for many seconds at a time at high speed, she hardly seemed to get dizzy at all. (Her head did not ‘jerk’, it simply spun with her body.)
‘The pastor of this church would be an excellent choice of someone with whom to discuss African theology at depth’ I thought to myself. Allas – serious formal such discussion only ever happens using English, which choice of language in turn makes deep engagement impossible.
When I asked this congregation whether someone’s eyes could ‘put’ poison into someone else, they denied this possibility. When I mentioned the disease locally believed to be caused by others’ eyes, they all had to laugh in embarrassment – as they all know that eyes cause this disease, so that actually someone’s looks can make someone sick! Hence the depth needed to understand this church – that goes way beyond the need to ‘ask people’ in an interview what they do and what they believe.
Jim
If you want to know where Jim lives: https://youtu.be/LKYwbAAABfw
I found the strange creature below hiding in a local hedge. Does anyone know what it is?
[1] Here is a provocative account of Ondeto: https://simeondeto.wordpress.com/2016/11/09/simeo-ondeto-christ-who-has-come/ For an academic’s view, see: https://www.academia.edu/914793/Believing_in_the_Black_Messiah_The_Legio_Maria_Church_in_an_African_Christian_Landscape