Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 27:1 (Mar 2019)
Article: Re-Thinking Mission, Missions And Money: A Focus On The Baptist Church In Central Africa
Author: Eraston Kighoma

Conspectus 27:1 (March 2019) p. 71

Re-Thinking Mission, Missions And Money: A Focus On The Baptist Church In Central Africa1

Eraston Kighoma

David Ngaruiya

and

Johannes Malherbe

Keywords

Mission, Missions, Money, Church

About The Authors2

Eraston Kighoma

PhD, SATS (2018)

David Ngaruiya

PhD, Trinity Divinity Evangelical School, Dr Ngaruiya is a Deputy Vice Chancellor of the International Leadership University in Kenya.

Johannes Malherbe

D.Th., University of Stellenbosch, Dr Malherbe is the Head of Academics at the South African Theological Seminary.

Abstract

The African church has the highest increase in numbers compared to the west, and yet it is the least contributor to world missions. This paper analyses the issue of disparity in funding mission practices between the African church and its mother church, the western church. It then explores reasons behind the African church’s struggles to support missions, and identifies opportunities for world missions to which the eastern Congolese church is exposed. A critical analysis of different arguments and reports from different authors was used to draw the main conclusions and therefore identify the central reason for the disparity and provide recommendations to the two churches. The paper suggests how scholars and the church should re-think mission, missions and money in eastern Congo.

This article: https://www.sats.edu.za/kighoma-malherbe-rethinking-mission-missions-money

2 The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the beliefs of the South African Theological Seminary.

Conspectus 27:1 (March 2019) p. 72

1. Introduction

During a tour to visit churches of the Baptist Church in Central Africa with a short-term intern from outside Africa, Nehemiah, the youth leader noticed that the children asked for sweets and biscuits from the missionary. John shook his head and told the kids, ‘I don’t have money.’ The children then laughed and told him ‘Muzungu masikini’ meaning ‘poor white man’.

In addition to existing universally-accepted principles concerning the distribution of wealth, the fact that the church in the West has to continue supporting the church in Africa seems to be worth considering. Both Westerners and Africans assume that the West is wealthy and Africa is poor in terms of financial resources. The question of how the so-called ‘imbalance in the relative ...