Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 35:2 (Sep 2023)
Article: Editorial
Author: Anonymous

Conspectus 35:2 (September 2023) p. 5

Editorial

“If demography is destiny, then Christianity’s future lies in Africa.”1 This was the headline of a report by the Pew Research Centre on the shift of the center of Christianity from Europe and North America to sub-Saharan Africa. Recent research also shows that the Global South is the world’s new source of Christian missionaries. Through reverse evangelism, or the reverse-mission agenda, Africans are taking the gospel to Europe and the United States, the former centers of global evangelism. Today, some African-founded churches in the Global North are even reaching out with new missions to the African homelands of their members’ parents, in what we might term double reverse mission.

“If demography is destiny, then Christianity’s future lies in Africa.” The question we must ask ourselves is this: What kind of Christianity? What kind of church do we want to leave as a legacy to future generations? If indeed Christianity’s future lies in Africa, how do we ensure that we remain connected to the global church? This is a question that the editors of this special edition have asked themselves repeatedly as they wrestle with the challenges of this evolving phenomenon.

Fast forward to November 2021 when we attended the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) meeting that was held in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to our increasing concerns about the health of the church in Africa, it had become evident to us that majority world voices were not well represented in the membership of this society. This was confirmed at a luncheon that was held (ironically) for minorities. We felt that this did not bode well for the health of the global church, whose center, as research had shown, had moved to the Global South. At the luncheon, we realized that we were faced with a unique opportunity to bring African voices into the global theological conversation that was already going on. The motivation for the African Biblical Studies (ABS) session was threefold. First, we wanted to promote evangelical African biblical scholars on the global platform. Second, we realized there was a need to encourage African biblical scholars to engage scholars from other parts of the world and become involved in the theological discourse already taking place. And third, we realized that we could contribute uniquely Africentric methods and perspectives on Scripture. After discussions with the ETS leadership, the African Biblical Studies consultation was “born.” The aim of the consultation is “to promote Africentric biblical scholarship that highlights the voices of African Old Testament and New Testament scholars who are sensitive to the African context and faithful to the Scriptures.”