The European nations first saw Africa as a place for cheap natural resources in the colonial era. Many Africans working for colonists were often worked under such awful conditions, this led to the Belgium government to take control and try to atone for their wrongs. Many Christian believers thought it was their job to bring new ideas such as hard work, literacy, time consciousness, democracy and self-discipline to the people of Africa (pg. 49). The missionaries and government relationship was purely beneficial, the government would help the missionaries only when it advanced the colonial cause. William Wade Harris was an African evangelist, who preached the gospel along the African coast. He required the people to burn their fetishes and to become monogamous. It is believed that Harris had converted one hundred thousand Africans to Christianity.After reading and interpreting the Bible for themselves they found that the way missionary churches preached was not biblical and left to start their own congregations. In the late 1800s, African Independent or African Initiated Churches (AIC) began to grow and had great influence amongst the people. Western missionaries brought both devastation and construction. They built schools, hospitals, shared the gospel and moderated the rule of colonists. The postcolonial period began in about 1960s and remains continuous to today. Due to political independence African Christianity thrived in leadership and style. John Gatu, the general secretary or the Presbyterian Chruch in East Africa, changed African Christianity by saying that African Christians could decide how they wanted the African Church to be. Pentecostalism grew popular among the African culture, first focusing on the gifts of the Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and healing, then later the focused changed to the message of prosperity and deliverance from demons (pg.53).

In the West, the theology of Christianity is to talk about God or Christian truth for all people in all times and places. Whereas in Africa the point of theology is to help Christians reflect on who they are supposed to be as followers of Jesus in the cultural situation God has out them in. The local cultures of Africa have a huge impact on the way they view Christianity, one big difference is the idea of ubuntu. Ubuntu is the idea that all humans are dependent and responsible for each other, everyone is interconnected. Although the word ubuntu is not used everywhere in Africa, the idea or perception of ubuntu is. Africans believe that everyone should live as a community, they are to bring up one another as brothers and sisters. This view of thinking is good as long as they believe it applies to all of humanity. As soon as it applies to only a certain group of people it becomes a way to demean other groups of people.

I think the Western Christianity could learn many different things from African Christianity. Western Christianity is very firm in the ways of religion and can be easily offended and not willing to accept new ideas in Christianity. In Western Christianity, worship has become a very structured environment. For example, a lot of churches have a set amount of time and a certain amount of songs that can not be disturbed, everything has to be timed exactly. I believe that this leaves is no room for God to move through the room. African Christianity’s worship is joyful, free and exuberant, it is a celebration of God and His presence withing the community (pg. 62). Western Christianity could also learn from the concept of ubuntu, they can start to rely on others in the community of Christianity, instead of isolating themselves out.