Between the year 1885 and 1915 virtually every Western European nation made a move to colonize Africa. This “scramble” for resources during the Industrial Revolution was led primarily by the English and French government. The citizens of these nations supported the globalization movement because they thought it was their duty to spread the ethics of “Christian living.” These missionaries often started schools supported by governments.
William Wade Harris was said to be visited by the angel Gabriel while he was in jail. Following his experience he devoted his life to Christianity. After being released he preached the gospel up and down the east coast. He’s said to be responsible for converting 100,000 Africans to Christianity.
In the late 1800s African Independent Churches began popping up. Their interpretation of the Gospel was more orthodox than the version being propagated by western missionaries at the time.
During WWII many European and American missionaries left Africa leaving opportunity for Africans to fill in. John Gatu requested that all missionary work be halted so that the people could gain more independence and separate themselves from western Christianity. This gave the new leaders of the church an opportunity to interpret the Bible as they saw fit.
One way that African Christianity has distinguished itself from Western Christianity is by incorporating Native African tradition. These traditions value ancestors. It is believed that ancestors play a role in the word of the living. Deceased family members continue on as guides and protectors for their descendants. Interpretation in Africa has also led 20-30 percent of native Christians to believe that God is a divine force, rather than a personal being. Different nuances in Christian beliefs and these traditional beliefs that gives the African Christian demographic such spiritual depth. A common connection that links the old and the new moral traditions is a dynamic called Ubuntu. Rather than an individual faith in God like in Western Christianity Ubuntu emphasizes the connection of all humans. In this community the Christian God can be found.

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.

Some may say that Christianity was first introduced in Africa when Europe started to colonize it, but in fact it dates back to when Portugal was in power. You could see Catholic practices such as baptism be done on slaves before they were shipped off. This was done to show that the slave traders had somewhat of a heart because the act of baptism was seen as a Christian act of mercy even though it may have only seemed like another part of the trade process to the Africans. When colonization of Africa began to happen, Christian missionaries were set out to spread gospel and try to convert the natives. They wanted the natives to convert and to also become missionaries because they often worked for no charge so more profits for the government. The missionaries worked very close with the government and were given almost all say in education. Western Christianity and the AICs (African Initiated Churches) differed on the opinions whether or not ancestors were relevant, miracles were a way for God to communicate, and the idea of polygamy. As time goes on the AICs began to break further and further away from the European ideals and it gave them the opportunity to branch out and have more freedom in their spirituality.

Christianity is often fluid and will change depending on the region and the history behind it. That’s why the West and Africa seem like they have greater differences but that’s because they have experience greater pains as a whole than we have. They have seen violence and genocides take place whereas in the Western world we haven’t been subject to those acts so it makes sense that our faith is different. This is when Ubuntu comes into play. “Ubuntu describes all human beings as dependent on and responsible for one another. In the words of the well-known South African theologian and Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ubuntu is part of ‘the very essence of being human.’ It underscores the fact that ‘my humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours.’” (Jacobsen 62). This is a major difference between western Christians and African Christians, it strays away from focusing on oneself and instead putting a great deal of thought and compassion into the community as a whole.

I believe the west could learn a great deal from African Christianity. They focus a great deal on community and that isn’t what we view here in the US. Here we care mainly about what happens to me or a select few but the community as a whole isn’t helped unless it helps the individual too. I feel as though if we took the community into consideration more we would have more peace than war between one another. I’m thankful that we haven’t experienced the immense amount of pain that Africa has but I do believe that what they have gone through helps shape the way they treat one another and I hope that just by seeing that here that it could rub off onto us.

The history of Christianity in colonial and postcolonial Africa worked together to capitalize and convert the people of Africa to the western way of life. They particularly came together when it related to education in Africa. “Missionaries started schools as a way to win converts for Christ, and European governments befitted from an educated native workforce that could help them run their colonies. Because most missionaries provided these services at no cost to the state, governments frequently gave missionaries near-monopoly control over education in colonial Africa” (Jacobsen, 49). The understanding of Christianity that they introduced to Africa were the necessary components of Christian living according to the European Protestants: literacy, hard work, time consciousness, democracy and self-discipline. However, the beliefs and practices of the AICs were different from Western Christianity. The AICs “proclaimed a gospel of ‘good news’ for Africans in contrast to what they viewed as the anti-African message of Christianity being spread around the continent by many Western missionaries”(Jacobsen, 50). The postcolonial age had a great effect on these churches. African Christianity and the AIC movements heavily influenced these people to take on leadership positions and take advantage of lack of Europeans during World War II. Additionally, they “had shifted their emphasis away from Western-style reason and orderliness toward a more free-wheeling focus on the Spirit” (Jacobsen, 52).

The idea of “Ubuntu” was “the foundational assumption… that every human life has value and that all human beings are interconnected” (Jacobsen, 64) and “it serves simultaneously as a statement of face and as a moral ideal” (Jacobsen, 62). This idea was applied to many aspects and situations where people either needed inspiration and guidance or in order to explain intangible phenomena. Specifically, it was applied to the theological ideals such as reconciliation, communication with the ancestors, and the African vision of God. Ubuntu illustrates a context of addressing the violence that has plagued the continent by encouraging people to confession to their actions so they may be forgiven during the South African apartheid. When issues continued to worsen between the Muslims and Christians in Liberia. The women took action to encourage “these young men to regain their souls and reintegrating them into the larger community. Justice… was set aside as socially dysfunctional” (Jacobsen, 66). When it came to the issue of life after death, the Africans used Ubuntu to accurately express their beliefs. “These two realms intersect in ways that allow the ancestors to continue to play a role in the world of the living. They remain part of the network of human interrelations” (Jacobsen, 67). Lastly, it helped explained God and his interaction with all things on Earth. “Every living entity on the planet has its source of life in God. This means that Ubuntu is not merely a human concern; it includes all of creation” (Jacobsen, 70). Ubuntu really helped the people with understanding ideas that weren’t easily understood.

Modern Western Christianity can learn a lot from African Christianity, especially in regards to Ubuntu. This idea of honoring each other’s dignity and that of the Earth, modern Western Christianity would be more accepting of each other and the earth around us. Ubuntu takes away the issue of race, beliefs, intellect, etc and just takes each person as a human that deserves dignity and acceptance.

When people hear Christianity, they typically think North America and Europe. Surprisingly, Christianity is on the decline in places like Europe and the United States, but on the rise in Africa surprisingly enough. Christianity first came to Africa at the end of the second century and was found on the North African coast. WWII had a great impact on the colonial era, especially in Africa. By the year 1960, sixteen different African countries declared independence from their colonial rulers and by 1970 the map of Africa resembled much of the map that we see today (Jacobsen, 52). After WWII, many of the local leaders got a taste of freedom for the first time in years. In 1975, almost eleven percent of the world’s Christians lived in Africa, and then in 1999, nineteen percent lived in Africa. It is predicted that in 2030, Africa will have more Christians than any other continent. The postcolonial era had a great impact on Africa as many countries gained their independence. During WWII many Christian missionaries fled Africa, which gave the local Christians a chance to step in after WWII was over (Jacobsen, 52). In 1970, almost 15 percent of the Christians in Africa identified as Pentecostal or Spirit-centered. This has drastically changed recently and today about 35 percent of African Christians are Pentecostal.

Africa has a much different culture than the West, which has lead them to establish themselves on a much different level of Christianity than we have seen. In Africa, local cultures play a large role in influencing religion, especially Christianity. With the differentiation in cultures comes the slightly different takes on Christianity. Africa has seen danger on a level that we have not seen here in the U.S. They have seen genocides take place and more violence that we can imagine. With this, we see the idea of ubuntu. Ubuntu is the interconnectedness of all people, and it serves simultaneously as a statement of fact and as a moral ideal. As a South African theologian states, it is the essence of being human (Jacobsen, 62). This idea of ubuntu gives the Christians in Africa a different sense of spirituality than it does to western Christians and is one of the things that distinguishes the two. It is a concept of connecting one another rather than focusing on the individual.

I think that the West has a lot to learn from African Christianity. Christianity in Africa is much different than the Christianity that we see here in the U.S. or even in Europe. African Christianity has a large focus on forgiveness and connection to one another in the community, but in the West, there seems to be a larger focus on the individual and their salvation, rather than the well being of the community. That probably has a lot to do with the history that each has faced, but I think that we have some learning to do and so does African Christianity.

Africa’s history with Christianity has been often viewed as simply a result of European colonization, but history proves the opposite to be true. European colonization’s influence of uniformity in religion spread Christianity from small clusters in Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Africa to the majority of the nation. Once World War II broke out the European countries colonized in Africa set their focus towards the war, which quickly led to African independence as the costs of retaining colonization were getting to high. With their Newly developed sense of ‘Freedom’ the African people were able to establish their unique form of Christianity as they were able to express their interpretations of the Scripture with each other to form their genuine Christian faith in Africa. An interesting difference between the AIC and Western Christianity would be that in Africa they emphasize a “word o faith” style of Pentecostalism that proclaims God’s successes in freeing sinners from evil, and prosperity for those who follow Him. Jacobsen notes that roughly 35% of Christians say they are Pentecostal with an added 80% of them believing in miracles (key belief for Pentecostals) as compared to the Western world, which consists primarily of Catholics, a variety of Protestants, and other groups. Although colonization was a huge part of Africa’s history with Christianity it was not the beginning. Africans had in fact been introduced to Christianity as early as the Pentecost, where “Africans from Egypt and Libya were present on the day of Pentecost when the apostle Peter preached to a crowd gathered in Jerusalem, and they spread the message of Jesus when they returned to their native lands.” (Jacobsen 42)

As a result of their unique cultural establishment of Christianity, the African people have been able to set themselves apart from Christians of another nation. For example, the term ‘weird’ doesn’t mean the samr thing in Africa and the Western world. Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, ‘WEIRD’ was given as an acronym to attribute those with the belief that they are and should be self-sufficient and independent. The African people believe in Ubuntu, “the interconnectedness of all people, and it serves simultaneously as a statement of fact and a moral ideal.” (Jacobsen 62) Because they have established this belief of interconnectedness, they believe that whatever they do will effect the rest of their community, giving both extreme value and consequence for their actions and beliefs. In addressing issues like Genocide or Apartheid, Ubuntu gives an argument to the morality of the human behind the violence in the fact that we are all interconnected in our lives. Though not everyone believes in it, I believe that we may all have a similar value that we may treat as our own Ubuntu, like the ‘Golden Rule’.

One valuable lesson that the West could learn from African Christianity would be to emphasize an idea like Ubuntu, and emphasize the values of interconnectedness through faith, not only on a community level, but to a global level. With globalization taking us to the point where we are able to find out what is going on almost anywhere in the world simply by searching it on our cell-phones, we could be attempting to send more help to countries who are unable to defend themselves from harsh circumstances like war, hunger, and poverty.

The colonization of Africa greatly helped Christian missionaries to bring their faith to the African nations. As early as when the Dutch were settling in South Africa Christian missionaries took advantage of the political turmoil to bring people to the faith. They also used free education to promote the Christin faith believing “literacy, hard work, time consciousness, democracy, and self-discipline… necessary components of Christian living” (49). This also made them acceptable to the local governments as they brought a higher level of learning to the people for no charge. The African missionaries were even more important in this time though as they understood the cultures of their people and those such as Harris converted thousands of people. The AIC was also very important in this time and had a more African view of Christianity believing that “acceptability of polygamy,…importance of saints and ancestors,… miracles were common, and the significance of dreams and visions” (51)”. In the post-colonial age this unique African view of Christianity became even more important as many local leadership positions were filled by Africans as many missionaries fled during WWII. These churches were much more focused on the Holy Spirit of Christian faith. In 1971 Gatu called for the stop of all missionaries in Africa and while this did not happen it did signal to the West that Africa was becoming independent and no longer needed guidance from foreign missionaries. In fact they found that where indigenous religions were strong Christianity too flourished.

Ubuntu is a term that means ‘that every human life has value and that all human beings are interconnected”(64), this term has been very influential in helping Christians in war torn and apartheid ruled countries. In a way that is very different from how Western Christianity deals with problems, African Christianity focuses more on forgiving those who have wronged them and helping them heal their souls. In Liberia Christian women came together to stop the war and after to heal the souls of the children soldiers, who had done many crimes against them, in order to rebuild the lives of the children. In South Africa, Tutu stressed to his people the forgiveness of those who had committed crimes under apartheid. In this way Ubuntu helped to bring the communities in Africa back together and heal them fully as opposed to the continuation of violence.

The West has a lot to learn from African Christianity as it pertains to both persecution and forgiveness. While the West does not stand up well to times when they are emotionally being persecuted many in Africa risk their lives to be Christian and accept it willingly as part of the faith. African Christians also forgive those who have wronged them more readily, there was much less stress on forgiving the Nazis than there was forgiving those who took part in the apartheid and in the wars of northern Africa. African believers seem to walk closer in the faith than those in the West, and develop a closer connection within their communities.

Christian missionaries benefited from colonial advances because Europeans were interested in the continent of Africa and the wealth it could create for them. The coastal regions were their biggest interest. The coastal regions were perfect for trading purposes and trading posts were established. The Europeans saw Africa and the wealth it possessed and its abundant amount of natural resources and Western Europeans wanted to start trade with Africa. Missionaries tried to spread the Christian religion to Africa while at the same time had the agenda to spread the Western culture in Africa. Europeans exploited the potential wealth of Africa. What started out as a journey for missionaries to spread the Christian religion turned into Europeans trying to force Africans into accepting foreign rule. Europeans tried to colonize as much African land as possible.

Christian missionaries were disruptive in African society because the Africans that they were able to convert no longer followed the authority of their local chiefs. The missionaries gave the European armies useful information and helped support their expeditions against African groups that didn’t want to accept the Christian religion. The Europeans forced Christianity onto the African people and it resulted in some African leaders beginning to regulate contact with the West or ban communication all together. However, due to the trading posts and development of trade within the coastal regions, some leaders and countries became dependent on the trades and could not prohibit contact with the west. Europeans used the strategy of divide and conquer by studying the rivalries between different African groups and forged alliances with some groups against others.

Some of the positive impacts of colonialism on African societies were that the colonial governments developed railroads, ports, roads, technology etc. However, there were many negative impacts such as the European policies hurt the African traditional economics. The changes led to a loss of land ownership and labor which resulted in an increase in the poverty level and less land ownership for the African people. Another effect of colonialism was how the cash crops hurt the neighboring countries in Africa because they stopped trading among their neighbors and instead traded using cash crops. Cash crops made it so there was more trade going on with countries overseas than with the neighboring countries in Africa.

The European colonialism brought the western culture to Africa such as the European education system and religion. The concept of Ubuntu illustrates the point that the African Christians have started to assert their spiritual autonomy from the west because it has allowed there to be connections made between Christianity and Africa’s unique cultural traditions. Ubuntu is an African ancient word meaning “humanity to others”. We are all part of the whole which makes up humanity.

There are a few things that the west can learn from African Christianity. One of which is the power of prayer. African Christians pray on multiple occasions. Prayer is something that African’s participate in multiple times throughout the day. The African Christians are involved with helping others and providing hospitality to people in need. The African people take care of their own family, extended family, and others whether it be by helping to provide shelter or food. The act of hospitality is something that comes naturally and is a constant practice among African people and their communities.

Source: Jacob, Douglas Global Gospel: An Intro. To Christianity on Five Continents

Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Academic 2015

The motivation of European countries for colonization of Africa was economic reasons. They wanted to get valuable resources for cheaper prices like gold or rubber. In 1880s, European countries started to advance to Africa continent for trading their goods. However, in order to make African understand Western culture colonial government sent missionaries for spreading gospel which is the basic of Western culture. The main business of was education. They built school for Africans and tried to convert African religion to Christianity. Colonial government supported missionaries for their needs. Also, there was little bit racial discrimination beneath Western version of gospel. However, when William Wade Harris started to preach for African in postcolonial era, Christianity was settled down in Africa continent. After that, Africa Initiated Churches founded and they began to spread gospel which did not imply about anti-African message. However, African interpreted bible in their own way. They tried to make bible fit into their culture.

Jacobsen states that African history is full of oppression and suffering (57). Because European colonial government made temporal boundaries without discussion with many of African tribes, there was always conflict. Most of conflicts were about independence of Africa.  The most extreme case of religious conflict occurred in Rwanda, July 4, in 1994. So many Christians were killed by other Christians. The reason was about wrong land distribution by Tusti royal family which was rooted in colonial era. This conflict affected neighborhood countries in Africa. Therefore, the theological concept of Ubuntu came out from public in moral sense. Ubuntu implies “all human beings as dependent on and responsible for one another like, “The God that African Christians know and love is a God who vastly exceeds anything any human being could ever fully comprehend or understand and who loves all of creation equally”(Jacobsen, 72). This shows that African society is based on community and African applied this into Christianity, too.

In terms of growth of Christians, Western Christianity has to learn from Africa. As Jacobsen mentioned, Africans consider Christianity as a community. They are good at taking care of other people as they do for their own family. Also, Africans are passionate for participation in church. They pray together for God’s will and go to the worship meeting once a week with one heart. Most of important point is African Christianity was built on evangelical belief with their own traditional culture. They learned how to adapt Christianity on their own culture. For propagation of gospel, Western Christianity learn how to apply gospel in other region’s culture.