jonnybaker

theology brewed in an african pot

it's the beginning of term. a new year is always both crazy busy but hugely energising. at cms in oxford we have around 100 pioneers doing some training with us at undergrad, post grad and doctoral levels. it's such a joy and privilege meeting them and encouraging them in who they are, their sense of vocation, their learning and practice. i teach a couple of modules at undergrad level. one is an introduction to practical theology and reflective practice. we had the first day of that yesterday where amongst other things we discussed theology as a quest, as faith seeking understanding, as conversation about god, as something for everyone and not justan elite educated crew, as something lived, as something contextual and local and intercultural, as something global and not just western and so on. one of the ideas we came back to was theological homelessness (scroll through this edition of anvil and you'll find an article by me and cathy ross on it). 

as you would expect, for every module there is a reading list. one of the books on that is theology brewed in an african pot by agbonkhianmeghe e orobator and an essay option is 'what does theology look like brewed in the pot of your community?' which i think is a fun title (i am not so sure students think it's fun writing essays mind!). i have always loved learning from other cultures and contexts and putting my western learned sense of things in conversation with that - it's a gift cms has given me. it's such a relief to find that wesrern theology (ies?) are a local theology rather than universal and will be enriched in conversation with other theologies. i'll never forget john mbiti sharing names of god he had collected from his travels in africa and he had over 300 names. orabator has various prayers and liturgies in the book, one of which is inspired by john mbiti. it's called an african invocation of divine names and i found it online here and am taking the liberty of posting it below (largely because i have learned over the years of blogging that links eventually don't work!). what does theology look like brewed in the pot of your community i wonder?

Ancient deity,
Unbreakable stone,
Consoler and comforter providing salvation,
Grandfather who alone is the great one,
Watcher of everything who is not surprised by anything,
Piler of rocks into towering mountains,
Divider of night and day,
Response: We praise You!

Sun too bright for our gaze,
Eye of the sun,
Artist-in-chief,
Drummer of life,
Owner of our head,
Large and deep pot,
My feathered one,
Mother of people,
Response: Bless us!

Great nursing mother,
Great eye,
Great rainbow,
Great personal guardian spirit,
Unsurpassed great spirit,
Great source of being,
Great mantle which covers us,
Great leopard with its own forest,
Great healer of eternal life,
Great water-giver,
Great well,
Greatest of friends,
Great spider, the all-wise one,
Response: Enlighten us!

Controller of destiny in the universe,
All-powerful, never defeated,
Father of laughter,
King without blemish,
Possessor of whiteness,
Whiteness without patterns,
Caller-forth of the branching trees,
Unique great one to whom one can take petitions and requests for counsel,
Response: Hear us!

The first who always existed and will never die,
The only one bull in the world,
The one who sees both the inside and the outside,
The one we meet everywhere,
The one who is in all ages, everywhere and at all times,
The one who turns things upside down,
The one who has power to destroy completely,
The one who makes the sun set,
The one who gave everything on this earth and can take everything away,
Response: Guide us!

Axe that fears no thistle,
Hoe that fears no soil,
Ram of majestic sinews and majestic carriage,
Hero who never flees before the enemy,
Big boundless hut,
Victor over death,
Response: Protect us!

Compiled from John Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion (London: Heinemann, 1975); Robert E. Hood, Must God Remain Greek? Afro Cultures and God-Talk (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990); Joseph Healey and Donald Sybertz, Towards an African Narrative Theology (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996), and other sources.

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator - Theology Brewed in an African Pot

i am adding this as a worship trick - yes i'll be getting those going again sporadically.

the blog post i never wrote and still haven't written

this is the eleventh of a series celebrating twenty years at cms

see  1. gold | 2. emerging church | 3. blah | 4. new forms | 5. worship tricks | 6. mission shaped church and fresh expressions | 7. pioneer ministry | 8. church planting | 9. red tape | 10. doing the imaginative work

in 2005 I went to india with some youth workers. i posted a series of 15 blogs called india talkie which are fun to look back at - if you click on the india category and scroll down you'll find them. one of the things that interested me doing this reflection on the last twenty years at cms is that whilst it feels like the conversation about decolonising mission is very current, when i joined i was aware of the problem of western mission and its relationship to empire and colonisation. that colonisation is of people and land but also imagination. in that series I reflected on the disappointment of encountering what felt like overly western expressions of church and worship - either in a traditional anglican set up or in a hillsong church. i had never been to asia and expected to find something more different. part of the complexity is that english is aspirational in the culture - if you learn english you can advance. so i remember distinctly the push back when i raised this question which was along the lines of ‘who do you think you are?!’. it’s a fair enough question. of course I was also looking in the wrong places no doubt.

i came back to this question again when I first met harvey kwiyani and discussed mission in relation to african christians in the diaspora(s). this has been such a good friendship and journey for me (and I hope harvey!). my simple take on mission to that point had been to present two stories in mission - the first being contextualisation where mission is done to share faith that then grows on the inside of a culture with indigenous leadership and the other of imperialism imposing ways of being and doing theology and church and at its worst overrunning a culture and a way of life. i always appealed to the former and i would go to the likes of john taylor and max warren and draw on the inspiring sense of mission that called for and claim that tradition. but i think i probably had an overly positive view. what harvey helped me see is that colonialism is much more deeply embedded than that. the former tale can still carry a lot of privilege, power which have subtle (and of course not so subtle ways) of expressing themselves. so the quest for decolonising mission is a very real one and i am sure that will be an ongoing conversation over the next few years.

i was fascinated by the history of mission in new zealand when I visited in 2020 just before lockdown and blogged a series of reflections then - see the new zealand category and scroll down. if you look at the last post i say that will write one more post with some reflections on post colonial mission. here’s a confession which I don’t think anyone else noticed. i never finished the series. i have never written that post. on the plane on the way back i read a book on post colonial theology by robert heaney to go alongside the history i had been reading and always intended to conclude that series with a blog on post colonial mission. i haven’t yet been able to write it! i now wonder if I ever will. i think on reflection it’s probably not mine to write. i have come to the conclusion that can only be written by those who have been on the receiving end of colonialism or i could only write what they said post colonial mission is or could be. i guess i could write a post imperial rome one on britain and the need for us to recover our own indigeneity? or am I just copping out?

various things have really helped me in this quest or conversation.

• one is the significance of border crossing friendships. i try to work out of friendship. my own way of working across cultures has always been to share what we are doing and learning in england about mission in that context and hear the same about another context and see where there is synergy. i have particularly enjoyed that way of working with friends in s korea where a pioneer hub has grown that is entirely korean in its organising and leading and everything else.
• another is reading voices from the margins - i have loved the exposure to theologies and practice from the majority world and the realisation that whatever western theology is or isn’t it is just one local theology that has sadly universalised its take far too often. my favourite book i read last year was rescuing the gospel from the cowboys by richard twiss. it is the story of what first nations/native american christians have had to do to generate a genuine movement of contextual practice in indigenous spirituality following in the way of jesus. as an aside it is a great case study on a movement - it shows that movements need champions, new practice, gatherings, to do their own theological work, connection with others on a similar journey and so forth. it is a good read alongside braiding sweet grass by robin wall kimmerer which I read this summer - a delightful book that made me want to learn from indigenous spirituality, community, practices, relationship with the land and so on. when i read richard twiss' book i pondered that there are multiple versions of cowboys and a lot of rescuing needed! there is so much listening and reflecting to be done in this area.
• as well as thinking and reflecting and learning you need new practice. we have to find ways to act into new thinking rather than the other way round. practice has always been my passion. and we need plenty of grace on the way, permission to get it wrong as we seek new paths. the african diaspora route through the masters degree has been a small adventure in practice we are making together with others at cms led by harvey and I hope it can grow (and something similar be done in other diasporas). it already feels like something very special is taking place. another piece of practice i have loved observing is asia cms and the growth of their co-mission partner programme. they recently had a ten year anniversary and the accompanying report is full of stories of asian mission practice led by these co-mission partners who are asian leaders. it’s not that we don’t need exchange and intercultural work - we do, but a massive pendulum swing is needed and happening at least to some degree i think. 

in the book I read on post colonial theology on the plane robert heaney muses that perhaps it is too much even to use the word mission given the s**t that has gone down. it probably depends where you are what it has meant and i completely get that. i am less sure of that move. i would rather continue the quest to refound it in ways that are good for the earth and all peoples. i hope that is possible.

the go to guy...

i was delighted to hear harvey kwiyani sharing his story on the comb bbc world service podcast and being described as 

the go to guy for african church leaders looking to reach out to communities around them

i have been friends with harvey for several years now and learned loads from him. it's a delight to have him leading the african diaspora route through the ma at cms. we are half way through the first year and it couldn't have gone better really. one of the issues he discusses is that in terms of revitalising the church in post christian britain, africans bring a wonderful gift of faith. but the challenge is that very often the churches they grow replicate the culture of the leaders so become largely nigerian or ghanaian say. it is then harder for others to join and feel at home and can be hard to engage well in the community. there is such a great connection with pioneer training because pioneers are asking a similar question. they are on their own adventure of the imagination to see how faith can connect with all sorts of people and communities where they are without those people having to cross the threshold of church which can seem very strange or foreign. 

the pioneer training at cms is wonderful and we are so privileged to get such creative people who join us. if you are interested in the diaspora ma or the pioneer training we do we have an open day coming up on february 28 - actually that's a misnomer it is an hour and a half online! love to see you there.

 

the gift of african diaspora churches - new edition of anvil

the latest edition of anvil journal is online and free as ever. i read the articles over the weekend. it's powerful and inspiring exploring the contribution of african diaspora churches to mission in britain. find some time, grab a coffee and have a read. it is edited by harvey kwiyani and colin smith and i was delighted to see contributions from a current and former student too! 

harvey leads the new route through our ma which is now up and running with 10 students signed up. they study three modules related african christianity, theology, mission and three related to pioneer mission. it's fully online so you can study it now from anywhere in the world.

jesus is my bulldozer!

i have written an opinion piece for fresh expressions that is published today entitled jesus is my bulldozer! which is a reflection on mission and african christianity in the west...

you may not read journals but you should read this...

i was blown away when I read the first issue of a new journal missio africanus this morning. it's available free online as a download and the articles are so interesting. and don't think it's only relevant if you are african or working with africans. it will spark your imagination about mission regardless. there are so many interesting explorations going on around theology, post colonialism, migration, leadership, who jesus is. these are questions every church should be reflecting on to move beyond their own cultural ways of doing and being. harvey kwiyani is the editor. he has become a good friend in the last year and has joined in teaching at CMS on the pioneer course. anyway download and have a read…

[article continues over here]

doodling on mission among africans in britain

i attended am amazing day last week with leaders from black majority churches in britain. there were some amazing presentations issuing a prophetic call to engage imaginatively in mission. during the day i doodled away to capture some of the things that struck me. i have added those doodlings to facebook...

missio africanus

migration is a big theme in mission studies and journals increasingly recognising the significance of migration flows in sharing faith. last year IAMS two issues of the mission studies journal were dedicated to reflecting on it. some of the most thriving churches in london are planted and grown by people who have moved through migration. there are all sorts of challenges and questions to explore in relation to mission and migration - it's far from straightforward. missio africanus is a day set up to explore mission in relation to the african diasporas in britain (and beyond i expect). i'll be going along - maybe see you there?..

kony 2012 - CMS take on it

i was pleased to see CMS posted an article on kony 2012 because there was quite a lot of campaiging in CMS around 2003/2004 which did quite a lot to raise profile. anyway this article seems to have its head screwed on...

freedom - tunisia murals

this photo set of tunisia murals in the guardian is wonderful. prophets and artists share a similar imagination i think. it's why regimes like to silence artists and kill prophets...

lausanne in cape town

the lausanne world congress has kicked off in cape town which is a pretty huge gathering focused on mission and evangelism with 200 countries represented. andrew jones is there and i'll be following along through his tweets and blog. he has posted up a list of other bloggers.

ways into small missional communities update...

ian adams series ways into small missional communities has now reached 16

street child world cup kicks off...

amos trust, a small charity in the uk, somehow came up with the idea of having a pre world cup world cup in south africa for street kid teams from round the world. the best ideas are usually crazy in my experience and somehow they have pulled  off this feat. it kicks off today i think (though as i write this in hong kong airport half way back to london from australia i am slightly confused about time and days of the week!).

the street child world cup site is here, the blog here,

african and emerging sensibilities

can a postmodern englishman agree with a pentecostal nigerian?

at greenbelt this year one of the things i did in the cms venue was take part in a debate/conversation with yemi, a nigerian friend/colleague on the different sensibilities arising from out of african churches and postmodern/emerging. it was titled african certainty meets postmodern doubt. i enjoyed it. anyway there is now a recording of it on the cms web site...

ghana blog

cms has a team of teachers going to ghana today. mark berry and anita matthews are leading the team. you can follow along with the trip on the ghana blog (assuming they find internet connections en route)...

emerging in africa 1

i have never been to africa. i was invited to go recently but had already accepted an invitation to be in croatia. two friends/colleagues paul and chris went and had a great time. i'll say more about that another time. but i have an africa blog category and will post probably an occasional series to it.

If you really want to understand the future of Christianity, go and see what is happening in Asia, Africa, Latin America. It's the periphery—but that's where the action is.

this is a quote from bishop zac niringiye in a wonderful interview in christianity today last july. everyone should read this interview. until a few years ago zac was director of cms in africa. i didn't get to know him that well sadly. but he seems in especially good form now, somehow freed up to speak out in a way i never saw in cms. my experiences in india and croatia and other parts of the world have highlighted for me the problems of the legacy of foreign mission and of what i have come to term the colonised imagination. and this needs a whole lot of unravelling. africa struggles with the same issues.

the tension i guess i feel and i tried to express about foreign mission in my reflection on croatia is that all these contexts simply have to grow authentic indigenous expressions of church and leadership. that is what excited and encouraged me in croatia. foreign and outside influence even where well intentioned is often shrouded with agendas and cultural insensitivites and complicated by money. so it's tempting to think that outsiders should keep out and stop interfering. but the flip side of this is that we learn so much by engaging with people who are different to us. we only know who jesus is we engage with christ's many faces, expressions of his body and theological takes around the world. and there's a human desire and god given challenge to share resources with fellow brothers and sisters who are poor or in need. so whilst i think there needs to be less foreign interference and influence i am convinced of the need for global friendships and interchange.

zac has some great pointers for westerners on this tension. his article is addressed to americans but is equally valid for most western contexts.

first up he suggests a switch from what he calls go and make mission to come and see. rather than being preoccupied with fixing or solving issues which is how we view things from the centre of power just go and be with people. he says it's really very simple

Americans have been preoccupied with the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the Great Commission: "Go and make." I call them go-and-make missionaries. These are the go-and-fix-it people. The go-and-make people are those who act like it's all in our power, and all we have to do is "finish the task." They love that passage! But when read from the center of power, that passage simply reinforces the illusion that it's about us, that we are in charge.

I would like to suggest a new favorite passage, the Great Invitation. It's what we find if we read from the beginning of the Gospels rather than the end. Jesus says, "Come, follow me. I will make you fishers of men." Not "Go and make," but "I will make you." It's all about Jesus. And do you know the last words of Jesus to Peter, in John 21? "Follow me." The last words of Simon Peter's encounter are the same as the first words.

Can we begin to read those passages that trouble us, that don't reinforce our cultural centeredness?.....

....It is very simple. Come and be with us, with no agenda other than to be with us.

the second issue which maybe is the big one in africa is confidence. zac suggests that when a white person who knows nothing about africa says something he or she will often be defered to as some kind of expert. this is the result of decades of erosion of confidence by colonial and missionary enterprise (i saw the same thing in india and was told it's a problem in croatia). this makes it even more imperative that when we go and be with, following the great invitation, we resist being deferred to.

million voices for darfur

million voices for darfur

shooting dogs

on friday we went to see a preview of shooting dogs in london. it tells the story of the rwandan genocide through the true story of a school which provided refuge for tutsis. it's a harrowing tale. if you haven't seen hotel rwanda go and see this at the cinema when it comes out in a few weeks. if you have, the plot is very similar - it's a shame it's so similar really - this time it's a school instead of a hotel. but it's a story that needs to be heard.

Technorati Tags: shootingdogs, rwanda

one faith one baptism two wives

one faith, one baptism, two wives - classic mission dilemma about polygamy

voice in the desert

voice in the desert - added to my blog reads...

follow this post for a good set of blog entries

[update: the site is actually called under the acacias - see comments]