Follow up message by Jurgens Hendricks

Jurgens is Professor of Practical Theology at Stellenbosch university, South Africa

See Jurgens’ PPT presentation and paper prepared for the conference.

PowerPoint file (right click and save as)
Word document (right click and save as)

 
A Gospel that does not reconcile is not a Christian Gospel.

It is God who reconciles.  It is only when the victim and the oppressor look to Christ that they can see God’s love, and know that they are understood.  Only God can set us free.  God reconciled the world with himself – that is the beginning of all reconciliation.

Christ reconciles us with one another.  We have no option – it is the heart of the Gospel.

In Jesus, we are reconciled with nature and with the spiritual realm.  Jesus said: “All power, in heaven and in earth, has been given to me.”

The Picture of Church Growth in Africa

The rapid expansion of Christianity in Africa has mainly taken place since 1971.  This is because this was when Africans started to take leadership of the churches, and started to contextualise the Gospel (after independence from colonisers) they made it their own.  We cannot underestimate the role of women in African leadership.

The churches grew most in the countries where they used the indigenous name for God.  It also gained momentum from Pentecostal spirituality, especially the emphases on primal speech, spirituality and hope, and a massive influence of music.

l       Primal speech: In a world where the cognitive grids and perceptual barriers are drawn in cold and clear logic, people need to get in touch with the supernatural, with a God who can relate to them and with whom they can relate, even if words cannot be found to express what is in the heart.

l       Primal piety: refers to signs and wonders and the recovery of primal piety. The Pentecostals, almost by accident it seems, found a way: They rebelled against creeds but retained mystery. They abolished hierarchies but kept ecstasy. This happened in the worship of those who had to face the new realities of cities being dislocated from their rural lifestyle and family.

l       Primal hope:  Pentecostalism became the global vehicle for the restoration of primal hope in a century with two world wars, a holocaust, the first nuclear bombs, a cold war, innumerable atrocities, and the growing economic disparities illustrated by the growing gap between rich and poor. Eschatology, not only distant, is a reality with Pentecostalism. Music carried their message! 

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