Page 18 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

humble as he encounters the giants of his spiritual past and
realizes how much he owes to them. He will become more
tolerant of those who differ with him on non-essentials but
who, with him, accept the great basic doctrines of the faith,
such as the vicarious death [that is, dying in our place] and
resurrection of Christ, which were emphasized by Paul in
Acts 17:2–3 and 1 Corinthians 15:3–4. (1996, 23)

7. Studying history can inspire us to dream big dreams and to ask
God for the vision to fulfill His purposes. When our statement
of mission includes the fulfillment of the Great Commission, we
must apply lessons from the past to our strategy of accomplishing
more now and in the future. Lamin Sanneh, a scholar originally
from The Gambia, has written a significant book entitled West
African Christianity. He dedicated the book to his two children
as follows:

To Kelefa and Sia Manta.
I see things as they are
And ask, “Why?”
You dream of things which were not
And ask, “Why not?”

Why not dream about Africans impacting the nations with the
gospel of Jesus Christ? There is nothing more exciting!

What Is the Meaning of Church History?

History means different things to different people. Because he did not
believe in God, Voltaire wrote: “History is but a pack of tricks we play
on the dead.” Although this definition presents a very negative view of
history, it helps us understand that history is a subjective interpretation
of the past because we tend to learn history through secondary sources.
Books are written from a historian’s slant—that is the perspective or
worldview from which he or she is writing. Ogbu Kalu states: “European
writers still tend to study the history of Christianity in Africa by focusing
predominantly on what missionaries did or did not do” (2). He also
admits that “all history is interpretation” (2007, 227).

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