Page 188 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

By 1914, when the World War I began, all of Africa was under
European control except Liberia and Ethiopia. As Edgerton notes, many
tragic events followed as King Leopold, at one point, decided to build
a railroad: “Sixty thousand men, from Liberians to Chinese, labored
on this difficult engineering project.… Many were Africans who had
been dragged there in chains, were fed little, and paid nothing. Untold
thousands died” (63). Space does not permit an adequate analysis of
this period, but the wounds of colonization still linger in Africa.

One of the wonders of history is that Christianity, with strong ties to
the colonial powers, has not only survived in Africa but flourished. Much
of the credit goes to the influence of Africans who perceived that New
Testament Christianity was pre-colonial and should be post-colonial.
Chanaiwa expresses a common view about the connection between
colonialism and Christianity:

Like the missionaries, they [mission-educated Africans] categorized
the African masses as “benighted people” and “noble savages”
and then assumed the responsibility of reforming traditional Africa
by introducing such aspects of western civilization as Christianity,
education, capitalism and industrialization.… [They accepted
colonialism] partly because they respected the “overwhelming
superiority” of European weapons and warfare. (197)

They therefore condemned and did not join African resistance to
colonialism, a resistance which they equated with “heathenism and
backwardness” (198).

I am pleased to report that true African Christianity is not an “aspect
of western civilization” but is patterned after a pre-colonial Bible.

In conclusion, I can agree with historian Latourette who refers to the
nineteenth century as “the great century” for the expansion of Christianity.
It is nothing short of amazing to observe that prior to the nineteenth
century, the focus of Africa for many Europeans was the slave trade
and the brutal exploitation of people by people. Thankfully, the picture
changed. Largely because of the influence of true followers of Christ, the
slave trade was abolished and believers from both Africa and Europe
spread the gospel across sub-Saharan Africa with definable success.

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