Page 19 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

Introduction to Church History

There is a perception by some that African Christianity began with the
scramble for colonies by the West. This is an ethnocentric view of history
in which African Christianity is not treated as a legitimate tributary
to the river of Christian history. Lamin Sanneh writes: “It is…time to
challenge Western ethnocentrism and to press for a comprehensive view
of Christian history in which the West’s own contribution is retained by
submitting it to a comparative critique” (1983, xvii).

In contrast to the Western missionary perspective, Shaw refers
to “nationalist historiography,” which “reacts against this Eurocentric
approach and seeks to give new emphasis to ‘indigenous’ or independent
expressions of Christianity in Africa” (1996, 13). However, this view does
not give adequate expression to the impact of the missionary movement
beginning about the eighteenth century. I aim to avoid both extremes in
this course.

Smeeton states, “From a Christian perspective, history is moving
from Genesis 1:1 ‘In the beginning,’ to Christ’s promise, ‘I will come
again.’ This perspective denies the view that history is merely cyclic or
repeating itself” (17). For this reason, we boldly proclaim that our God is
alive and working daily to bring many to salvation through the ministries
of His church. We are going somewhere. We see that the harvest is ripe
and we want to be faithful harvesters. In fact, just before Jesus returns
as the King of kings, we can expect a greater harvest (James 5:7–8).

From the beginning, God planned for the church to be harvest
oriented. A basic understanding of the concept of the kingdom of God
will be very helpful in comprehending the nature of the church. We
understand that the Kingdom is present now, but it will not be brought
to completion in its fullness until Jesus returns as King. This concept will
be explored in more detail as we proceed through this study.

Cairns defines church history as “the interpreted record of the
origin, progress, and impact of Christianity upon human society based
upon organized data gathered by scientific method from archaeological,
documentary, or living sources. It is the interpreted, organized story of
redemption of man and earth” (18). In other words, the focus is on God
and redemption.

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