Page 22 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

We believe that God has revealed himself to mankind through the
Bible. The Bible is God’s book for His church. We listen to it, we learn from
it, we obey it, and we are judged by it. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting,
and training in righteousness.” The Bible also states that Jesus is the
Messiah and is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). It further declares
that the gospel must be declared to everyone on the earth (Mark 16:15).
In order to accomplish this mission (Matthew 28:18–20), each disciple
is to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit in order to be empowered as
God’s witness in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth (Acts 1:8). The gospel must be declared to everyone everywhere
in order to build God’s church.

In using the term church here, we do not mean a Western-style
building; we are referring to a group of believers. They might gather as
a house church in someone’s home or as a group of believers who meet
under a thorn tree. I recall being invited to open a new church that had
been planted by the Maasai in Kenya. At no prompting on my part, the
new Christians had tied a ribbon from one thorn bush to another under
a giant Acacia tree. At the dedication ceremony, we cut the ribbon
and walked into a sanctuary of split logs under the tree with a simple
wooden pulpit from which to teach and preach the Word of God. I have
no doubt there was great applause in heaven on that occasion. I had
the distinct feeling that I was witnessing New Testament Christianity
in its truest form. Only God knows how many similar events have
taken place throughout Africa. From these holy and simple sanctuaries,
believers have taken the message of salvation to their neighbors and
to the nations.

According to Piper, “The church was conceived by Jesus as the true
assembly of God in the midst of apostate Israel and the hostile world”
(113). Therefore every individual who believes that Jesus is the Christ,
the unique Son of God, is a member of the invisible, universal church.
Believers suffer with Christ but also share His dominion over Satan and
the present world (John 8:44). The church shares two natures with the
Lord Jesus Christ. The first, the divine nature, manifests itself in the gifts
and fruit of the Spirit. The second, the human nature, is subject both to
growth and development and therefore to tribulations on one hand and
to ultimate triumph on the other.

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