Page 90 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

Why did the Nubian church collapse? The answer is not simple. However,
I will suggest the following contributing factors.

The Absence of a Pentecostal and Missional Emphasis

The kind of Christianity planted was neither Pentecostal nor
missional in nature. While it may have been vigorous and vital in
the early stages, it lost its evangelistic fervor and spiritual vitality. As
Bowers notes, “Archaeologists find very few Nubian churches that
had been converted into mosques or destroyed by violence; rather
the churches fell into disuse and were abandoned” (15). In my view,
a Pentecostal church will not be abandoned and a missional church
will be alive. Perhaps the Nubian church was not held accountable for
apostolic standards. As with the church in North Africa, it could have
been reclusive (characterized by withdrawal from society) in its practice
of monasticism.

Inadequate Training
There does not appear to have been adequate training of leaders.
Evidence points toward the Nubian church’s dependence on outside
leadership. While some local priests were ordained, we are not sure they
were properly trained. This dependency meant that when the church
lost contact with external leadership it was weakened. In fact, this
weakness may have been fatal, as Bowers suggests: “When the voice
of the Nubian Christianity is last heard in history, it is requesting priests
from Ethiopia. These were not forthcoming—and Nubian Christianity
was never heard from again” (18).

Related to the lack of training could be the difficulty of doctrinal
issues. The church was divided over Monophysitism. Archeologists
have found fragments which indicate the Bible was translated into
Nubian. This would lead one to wonder if it was used to train leaders.
Trained, Spirit-filled leaders have always been the backbone of a
healthy church.

Persecution and Pressure from Islam

The Nubian church resisted Islam for centuries, and we admire it for
this aggressive stand. However, eventually the pressure and influence
of Islam were too much, and the church declined until it was almost
extinct. Paas recounts this gradual decline:

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