The Fallacy of World Religions: A View from Africa

While teaching a group of Ugandan church leaders, I mentioned how few African Americans were engaged in global missions. Okiru Ezekiel jumped up and shouted, “Tell them to come!”

Twice a week for two years I commuted across Nairobi, Kenya, to teach at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. During these commutes, I regularly passed a business with the unique and descriptive name “The Really Useful Landscaping Company.”

A pastor from the US, just last year, was invited to speak at a weeklong Christian conference in Malawi. The music that preceded his message horrified him.

In the face of rapid growth, Africa’s churches face an identity crisis.

A few years ago I found myself the only white man in a crowd of several hundred marching along a road in a new suburb of the ancient city of Ife, Nigeria, lustily singing “Onward, Christian Soldiers” in Yoruba.