An open letter to South African friends
Dear South African friends,
We live in South Africa. Though globalization is a reality, we still live in Africa. South Africa is a wonderful country with its own smells, contours and history. We live in one of the most exciting countries in the world. In a sense we live in a miracle – for where has one ever seen a peaceful move to democracy where the majority who were oppressed move into power without wiping out the minority who oppressed them?
This country of ours lives in a constant beat of grace. We have our problems: inequity, AIDS, poverty, crime, greed, racism and other problems are around every corner. But what I love about our country is that it is difficult to hide from the realities. Our country is in a sense a microcosm of what is happening in the whole world.
In South Africa we can drive from the richest suburbs to the poorest squatter camps in 15-30 minutes. Because our challenges are so unique, we are being formed in a specific way. We are engaged in a context posing different questions that need alternative lived realities.
So let me come to the punch line of this letter.
WE HAVE TO STOP OUR FACINATION AND IDOLIZING OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH.
South African churches are not inferior to American churches (thanks Steve Biko for teaching me this). Americans have their issues and we have ours. If we want to go forward in this country we will have to get over our inferiority complex towards what we deem to be the successful churches in the USA. Furthermore I want to propose that we have something to give to the USA church. A lot of us have made our pilgrimages to the States to go and learn some new model or hear about another miracle strategy. We’ve been in conferences where we were to become ‘better leaders’ or ‘grow spiritually’ or be more ‘purposeful’. Some of it has been really useful. Some of it has been total crap.
In the last decade the epicenter of Christianity has shifted from the Northern to the Southern hemisphere. I wonder if the time has come for a reversal in the Southern to Northern hemisphere pilgrimages. I wonder if the conversation can morph into one where the North listens to the South? Will our American friends come and stay with us to learn? Will they now make the pilgrimage to the South? Can we recover a more personal learning community where we stay together in houses and not hotels, where we share stories not formulas, where we cook food and not egos? Can we become human again?
My South African friends, I realized a few years ago that primarily American and European Christians have influenced my theology (thanks Trevor for pointing this out) – and I’m grateful for that. But I don’t live in America or Europe. I live in a post-colonial South Africa, colonial flavors are still present and we’re building towards something new. I have a lot to learn in this country of ours. The Americans (bless their souls) cannot teach us what it means to be African – only Africans can. I want to make a few humble proposals:
- That we read South African and African authors.
- That we dig into the history of our country and continent by reading and talking to people who still have a South African memory.
- That we listen to each other (and become more excited about South African conversations than about some American celebrity).
- That we build friendships over the economic and race divide and learn from each other.
- That we become human again by sidestepping impersonal means like conferences, programs, models and celebrity Christians.
PS> some of my non-South African friends may be reading this. I love you deeply. I respect you. But I won’t idolize you. Those of you who have become friends are those who have taught me a lot but who have also been open to learn. Thanks for that.
About the Author
Tom loves life and enjoys exploring as much of it as he can. He is sharing life with Lollie, Tayla and Liam as well as friends and family. He is passionate about the kingdom and how it takes expression in South Africa.
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Thanks Tom. I can just mention that I regularly receive Christians from America (as from 14 July I'm getting another team from California) coming to Swaziland to LEARN. So, this is really happening and we are all better off because of this new attitude. But it's not only the Americans that need to make this mind-shift. White South African Christians also need to come to the point where they realize that they can indeed learn much from Black Christians. The opposite is obviously also true. But the mind-shift needs to come with the White South Africans.
By a strange twist of fate – perhaps the fact that I have predominantly had my Christianity run outside of mainstream Christianity – I have had my faith rather little influenced by the United States. Don't get me wrong – there are some saints from the US who have profoundly influenced my faith – people like Gene Edwards, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster or John Eldredge. But even these are unique in their own kind of way.
What your letter does provoke me to recognise however is the flavour of Christianity that American thought has brought about in Christianity. I for one sincerely hope that the American church is nothing like TBN or similar channels that we see on satellite television. I can scarcely watch a few minutes without getting upset. But perhaps the American church is however misrepresented (I hope) to constitute the following:
- A church of numbers (mega church)
- A church of efficiency (purpose driven)
- A church of materialism (prosperity teachings)
- A church of showmanship (marketing to one’s generation)
I find myself drawn after books written by those not defined by western influences. I have just (almost) finished reading a little book called Back to Jerusalem which describes the travails of the Chinese Church in persecution. And I find in myself strange feelings of . . . jealousy. Somehow their church life seems to be defined constituted by the following:
- An organic church (organised churches provoke persecution)
- A relational church (mutual persecution provokes a sense of sameness and unity.)
- A selfless church (inevitable persecution makes the accumulation of wealth meaningless)
- A devoted church (If all you have is God, and many of your leaders have spent time in God’s Practical Devotional Seminary (prison), one is constrained to develop a deeper level of relationship with God.)
Perhaps I ought to add that I am also jealous by the fact that the Chinese church is inherently a missionary church. But having mused about different churches, where does that leave us in South Africa? We are caught between West and East, caught between the white western culture which centres on individualism and consumerism and the black tribal-community almost-communist mindedness which brought us the beauty of ubuntu and the frustration of a lack of personal accountability. I guess I would like to summarise my sense of church in South Africa as the following (and please in this description don’t equate the ‘church’ to the old reformed-institutional stereotype which view severely neglects the broader church in South Africa, particularly of those who often minister to the tribal communities):
- A church becoming (caught in a blessed state of transition between cultures and influences)
- A church immature (caught in an uncertain state between childishness and childlikeness; between faith and religion, believer-ship and discipleship, still to form a sense of self of where we truly belong in the world)
- A church advantaged (with great opportunity of building bridges and exploring the in between-ground of loving-thy-neighbour (East) and loving-thyself (West).
- A church challenged (on the threshold to go deeper, past the uncomfortable, into God’s eyes, to experience him both personally and socially, where the divine and human meet.
Thanks, Tom.
I think American churches are great and they have taught us a lot. I love the work of some American brothers and sisters and their relationships with our Father.
However, I believe, like you, that the South African Church has a unique journey with God.Our relatioships with God and each other can not depend on what America thinks.
Bishop Tutu taught me that we are God's partners in our beautiful rainbow country.As such, I am sure God can equip us and we do not need 'one size fits all hand me down solutions'. We have unique challenges.
We have a long way to go. We need to make restitution with our brothers and sisters. We need to build relationships across our man-made bridges… and I think above all remember that it is ALL ABOUT GOD.
I'm an American who reads your blog precisely because you are not an American. I want and need the different perspective that you bring. Thank you for that.
Thanks for this Arnau, and I agree that our biggest challenge is as white South Africans within our context learning from Black Christians. We need 'outreach' from them.
Thanks Ockert … there is a lot to chew on.
Thanks Alice … you are so welcome in this blog conversation …
I love the way you think bro.
How many South Africans "idolise" the American church?
I have to admit that I owe a debt to American Christians like Alexander Schmemann, John Meyendorff, Thomas Hopko, Michael Oleksa and Seraphim Rose, and others, whose books I have read (and I've met Thomas Hopko and Michael Oleksa in person), but I don't idolise them. Some of them, especially Alexander Schmemann, have been widely read and admired in other countries, including Russia. But American Christianity struggles with issues that don't affect us much, and vice versa. Perhaps we can help them with some of them, perhaps not.
Take the Amahoro Conference, for example. There was an American speaker – Brian McLaren; but there were more speakers from Africa. So I don't ee an idolising of the American church.
Hi Steve,
I think the Orthodox church in SA has missed the preoccupation with American church models; unlike the reformed and non-denominational church leaders who have been adopting American models. I know because I come from that culture.
Thanx Tom,
Does it not come back to how we define a successful church? Have we not been looking to certain churches or models because we thought them to be a successful church? How is it that our paradigm is formed in a certain way? How does our main influence become our main influence? Thanx for the proposals but the doing always seems so much more complicated, but I guess this is where our personal testimonies will encourage and inspire one another? 20by2020
Well said, Tom. I like the practical implications you spell out: reading more SA & African authors, learning about our history by listening to old people, building FRIENDSHIP over economic & race divides, having more meals together and less conferences.
To me Amahoro-Africa was a great example of a something that almost looked like a conference but really wasn't. It was so much more: a family reunion of change agents.
Last week I bought Alexandra – a history by Philip Bonner & Noor Nieftagodien (Wits University Press, 2008). Since April I am living in Linbro Park, just across the highway from Alexandra, one of SA's oldest townships. I'm getting to know the place and looking for new friends.
Let's share what we are doing, learning & reading. I know a lot of that is already happening but we need more.
This morning I read the following from David Bosch, Transforming Mission: "What amazes one again and again is the inclusiveness of Jesus' mission. It embraces both the poor and the rich, both the oppressed and the oppressor, both the sinners and the devout. His mission is one of dissolving alienation and breaking down walls of hostility, of crossing boundaries between individuals and groups."
Andries (and whoever else wants to),
Let us organize some face time to chat and share some stories … maybe in Alex, Diepsloot or downtown Johannesburg?
Let me know if you're interested!
Tom…
…your profound connection with our mutual friend, Mike Todd, is a thrill to this olde man!
…so glad you two are getting to know each other, and look forward to the radical life in each of you that the other will be encouraging
…there is deep joy in knowing the two of you are becoming fast friends!!!
an excellent post and so true, as a Brit I often live in the shadow of the American Church, but would rather turn to South Africa for lessons of liberation and grace which is what is sorely needed in the N.HEMS.
Walter … great question about how we choose our influences …
Hi Sally,
I think we can all learn from each other but will have to contextualize in our own backyards. Thanks for posting a comment!
I'm in. Just let me know where & when. I'm still too new to Alex to host such a conversation here but would love to in the future.
Another aspect to throw into the mix is South African movies and other African movies. Apparently Nollywood (Nigeria's DVD industry) is the 3rd largest in the world but I haven't even seen one Migerian film.
Sounds good — except for the traffic!
Yesterday, returning from a meeting in Joburg and hearing about blasing here and lane closures there and accidents elsewhere, I drove quite close to Andries, past the Edenvale Hospital, Modderfontein, Esselen Park, Olifantsfontein, Irene. I think I got home faster.
good for you! keep it up and find something in God that will help us … we need it badly.
Why do you use a broad term like so-called "white South Africans" but limit so-called black Africans to "Black Christians"? Are those who are not Christian not able to teach us anything as so-called whites?
Hi Mark,
I think I just responded to Arnau's comment and didn't think the terms through.
I believe that I can learn from all regardless of creed or race. Thanks for the comment!
Tom,
Thanks for the post – I agree with your sentiment wholeheartedly! We have so much of beauty, grace, and God's blessing to discover (and rediscover) in our context! The consumerism of Western Christianity has an unhealthy focus on the 'self' (self actualization, rather than the well-being of the community). It places people at the center of all creation rather than recognizing that God is at the center of all that exists.
I quite like the idea that Jesus' very identity is shaped by being in relationship (Jesus is described by his relational identity – i.e., he is Son to the Father)… This is very African umuntu ngumuntu abantu… Perhaps the notion of ubuntu is one of the best expressions of the Trinitarian life!
Then, of course, we in Africa have great need of God's grace. We cannot afford to be self sufficient, and filled with self-importance. We need God and one another.
Let's pray that the gentle voice of African Christianity continues to breathe new life in the global Church! As I travel the world I am encountering more and more interest in authentic African Christian Spirituality.
Rich blessing!
Dion
Thanks Dion,
I've been following your conversations for a few years - they are helpful.
You Christians seem a a bit inward looking – there is a whole world out there…it has nothing to do with American churches – it has to do with agnostism, secularity, satanism, paganism, not even thinking about religion, atheism other religions and so forth – you guys seem a bit insular… and a teeny closed minded.
Hi Charl,
Thanks for leaving your comment.
I am a bit confused how you can generalize from one post about someone being inward looking or close minded by reading one post.
Regards,
Tom.