Chris and Femi for blog - Langham Partnership...
Transcript of Chris and Femi for blog - Langham Partnership...
God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye 1
God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye
In Ghana, like many countries across the Majority World, congregations are exploding with growth. Yet each Sunday, as a growing number of believers enter churches, as many as 8 in 10 preachers enter pulpits lacking even the most basic training on how to study and teach the Bible. The result? Teaching is often shallow or worse, unbiblical, leaving believers vulnerable. This is why Langham is at work training pastors and lay leaders in Ghana and 60+ countries around the world. Recently, Langham's International Ministries Director, Chris Wright, sat down with Femi Adeleye—a theological leader trained with support from Langham who is now heading up Langham's pastor training movement in Africa. During their conversation, they touch upon the growth and vibrancy of the church in Ghana, the harmful impact of the prosperity gospel, the need for biblical training for pastors, and what believers around the world can learn from the church in Africa.
Chris Wright is an internationally renowned Bible scholar, award-winning author, and
international ministries director of the Langham Partnership
Femi Adeleye is a Langham Scholar, the Associate Director of Langham Preaching in Africa, and the founder of the Institute for
Christian Impact
God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye
2
CW: Welcome, Femi. Can you tell us a little about the country of Ghana? How big of a country is it? FA: Ghana, on the west coast of Africa, is the first Sub-Saharan African country to be an independent. The population of Ghana presently is about 25 million people. At least 70% of the population would profess to be Christian. CW: It's a remarkable reality then, an African country that is predominately majority Christian. FA: It is. Ghana benefited a lot from 19th century missionaries who came from Europe to plant mission-led churches. That heritage has remained, but presently we've seen a vibrancy of younger people embracing the gospel and Christianity. Churches are quite full on Sundays in Ghana. CW: What then is the need for pastor training in Ghana? And if there are so many churches in Ghana, are there not seminaries and Bible colleges, as well? FA: It seems the church has grown faster than there are resources to train and equip leaders for effective preaching. So, you have many zealous people wanting to preach, but they've hardly had any training at all. What often happens is somebody comes up with a topic he wants to speak on and then begins to look for Bible passages that back whatever the topic is, or they tell the story of their life and then sprinkle a few verses in there. That represents the need, indicates the need for pastors and lay people to be trained in Biblical preaching. There are seminaries, there are Bible colleges, but they really can't cope with the explosive growth of Christianity. . . There is a significant need. CW: One of the phrases sometimes used about the church in Africa, whether it's fair or not is a good question, is that the church is a mile wide and only an inch deep. Would you like to comment on that expression and whether it's true and to what extent it is or not? FA: Yes. The whole comment about the church being a mile wide and an inch deep relates more to people's understanding that the church in our context makes converts and not disciples. Lots of people profess faith in Christ, but they hardly walk the talk. It takes the preaching of the whole counsel of God. Having come to faith in Christ, how then should we live? That's often lacking and that's where the Langham Preaching Seminars and the emphasis on faithfulness to the text, the clarity in proclaiming it and then the relevance in terms of what does it mean to live as the Bible dictates we should or literally, to walk the talk of what it means to follow Jesus. . . However, having said that, occasionally it tends to suggest that Africans are shallow, or African Christians are shallow, but when you look into the heritage of African poetry, hymns and songs, they are very deep. So, I tell people that statement only indicates that people are not well taught. When people are well taught, they embrace the truth and hold on firmly to it. CW: Also, one could say that there are other parts of the world, not just in Africa, but also including in the West, where the church could be not even a mile wide and also very
God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye
3
shallow. It's not something that only afflicts the African church by any means. In some respects, you yourself are an example of someone who has studied deeply, got a doctorate, and you're one of many African scholars at that level. FA: There's an increasing number of such. CW: One of the things that we hear about in different parts of the world, and certainly in Africa, is the prosperity gospel. What is that? In what way is it affecting the church in Ghana? FA: The prosperity gospel, sometimes called the “health and wealth gospel,” or the “name it, claim it” gospel, often uses texts of Scripture as shortcuts to the good things in life. Essentially, it emphasizes that material prosperity is something we can benefit from here on Earth. However, the way it is often taught makes the material prosperity an end in itself. In contexts of poverty, acute poverty, it's a huge attraction, particularly with the younger people, who want instant success, instant prosperity, without working for it. It's had a negative impact on the culture. In Ghana where I live, two years ago, one of those prophets came to town, and he was distributing water he said he had prayed over, and if you can buy a bottle it will cure all the diseases you may have. People were rushing to get the water. There was a stampede, and four people were killed. I heard it in Zimbabwe during a recent visit of a similar incident. This time it was a preacher who said he had prayed over some umbrellas and if people would buy the umbrellas for something like $300 each, and you waive that umbrella over your head, God will prevent you from having problems. You must understand that some of our people are in significant difficulty, so when they hear teaching like that, they're so vulnerable that they embrace it. It seems, you know, ridiculous to be so gullible, but in the quest to rush to buy these umbrellas again there was a stampede, and about 11 people were killed. When that happens people ask, "What gospel is this? What kind of God is this, who allows people to be killed in such a way in the name of following Jesus?" That's been so negative, and the remedy for that again is to go back to Scripture and teach the Bible as it should be taught. CW: I think you’ve actually written a book on this yourself, haven’t you? FA: I was concerned enough about this to visit several churches and do the research on what has been taught. I actually wrote a book titled, Preachers of a Different Gospel. It is a different gospel because often those who teach this do not emphasize the place of the cross of Christ and reject any indication of suffering or affliction as part of Christian experience. I'm emphasizing the need for preachers of a sound Gospel who would read Scripture for what it says and not read into it what it does not say, and interpret Scripture. That takes the discipline of study and careful attention to what the original writer means in the text, before jumping to what does it mean to us. Then proclaiming that with clarity, starting with the basics of what the text is all about, what it means to us, before drawing applications for the relevance. I think this needs to be pursued more intentionally across all church traditions in Ghana. CW: What impact then do you think training pastors to preach the Bible better will have, first of all, in the church itself?
God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye
4
FA: We are actually beginning to see the fruit of that. Several years back, a man from Ghana named Emmanuel Ahlijah (pictured left), now a pastor, made an appeal to Uncle John Stott. He said, “Please come and help us, John Stott…We have all kinds of strange teachings in our church.” And there is now a strong preaching movement training pastors and lay leaders on how to study the text of the Scriptures, how to interpret and how to proclaim it. It's beginning to bear a fruit because people are now exposed to the truth and discovering that some of the things
they've embraced in the past are not biblical and are not helpful. They may provide short term remedies, but not lasting impact. So, if this movement grows, I believe we'll see considerable change in the character of the church itself in Ghana. CW: Can that change all happen just from a seminar? I mean do people just come for a single seminar and that's it and they're transformed? I don't imagine so, how does it all work? FA: The training seminars are a starting point because the intention is to build a grain movement. We have a seminar level one, which is basic introduction to text of Scripture, how to read and discover what is meant there originally. In some context level two focuses on the Old Testament. Then the third level is of course on the New Testament, the Epistles and so on. Then beyond that we go on to train other trainers. Beyond the seminars, we have what we call preaching clubs, which meet in most cases once a month with like-minded people to share their experiences, maybe with difficult texts. To study such texts together, and just encourage one another in their journey of discovering scripture and proclaiming it faithfully in the churches they belong to. CW: Have you any idea how many preaching clubs there are in Ghana at the moment? FA: In Ghana, yes, I'm aware that there are between 25 and 30 preaching clubs that meet on a regular basis. CW: You're also the director for Langham Preaching throughout all of Africa in fact, and there must be what, hundreds of preaching clubs in Africa? FA: There are hundreds.
God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye
5
CW: We've talked Femi about the impact on the church through pastors preaching the Bible better, having their training, going through the preaching clubs, meeting regularly. The whole point of being the church is to make some impact in society, isn't it? We want to be effective, we have a mission, we have some sense of being here on Earth for Christ's sake in the world, so do you see Langham Preaching having any impact through the church in the community? In the wider, sometimes called secular society, or the world itself? FA: That's right. As part of the training we emphasize the character of the preacher, which includes the pastor and lay people because their life must bear witness to what they preach from the pulpit. The more people we have going through such training series, the more the impact is felt. There are indications that it's bearing fruit because we are a theological institution so I've observed what we do and they're now asking us to come and train their students. There are at least three theological institutions in Ghana who are now considering making the Langham Preaching Seminar curriculum as part of their academic requirement in those institutions. Hopefully that will replicate a new generation of people who not only know the Scripture, teach the Scripture accurately, or as faithfully as possible, but also live it out in the public arena. CW: Are there any examples that you can think of in that public arena where a Langham trained pastor preaching to the congregation has had an impact in a community? Are there any examples you can think of? FA: Oh, definitely. I can use Patrick Oduro who is actually now my neighbor, as a good example of someone who has gone through the training seminar and runs a hospitality guest house. It's called Hephziba Christian Center. The integrity he requires of his staff and the way he lives it out, paying his taxes, not cutting corners with the government and so on, is a testimony to the community. People see that visibly and they know it's because he belongs to that circle of accountability that Langham Preaching promotes. CW: That's wonderful because it seems to me that that's very much like Jesus said, "Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father.” What would you say to people who might be thinking, "Well, that's good, I could consider perhaps giving something towards this training of pastors in Africa, in biblical preaching, but you know is it really going to make any difference? This huge continent and all these vast needs and all this poverty, surely there must be other more important things to do than just teaching people how to preach the Bible better." What would you say to someone thinking like that?
God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye
6
FA: Well I would say the challenge is huge, but we have a proverb in Africa that says, "The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time." If you don't take the first bite, you'll never eat the elephant. CW: I wasn't think of eating an elephant actually, but I can well see the point. FA: In terms of being so overwhelmed by the challenge, the corruption, the ethnic conflicts and so on, the remedy is not to abstain from doing anything, but actually to engage with it, to invest in it. Looking at the indication of fruit that we are beginning to see. If that can be replicated, what a joy it will be for those who invest. To have that as an ongoing movement in our continent. CW: We often think, those of us who live in the West, of Africa as the place where we need missionaries to go, we need biblical preaching there. And so we often think of Africa as a country that needs to receive what we can offer. You're African, you're Ghanaian, do you see something reversing? In other words, that there is some sense also in which what God is doing in Africa can be a blessing and a gift to the church in the West? FA: Oh definitely. I've experienced that in various ways, that the body of Christ is global. We serve a global God and His giftings are not restricted to any particular geographical location. We in fact have some Africans in Europe and in the United States participating actively in the life and ministry of the church, and there are lessons to be learned. For instance, we find that the commitment and the perseverance of Christians in challenging contexts—as it was in the Sudan before the new Sudan became independent, the resilience to keep going in the face of persecution. Or of Nigerians who live in Northern Nigeria where there is the militant Boko Haram, who have experienced some level of suffering—they have a lot to teach people from other parts of the world who hardly know what it is to be opposed or to be persecuted. The giftings of God can be shared even from Africans to other parts of the world. CW: I think that’s an important thing for us to hear, isn’t it, because we’ve talked about John Stott and his desire to serve the church in what’s called the Majority World. But in some ways that vision that God gave to him, and coming alongside Emmanuel Alijah to sustain or to help the church in Ghana may, in God’s providence, be a way in which God is raising up the church in Africa eventually to almost help the church in the West to survive. When we experience persecution, suffering or whatever might lie ahead, that we will have things to learn from and to gain from the life and the vigor and the Bible
Vibrant worship within a church in Ghana, growing in depth from their Langham-trained pastor teaching
God's Word with clarity.
God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye 7
teaching that's now happening in Africa, so it could be a wonderful way in which God is reversing the direction of what we always thought. Is that the way, how you see things?
FA: Yes, that's how I see it. We in fact have international students in other parts of the world who have embraced the Gospel in Africa, but now find themselves in North America or Europe and they're actively involved in campus ministry in various parts of the world. There is some research that indicates that some of the most vibrant churches in the West are actually migrant churches. Churches populated by immigrants from Asia, from Africa and Latin American. It's really that partnership, we need to be open to the way, the Gospel moves across cultures for the benefit of the whole, learning one from another. . . And particularly in our context because I remind my African friends that, well if you're going to be a missionary to Europe you better be sound in your knowledge and understanding of the Bible. Embrace it deeply, otherwise you'll pass a cross half-baked cake to wherever you go in the world. I see that as a deep sense of urgency in our context.
CW: Good, well I'm here talking with Dr. Femi Adeleye from Ghana about Langham preaching in that country and indeed throughout Africa. So thank you Femi.
FA: Thank you so much.
Learn more about how Langham trains pastors in 60+ nations.
Make a gift that multiplies pastors and lay leaders to faithfully preach the Bible around the world.