In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea confessed with clarity and courage that Jesus Christ is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father.” That creed safeguarded the gospel: only a Christ who is fully God and fully man can truly save.
Africa was at the heart of gospel defence at Nicaea, and it must be now.
1700 years later, African Christians gathered in Nairobi to launch the Africa Statement on the Prosperity Gospel (or ASPG). To date, some 700 Christian leaders across the globe have signed it. The statement begins with the sobering reminder that “in every generation, the Church of Jesus Christ faces many dangers,” not least the distortions that arise from within (Acts 20:29-30). Just as Nicaea drew a line against Arius, so many African leaders have drawn a line against prosperity teaching.
This is not accidental. Africa was at the heart of Nicaea then, and it must be at the heart of gospel defence now.
Africa at Nicaea, Africa Today
It is easy to forget that Nicaea was not a European event, but a global one. Among the bishops were African voices like Alexander of Alexandria, the bishop who first confronted Arius; and, most famously, Athanasius of Alexandria, then a young deacon, who defended Christ’s deity against Arius’s denials. Africa was instrumental in preserving the Church’s confession of Christ.
Africa was instrumental in preserving the Church’s confession.
Seventeen centuries later, Africa again finds itself at a crossroads. The church here is numerically strong. But it is doctrinally vulnerable. As the ASPG declares, “a cursory glance at local churches on the African continent reveals that [prosperity] teaching has crept into many congregations and become their functional doctrine.” Just as Arius cunningly made Christ less than God, today’s false gospels make Christ less than sufficient.
Some accuse Christianity of being a “white man’s religion.” But history tells a different story. Africa shaped the Church at Nicaea. Africa is shaping the Church today. The gospel isn’t Western or African. It is global. It is the good news of God’s Son for all nations (Revelation 7:9). Yet Africa has a unique role to play in the African context: to refute false gospels, proclaim the true Christ, and remind the global church that Christ is enough.
Modern Distortions of Christ
Every false teaching ultimately distorts the person of Christ.
African Traditional Religions (ATR) offer one example close to home. In many settings, Jesus is welcome but not worshipped as Lord. He’s viewed as a powerful ancestor, healer, or spirit-guide within a larger pantheon. This reduces Christ to one among many mediators, rather than the unique Son of God who alone reconciles us to the Father (1 Timothy 2:5).
Christ is the risen Lord, before whom every knee will bow.
As Byang Kato warned half a century ago, syncretism threatens to empty Christianity of its biblical substance by fitting Christ into an African cosmology rather than letting him stand as Lord over it. The Christ of scripture cannot be absorbed into ancestral veneration. He is the risen Lord, before whom every knee will bow (Philippians 2:10).
But ATR is not alone. Imported and globalised movements also diminish Christ:
- Prosperity Gospel / New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) reduces Christ to a means to wealth and power, not the crucified and risen Lord who calls us to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23);
- Seventh-day Adventism often undermines Christ’s finished work by binding salvation assurance to Sabbath-keeping and Old Covenant regulations (Galatians 2:16);
- Branhamism (“End-Time Message”) displaces Christ’s supremacy by elevating William Branham as the final prophet through whom God allegedly speaks (Hebrews 1:1-2);
- Jehovah’s Witnesses deny Christ’s full deity, teaching that he is a created being, echoing Arius (John 1:1-3);
- Mormonism presents Christ as one god among many and a spirit-brother of Satan, rather than the eternal Son who is of one essence with the Father (Colossians 1:15-17);
- Oneness Pentecostalism denies the Trinity by collapsing Father, Son, and Spirit into modes, thereby rejecting the eternal Sonship of Christ (Matthew 28:19);
- Shincheonji sidelines Christ by claiming its founder, Lee Man-hee, is the “promised pastor” who fulfils salvation (Galatians 1:6-8).
Each of these movements, in different ways, preaches “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4). And a lesser Christ cannot save.
The Gospel Safeguarded
That is why both Nicaea and the Africa Statement on the Prosperity Gospel (ASPG) matter. Nicaea preserved the biblical truth that Christ is God the Son, eternal and uncreated, the one through whom and for whom all things were made (Colossians 1:16). The ASPG safeguards the truth that the blessings of salvation in Christ are spiritual, eternal, and sufficient—not guarantees of earthly wealth and health.
Contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
Both confess the same gospel: Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, crucified for our sins, risen for our justification, and sufficient to bring us to glory (Romans 4:25).
Stand Firm
From Nicaea to Nairobi, the challenge is the same: Who is Jesus Christ? False teachers will always make less of him. So the Church must always confess him. Seventeen centuries ago, Athanasius stood almost alone, but his confession prevailed. Christ is of one essence with the Father. Seventeen centuries later, the African church has spoken again: Christ is sufficient, the gospel is enough.
False teachers will always make less of Christ.
May we, too, contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). May Africa’s witness in our day echo Nicaea’s witness in theirs: “For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven.”
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