I have a concern for the church in Africa. Something strange is happening, right under our noses, and we’re unaware of it. What is that? Nearly every single church in Africa depends on a Western affiliation and support to succeed. Yes, Christ’s Church is one body. So this isn’t necessarily a problem. But what happens when that support dries up? These churches will struggle to keep going. Related to that, I’ve realised that hardly any African churches fund the education and training of their leaders internally; they rely on external funding and scholarships. Why?
There is a great need for us to build strong and sustainable local churches.
This article is more about raising questions than it is about providing solutions. I hope it will be a springboard for further discussions among African pastors, towards solutions. There is a great need for us to build strong and sustainable local churches, depending less on Western funding and support. Immediately, this raises more questions. Like, how do we build trust among our people? How do we raise the desire of our congregations to give towards their own church’s ministries, development and growth?
A Poverty Relief Mentality
Lying behind many of these challenges and questions is the African church’s maintenance of a poverty relief mentality. This mentality seeks help rather than empowering congregations to be helpers. We have nurtured our congregations to be beggars, rather than givers.
We have nurtured our congregations to be beggars, rather than givers.
I constantly see this at training conferences. Clergy, pastors and lay leaders attending expect—sometimes demand—transport support among other benefits for attending. Yet those who will benefit from that training, the local church, give little or nothing towards conference and travel costs. Lack of finances is undoubtedly a reality, but that’s not always the case. Rather, what’s obvious to me is that if there’s no external funding for training and conferences, the local church won’t get behind it. Sadly, this means less training is done. Even though it’s much needed.
Our dependance syndrome means we’re always waiting for someone else to foot the bill. African churches need to take responsibility for raising and supporting the next generation of preachers, missionaries, and pastors. This can’t wait while we gather monies from the West.
Local Believers Are Responsible for Their Church
I’m not saying partnerships aren’t a good thing. In some places they are vital. However they shouldn’t substitute the responsibilities of congregants to support their local church. By always holding our hands out, palms turned upwards, waiting on the riches of the West, we deny African Christians the opportunity to give towards the growth of Christ’s kingdom. Furthermore, we reinforce the mentality that churches must have Western support in order to succeed. But what we rarely realise is that this reliance actually puts the church’s existence at stake.
Partnerships shouldn’t substitute the responsibilities of congregants to support their local church.
No wonder every upcoming conference and church planting effort is largely if not solely supported by Western churches and organisations. The challenge here is that if local churches aren’t able to fund their own operations and programs, they cannot determine their own destinies and leadership accountability processes. As it is commonly said, ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune,’ meaning African churches must dance to the tune of their funders, supporters, partners, and organisations overseas, even when their demands might not be suitable or relevant to the needs of African Christians.
The Temptation to Begin and Be Big
A related problem to those mentioned above is that many pastors want to start ministries with a bang, big and flashy. They want to launch in state-of-the-art auditoriums, with high end AV productions, and a glitzy media department, because they believe that to be more appealing, pulling crowds quicker. This phenomenon of the ready-made ministry tracks with high dependency on external funding. Ultimately, this can cripple rather than enable effective, organic church health and growth. Big supporters tend to have big influence.
Many pastors want to start ministries with a bang, big and flashy.
Have African churches sold off their birthright for elegant structures; for financial stability and the development of programs and ministries they otherwise couldn’t afford? This is a question for each church to answer.
Wrapped up in this temptation is that the fundraising culture has actually become quite trendy. So much so that pastors spend the majority of their time travelling the globe collecting funds and support instead of shepherding their flocks. This freelance pastoral ministry in Africa will be detrimental for the church in the long run.
African Christian, Invest Your Resources
It is inevitable that church ministry needs a lot of resources, both human and financial. However, if local congregations don’t love or trust their churches enough to support them then the legacy of the African church isn’t guaranteed.
The legacy of the African church isn’t guaranteed.
Throughout scripture, we see the local churches supporting local initiatives for local church pastors and gospel work. Oftentimes, the congregations were admonished to give from the heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, but cheerfully, out of love for God and appreciation of his gracious generosity (2 Corinthians 9:7-9). They were encouraged to support both missionaries and their ministers (Titus 3:12-13).
The African church must ask and then answer some hard questions. I’ve outlined a few above. Foremost among those is this: have we really considered the dangers of depending on foreign support? Another is: how can the church in Africa build solid, financially self-sustaining local churches? Do we need to do a better job of teaching on money and ministry? What will encourage and build confidence among our congregations to support local church programs, conferences and training? These and many other honest questions are crucial for the legacy of the African church, both in the present and the future.