The African church is frustrated, not knowing what to do and what vision should lead us in the 21st century. Because the truth has been weaponized from the colonial onset, the African church continues to helplessly pour more and more energy into getting it right, having less and less time for action. We want to provide a refuge for a frightened people of God who don’t know where to go or what to do.
This is a new Horizon developing and interacting with liberating theologies, we want to explore factors affecting the church and find places of hope and leverage points of change. We therefore work to provide information, analysis and theological reflection and insights to assist church leaders both lay and clergy, in understanding and responding faithfully to the foundational shift that is happening in the church.
This is the new horizon in Africa, where the sky seems to meet the earth, as such our work is the boundary between the visible and invisible, the seen and unseen. This word, Horizon” is a reminder that a change in position or perspective can bring a view not seen before. With new views can come insight, even more beyond the horizon a new vision beckons the people of God to participate in the shalom reign of God with postures and practices of peace building.
This new horizon is based on the following observations and assumptions:
1) The church is moving into uncharted territory where the horizon is shifting.
2) There is confusion and denial about what is happening in the church and why it is happening.
3) In this new situation, the church is called to be counter cultural.
4) There is still hope for the church.
This new horizon seeks to be on the cutting edge of the life of the church and, consequently, may take positions and stances that are untraditional and not popular. This is being done with a deep sense of caring and love for the world that God created and loves.
This is not a horizon of “how tos”, instead it attempts to deal with where we are coming from and raise a vision of where we are headed and why. A challenge to commitment and risk taking is an integral part of this horizon.
We have observed that a life of faith is refreshing when lived in the may be, especially when contrasted with the dogmatic certainties that have deviled the Christian faith over the centuries. The sense of living in the “May be” confronts the sense of certainty and suety that characterizes fundamentalism. Like Anne Lamott mentions; “The opposite of Faith is not doubt, but certainty” When we accept uncertainty the Christian faith becomes and adventure.
Comment by Daniel Buttry; Love to see the engagement of peacemaking woven into the New Horizon of being the church, the Body of Jesus in the world. How can the Prince of Peace be our Lord if our horizon is so narrow that we don’t envision peace where we are surrounded by conflict.
Read more deeply into “Living in The MayBe” at Christopher Levan’s work here
Read more about PhilipKakungulu
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