THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BEYOND EVANGELICALISM
In much of Christian Africa, colonially-seeded religious institutions have widely applied the term “Kingdom of Heaven” to divide and rule the masses, creating conflicting divisions among nations and peoples. These highly contested divisions have for decades relegated the church in Africa, remaining irrelevant to the eternal needs of her peoples.
Colonial legacy of evangelicalism:
In the 1800s and 1900s, the coming of White missionary-based evangelicalism in Eastern and Central Africa, introduced radical new ways of being by rating the native belief systems as inferior. However, after many decades this evangelicalism has fallen short of what the Christ imagined and desired for us in the “Kingdom of Heaven”. In Uganda, missionaries established contentious religious factions on the seven hills of the Kampala Capital, distributing these to various groups divided among religious denominations.
The Harm of Colonial-evangelical legacy:
Sixty years have passed since Uganda gained her independence from her colonial masters. Until now, Uganda has witnessed the violent political games of power birthed out of these religious factions on these seven hills. It was never about bringing hope to the natives but rather asserting political dominance and the advancement of exploitation in the socio-economic arena. The fact that much of Africa had to get its independence from Christian colonizing agents, is an ugly wrinkle in what white evangelicalism has pursued for centuries as their model of advancement of the Kingdom of heaven.
In the course of disempowering Africa, the glow of the west as a global super power was cast upon the church in Africa to accept America as God’s chosen nation that must be defended with its theological disembodiment. This allows for harm, reinforcing of patriarchy, a disregard of African spirituality, and ultimately the abuse and pursuit of power.
In the past five decades the spontaneous growth of large evangelical business empires in media and education reaching Africa has made it possible for the exportation of this disembodied theology. It is their “kingdom” operational theology, rallying Christians into military ranks for a display of power. In many of the places in Africa where this version of the Gospel has been exported, there has been consequent intolerance of non-Christians and minority people groups. The church in Africa has embraced this militant masculinity and lost a faith that privileges humility and elevates the “least of these.” As such, the understanding of what Jesus really implied in the kingdom of heaven has been lost to a popular white evangelical culture that encompasses a monstrous structure of religious and political commitments.
Out of curiosity and great passion of hope, Africa has pursued the evangelical dream of the Kingdom to such violent extremes that Africa has been left more vulnerable than it was before the dawn of colonially-seeded evangelicalism. The Rwandan genocide and the bloody exploitation of the D.R. Congo are among the many examples of what Africa has become in the glow of western evangelicalism. This rise of Christian nationalism in Africa has its roots from the colonial missionary influence of European explorers who traversed Africa under the hospices of the religious institutions of Europe and America.
A Turn Towards The Positive Alternative:
However a new spirit is rising in Africa, rooted in remembering the past and a critical assessment of the present. It is now starting to become clear that actually many African folks have long resisted embracing white evangelicalism, because it is clear to them that there is more to evangelicalism than the straight-forward statements of belief.
Africa is waking up to a passionate and at times even an angry affirmation of African identity based on the deep convictions that Africa has the moral and spiritual resources for shaping a future that will provide life in dignity and sustainable community for all. This phenomenon is changing the evangelical terrain for outreach and so-called expansion of the Kingdom of God.
Africa is rising from its tire dreams and nightmares of white evangelicalism into the true meaning of “Kingdom of Heaven”, which will not be the triumph of a new continental empire but a movement to regain human dignity. We therefore call our children and grandchildren to embrace the instruments of discernment and understanding of reality.
Jesus’s Alternative Kingdom:
Africa is waking up to the Kingship of Jesus that prioritizes the Mystery of Faith, human flourishing, and “power-under” with service for the most marginalized. In the present ecclesiastical and theological recession being faced by evangelicalism, the burden falls upon us, the interfaith peace warriors, to free the scriptures that were frozen in time and became an embarrassment to the church and her hospices as the world moved on to newer agendas.
Moving forward, the church in Africa is being called to reach beyond the weaponized addressing of the SIN of humanity to addressing human imagination and desire. As the Rev. Dr. Andrew Decort has written in his book; Flourishing on the Edges of Faith, Psychiatrist Bessel Van Der Kolk writes, “Imagination is absolutely critical to the quality of our lives.” This is why and how we have new futures rather than endless replays of the past. Human desire drives us forward towards what is possible.
Africa has been harmed and abused, and it is God that continually awakes desire and longing for human flourishing, justice, and for things to be made right beyond theological “correctness”. It is not only our desires pointing towards human flourishing, rather this is the very heart of Jesus’s Kingship for human flourishing – using power for others and service.
The Mystery of Faith, Desire & Human Flourishing; When Faith is about being right, it blocks our imagination and this limits how we see God transforming everything. The Church in Africa must embrace mystery and an openness to repent which unlocks us to understand our desire and longing, empowering us to the take risks of starting afresh and casting ourselves into the anxiety of uncertainty. Like Keith Giles puts it in his book Sola Mysterium, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” The Church is being called to celebrate the beautiful uncertainty of everything, a God who by definition is a being who transcends our imagination, our repentance and expectation. Imagination and desire is where Jesus takes us next. Jesus is inviting the Church in Africa into His dream, into the ultimate desire of God. Jesus names this the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom Jesus imagines is surprisingly the opposite of what has been cast globally by white evangelicalism. The Kingdom Jesus imagines offers universal belonging and ultimate hope.
The question of our generation is; WHAT DO YOU WANT? Jesus is asking, what do we imagine for our lives and planet? What desire is driving us forward? When all is said and done, what is the end game?
Jesus ignites our desire, enlarges our imagination and invites us to pray with Him, “Let your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven (Mathew 6:10, Luke 11:2).” The magic word to the kingdom of Heaven is “REPENT” translated “METANOIA” which for a serious student of life means a revolution of the human mind. In the great commission, Jesus is calling the world to reset how we imagine and how we desire. The Rev. Dr. Andrew Decort puts it like this; “METANOIA signals the paradigm shift that is required to dream with God.
Jesus’s Kingship for the Most marginalized; Africa like the rest of the world is allergic to the phenomenon of “Kingdom” and rightly so. The word kingdom excavates dark memories of royal privilege for the few, inferior status for many, and violent domination for those that will not submit. Is this not the testimony of church history?!
Entering this kingdom of heaven is like being born anew and becoming a beginner. It is something that comes to us and sets us free, rather than something we can control and impose on others. In Luke 23.42, we capture Jesus’s last act, promising the kingdom to a desperate political rebel as religious and political authorities hang him on a cross alongside the Christ. When the dying man pleaded with Jesus, “Remember me when you enter your kingdom,” Jesus answered; “Today you will be with me in paradise.” This is a perfect example of how radical the kingdom rebellion truly is; In the midst of an excruciating death, Jesus promises a new future to a dead man condemned to annihilation.
Dr. Andrew Decort has put it like this; “Without Metanoia, we will overlook the kingdom just like we do our slums today, or we will colonize and weaponize “the kingdom” to expand our empires.” Our trust in Jesus’s Kingdom of heaven is severely tested in non-violent witness. Jesus rechanneled people’s royalty to another desire and this made him a public enemy. In fact, in Luke 23.2 and John 11.50, one religious leader stated that Jesus must be stopped to “save the nation”.
Howard Thurman’s wrote in his book, Jesus and the Disinherited; “The religion of Jesus makes the love-ethic central.” Here is the story; Matthew 25.31-46:
On the last day of our human history, all the nations of the world are gathered before the King’s throne for final judgment. This is the global moment when God’s ultimate desire is revealed for all to see. The King declares to those on the right, “come you who are blessed by my father. Take your inheritance; the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the word.
The King then explains why these particular people belong; “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was a foreigner and you invited me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Shockingly, the King in his privileged position as ultimate judge, identifies himself with abused and abandoned people. The Kingdom citizens embraced the King whenever they embraced these abandoned people, even though they didn’t realize it. As it is for Jesus, Love is what matters and saves, not spiritual transactions to get an inside connection with God, which is typical of evangelicalism.
Conclusion;
Rather than following the same pattern of colonially-seeded evangelicalism (White evangelicalism) to prioritize disembodied theology certainty, perpetuate harm, and pursue power, we are being called to the church’s final frontier; to embrace the Kingdom of Heaven beyond evangelicalism.
Philip Kakungulu is one of our leading peace warriors, a theologian/activist who is an outstanding trainer in conflict transformation and other peacemaking topics. For more about Philip, click here.
A postscript from Philip:
Watch out for my next article in the Making! “The Berber Jesus”
I am working on my new Article; THE BERBER JESUS, which explores the influence of Africans such as Tertullian, Augustine of Hippo, Athanasius and Clement of Alexandria among others, who influenced the early development of Christianity in Africa and shaped the now lost doctrines which were seeded in several Christian Kingdoms of Egyptians, Aksumites, Nubians, and Berbers from 50 AD through the 4th, 5th and 6th century in Africa. This will be an account of ancient African communities that honored both men and women in the first Millennium and lived equitably and nonviolently before the dawn of colonially-seeded evangelicalism.
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