–– Richard Peskett
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Do you ever, like me, struggle to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with black Africans? I speak often to men and women about Christ—on the streets and in the stores—and even though we are speaking the same language, and they smile, and they agree with me, and they take a tract when offered to them, yet I usually come away convinced that we were speaking at cross-purposes. I failed again to effectively share the gospel.
“Speaking at cross purposes” means talking with someone about different things without realising it.
Most Africans are “incurably religious people.” They mention “God” more often than the Europeans with whom I grew up. Africans praise “God” for the rain, and for good health. “God is good,” I might say, and people reply, “All of the time.” But how many of these same people actually know God — the One who reveals Himself in His creation, in the Scriptures, and most clearly in the person of Jesus Christ?
So it is that in my evangelism I find myself speaking at cross purposes—when I talk about “God”, I am speaking of the one triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But people hear “God” and think of a creator, but one who has no effect on how they live—their “God” has no impact on how they relate to their boss or how they spend their time or how they deal with tragedy. Most black Africans want this “God” to bless them, to bring them prosperity and “breakthrough,” but they have no desire to know Him. They fear Satan and the spirits of their ancestors, but they do not fear God.
When I speak about “sin”, I am speaking about rebellion against God. But my hearer does not view wickedness as an offence against God, but as an offence against the community, living or dead. The worst sin or “taboo” in Africa is not how a person treats God, but how he treats his community – one’s family, clan or tribe (which includes the ancestral spirits).
What do I mean when I say God is to be “worshipped?” Not what most Africans think! They have no understanding that God has decreed how He is to be worshipped, which leads to “worship” of “God” on a Sunday that is all about making the worshiper feel good, and empowered to live victoriously the coming week — it has nothing to do with a trembling love and awe of Yahweh. Sunday by Sunday, people dance and make lots of noise, claiming to be “worshipping God,” when it is nothing more than sensuality and idolatry.
When I speak about “God,” I refer to the One who is both transcendent, and also near—the One who is sovereign and wise and good and trustworthy, “my Refuge and Strength; an ever-present Help in trouble” (Ps 46:1). Most black Africans clearly do not believe this about their “God” because when severe trials come, they resort to visiting the local Sangoma (witch doctor) to acquire some charm that will help them.
What is the answer? How can we do better in our evangelism?
We must show “the man on the street” that the Word of God, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, is the only reliable guide to understanding God—not culture, nor the money-loving false prophets.
Africans must be shown from God’s word the truth about who He is—that God is holy and righteous and sovereign. This means giving time to read the Bible together, to go through what Scripture says about the nature and purposes of God. We are doing little or no good if we speak “at cross purposes” and then call a person to repent and believe!
We need to show that the Scriptures represent God personally—since Jesus Christ is the perfect revelation of the Father, God should never be perceived as impersonal. (Heb 1:3; Col 2:9; John 14:9). God wants His people to know Him, love Him, enjoy Him, and thus glorify Him. (Acts 17:23–27; Jer 9:24; John 17:3; Gal 4:8–9; 1 John 4:8.).
We must communicate that after death comes judgment, and Christ will determine where each individual will spend eternity: we will all be given a resurrection body suitable for where we will spend eternity, either in hell or in heaven, the dwelling place of God (Heb9:27; Acts 17:31; Matt 25:31–46; 1 Cor 15:50–53; Rev 21:3).
Jesus Christ must be heralded as the one who came and gave His life as a ransom to save sinners, and as the risen Lord who has conquered death. Africans are to be shown from the Bible that there is salvation in no other name, they are to turn away from intermediaries and idols, and from false worship of “God,” and they are to come in repentance and faith to Christ. Above all else, the evangelist must look to God to bring about regeneration in the heart of the African, lest Christ merely be adopted as another ancestral spirit.