Browsing by Author "Ngaruiya, David K."

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Church And Mission In The Context Of War—A Descriptive Missiological Study Of The Response Of The Baptist Church In Central Africa (Cbca) To The War In Eastern Congo Between 1990 And 2011
(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg South Africa) Kighoma, Eraston Kambale; Ngaruiya, David K.
This dissertation is a missiological study about the response of the Baptist Church in Central Africa to the war in Eastern Congo. The study explores the church's understanding of, and approach to, mission before and during the war in the period between 1990 and 2011. It compares and/or contrasts the results with the understanding of, and approach to, missions before the war. It concludes that the experience of war informed the nature of missions and the development of local theologies, the experience and method of missions, the church’s attitude toward violence and church’s survival during the war. This study involves a combination of descriptive, contextual and integrative approaches which emphasise attention to culture and intercultural dynamics. It integrates methods and insights from various fields of theological study. The research process comprises face to face interviews and focus group discussions for data collection. It also makes use of exegesis and a theological assessment of Matthew 5:38-45, Acts 18:1-4 and Hebrews 10:32-34 in order to identify the response of the church to the war, including the four steps of historical research as advocated by Deiros (2011, 136-40) to establish a historical and contextual basis for the study. The completion of the church’s missiological task during war depends on the way Christian leaders contextualise the transmission of the Christian message, discipleship and strategically organize the routine of church life. The church’s response to war in Eastern Congo is in action, both in ministry and mission, undergirded by theology. The latter is shaped in and by war, as sharing the Gospel was confined to the Church’s pulpit and, as a result of war, the church shifted from being a mission force in the mission field to a force in contextual discipleship that needed to address growth, hope and social concerns including poverty and peaceful coexistence. Rather than accepting the Christian leaders’ experience of war as a survival story, the study argues for a demonstration of God in mission through the church pastor fulfilling his mission. It is the reconstruction of church missions centered on the Christian leader in the context of violence and suffering, thus a story of God incarnate, silent during violence and suffering but present through the local church pastor. The response of the Church inaction and theology that developed from the 6local experience of missions is linked with the biblical responses to church, violence and war. Therefore, this study integrates the local theologies which guide the church practice with theoretical models of church missions and biblical teaching on Christian responses to the church, violence and war. Consequently, the church’s appropriate missiological response to war must draw on insights gained from an understanding of church and mission in the context of war.