The African Christian has a distinct challenge. He (and she) stands amidst two different systems which daily war against his soul. And in his desire to be faithful to Christ, he must faithfully and discerningly wage the war against them.

On the one hand is a traditional view of life and the world, nurtured over the past centuries, which still shape thinking today. It acknowledges a Supreme being, yet in companionship with a host of lesser deities who are normally more accessible to humans. It is a world where community is prized, and values and customs are critical, nay, inviolable. However, truth is buried under a pile of beliefs and assumptions.

It knows nothing about humanity’s creation in God’s image and dependence on him in everything; God’s providential rule over the universe according to preset patterns and ‘laws’ of nature which can be rationally studied; humanity’s fall into sin and need for spiritual regeneration; God’s outworking of redemption, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit, which not only transforms individuals but will lead to renewal of the entire universe; hope in a final judgement when Jesus the King will return to destroy sin and lawlessness, while establishing God’s eternal kingdom.

On the other hand is a secular, now largely technocentric, humanism which shapes virtually every sphere of modern life. Education, politics, business, law, media, international relations, and even religion. It is an outlook that thinks in terms of the centrality of humanity, and does not acknowledge the relevance of God (where it does not outrightly deny his existence). It prizes logic, rationality, and increasingly, diversity, equality, individual narratives or stories, freedom (even where there are no adequate grounds for these concepts), etc. It also champions democracy under a rule of law, but struggles to provide and defend a consistent concept of law and justice across the world. Absolute truth used to be a part of its system, but it has increasingly abandoned this for relativism, whether in culture, ideas, or beliefs.

Interestingly, there are things to learn from each system. For each one still bears some marks of God’s revelation in nature, which humanity always tries to ignore. Such true concepts should be humbly discerned and adopted. However, the Christian can only engage in this process of sieving truth from error with the aid of God’s word and by his Spirit. And he must affirm the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of his word, which both systems deny.

He is not working in isolation. God himself is at work reconciling the world unto himself. And he can take confidence in that holy partnership, as he is guided by God’s word and empowered by his Spirit.

But how does the Christian do this? Is he to strive to become a pastor or preacher so he can proclaim a distinct Christian vision?

No. He should live out his faith exactly where God has placed him. As a husband or a father, as an employee or a business owner, as a government official or even as a church leader, God expects him (and her) to live this out right where they are. For as Jesus is Lord of the universe, his glory is to be declared in every sphere of life. That is the goal of redemption.