#92. A Gift from the Desert Fathers and Mothers

Exploring 21st Century Missional Gifts from Africa to the World

Welcome to “Global Witness, Globally Reimagined.” You get a glimpse here of the kind of work that I do both at Church Mission Society and Missio Africanus where I help students of all levels (from unaccredited courses to PhD) explore the theological (and missiological) implications of the rise of World Christianity. In the newsletter, I focus on the subject of global witness in the twenty-first-century context. Every Thursday, I share a thought that has spoken to me in the week, one or two resources that I trust will be helpful to you, and three exciting quotes about mission to give you something to think about as you go through your day. I pray one of these will energise you.

---

1. Thought I Can’t Shake Off

---

This is an intentional Black History Month instalment towards a broader discussion on African Christianity and mission, written to inform or remind many of us about the gift of monasticism that was, so many centuries ago, given from Africa to the world.

A long time ago, between the third and seventh centuries CE, thousands of committed followers of Christ in North Africa left their comfortable homes and villages to live in monastic communities in the deserts of Upper Egypt. They would later be known as the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers. This was the start of Christian monasticism, which would, for more than a thousand years, be a significant mission strategy in the Roman empire and beyond. Numerous people interested in following Christ came to the monasteries to be discipled. Western monasticism — currently undergoing some form of resurgence — has its origins in these hermitic communities up the Nile. While many retreated from the busy life in the city to enjoy fellowship with Jesus in the quiet deserts, some, like Anthony (251 - 356 CE), went to the desert to fight the devils on their own turf. Of course, Anthony is known to be the father of the monastic movement, though he was certainly not the first person to move to the deserts. (St. Paul of Thebes may be the one who deserves that title). Anthony’s story is better known because his dear friend, Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, wrote his biography. Anthony is said to have gone into the deserts at around twenty years of age. He lived there until his death at 105. He came out of the desert only twice — to support Athanasius against the heretics in Alexandria. In his many years in the deserts, at some point, he spent more than 20 years without human contact. His sole focus was prayer and spiritual warfare. More than once, due to the intensity of the fights with the devils, he was “left for dead.” But he never stopped. By the time he died, he had founded a large community of monks that his location was called a city. At the end of the sixth century, there were at least 600 monasteries and thirty thousand monks in Egypt alone.

As the Black History Month in the UK draws to a close, I wonder what gifts the African church brings to the work of sharing the gospel with the nations. I like monasticism as a peaceful way of sharing Christ. What nonviolent ways of making disciples do we bring to the table today?

---

2. Resources I am Enjoying

---

Book: Ben Lindsay, We Need to Talk about Race: Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2019.

On this last day of Black History Month in the UK, I am reminded of this book by Ben Lindsay, which explores race relations within the Church in the UK. In the book, Ben offers eye-opening insights into the black religious experience and challenges the status quo of many white majority churches. Filled with examples from real-life stories, including his own, and insightful questions, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of race relations in the Church in the UK and shows us how we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community. It is, indeed, an apt read for a time like this, as we seek to be more locally and globally effective in our Christian witness.

Those interested may watch this 2019 event where Ben and others speak about the issues raised in the book.

---

3. Quotes I am Pondering

---

• A part of God is reflected in every culture, while at the same time the gospel challenges every culture. The gospel neither eradicates cultures nor replaces them. — Meewon Yang, "Ways of Being a Multicultural Church: An Evaluation of Multicultural Church Models in the Baptist Union of Victoria" (Master of Theology MCD University of Divinity, Australia, 2012), 12.

• The choice that the church faces in its response to immigrants will determine its future. The church can respond in fear and view the change as a threat, or recognize the missional and transformational opportunity presented by diaspora peoples. — Jenny Hwang Yang, "Immigrants in the USA: A Missional Opportunity," in Global Diasporas and Mission, ed. Chandler H. Im and Amos Yong, Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series (Oxford, UK: Regnum Books International, 2014), 157.

• It may be that the ministerial training is the most crucial aspect in contextualization. If such training is more indigenous and no longer favours those with a background of western education, ministers will be produced who are not separated from their own context. — Lansana Kenawa Njigba, "The Challenge of Contextualization in the Methodist Church Sierra Leone Between 1967 and 2007" (Master of Philosophy University of Manchester, 2013), 179.

I pray that you will be faithful to the work God has for you this week.