THE SITUATION OF EVANGELIZATION IN AFRICA
Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu
Bishop of Konongo-Mampong
Ghana
The Church has always considered evangelization as one of its primary tasks in view of Christ’s
command to his followers to make disciples of all the nations (Mt. 28:19-20). According to Pope
Paul VI, evangelization “means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through
its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new” (Evangelii Nuntiandi 18). The
renewal of society and the various aspects of society – marriage, the family, business, community
life, professional life, political life – through the impact of the Gospel message on individuals is the
specific concern of evangelization.
The Pastoral Agents of Evangelization
The Church’s duty of evangelization is carried out in Africa by various pastoral agents, namely the
laity, catechists, the family, the youth, religious men and women, and priests.
a) The Laity
The importance of the laity in the evangelizing mission of the Church cannot be overemphasized.
In the Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity (Ad Gentes), the Second Vatican Council says,
“The Church has not been truly established and is not yet fully alive, nor is it a perfect sign of Christ
among men, unless there exists a laity worthy of the name working along with the hierarchy” (Ad
Gentes 21). In Africa the laity are being helped to become more aware of their role in
evangelization. They are being trained for their mission through suitable centres and schools of
biblical and pastoral formation. There are Diocesan Laity Councils that are concerned with the
formation of the laity. At the national levels there are the National Laity Councils that coordinate
the activities of the Diocesan Laity Councils.
There is the need to form Catholics who occupy positions of responsibility in the country to
be conversant with the Church’s social doctrines, so that in their places of work they will be faithful
witnesses to the Gospel. It is interesting to note that the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has
established a chaplaincy to our Catholic politicians.
b) Catechists
The role of the catechist in the implantation and the expansion of the Church in Africa has been
very significant. Catechists, both full-time and part-time, play an invaluable role in our churches,
especially in those areas where there are no priests. They conduct morning and evening prayer,
prepare people for the reception of some of the sacraments, and offer spiritual leadership in those
stations where there are no priests. We need more of them. There is the need to give them
formation programmes for them to improve their knowledge of the Catholic faith, but sometimes
financial constraints do not enable dioceses to do this. Usually their working conditions are not
good. Church authorities should ensure that they are given suitable living and working conditions
so that they carry out their mission properly.
c) The Family
If Christianity is to succeed in Africa, it should take root in the family. In the past, Christianizing
Africa has been through institutions such as schools, colleges, hospitals and clinics, but unless
Christianity becomes part and parcel of the family with its ideas, beliefs and family life, it will not
flourish as well as it should.
The family, in its nuclear and extended form, is the core of African life and what takes place
in the family forms the subconscious of the African. Therefore, the family should become the

A talk given at the Symposium Africa-Europe, Rome, 10-13 November 2004.
primary instrument for the evangelization in Africa. In fact, the African Synod launched an explicit
appeal for each African Christian family to become a privileged place for evangelical witness, a
true domestic Church, a community which believes and evangelizes (Ecclesia in Africa 92). The
home is the first school of Christian life and a school for human enrichment. The family exercises
its evangelizing role principally through family prayer, education and Christian witness, formation of
children in Christian life, good relationships which serve as an example to other families and
parental encouragement to children to join church youth organizations. Various programmes have
been put in place for the family apostolate in most dioceses and these are aimed at improving the
evangelizing character of the family. These include pre-marriage, marriage and family life
counselling and catechesis, family life education, including sex education and family planning
methods.
d) The Youth
Young people are the future of the Church in Africa and so must feature prominently in all
programmes of evangelization. It is therefore important to help them to overcome the obstacles
thwarting their development: illiteracy, idleness, hunger, drugs. The pastoral care of the youth
must clearly be made a part of the overall pastoral plan of all dioceses and parishes so that young
people will be able to discover at an early stage the value of the gift of self, an essential means for
the person to reach maturity (Ecclesia in Africa 93). Most dioceses have chaplains for the youth,
and there are chaplains at the national levels to coordinate the activities of the youth.
In the light of reports about the abuse and exploitation in Europe and North America of the
youth in drugs and commercial sex, involving especially girls and young women, the Church in
Africa must take the question of our youth trying to seek “the good life” abroad seriously.
e) Religious Men and Women
God has called religious men and women to play a significant role in the task of evangelization.
They have been given unique gifts for the good of the church and society. In Africa, there is a
generous willingness of religious men and women to share the gospel. We are blessed with the
presence of many religious Congregations, both men and women, that engage in pastoral work in
parishes and also run schools, hospitals, clinics, vocational and technical schools, etc. The role of
the religious men and women within the diocesan pastoral plan sometimes needs to be more
clearly defined. Sometimes some bishops get the impression that some Congregations want to
have their own agenda, irrespective of the diocesan plans for development.
Religious
Congregations should exercise their ministries in a spirit of communion and co-operation with their
respective bishops, clergy and laity.
In many countries vocations to the religious life, especially among women, are decreasing,
in contrast to vocations to the priesthood. There are vocation teams that go round the various
dioceses trying to explain religious life to young people.
f)
Priests
Evangelization is usually identified as the special vocation of priests. For this reason the bishops
take the question of the formation of future priests seriously. They see the need to encourage and
nurture vocations to the priesthood. They are trying to have a better and more relevant formation
of our priests, a formation that makes them more sensitive to the real needs and problems of the
people they are sent to serve; a formation that makes them more competent and well-equipped not
only to handle the complexities of today’s social existence, but also to serve as beacons of Christ
in the difficulties that people encounter in their spiritual pilgrimage.
Vocations to the priesthood at the moment are very good in many parts of Africa. However,
we need more vocations and more priests since there are not enough priests to take care of the
faithful.
Many priests live in harsh conditions. In many parts of Africa they do not receive salaries
as such, even though the parishes do their best to support them. Their pastoral visits often take
them to remote areas where living conditions are harsh. Sometimes they feel helpless and
become frustrated when they cannot provide the things needed by their flock, for example,
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churches, clinics and schools in many towns and villages. But generally they do their work with joy
and dedication.
(2) Tools of Evangelization
Among the tools used for evangelization in Africa are the RCIA, Biblical Apostolate, the
Charismatic Renewal, Renew International and Small Christian Communities. The Charismatic
Renewal, with its programme of spiritual formation and lively liturgy, has kept many charismatically
inclined people in the church and has helped to bring back into the Church many Catholics who
have strayed into other churches. The Charismatic Renewal can serve as an effective tool of
evangelization in Africa provided certain precautions are taken. These include an overemphasis
on demonology, the attribution of all sorts of illnesses and afflictions to demons and witches, the
insistence by some of its members that all Christians should speak in tongues, and the anti-Marian
stance of some of its members. In some sections of the Charismatic Renewal there is the
tendency to disregard church authority; there is also a fundamentalist approach to, and use of,
Scripture. There is moreover the tendency to regard everything in African Traditional Religion and
the other non-Christian Religions as bad and even demonic. There is the need for proper
catechesis in all these areas.
The importance of the Small Christian Communities hardly needs to be argued. The large
crowds of the regular parish situation do not really induce fellowship and fellow-feeling among
believers in Christ. There is too much anonymity in these crowds. Smaller numbers stand a better
chance of reaching Christians in their own homes, their villages, localities, neighbourhoods and
institutions. Priests are being encouraged to start these Small Christian Communities in their
parishes where they do not already exist.
Social Communications
The social communications media certainly have to be counted among the most effective
instruments available today for spreading the message of the Gospel. All those engaged in the
dissemination of the Good News should take advantage of them in fulfilling their mission. In many
countries there are church radio stations. It is unfortunate that in some countries such as Ghana
religious bodies are not permitted to own and operate radio stations. This is an infringement of our
fundamental human right, the right to freedom of expression.
Inculturation
Christianity came to Africa from Europe, and Christian missionaries brought to Africa the Christian
message as it had already been couched in the western European culture of the Graeco-Roman
tradition. Consequently, the churches in Africa even today are often confronted with a dilemma.
On the one hand, because Christianization brought westernization in its train, becoming a Christian
means embracing the culture and traditions of the missionaries. Since the gospel, as it was
brought, bore the imprint of western Christianity, its adoption means the alienation of peoples from
their own cultures, social milieus and religious traditions. On the other hand, because of that same
identification of Christianity with western European culture, any attempt to articulate the Christian
message in terms of indigenous cultures has been perceived as a distortion of Christianity.
In spite of this dilemma, the Church in Africa sees inculturation as an essential tool for
evangelization. There are a number of areas where inculturation is urgently needed. These
include the liturgy, especially the Mass, marriage, widowhood rites, child naming ceremonies,
libation, ancestor veneration, etc. In this connection attempts are being made to develop the
liturgy in a way that makes Catholic worship more meaningful and relevant to African concerns.
The celebration of Mass with singing, dancing, the playing of drums and other musical instruments
is typical of many churches in Africa. In the area Christology, attempts are being made to present
Christ as Ancestor in the Faith, as Healer, as Master of Initiation and as Liberator, etc.
Evangelization and the Temporal Order
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The Church must be concerned not only with the spiritual interests of the human person but also
with the material dimensions of human existence. It is part of the task of the Church to improve the
material living conditions of the people among whom she finds herself. Many people in Africa live
in conditions of abject poverty. For many people it is a problem getting enough food to eat, getting
proper accommodation for themselves and for their families, getting proper medical attention and
getting good education.
In pursuit of the socio-economic development of the people, the Catholic Church in Africa
has taken on various development projects or programmes including the following: leadership
training programmes, agriculture, income generating activities, rural water supply, formal
education, functional literacy programmes, health, environmental and sanitation programmes,
relief/emergency services, etc. But quite often the lack of finances does not make it possible to
carry out these projects.
The Church and Human Rights
The various Catholic Bishops’ Conferences in African countries have consistently spoken against
human rights’ abuses in their countries in their pastoral letters and communiqués, and this has not
always endeared the Conferences to the various governments guilty of perpetrating such
violations. By human rights we mean the universal, inviolable and inalienable rights that are due to
any human person as a rational being possessing a free will. The Church takes issues of justice
and peace seriously, and has commissions at both diocesan and national levels to take care of
human rights’ issues.
The Church and Ecumenism
One legacy of the missionary activity in Africa is denominationalism. Since the Second Vatican
Council, the Catholic Church has committed itself fully to ecumenism. Generally speaking there
are good ecumenical relations in Africa. In many areas, ministers of the various Christian
denominations come together to fraternize and discuss common issues. Common ecumenical
celebrations on Christian Home Week, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Bible Week, and other
ecumenical services have become established features of the Church’s life in Africa.
The Church in a Religiously Pluralistic Society
Catholics in Africa live in religiously pluralistic societies. In addition to Christianity there are other
religions, the most prominent being Islam and African Traditional Religion. The Church tries to
have good relations with the adherents of these religions. In those countries where Muslims are
the majority, the rights of Christians are often not respected. There is the need for constant
dialogue with Muslims. In Christian-Muslim dialogues both sides must take great care to respect
the principle of religious freedom with all its implications, including also external and public
expressions of that faith. In Christian-Muslim dialogues there must be no room for a false sense of
peace or militant fundamentalism. Those engaged in dialogues must denounce unfair policies and
practices and the lack of reciprocity in matters pertaining to religious freedom.
With regard to African Traditional Religion care must be taken to protect Christians from
negative influences which affect the way of life of many African Christians. The positive values,
such as belief in one God who is Eternal, Creator, Provident and Just Judge, can be taken over.
Such ideas can serve as a preparation for the Gospel. Christians should treat the followers of
African Traditional Religion with great respect, and refrain from the use of all incorrect and
discourteous language.
Some Pastoral Problems
a) Traditional and Church Marriages
One pastoral problem facing the Catholic Church in Africa is the question of Catholics in monogamous marriages who have been married according to the traditional rites but not in Church. This
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raises the question of “canonical form” and traditional marriage. In the Catholic Church it is
required by law that the “canonical form” be observed, i.e., that mutual consent be exchanged
before a priest and two witnesses. However, it is a well-known fact that in Africa most Catholics do
not celebrate their marriages in accordance with this “canonical form”. Rather they marry
according to the traditional rites of their particular ethnic groups. From the time of their traditional
marriage, many Catholics consider themselves properly married in the eyes of the society. They
are, nevertheless, aware that they cannot receive the Eucharist as long as they remain unmarried
in the eyes of the Church. If it takes place at all, the Church marriage is often celebrated years
after the traditional marriage and this rite loses its meaning for the couple. The Church is trying to
educate Catholics on the importance of the sacrament of matrimony.
b) Polygamy
Another pastoral problem in Africa is polygamy in the form of polygyny, the marriage by one man of
two or more wives. In most African countries, polygyny is permitted. Though most African men are
not polygamists, a good number of them have more than one wife. Various reasons have been
given to explain the existence of polygamy in Africa, but we cannot go into them here. What does
a priest do when a polygamist wants to receive baptism and be admitted to the other sacraments?
The Church’s position is that such people cannot be admitted to the sacraments. Monogamy is the
norm for Christians and thus anyone who wants to be a Christian or is a Christian must abide by it.
As a result of this there are thousands of African Catholic men and women who cannot be admitted
to the sacraments because they find themselves in polygamous relationships.
c) The Attraction of the Sects
One phenomenon in Africa that poses a problem for the Catholic Church is the drift of quite of few
of its members into the spiritual/charismatic/pentecostal churches. The main attractions of these
sects or churches are the following: their claim to know and teach the Bible, their doctrine of instant
redemption which appeals to a lot of people; their emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit, especially the
gift of tongues; their “prosperity gospel”, which implies that prosperity is a sign of God’s blessing
and the corollary that poverty is a sign that one has not been blessed; the fear of demons that they
instill into people; these demons may be demons of economic failure, personal distress,
psychological problems, unemployment, etc., and their claim to be able to exorcise all these
demons; the help they give to people who want to marry; their emphasis on the power and efficacy
of prayer; the attraction of their clothes, music and accent on the youth, especially the urban youth.
It is important, in the interests of evangelization, to find a way of countering the attraction of these
sects.
Conclusion
In the foregoing an attempt has been made to give a brief overview of the Catholic Church in Africa
in terms of efforts at evangelization, her pastoral agents, tools of evangelization, relations with
other Christians and with non-Christians and some of the pastoral problems confronting her. The
Catholic Church in Africa continues to grow. It is our hope and prayer that in spite of all the
obstacles confronting her, she will grow from strength to strength.
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