Global Institute of Theology (GIT)

Seminar on Contemporary Mission Studies

Student: Miriam Garca Jimnez
Professor: Dr. Samuel Pang

Andrew. F. Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History

Part Two: Africas Place in Christian History

Summary

Walls in this section his emphasis is only in Africa and the evangelical revival and the missionary
movement. In the first part, he talked about the history of evangelicalism that was based in the
principle that the society was not Christian enough and the development of the idea of the Christian
nation. With this, the paradigm of conversion is different from other times, begins with personal
knowledge of sin, and moves to personal trust in Christ that is finished work and issues in godly
personal life.

Therefore, this movement faced a cultural crisis and the change came, a new version of Christianity
appear, the evangelical revival contextualized the gospel for the northern Protestant World, with
indigenous features.

Walls argues that this evangelical revival in Africa was not leading by Europeans but by themselves.
Moreover, the expansion in Africa was possible because the next aspects, a) the initiatives of
themselves, b) the emergence of dynamic figures with non-affiliation with the church. The
initiatives of the Africans, are visualized in the prophet.healing churches, this arose from a different
way to read the bible from the indigenous perspective.

A case, isolated from Africa is Sierra Leone who has assimilated the European Christianity, a
success missionary movement, because in the chapter 8 Walls mentioned that the only difference
was the skin color between Europeans and Africans, the community was adapted with the
missionary method. In the case of missionary movement in Africa, this has been different from the
West because the God in their past, the primal religions and their practices helped to make an
identity from the past to the now. In addition, in the theological agenda the cushion where was God
in Africas past? Has been so important.
 Global Institute of Theology (GIT)
Seminar on Contemporary Mission Studies
Student: Miriam Garca Jimnez
Professor: Dr. Samuel Pang

In the last part of the text, Walls explains about the complex situation in African Christianity, but
he tries to give a overview from the independent churches, he mentions two contact points, Word
and sacrament, and differences, the revelation and the other sources, the marriage and healing.

To end, Walls talks about the primal religions in the world today, after the second world war and
he makes references to come back to the primal religions in order to create identity.

Reflection

One of the main issues that calls my attention is that in Mexico in the church of which I am part,
they do not attempts to make connections between Christianity in reference to the primal religions.

What has been tried most from the church is to make a broad path of separation, trying to remove
a little that past that even comes to pity, without which clearly has not created a solid identity
because we have imposed an identity, which we have even assimilated.

Until this reading, I had not thought about the importance of going to these primal religions to be
able to generate a solid identity, that belongs to the own town or community. To mention at least in
Mexico some gods or goddesses of our ancestors have had a great impact on society, and if, as a
church or theologians, we are not able to face this reality, surely, we are going to have to remain
static, as it is now.

For that same part, it is important to recognize that I know some works from anthropology, which
they have studied from these perspectives primal religions and Christianity.