A missiological reflection on African ecclesiology

Abstract

The 21st century challenges African Protestant missiologists to push the boundaries of African Protestant ecclesiology beyond the current status quo by ‘isolating the crucial issues, mapping out the challenges and identifying past and current traps’ (Maluleke 1996:3). As African theologians propose, African ecclesiology represents two major concerns for the Christian mission in Africa: firstly, to Africanise the Christian message, and secondly, to contextualise the liturgies that have prompted this need for Africanisation in order to dissociate the African tradition from faith in Christ. Indeed, it is necessary to read the Gospel with renewed attention to the comments of the Fathers of the Church and yet be indifferent to the strategic directives of Catholic ecclesiology. This article set out to analyse and demonstrate the contribution of African ecclesiology to Protestantism in order to gain a better understanding of the role of the Church today. The critical-theological research method was used.