The Anointing
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
Exodus 30:22-31 …… Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant cane, 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. Then use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony, the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy. "Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. Say to the Israelites, 'This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come.
God initiated the anointing process and gave strict instructions through Moses about how to make the anointing oil and what to anoint. Selected objects and individuals were sanctified (made holy) and consecrated (set apart) because of the anointing. The pungent fragrance of the anointing oil ensured that everyone knew precisely who and what was anointed.
The anointing must be honoured and respected and so too should those who are anointed. Although we are now living in the 21st century, the principles remain the same as in Old Testament times; we should respect what God has anointed.
Jesus is ‘the anointed one’. The word ‘Christ’ means, in Greek, ‘the anointed one’ as does ‘Messiah’ in Hebrew.
Christians should be living a Christ-like lifestyle and, as such, the anointing should be evident in their lives. The anointing, therefore, is the tangible evidence of Christ in us and our lifestyle should reveal and magnify our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
When we live as Jesus would, the anointing should be so real that the presence of Jesus in and around us will cause some to even smell the fragrance of Christ.
The woman with the alabaster jar in Mark 14:3 is a prophetic picture of every Christian believer; we who love Jesus are broken before Him, pride has gone and humility has come bringing with it a desire to pour out our lives in service for Him. This is like an anointing poured out releasing a beautiful fragrance that fills the place where we are with the tangible presence of Christ.
Lord Jesus, thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to help us to reveal you to others. Amen
YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLmYUK1cpwY&feature=channel_page
GodTube/Tangle video:
http://connect.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0f14c887ba2c721a9b5b
Help us reach the world:
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Monday, 15 June 2009
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Modern Morality
Modern Morality
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
2 Timothy 3: 1-4 …….. But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
Standards have changed; the parameters have shifted. What was once unacceptable we have come to accept. Why is that?
One reason may be the change in our home lives. Many young people in this generation are growing up in homes where there is little or no parenting. Nowadays, everyone has easy access to all kinds of ‘entertainment’ through satellite TV, DVDs and the Internet. Consequently much of the ‘parenting’ input to our children comes from an unsolicited source of media junk.
The made-up lives of soap opera families have become the guidelines that we follow as though they were an insight into reality instead of being the acted-out drama from a persuasive script created in the mind of a production team.
Censorship and respect have all but disappeared. Gone are the days when the family would gather together at least once a day around the dinner table. A time when everyone would chatter away about what was going on in their lives – everyone listening and everyone contributing.
Nowadays, if we do come together it is very often around the TV; turned on, volume up competing for our attention. If the TV fails to distract us then our mobile phone will succeed when it demands a text response to some inane piece of nonsense from an unknown ‘friend’ on Facebook or Twitter.
This is not multi-tasking, this is simply bad manners. If our children or our peer group do not have the common decency to give each other their undivided attention (even for half-an-hour-once-a-day) then it is time that a few simple ground rules were put into place.
To start with; can we turn off ALL electronic equipment so that we can talk, uninterrupted, at meal times or at a pre-determined time for half-an-hour-once-a-day or at some points during the week? Can we have ‘family time’?
Call me old-fashioned, but if we do not make an effort to build relationships in our own family, how can we ever hope to teach our children to relate, honour and respect those around them. Let us begin to value the members of our own family with mutual trust and love for each other. This is achievable, we can do it…….
Lord Jesus, You give us your undivided attention because you love us and because you are interested in who we are. Amen
YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2r52D5gyGg&feature=channel_page
GodTube Video: http://www.tangle.com/search?page=1&search_text=peter+stanway&search_type=all&x=0&y=0
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
2 Timothy 3: 1-4 …….. But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
Standards have changed; the parameters have shifted. What was once unacceptable we have come to accept. Why is that?
One reason may be the change in our home lives. Many young people in this generation are growing up in homes where there is little or no parenting. Nowadays, everyone has easy access to all kinds of ‘entertainment’ through satellite TV, DVDs and the Internet. Consequently much of the ‘parenting’ input to our children comes from an unsolicited source of media junk.
The made-up lives of soap opera families have become the guidelines that we follow as though they were an insight into reality instead of being the acted-out drama from a persuasive script created in the mind of a production team.
Censorship and respect have all but disappeared. Gone are the days when the family would gather together at least once a day around the dinner table. A time when everyone would chatter away about what was going on in their lives – everyone listening and everyone contributing.
Nowadays, if we do come together it is very often around the TV; turned on, volume up competing for our attention. If the TV fails to distract us then our mobile phone will succeed when it demands a text response to some inane piece of nonsense from an unknown ‘friend’ on Facebook or Twitter.
This is not multi-tasking, this is simply bad manners. If our children or our peer group do not have the common decency to give each other their undivided attention (even for half-an-hour-once-a-day) then it is time that a few simple ground rules were put into place.
To start with; can we turn off ALL electronic equipment so that we can talk, uninterrupted, at meal times or at a pre-determined time for half-an-hour-once-a-day or at some points during the week? Can we have ‘family time’?
Call me old-fashioned, but if we do not make an effort to build relationships in our own family, how can we ever hope to teach our children to relate, honour and respect those around them. Let us begin to value the members of our own family with mutual trust and love for each other. This is achievable, we can do it…….
Lord Jesus, You give us your undivided attention because you love us and because you are interested in who we are. Amen
YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2r52D5gyGg&feature=channel_page
GodTube Video: http://www.tangle.com/search?page=1&search_text=peter+stanway&search_type=all&x=0&y=0
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Political Correctness
Political Correctness
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
Acts 2:36-37 …….. "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
With so much that is wrong going on in the world around us, it is difficult not to make any comment – especially when much of what we are witnessing is not only anti-Christian, it is blatantly anti-Christ. Yet the contemporary Christian voice is usually weak and, more often, silent. Why is this?
It is because we have been duped by the media into believing that the Christian way, the ‘right’ way, is one of diplomatic political correctness. Effectively, we have been gagged but, more accurately, we have been conned.
Other faiths and minority groups are quick to rise-up and make their opinions known but where are we when it comes to standing-up for Jesus and Christian ethics?
When we do have the ‘audacity’ to speak out, the media portrays us as a pathetic little bunch of wimps huddled around a few dog-eared placards with a dog-collared politically correct spokesperson, barking into the wind with nothing substantial to say.
This is not how it should be. This is not how it was in the early church. Look at Peter, the bold spokesman, fearlessly confronting the very people who crucified Jesus and look at the results (Acts 2:41).
Do not be deceived into remaining silent. Do not be fooled by ‘political correctness’. This world is going to the dogs and we have a responsibility to tell it as it is. What would Jesus do? What did the leaders of the early church do? What are you doing?
Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us a holy boldness with which to confront and correct a messed-up world. Amen.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MULybGqfRhc&feature=channel_page
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
Acts 2:36-37 …….. "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
With so much that is wrong going on in the world around us, it is difficult not to make any comment – especially when much of what we are witnessing is not only anti-Christian, it is blatantly anti-Christ. Yet the contemporary Christian voice is usually weak and, more often, silent. Why is this?
It is because we have been duped by the media into believing that the Christian way, the ‘right’ way, is one of diplomatic political correctness. Effectively, we have been gagged but, more accurately, we have been conned.
Other faiths and minority groups are quick to rise-up and make their opinions known but where are we when it comes to standing-up for Jesus and Christian ethics?
When we do have the ‘audacity’ to speak out, the media portrays us as a pathetic little bunch of wimps huddled around a few dog-eared placards with a dog-collared politically correct spokesperson, barking into the wind with nothing substantial to say.
This is not how it should be. This is not how it was in the early church. Look at Peter, the bold spokesman, fearlessly confronting the very people who crucified Jesus and look at the results (Acts 2:41).
Do not be deceived into remaining silent. Do not be fooled by ‘political correctness’. This world is going to the dogs and we have a responsibility to tell it as it is. What would Jesus do? What did the leaders of the early church do? What are you doing?
Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us a holy boldness with which to confront and correct a messed-up world. Amen.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MULybGqfRhc&feature=channel_page
Monday, 16 March 2009
The Internet
The Internet
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
Matthew 13:47 …….. Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.
Some people think that the Internet is the greatest thing since sliced bread while others think that it comes straight from the pit of hell. Personally, I believe that the Internet is a gift from God.
Used properly, not only can the Internet be the most comprehensive source of knowledge available to man, but it can be the biggest global platform that has ever been available to make Jesus know to the human race.
As in any outreach we need to be wise; to pray and hear from God for where best to go and what to do when we get there. We must use the Internet diligently and prudently. There are most certainly places of danger and evil that we should avoid.
TheWayCM has a website on the Internet (www.thewaycm.com) and we rejoice when people visit our site. However, most of our visitors are Christians. If we want to be a witness to non-Christians, we need to go where non-Christians go. Therefore, we have multimedia resources on most of the social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube and also in secular Blogs and forums.
We frequently enter into (often unrepeatable) discussions with non-Christian browsers. This gives us an opportunity to share the gospel with a wide diversity of people.
As we cast our videos, Blogs, discussions and thoughts out into the deeps of cyber-space, we expect to catch all kinds of fish. Some stay caught in the net of salvation, others swim away until another day.
Every day we use the Internet and every day we catch something. In this way, the kingdom of heaven is expanding for the glory of God.
Lord Jesus, thank you for showing us how to be fishers of men. Amen
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iSrvV9bsmY&feature=channel_page
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
Matthew 13:47 …….. Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.
Some people think that the Internet is the greatest thing since sliced bread while others think that it comes straight from the pit of hell. Personally, I believe that the Internet is a gift from God.
Used properly, not only can the Internet be the most comprehensive source of knowledge available to man, but it can be the biggest global platform that has ever been available to make Jesus know to the human race.
As in any outreach we need to be wise; to pray and hear from God for where best to go and what to do when we get there. We must use the Internet diligently and prudently. There are most certainly places of danger and evil that we should avoid.
TheWayCM has a website on the Internet (www.thewaycm.com) and we rejoice when people visit our site. However, most of our visitors are Christians. If we want to be a witness to non-Christians, we need to go where non-Christians go. Therefore, we have multimedia resources on most of the social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube and also in secular Blogs and forums.
We frequently enter into (often unrepeatable) discussions with non-Christian browsers. This gives us an opportunity to share the gospel with a wide diversity of people.
As we cast our videos, Blogs, discussions and thoughts out into the deeps of cyber-space, we expect to catch all kinds of fish. Some stay caught in the net of salvation, others swim away until another day.
Every day we use the Internet and every day we catch something. In this way, the kingdom of heaven is expanding for the glory of God.
Lord Jesus, thank you for showing us how to be fishers of men. Amen
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iSrvV9bsmY&feature=channel_page
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Lest We Forget
Lest We Forget
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
Isaiah 46:9-10 …….. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
Recently, the last surviving veteran of both World War 1 and World War 2 passed away. His name was Bill Stone and he was 108 years old. I believe that it is of the utmost importance that we remember the men who fought and died for the freedom that we enjoy today. The price they paid was immense; in suffering and in death and in the horrendous conditions they lived in on the battlefields.
In the video that accompanies the written Gist this week, I make mention of this. Please watch the video: http://thegist.weebly.com
It is not only veterans of both World Wars that we must remember, there are also soldiers fighting for our freedom in wars today. We remember Iraq and Afghanistan. The weapons of warfare may have changed but the traumatic experiences and devastating carnage remain as atrocious as ever. We must salute and honour those men and women who risk their lives and often lose it each and every day on our behalf.
Of course, there is one war veteran who suffered more than any of us could ever imagine. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As He hung on the cross at Calvary, He confronted every demonic power and principality. He took the full weight of the sin of all mankind upon Himself. He was attacked physically, spiritually, psychologically and emotionally, yet He never sinned.
He took our punishment in our place and He won. The battlefield of the cross, where Jesus suffered and died, was the place of our tremendous victory. Jesus overcame sin and death and rose again to secure the greatest victory in the history of the world. The Lord Jesus triumphed on the cross so that anyone who believes in Him will be victorious and live with Him forever.
Let us never forget the war veterans from yesterday and today who paid the highest price for our national freedom, but let us always remember our Lord who gave up everything for our complete and total freedom – Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world.
Thank you Jesus, you have given us absolute freedom. Amen
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8lCPwrAmKY&feature=channel_page
Please note: The next Gist Blog will not appear until week commencing March 9th 2009. I am on mission to Pakistan from February 16th to March 3rd. Please pray for the success of the mission. Thank you
To unsubscribe at any time simply send us an email with the word 'unsubscribe' in the subject box.
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
Isaiah 46:9-10 …….. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
Recently, the last surviving veteran of both World War 1 and World War 2 passed away. His name was Bill Stone and he was 108 years old. I believe that it is of the utmost importance that we remember the men who fought and died for the freedom that we enjoy today. The price they paid was immense; in suffering and in death and in the horrendous conditions they lived in on the battlefields.
In the video that accompanies the written Gist this week, I make mention of this. Please watch the video: http://thegist.weebly.com
It is not only veterans of both World Wars that we must remember, there are also soldiers fighting for our freedom in wars today. We remember Iraq and Afghanistan. The weapons of warfare may have changed but the traumatic experiences and devastating carnage remain as atrocious as ever. We must salute and honour those men and women who risk their lives and often lose it each and every day on our behalf.
Of course, there is one war veteran who suffered more than any of us could ever imagine. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As He hung on the cross at Calvary, He confronted every demonic power and principality. He took the full weight of the sin of all mankind upon Himself. He was attacked physically, spiritually, psychologically and emotionally, yet He never sinned.
He took our punishment in our place and He won. The battlefield of the cross, where Jesus suffered and died, was the place of our tremendous victory. Jesus overcame sin and death and rose again to secure the greatest victory in the history of the world. The Lord Jesus triumphed on the cross so that anyone who believes in Him will be victorious and live with Him forever.
Let us never forget the war veterans from yesterday and today who paid the highest price for our national freedom, but let us always remember our Lord who gave up everything for our complete and total freedom – Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world.
Thank you Jesus, you have given us absolute freedom. Amen
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8lCPwrAmKY&feature=channel_page
Please note: The next Gist Blog will not appear until week commencing March 9th 2009. I am on mission to Pakistan from February 16th to March 3rd. Please pray for the success of the mission. Thank you
To unsubscribe at any time simply send us an email with the word 'unsubscribe' in the subject box.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Your Witness in the Workplace
Your Witness in the Workplace
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 ……… For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.
As zealous believers in Christ Jesus, we are passionate about our Lord and Saviour, it is little wonder that we want to talk about Him at every opportunity and in every situation. However, recently I have heard from some Christians who have encountered serious opposition to their Christian faith in their workplace.
We must remember that at work we are employed to do a job. That is the principal reason why we are there; therefore, work must come first. If we have an occasion to witness for Jesus then, of course, we should take it.
Wisdom must, at all times, prevail. Our Christian lifestyle is our best witness. We do not need a soapbox to preach from, our actions and attitude can often speak much more powerfully than our sermons.
Remember too, that our Christian faith and the evidence of Christ in our lives can sometimes stir-up a violent, antagonistic reaction. At these times we must make every effort to remain in the spirit and avoid the temptation to react in the flesh.
Our battle is not against flesh and blood, it is a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:12). People who do not know Jesus can often be influenced by an antichrist spirit and this spirit will clash with the Holy Spirit in us.
If we remain strong in the spirit and stand firm in faith, the love of God will flow from us and the grace of God will touch the hearts of those around us. We should be a bright light in the darkness and, as such, we should shine for the glory of God.
I have often quoted the founder of the Franciscans, St Francis of Assisi, as saying, “Preach the gospel always and use words if necessary.”
Lord Jesus, please show us how best to witness in the workplace. Amen.
Video: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nfn5q_Y8Jc4&feature=channel_page
What in the World is Going On? with Peter Stanway
Online Eternal Radio Broadcast: http://www.eternalradio.co.uk/playing.html
Every Wednesday at 7.45pm (GMT)
Global Report 2008 Review:
http://thewaycmnews.weebly.com/index.html
The Way Ahead in 2009:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KblhsM9W-nc&feature=channel_page
Ministry and Mission Opportunities: http://www.thewaycm.com/missions.html
New Audio Player: http://www.thewaycm.com/audio.html
Did you know that The Gist Video and the Written Gist have different content about the same subject? - enjoy reading and watching both! Your copy of The Gist is available now at: http://thegist.weebly.com
The Gist is available in many foreign languages, please click this link and put the language of your choice in the 'Comments' box:
http://thegist.weebly.com/contact-us.html
To unsubscribe at any time simply send us an email with the word 'unsubscribe' in the subject box.
Video: http://thegist.weebly.com
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 ……… For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.
As zealous believers in Christ Jesus, we are passionate about our Lord and Saviour, it is little wonder that we want to talk about Him at every opportunity and in every situation. However, recently I have heard from some Christians who have encountered serious opposition to their Christian faith in their workplace.
We must remember that at work we are employed to do a job. That is the principal reason why we are there; therefore, work must come first. If we have an occasion to witness for Jesus then, of course, we should take it.
Wisdom must, at all times, prevail. Our Christian lifestyle is our best witness. We do not need a soapbox to preach from, our actions and attitude can often speak much more powerfully than our sermons.
Remember too, that our Christian faith and the evidence of Christ in our lives can sometimes stir-up a violent, antagonistic reaction. At these times we must make every effort to remain in the spirit and avoid the temptation to react in the flesh.
Our battle is not against flesh and blood, it is a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:12). People who do not know Jesus can often be influenced by an antichrist spirit and this spirit will clash with the Holy Spirit in us.
If we remain strong in the spirit and stand firm in faith, the love of God will flow from us and the grace of God will touch the hearts of those around us. We should be a bright light in the darkness and, as such, we should shine for the glory of God.
I have often quoted the founder of the Franciscans, St Francis of Assisi, as saying, “Preach the gospel always and use words if necessary.”
Lord Jesus, please show us how best to witness in the workplace. Amen.
Video: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nfn5q_Y8Jc4&feature=channel_page
What in the World is Going On? with Peter Stanway
Online Eternal Radio Broadcast: http://www.eternalradio.co.uk/playing.html
Every Wednesday at 7.45pm (GMT)
Global Report 2008 Review:
http://thewaycmnews.weebly.com/index.html
The Way Ahead in 2009:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KblhsM9W-nc&feature=channel_page
Ministry and Mission Opportunities: http://www.thewaycm.com/missions.html
New Audio Player: http://www.thewaycm.com/audio.html
Did you know that The Gist Video and the Written Gist have different content about the same subject? - enjoy reading and watching both! Your copy of The Gist is available now at: http://thegist.weebly.com
The Gist is available in many foreign languages, please click this link and put the language of your choice in the 'Comments' box:
http://thegist.weebly.com/contact-us.html
To unsubscribe at any time simply send us an email with the word 'unsubscribe' in the subject box.
Monday, 19 January 2009
"As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God"
(This is an extract from Eternal Radio Online: http://www.eternalradio.co.uk
“What in the World is Going On” - online every Wednesday Evening at 7.45pm.)
As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset by Matthew Parris – Times Online
Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.
It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.
Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.
But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.
First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.
At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.
We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.
Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.
This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.
It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.
There's long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.
I don't follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.
Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won't take the initiative, won't take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.
How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds - at the very moment of passing into the new - that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it's there,” he said.
To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It's... well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary's further explanation - that nobody else had climbed it - would stand as a second reason for passivity.
Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.
Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.
And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.
“What in the World is Going On” - online every Wednesday Evening at 7.45pm.)
As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset by Matthew Parris – Times Online
Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.
It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.
Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.
But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.
First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.
At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.
We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.
Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.
This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.
It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.
There's long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.
I don't follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.
Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won't take the initiative, won't take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.
How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds - at the very moment of passing into the new - that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it's there,” he said.
To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It's... well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary's further explanation - that nobody else had climbed it - would stand as a second reason for passivity.
Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.
Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.
And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.
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