Missionalia : Southern African Journal of Mission Studies - Volume 8, Issue 2, August 1980

Very much in the front of my mind as I approach this subject is the headline of an article in the Christmas issue of the Sunday Times, 1979 which was written by the Rt. Rev. Philip Russell, Anglican Bishop of Natal. In it he warns, presumably, White South African Anglicans: ""Never forget, our Church is four-fifths Black!"" That speaks for the Anglican Community in South Africa only, a denomination which political propaganda has given us the impression is very foreign to the soil of Africa ... and very jingo-ish!

This Missiological Congress takes place shortly before the date of the imaginary trial of the Christian missions in Addis Ababa from May 27th-June 7th, 1980, in W. Bohlmann's book, Missions on Trial, published in 1978. The strongest criticism of the Christian missions comes from radical Blacks in independent countries.

Theo Kneifel ended his paper with a series of questions. These questions suggest cenain directions for funher discussion and for action. I want to emphasise that ""and for action"", Karl Marx made the comment concerning philosophers that they had spent countless centuries speculating about the world but had done very little to change it.

This paper is based on the presupposition that it is the task of the church in Africa, like anywhere else in the world, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. When one therefore speaks of the relationship between the church and ideology, one inevitably speaks of the relationship between gospel and ideology. It is this relationship, between gospel and ideology, that is to be the dominem theme of this paper.