Summer 2007 - Focus on Africa - Brethren in Christ Church

Africa, the Most Christian Continent – Again 1By A. Graybill BrubakerThe story of Christianity in Africagoes back to the visit of the Queen ofSheba to King Solomon as recounted in theBible. 2 A son of that visit, Menelik becamethe founder of the longest lived dynastyknown. With a number of breaks, the dynastyreached to the reign of Emperor HaileSelassie whose reign ended in 1974.Tradition in Ethiopia says that anexact copy of the Ark of the Covenant wasmade. As a young man, Menelik visitedthe land of his conception and studied itsworship. When he was leaving to returnto Ethiopia his attendants, with the connivanceof temple servants, switched thetwo Arks and the original one was takento Axum - the modern Ethiopia. There itslocation is well known and heavily guardedtoday. The Christian Churches in Ethiopiahave a replica of the Ark attesting to theirconnection with Judaism.With the Ark went missionaries fromwhich the Yahweh worshipers in the daysof the Apostles came, including the EthiopianEunuch. He in turn took the Christianmessage to Ethiopia. In the early part of thefourth century a ship docked at a port inShalom! A Journal for the Practiceof Reconciliation is a quarterly publication ofthe Brethren in Christ Church. Its missionis to educate and stimulate Christ-likeresponses to the needs of society by providingbiblical, theological, sociological,denominational and personal perspectiveson a variety of contemporary issues.Editorial Committee:Don McNiven, General Secretary,Brethren in Christ ChurchLois Saylor, Elizabethtown, PAJanet Sherk, Mechanicsburg, PAJoel Wenger, Greencastle, PAEditor: Harriet S. Bicksler,127 Holly Dr., Mechanicsburg, PA 17055;(717) 795-9151;e-mail: bickhouse@aol.comPlease direct all correspondence, includingchanges of address, to the editor. A thirdclass nonprofit mailing permit is held bythe Brethren in Christ Church, P.O. Box390, Grantham, PA 17027. Third class postagepaid in Grantham, Pennsylvania.<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2007</strong> • Page 2Ethiopia. All of the merchants, tourists andcrewmen were killed except for two Syrianyouths, Frumentius and Aedesius. TheKing liked their looks and put Frumentiusin charge of the Royal Records and madeAedesius his cup bearer. When the Kingsuddenly died, the Queen made themRegents of the infant Crown Prince, virtualrulers of the land.Frumentius got in touch with themerchants who were Christians as a resultof the salvation of the Eunuch, the Secretaryof the Treasury. 3 A strong churchwas developed. When the young men weregiven their freedom, Aedesius returned toSyria. Frumentius went to Egypt to askfor a Bishop to lead the Ethiopian Church.The Coptic Bishop Athanasius promptlyconsecrated Frumentius as Bishop and hewas back in Ethiopia by 350 AD.At the same time the host of convertsfrom the day of Pentecost fannedacross North Africa and were receptive toorganized Christianity when the CatholicChurch - the only organized church of thetime - brought the message from Rome.By the end of the fourth century a third ofall Africans were Christians. The church inEgypt was a million strong! Africa was theworld’s most Christian continent.But!One fault of the church in NorthAfrica, as opposed to the church in Egyptwhich survived, was that the Gospelremained in Latin and was not translatedinto the languages and cultures of thepeople. The big problem, however, wasthat the church was divided. Two hundredand eighty-six Catholic Districts and 279Donatist Districts were fi ghting, and whenIslam came along the weak church graduallyfaded until by 700 A.D. what wereonce 700 Bishoprics were now 30 or 40 andby 1600 Christianity in North Africa was“only a memory.”In the 15th century two great rulers,Prince Philip of Portugal and Zara-Yaqobof Ethiopia, knew of each other’s existencebut could not cooperate because Islam hadformed a ring around the MediterraneanSea. Prince Philip sent his ships down theAfrican coast “to make increase in the faithof our Lord Jesus Christ and to bring toHim all the souls that should be saved.” Hewanted to join up with Zara-Yaqob, knownas Prester John in Europe, to break thepower of Islam. One hundred years laterthe Portuguese Navy defeated the Arabsat sea in 1543 and brought relief to thebeleaguered Church in Ethiopia, still alivebut very weak and poor from a century offi ghting Islam.The Portuguese sailors, fearful of hugesea serpents and of falling off the edge ofthe earth, gradually went around Africa.At every advance they set up a stone cross,claiming the land for Christ. In 1441 Portugueseships reached Mauritania but didnot reach the mouth of the Zambezi until1498.Missionary priests accompanied theseexplorations and many churches were establishedincluding a great church in the Congo.However, the Portuguese, includingsome of the missionaries, became involvedin the slave trade which discredited theirministry. Two hundred years later no traceof the church in the Congo remained.Two developments renewed the ChristianChurch in Africa. Missionary Orderswere established in the Catholic Church.Especially noted for ministry in Africa werethe White Fathers. The second developmentwas the founding of schools formissionaries and the founding of missionsocieties in established Protestant churches.The two developments were not mutuallybenefi cial as each considered the other apostate.The sad story of their conflict in theKingdom of Buganda - settled in favor ofthe Protestants by the presence of a MaximGun, the fi rst real machine gun - is extremebut not untypical.However, the story of the advance ofChristianity in Africa is remarkable. Thecost in lives and materiel was enormous.One half of the missionaries to West Africafrom 1890 to 1920 either died or wereinvalided back to their homes within twoyears. Without them Christianity wouldnot have taken hold in Africa. However,when they had found and discipled nationalChristians, Africa was won for Christ byAfricans. New Christians, rejoicing in their