Uganda: Mission partners hand over the reins

Sarah and Simon Cawdell have recently finished their time as mission partners in Gulu. Please pray for Dr Denis Ruhama as he has taken over from Sarah and is now running the Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College. Please also pray for distribution of coffee seedlings through the recently formed Diocese of Northern Uganda coffee cooperative. Pray for the long-term success of this initiative and in particular for rebuilding work being carried out on a greenhouse being used for the harvesting of seedlings.

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Uganda: Cawdells finishing service

After three years serving at Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College in Gulu, Sarah and Simon Cawdell left Uganda this week and are preparing to finish service as mission partners. Pray for them as they settle back into life in the UK, and for the new principal of the college, Dr Denis Ruhama, as he and his family get established in Gulu.

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Uganda: new project in the Diocese of Northern Uganda

Mission partners Sarah and Simon Cawdell, who teach theology to local leaders and develop sustainability projects, have received funds from the Anglican Relief and Development Fund to establish a chicken project and farmhouse on the diocesan land. Give thanks for this money, the new project and the prospect of increased sustainability alongside other community projects such as a coffee garden. Pray for Simon to find an effective and honest engineer who can draw up good plans and oversee the work.

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Uganda: God’s provision

Thank God for his continued provision for the Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College in northern Uganda – where mission partner Sarah Cawdell is principal. Sarah and Simon write, “month by month it seems unlikely we will have food for the students, and certainly they find it hard to pay their fees. But then from unlooked for sources enough comes to tide us over for another week.”

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Uganda: coffee mother garden

Mission partners Sarah and Simon Cawdell ask for prayer as they plan for and develop a coffee mother garden on the diocesan land to provide a source of cuttings to propagate good coffee plants on other plantations. Pray for the coffee mother garden to become a reality and for the whole community to benefit from it.

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Africa: training leaders

Mission partners in different areas of Africa report that teaching terms are coming to a close.

In Uganda, Sarah and Simon Cawdell give thanks for training for lay readers trained this term at Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College in Gulu, Uganda.

Pray for these leaders as they return to their churches equipped with more biblical knowledge, further training in taking services, and some training in mission, church planting, discipleship and other necessities of church life.

Meanwhile Caroline and Dick Seed, mission partners training Bible teachers in theological institutions based at George Whitefield College in South Africa, report that term is coming to a close for their students.

Pray for the students as they return to their families and home churches across the continent to worship and serve, and pray for a good time of rest and reflection for lecturers.

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Reflections from three indigenous leaders in Latin America  

compiled by Sarah Cawdell, CMS mission partner

In January 2023 Paul Tester, CMS manager in Latin America, interviewed three Christian leaders from among the indigenous people groups of the region with a view to drawing out something of the unique voice of each group in Christian theology. The following is an attempt at a collation of those voices with a view to developing an awareness of the way in which the gospel is both universal in its appeal to all people and all times and places, and at the same time is uniquely experienced in particular places, and within the voice and culture of each people group. I hope that it will allow us to examine again the voice of the gospel within, and challenging, our own cultures and people groups.

Each of these individuals is a second- or third-generation Christian in the Anglican Communion, still uniquely placed within their own culture and people group, with responsibility for serving the church in that place. They are:

• Elvio Cabañas, an Énxet Christian living in Paraguay
• Mirna Paulo, a Wichí Christian living in northern Argentina
• Joel Millanguir, a Mapuche Christian living in Chile

Most of the populations of the South American nations have a dual, or more, heritage. They may trace their heritage from the Spanish or Portuguese colonial past (including West Africa from the transatlantic slave trade) and indigenous people. There are however some particular people groups that, for reasons of history and geography, are still recognisable and function as distinct groups with distinct languages, dress and cultural practices.

Each of these individuals interviewed by Paul Tester has come to faith through the witness of their families and the work of the Anglican Church in their country. Each of them speaks with warmth and appreciation of the fellowship of the missionaries who drew alongside their parents and grandparents, sharing the gospel and living in company with those among whom they ministered.

Paul asked each one in turn about their journey to faith and in faith, and in particular how the Christian faith challenged their own indigenous culture, and where the culture was affirmed and maintained by those who are disciples of Christ.

Mirna Paulo, a Wichí Christian living in northern Argentina  

Mirna, who is from the Wichí people, in the north of Argentina, appreciates her faith learned from the example and teaching of her parents and grandparents. She particularly draws strength from the ever-present Jesus, who is not confined to place, as “idols” might be, in whatever moment and whatever place she can pray to him. She says, “I needed to choose to always walk alongside Jesus and invite him to change me.” She describes how the presence of Jesus comes against the fear that inhibits others in her community, and protects her and all Christians. She speaks of those who know Jesus as being able to maintain strong community relationships, which builds up the community and brings hope to the people. “If someone doesn’t have Jesus Christ in their lives there’s no way forward for the indigenous people, the world is a disaster, there is no way of thinking about looking to the future.”

Mirna goes on to describe how this Christian hope has enabled her people, and other indigenous people groups in the area, to work together for the rights to their land and their cultural heritage, saying, “I couldn’t walk away from the joyful, eternal life.” Recognising that missionaries were not always viewed as safe people or welcome in her culture, she also recognises the benefits of health and education that the missionaries brought along with the gospel. For example, learning from the value that the nation of Israel had for land enabled the Wichí people to value the places they inhabit in the face of government and multinationals’ attempts to purchase the land, and thereby disinherit indigenous people. Mirna says, “Many times hope is what is missing, or it’s very weak. Being with Jesus gives a lot of encouragement and my communities value whatever is happening in the churches.” (It is helpful to know that for these Christians much of life centres around church activities, so that the Christians are always living and working together, encouraging one another in faith.)

A valuable lesson the Wichí offer to the Christian faith is a true appreciation of stewardship of the land: not taking too much of a supply, even when there appears to be plenty, but only taking what is needed, and respecting the times when certain meats or fruits are not readily available. Mirna observes, “Just take what you need. Because there are those who also need to take what is needed. And nature itself requires it. So for the men who hunt animals, there are certain times when you should hunt those animals. And there are certain times when that’s not the case. They’re not at the times when they have young… And so that’s when you shouldn’t touch them, shouldn’t go near them. But there are times when yes, you can, when it’s allowed, that you can go and hunt, and catch the fish in the rivers as well. You’ve got to respect the times and everything that has to do with the care for nature.” Similarly, when something is taken as a food stuff, for example fish, it is important to use every part of it, even the skin and the bones, and not to waste or dishonour any part of it. Again, she says, “In the search for honey, you mustn’t exaggerate what you take, however easy it might be to find, and however plentiful it might be.”

Elvio Cabañas, an Énxet Christian living in Paraguay  

Elvio Cabañas is a pastor in the Chaco region of Paraguay, where a number indigenous groups live. He lived on a cattle ranch that had been bought by the Anglican Church as a place for the Énxet people to live safely. He grew up in the church there and learned enough languages to be able to work in the church as a Bible translator. He speaks particularly of the value of music in transcending literacy as a way of discipleship and development. He says, “For people who didn’t know how to read, at least they could hear and learn to play music, and we still continue to do that sort of thing.” Elvio learned leadership and pastoral skills from his youth, working within the church and with his father. He went away for further studies when he was already trained as a minister of the gospel and had done some valuable translation work on the New Testament.

Reflecting on the Énxet culture, Elvio recognises the valuable place of local plants in healing and medicine. He describes how his grandfather was a herbalist within the Énxet community and how his practices changed when he became a Christian, a time he describes as when “the moment of God had arrived among the indigenous peoples”. While rejecting a practice of “fermenting the plants to see which spirit it’s for, whether it’s to heal people or to damage or hurt people”, Elvio speaks of the ongoing value of this botanical knowledge to treat various sicknesses. This was particularly true during the recent pandemic but was practiced in ways that are different to those of his forebears. He says, “We just squash the plants, we don’t fast and we don’t ferment them now. We are guided by the elder as to how much of it to use… Not working like a shaman but sharing knowledge.”

Elvio speaks warmly of the extraordinary unity the love of Jesus gives across cultural boundaries, so that “through the gospel we all integrate, we become one person if you like” and that the “unity through the gospel that unites us should strengthen us as well, to respond to challenges”. Speaking of the work of the missionaries, Elvio values their accompaniment: “That they came and lived with us, and weren’t afraid of the cultures. That’s why we identify the gospel with relationship, the accompaniment and the work that the missionaries did.” He goes on to speak of the next generation becoming missionaries, reaching out to others in the Chaco and accompanying them as they were accompanied.

Elvio speaks of the value of cultural understandings, a good diet and right care in pregnancy, and stresses the importance of learning from the culture, including for those in the medical profession. He says, “The doctors need to know and to consult what is the indigenous way of treating people: the indigenous norms and rules.”

Joel Millanguir, a Mapuche Christian living in Chile

Joel Millanguir, a Mapuche Christian living in Chile, again began by first honouring his parents and family for their part in his own coming to faith and growth in discipleship. He describes how coming to faith can bring opposition from within his community. He notes, “When a Mapuche accepts Jesus as Lord and Saviour, they [some other Mapuche] consider him a traitor. They say they have their own culture and we have our own religion, why do we have to accept religion that has come from outside?” At the present time in this particular context there is a move to a radical, and sometimes violent, expression of Mapuche culture in order to reclaim the particular language, dress, music and other cultural traditions of this people group and the land. While many Mapuche are content to live peaceably in some Mapuche regions, there are those who advocate violence against the colonial past to such an extent that recently both Catholic and Protestant churches have been burned down. Speaking as a Mapuche Christian in this context, Joel recognises the need for courage and faith among his fellow believers. He says, “A few years ago we brought out a book called Mapuche and Anglicans, which talks about how the Mapuche took on the Christian faith.” Reflecting on the book, Joel speaks of the challenge of determining where the gospel might lead him to affirm or to challenge and reject aspects of his culture. He describes how Christians can maintain Mapuche language, dress, foods, musical instruments, art and working together as a community. Joel remembers a great tradition: “When someone had a job to do and when it needed a lot of work doing, the whole community would join together and help that individual, that family in the work… That desire to help those who are in need, that’s good.” But a point of conflict with the Mapuche religion and culture is in the Mapuche understanding of God. “There’s a male god and a female god and different spirits that they invoke at different moments.”

Joel speaks of the value of Christians among the Mapuche people continuing to work missionally, preach the gospel and speak out in advocacy for peace and unity, believing that “the Lord can change lives, families and communities. We had the highest rate of alcoholism in the country. The church used strategies to help people come out of alcoholism, which was consuming a lot of communities and leading families into poverty. The gospel wasn’t just about talking. It was something that was practical.” He goes on to say that “where the church has continued to grow and to be faithful,” the pastors have spoken out in advocacy for “peace and unity”. He also speaks of the church as a non-violent mediator between government, multinationals and the Mapuche people in the acquisition of land and the methods of reforestation.

Joel describes the reconciling work of the gospel, evidenced in the missionaries not coming with a Bible and a sword, but with concern and love for those who are most marginalised: installing hospitals and schools, bringing people out of extreme poverty. He notes that “when the Anglican Church arrived at another community, that becomes a community of peace, as Paul says, not with the sword and the shield but with the Word of God”.

In summary, these three each expressed the particular blessings that the coming of Christianity has brought in in their own place and among their people, feeling that the gospel gives dignity, hope and unity within and across their cultures; by giving cross-cultural experience, it has enabled the potentially disenfranchised to find their voice in the wider community.

In writing this piece I have been helped most considerably by Cristóbal Cerón, presbyter of the Anglican Church in Chile, and temporary resident at the CMS community house in Oxford.

To hear more indigenous voices from Latin America, you can find a selection of videos from a landmark Indigenous Peoples Mission Congress held in Salta, Argentina in October 2022 here: https://churchmissionsociety.org/blog/experience/indigenous-mission-congress-day-by-day/

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Editorial: The emancipation of Indigenous theologies in light of the rise of World Christianity | ANVIL volume 39 issue 1

by Jay Mātenga

Anyone who has been joined together with the Chosen One is now part of the new creation. For in the Chosen One the old creation has faded away and the new creation has come into being. It is the Great Spirit himself who has done all of this! Through the Chosen One, Creator has removed the hostility between human beings and himself, bringing all creation into harmony once again. The Great Spirit has chosen us to represent him in the sacred task of helping others find and walk this path of peacemaking and healing—turning enemies into friends.

First Nations Version (FNV), 2 Cor. 5:17–18

When the Māori of Aotearoa New Zealand ask the question “He aha te mea nui o te ao?” (What is the most important thing in the world?), the immediate response is “He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata!” (It is the people, the people, the people!). When answered in triplicate we look for the meaning behind the literal translation, and the answer can legitimately be interpreted: healthy relationships or community. This edition of ANVIL reveals this as a universally indigenous priority.

When my long-time friend and compatriot Cathy Ross invited me to collaborate on this edition with her and Colin Smith, I was deeply honoured. After many years without contact, Cathy and I reunited during COVID-19 lockdowns. She had seen some presentations I had made concerning the intersection of indigenous thinking and the environment and invited me to share on the subject matter across time and distance (my night, her day) online with the Pioneer Mission Training MA students at Church Mission Society. In 2022 I had the privilege of a reprise, in person in Oxford, with a new intake of students, who made a positive impact on me. Between the time Cathy left Aotearoa New Zealand to minister in the UK and our reconnection, I had grown from a young man struggling to meet the expectations of a Pākehā (white/European/Industrial) world to identifying with my indigenous heritage and stepping into the fulness of who God made me to be.

In my article, I briefly highlight the importance of being true to who we are created to be, while also remaining open to being transformed through interactions with those not like us. I identify two major ways of seeing, knowing and interacting with the world by the categories of Indigenous and Industrial, explaining them a little in footnote 7 of my essay. During more than 30 years of serving transcultural ministers, I have come to see that we desperately need a new framework for understanding how people from different worlds can better dwell interculturally; furthermore, why people from different worlds should better dwell together interculturally. For it is in the dwelling together, in all the tensions of difference, that we witness to the fact that “Through the Chosen One, Creator has removed the hostility between human beings, and himself, bringing all creation into harmony again” (punctuation mine), and we all mature in the process.

Terry Wildman has given the English-speaking world a gift by translating large portions of Scripture into the thought patterns of North American indigenous people. In this edition of ANVIL we read how that came about. In the final product, a broad collaborative effort, we see beautiful evidence of harmony emerging from diversity. Once you have read Terry’s backstory, I encourage you to go and purchase his translation and step into the world of Scripture read with indigenous eyes. The First Nations Version (FNV) is something of a traditional translation, in that it accepts long-held Eurocentric assumptions about what the biblical authors meant, but Terry did not set out to write an Indigenous theological commentary on the New Testament. He has proven himself a skilful Bible translator and the FNV is a fine gateway into Indigenous ways of encountering the world of the Bible with direct relevance to the world in which we now live.

Further along the Indigenous spectrum we have an insightful reflection from Aunty Denise, a highly respected elder among the Aboriginal followers of the Jesus way in the land now known as Australia. It will be quickly obvious to the reader that her perspective carries the pain of her people, whose culture was straitjacketed by the settler church and those sent out from them. You might find it challenging, but sit with that pain as you read the entire essay. She speaks for a people who were invaded, occupied and continue to be oppressed by colonial settlement, a situation common to a large proportion of the Indigenous world including my own. In her contribution, Aunty Denise contrasts for us some of the differences between Western ways of viewing reality and that of the traditional inhabitants of Adnyamathanha country in what is now South Australia.

While it is inappropriate to assume that all Indigenous people think the same (it is far from the case!), there are many themes common to the Indigenous way of walking in this world. Aunty Denise speaks of the harmony between the light and dark; Māori have a similar view, East Asians also (represented by the ying/yang symbol). She confesses to struggling to read Scripture, as presented through the Western lens, but Uncle Terry’s FNV translation shows that that needn’t be the case. Furthermore, in my article I cast an Indigenous lens over theological themes in the New Testament that draw out principles that are too easily overlooked in the Eurocentric theological consensus. As I caution in my contribution, there are limits to faithfully interpreting Scripture; Indigenous theologians must beware of eisegesis as much as anyone. But who is to be the arbiter of orthodoxy beyond the foundational axioms that we all hold to? I contend it is neither the Indigenous interpreter nor the Industrial status quo, but instead the Spirit of God who teaches us as we each bring our perspectives into the global theological conversation. The gospel, once seeded in the heart of another culture, takes unique forms and Aunty Denise shows us how this can happen when Indigenous believers are freed to become guardians of the gospel for themselves, in dialogue with others’ experience of God in-Christ. If the Western Church does not acknowledge this and continues to buffer itself from Indigenous perspectives, they are, as Aunty Denise says, “missing out”.

Thankfully, the discipline of World Christianity that has emerged over recent decades is opening the West to Indigenous perspectives. Thanks to the pioneering work of scholars like Andrew Walls and Lamin Sanneh, among many others, the Western story of the global church is being decentred in favour of a polycentric mosaic of narratives. Each cultural expression of the faith is being encouraged to tell their own story, as Aunty Denise has, with theological reflection on Scripture highlighted by values important to them, as Paul Ayokunle does.

Paul also chose to emphasise the importance of relationships. Relationships was not the intentional theme for this edition of ANVIL. We wanted to focus on the emergence of Indigenous theologies aided by the development of World Christian studies, but relationship harmony is so common a priority in Indigenous worlds that it is not surprising that it emerged. In Sarah Cawdell’s article about Paul Tester’s interviews with indigenous South American Christian leaders, a focus of strong relationships emerged too. The leaders’ responses seem rather benign in contrast to Aunty Denise’s critique of Western influence, and not as theologically crafted as Paul Ayokunle’s or mine, but they are nonetheless Indigenously informed and Indigenous concerns and values stand out. They speak of freedom from fear of the spirit realm, which is very tangible to Indigenous people. Care for the environment is a deep concern we have in common. They note the importance of retaining as much of their culture as possible as they live out their faith, even as they incorporate the best of the knowledge of the West and Christianity, and as Christian faith challenges the assumptions of their traditional beliefs at critical points. The health and harmony of the community is a priority for all the South American indigenous leaders and they describe what this looks like in various ways — with the pursuit of peace a constant objective.

Paul Ayokunle dives deep into this value common to Indigenous people. Peace, harmony, reconciliation, consensus, honour, submission to the collective are all part of the same core motivator in Indigenous worlds. Each people have their own words for it. For Māori it is kotahitanga (integrated unity), which is attained via a whole range of value commitments like aroha (loving kindness), manaakitanga (honouring others through generosity, hospitality, nurture etc.) and awhi (to embrace, include, support, cherish), among many others. In my essay, I focus on the broader epistemological concepts of whakapapa (the creation of new generations) and whakawhanaungatanga (the art of weaving relationships) that result in harmony. In Zulu and what is described as the Bantu cluster of cultures, the broad concept of relational harmony is captured under the category of ubuntu. Paul launches from this better-known concept into his native Yorùbá expression of something very similar: omolúàbí, leveraging it as a principle for healthy church growth.

For Paul, World Christian studies have freed him to develop his indigenous concept into a strategy to multiply churches throughout the world. He shares a concern common to most Majority World missiologists – that Western missions paradigms are limited in their ability to enable the gospel to flourish in non-Western contexts. Rather, if we were to adopt Indigenous perspectives like omolúàbí (or ubuntu, kotahitanga, etc.), our efforts to establish the kingdom of God will be far more effective among Indigenous peoples (which, in my nomenclature, is roughly equivalent to people with a collectivist orientation). As Paul develops the concept, I recognise every aspect of omolúàbí by other names within te ao Māori (the Māori reality). I do not go into my cultural perspective as deeply as Paul does, but a similarity between the value sets explained should be apparent. Aunty Denise and I delve more into the Source of the values, but Paul identifies their contribution to healthy community superbly well for a short essay. The outcome of these values applied, empowered by the Spirit, can fulfil the hope expressed by Aunty Denise and the South American Indigenous leaders: a hope for strong community relationships, where knowledge is passed on in indigenous forms and the best of a culture is retained, celebrated and passed on. Where ancestors and ancient wisdom are honoured, where Jesus is seen with indigenous eyes, but also understood in conversation with the global church for the maturity of us all. May you be inspired with hope for the future of the global church, World Christianity, and your own church, as you take time to digest this edition of ANVIL.

About the author

Jay Mātenga is the director of World Evangelical Alliance’s Global Witness department and executive director of the WEA’s Mission Commission, which sits within the Global Witness department. He also leads Missions Interlink in Aotearoa New Zealand, a missions association, equivalent to UK’s Global Connections. Jay is a graduate of All Nations Christian College’s MA programme and has a doctorate of Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. You can read more from Jay at his website: jaymatenga.com

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More stories of Jesus empowering people at the edges

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