Unless a Grain of Wheat: A Story of Friendship between African Independent Churches and North American Mennonites (Global Perspectives Series)
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
For six decades, North American Mennonites have walked alongside African Independent Churches (AICs) as they have navigated their faith journey between the ancient traditions of the ancestors and the newer claims of Christ upon their lives. The story of these relationships is a fascinating pilgrimage in partnership, offering hope for a mutuality that slips the knots of colonialism and testifies to the unifying power of the Holy Spirit.
Beginning with a historical overview by missiologist Wilbert R. Shenk, this volume contains the reflections of over fifty AIC and Mennonite colleagues concerning the significance and impact of this long-standing partnership. Their stories illustrate the disparate threads of a sixty-year experiment in shared endeavor, while offering insight into the history of the church and missions in Africa. This book is a powerful account of mutual learning, forgiveness, and growth. It is an excellent resource for lovers of story, students of post-colonialism and indigenous Christianity, and all those concerned with building relationships across cultural and racial divides.
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- Features a a historical overview by missiologist Wilbert R. Shenk
- Illustrates the disparate threads of a sixty-year experiment in shared endeavor
- Offers insight into the history of the church and missions in Africa
- Tilling
- Sowing
- Germination
- Growth
- Pollination
- Weeding
- Watering
- Harvest
The story of Christian Africa has often been told to fit the Western colonial enterprise, erroneously suggesting that Africa’s version was simply the other side of the colonial political coin. In this volume, we have a refreshingly readable account—one that makes good use of oral theologizing—to illustrate how African initiated churches worked with a foreign mission, that is, the Mennonites from North America, as an example of what World Christianity must look like, especially when it comes to theological education as a grassroots collaborative venture. This is a volume that must be on the reading lists of theological institutions that seek to teach mission from a World Church perspective, but with Africa, as one of Christianity’s new heartlands in view.
—J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, PhD, FGA
- Title: Unless a Grain of Wheat: A Story of Friendship between African Independent Churches and North American Mennonites
- Authors: Thomas A. Oduro, Jonathan P. Larson, James R. Krabill
- Publisher: Langham
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Pages: 217
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- Subjects: Independent churches › Africa; African-instituted churches › Relations--Mennonites; Mennonites › Relations--African-instituted churches
- ISBNs: 9781839732713, 9781839735738, 9781839735744, 9781839735752, 1839732717, 1839735732, 1839735759
- Resource ID: LLS:NLSSGRNMRMNNNTS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-10-19T18:18:11Z