Measuring Success: Western ABC's,Paul's XYZ's & Ubuntu as Markers for Church Growth in Africa

Abstract

Traditional measures of church growth, such as attendance and giving, come from aspects of growth that can readily be counted. These countable measures resonate with cultural assumptions about success, in which more is better. In contrast, the Apostle Paul offers a measure of church growth built around conforming to the kenotic example of Christ, in which Christ emptied Himself of divine power and took on the form of a slave to serve humanity (Phil. 2:6–8). In Paul's paradigm, the necessary indicator of church growth is how well believers follow Christ's example of servanthood by living in Christian community. The present paper uses the communitarian values associated with ubuntu to provide a framework for understanding Paul's kenotic paradigm of church growth in the African context.

Keywords

Africa church growth ubuntu Philippians kenosis

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abate

(2006) Philippians. In: Adeyemo

(eds) Africa Bible Commentary. Nairobi, Kenya: WordAlive, 1465–1474.

Adepoju

(2020) Jesus christ as the ultimate authentic leader: an inner texture analysis of Philippians 2:5–11. Journal of Biblical Perspectives on Leadership 10(1): 34–47.

Asamoah

Yeboah-Assiamah

(2019) “Ubuntu Philosophy” for public leadership and governance praxis. Journal of Global Responsibility 10(4): 307–321.

Banda

(2019) Ubuntu as human flourishing? An African traditional religious analysis of ubuntu and its challenge to Christian anthropology. Stellenbosch Theological Journal 5(3): 203–228. doi:https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2019.v5n3.a10

Battle

(1997) Reconciliation: The Ubuntu theology of Desmond Tutu. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press.

Bekker

(2007) Dreaming with Open Eyes: Reflections on Leadership and Spirituality. Virginia Beach: E-publication, Regent University.

Chabata

(2019) Philippians 2: 5-11: An Afrocentric hermeneutical study of New Testament morality from a Shona cultural perspective. PhD Thesis, North-West University, South Africa.

Chinouya

(2007) Ubuntu and the helping hands for AIDS. In: Wambu

(eds) Under the Tree of Talking: Leadership for Change in Africa. London: Counterpoint, 117–131.

Chisale

(2018) Ubuntu as care: Deconstructing the gendered Ubuntu. Verbum et Ecclesia 39(1): 1–8. doi:https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v39i1.1790

10.

Cilliers

(2015) In search of meaning between Ubuntu and Into: Perspectives on preaching in post-apartheid South Africa. In: Dreyer

Dreyer

Foley

Nel

(eds) Practicing Ubuntu: Practical Theological Perspectives on Injustice, Personhood and Human Dignity. Zurich: LIT Verlag, 67–77.

11.

Davis

(2021) Ubuntu and educational leadership: Reflections from a cultural newcomer in Senegal. In: Mukuni

Tlou

(eds) Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 202–14.

12.

Draper

(1994) Jesus and the renewal of local community in Galilee. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 87: 29–42.

13.

Edsall

Strawbridge

(2015) The songs we used to sing? Hymn ‘traditions’ and reception in Pauline letters. Journal for the Study of the New Testament 37(3): 290–311.

14.

Gade

(2011) The historical development of the written discourses on Ubuntu. South African Journal of Philosophy 30(3): 303–329.

15.

Gelfand

(1973) The Genuine Shona: Survival Values on an African Culture. Gweru: Mambo Press.

16.

Gorman

(2001) Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

17.

Gyekey

(1996) The Unexamined Life: Philosophy and the African Experience. Accra: Sankofa.

18.

Hailey

(2008) Ubuntu: A Literature Review. London: Tutu Foundation.

19.

Hawthorne

Martin

(2004) Philippians. Rev. and expanded / ed. Word Biblical Commentary, V. 43. Nashville: Nelson Reference & Electronic.

20.

Hellerman

(2005) Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi: Carmen Christi As Cursus Pudorum. Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, 132. New York: Cambridge University Press.

21.

Hellerman

(2013) Embracing Shared Ministry: Power and Status in the Early Church and Why it Matters Today. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel.

22.

Howell

(2017) When having a bad leader is good: Processing a negative experience and applying leadership lessons from the kings. Missio Dei: A Journal of Missional Theology and Practice 8(2).

23.

Howell

Markwood

(2019) Loaded language: Missiological considerations for appropriating political rhetoric. International Journal of Frontier Missiology 36(2): 77–83.

24.

Kamwangamalu

(1999) Ubuntu in South Africa: A sociolinguistic perspective to a pan African concept. Critical Arts 13(2): 24–41.

25.

Karsten

Illa

(2005) Ubuntu as a key African management concept: Contextual background and practical insights for knowledge application. Journal of Managerial Psychology 20(7): 607–620. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940510623416

26.

Lees

(1925) Epaphroditus, god’s gambler. Expository Times 37(1): 46.

27.

Lutz

(2009) African Ubuntu philosophy and global management. Journal of Business Ethics 84(3): 313–328.

28.

Magezi

(2017) Ubuntu in flames – injustice and disillusionment in postcolonial Africa: A practical theology for new “liminal Ubuntu” and personhood. In: Dreyer

Dreyer

Foley

Nel

(eds) Practicing Ubuntu: Practical Theological Perspectives on Injustice, Personhood and Human Dignity. Zurich: LIT Verlag, 111–122.

29.

Martin

Nash

(2015) Philippians 2:6–11 as subversive hymnos: A study in light of ancient rhetorical theory. The Journal of Theological Studies 6(1): 90–138. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flv010

30.

Matolino

(2015) Emotion as a feature of Aristotelian eudaimonia and African communitarianism. Phronimon 16(1): 39–61. doi:https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/3811

31.

Matolino

(2020) Ubuntu: Traditional virtue ethics’ contribution to economic and social development in South Africa. In: Ogunyemi

(eds) African Virtue Ethics Traditions for Business and Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 12–29.

32.

Mbigi

(1996) Ubuntu: The African Dream in Management. Randburg: Knowledge Resources.

33.

Mbigi

(2005) Spirit of African leadership. Randburg: Knowres Publishing.

34.

Mbigi

Maree

(1995) Ubuntu, the Spirit of African Transformation Management. Randburg: Knowledge Resources.

35.

Metz

(2011) Ubuntu as a moral theory and human rights in South Africa. African Human Rights Law Journal 11(2): 532–559.

36.

Ogunyemi

(2020) Virtue ethics traditions in Africa–an introduction. In: Ogunyemi

(eds) African Virtue Ethics Traditions for Business and Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1–11.

37.

Olatubosan

Nyazenga

(2020) The value of Ubuntu: Moral and governance case for ethical and responsible financing and investment practices in South Africa. In: Ogunyemi

(eds) African Virtue Ethics Traditions for Business and Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 137–154.

38.

Ottuh

(2020) The concept of Κένωσις in Philippians 2:6-7 and its contextual application in Africa. Verbum Et Ecclesia 41(1): 1–13.

39.

Ramose

(1999) African Philosophy Through Ubuntu. Harare: Mond Books.

40.

Ridgway

(1956) Dysfunctional consequences of performance measurements. Administrative Science Quarterly 1(2): 240–247.

41.

Samkange

(1980) Hunhuism or Ubuntuism: A Zimbabwe Indigenous Political Philosophy. Harare: Graham.

42.

Tutu

(2009) No Future Without Forgiveness. New York: Random House, 34.

43.

Wallace

(2018) How the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2:5-11 informs the praxis of leadership in at-risk communities: Two super-leaders operationalizing kenosis. Journal of Biblical Perspectives on Leadership 8(1): 291–310.

44.

Wright

(2001) A fresh perspective on Paul? Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 83: 21–40.