Conversions in context: Insights from an autobiographical narrative of a Congolese-born missionary at Stinkwater
Mangayi, Lukwikilu Credo
Indigenous African missionaries are increasingly becoming involved in various mission
interests in their contexts. Assumptions made by many mission institutions are that when
they call indigenous Africans, they would be easily accepted and integrated into the
community and get on with mission duties. However, these assumptions do not hold for
indigenous Africans who are not native to the land where they serve. In relation to the latter
this article, based on an autobiographical narrative of a Congolese-born missionary at
Stinkwater, highlights four ‘conversion episodes’ that the missionary went through before
he begun to ‘weave together’ the story of the good news of Jesus with stories of people
in this particular context. All these episodes have had profound implications towards
reshaping and reviving his theology of mission and praxis at Stinkwater. Insights from this
autobiographical narrative could be useful in the preparation of indigenous workers who
intend to work in context where they are not native to the land.
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