God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye   1

   

God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye

   

   In  Ghana,  like  many  countries  across  the  Majority  World,  congregations  are  exploding  with  growth.  Yet  each  Sunday,  as  a  growing  number  of  believers  enter  churches,  as  many  as  8  in  10  preachers  enter  pulpits  lacking  even  the  most  basic  training  on  how  to  study  and  teach  the  Bible.  The  result?  Teaching  is  often  shallow  or  worse,  unbiblical,  leaving  believers  vulnerable.  This  is  why  Langham  is  at  work  training  pastors  and  lay  leaders  in  Ghana  and  60+  countries  around  the  world.      Recently,  Langham's  International  Ministries  Director,  Chris  Wright,  sat  down  with  Femi  Adeleye—a  theological  leader  trained  with  support  from  Langham  who  is  now  heading  up  Langham's  pastor  training  movement  in  Africa.  During  their  conversation,  they  touch  upon  the  growth  and  vibrancy  of  the  church  in  Ghana,  the  harmful  impact  of  the  prosperity  gospel,  the  need  for  biblical  training  for  pastors,  and  what  believers  around  the  world  can  learn  from  the  church  in  Africa.

Chris Wright is an internationally renowned Bible scholar, award-winning author, and

international ministries director of the Langham Partnership

Femi Adeleye is a Langham Scholar, the Associate Director of Langham Preaching in Africa, and the founder of the Institute for

Christian Impact

     

God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye  

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CW:  Welcome,  Femi.  Can  you  tell  us  a  little  about  the  country  of  Ghana?  How  big  of  a  country  is  it?      FA:  Ghana,  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  is  the  first  Sub-­Saharan  African  country  to  be  an  independent.  The  population  of  Ghana  presently  is  about  25  million  people.  At  least  70%  of  the  population  would  profess  to  be  Christian.      CW:  It's  a  remarkable  reality  then,  an  African  country  that  is  predominately  majority  Christian.    FA:  It  is.  Ghana  benefited  a  lot  from  19th  century  missionaries  who  came  from  Europe  to  plant  mission-­led  churches.  That  heritage  has  remained,  but  presently  we've  seen  a  vibrancy  of  younger  people  embracing  the  gospel  and  Christianity.  Churches  are  quite  full  on  Sundays  in  Ghana.      CW:  What  then  is  the  need  for  pastor  training  in  Ghana?  And  if  there  are  so  many  churches  in  Ghana,  are  there  not  seminaries  and  Bible  colleges,  as  well?      FA:  It  seems  the  church  has  grown  faster  than  there  are  resources  to  train  and  equip  leaders  for  effective  preaching.  So,  you  have  many  zealous  people  wanting  to  preach,  but  they've  hardly  had  any  training  at  all.  What  often  happens  is  somebody  comes  up  with  a  topic  he  wants  to  speak  on  and  then  begins  to  look  for  Bible  passages  that  back  whatever  the  topic  is,  or  they  tell  the  story  of  their  life  and  then  sprinkle  a  few  verses  in  there.  That  represents  the  need,  indicates  the  need  for  pastors  and  lay  people  to  be  trained  in  Biblical  preaching.  There  are  seminaries,  there  are  Bible  colleges,  but  they  really  can't  cope  with  the  explosive  growth  of  Christianity.  .  .  There  is  a  significant  need.        CW:  One  of  the  phrases  sometimes  used  about  the  church  in  Africa,  whether  it's  fair  or  not  is  a  good  question,  is  that  the  church  is  a  mile  wide  and  only  an  inch  deep.  Would  you  like  to  comment  on  that  expression  and  whether  it's  true  and  to  what  extent  it  is  or  not?    FA:  Yes.  The  whole  comment  about  the  church  being  a  mile  wide  and  an  inch  deep  relates  more  to  people's  understanding  that  the  church  in  our  context  makes  converts  and  not  disciples.  Lots  of  people  profess  faith  in  Christ,  but  they  hardly  walk  the  talk.  It  takes  the  preaching  of  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  Having  come  to  faith  in  Christ,  how  then  should  we  live?  That's  often  lacking  and  that's  where  the  Langham  Preaching  Seminars  and  the  emphasis  on  faithfulness  to  the  text,  the  clarity  in  proclaiming  it  and  then  the  relevance  in  terms  of  what  does  it  mean  to  live  as  the  Bible  dictates  we  should  or  literally,  to  walk  the  talk  of  what  it  means  to  follow  Jesus.  .  .  However,  having  said  that,  occasionally  it  tends  to  suggest  that  Africans  are  shallow,  or  African  Christians  are  shallow,  but  when  you  look  into  the  heritage  of  African  poetry,  hymns  and  songs,  they  are  very  deep.  So,  I  tell  people  that  statement  only  indicates  that  people  are  not  well  taught.  When  people  are  well  taught,  they  embrace  the  truth  and  hold  on  firmly  to  it.    CW:  Also,  one  could  say  that  there  are  other  parts  of  the  world,  not  just  in  Africa,  but  also  including  in  the  West,  where  the  church  could  be  not  even  a  mile  wide  and  also  very  

     

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shallow.  It's  not  something  that  only  afflicts  the  African  church  by  any  means.  In  some  respects,  you  yourself  are  an  example  of  someone  who  has  studied  deeply,  got  a  doctorate,  and  you're  one  of  many  African  scholars  at  that  level.    FA:  There's  an  increasing  number  of  such.      CW:  One  of  the  things  that  we  hear  about  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  and  certainly  in  Africa,  is  the  prosperity  gospel.  What  is  that?  In  what  way  is  it  affecting  the  church  in  Ghana?    FA:  The  prosperity  gospel,  sometimes  called  the  “health  and  wealth  gospel,”  or  the  “name  it,  claim  it”  gospel,  often  uses  texts  of  Scripture  as  shortcuts  to  the  good  things  in  life.  Essentially,  it  emphasizes  that  material  prosperity  is  something  we  can  benefit  from  here  on  Earth.  However,  the  way  it  is  often  taught  makes  the  material  prosperity  an  end  in  itself.  In  contexts  of  poverty,  acute  poverty,  it's  a  huge  attraction,  particularly  with  the  younger  people,  who  want  instant  success,  instant  prosperity,  without  working  for  it.  It's  had  a  negative  impact  on  the  culture.      In  Ghana  where  I  live,  two  years  ago,  one  of  those  prophets  came  to  town,  and  he  was  distributing  water  he  said  he  had  prayed  over,  and  if  you  can  buy  a  bottle  it  will  cure  all  the  diseases  you  may  have.  People  were  rushing  to  get  the  water.  There  was  a  stampede,  and  four  people  were  killed.  I  heard  it  in  Zimbabwe  during  a  recent  visit  of  a  similar  incident.  This  time  it  was  a  preacher  who  said  he  had  prayed  over  some  umbrellas  and  if  people  would  buy  the  umbrellas  for  something  like  $300  each,  and  you  waive  that  umbrella  over  your  head,  God  will  prevent  you  from  having  problems.  You  must  understand  that  some  of  our  people  are  in  significant  difficulty,  so  when  they  hear  teaching  like  that,  they're  so  vulnerable  that  they  embrace  it.  It  seems,  you  know,  ridiculous  to  be  so  gullible,  but  in  the  quest  to  rush  to  buy  these  umbrellas  again  there  was  a  stampede,  and  about  11  people  were  killed.  When  that  happens  people  ask,  "What  gospel  is  this?  What  kind  of  God  is  this,  who  allows  people  to  be  killed  in  such  a  way  in  the  name  of  following  Jesus?"  That's  been  so  negative,  and  the  remedy  for  that  again  is  to  go  back  to  Scripture  and  teach  the  Bible  as  it  should  be  taught.        CW:  I  think  you’ve  actually  written  a  book  on  this  yourself,  haven’t  you?      FA:  I  was  concerned  enough  about  this  to  visit  several  churches  and  do  the  research  on  what  has  been  taught.  I  actually  wrote  a  book  titled,  Preachers  of  a  Different  Gospel.  It  is  a  different  gospel  because  often  those  who  teach  this  do  not  emphasize  the  place  of  the  cross  of  Christ  and  reject  any  indication  of  suffering  or  affliction  as  part  of  Christian  experience.  I'm  emphasizing  the  need  for  preachers  of  a  sound  Gospel  who  would  read  Scripture  for  what  it  says  and  not  read  into  it  what  it  does  not  say,  and  interpret  Scripture.  That  takes  the  discipline  of  study  and  careful  attention  to  what  the  original  writer  means  in  the  text,  before  jumping  to  what  does  it  mean  to  us.  Then  proclaiming  that  with  clarity,  starting  with  the  basics  of  what  the  text  is  all  about,  what  it  means  to  us,  before  drawing  applications  for  the  relevance.  I  think  this  needs  to  be  pursued  more  intentionally  across  all  church  traditions  in  Ghana.      CW:  What  impact  then  do  you  think  training  pastors  to  preach  the  Bible  better  will  have,  first  of  all,  in  the  church  itself?  

     

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 FA:  We  are  actually  beginning  to  see  the  fruit  of  that.  Several  years  back,  a  man  from  Ghana  named  Emmanuel  Ahlijah  (pictured  left),  now  a  pastor,  made  an  appeal  to  Uncle  John  Stott.  He  said,  “Please  come  and  help  us,  John  Stott…We  have  all  kinds  of  strange  teachings  in  our  church.”    And  there  is  now  a  strong  preaching  movement  training  pastors  and  lay  leaders  on  how  to  study  the  text  of  the  Scriptures,  how  to  interpret  and  how  to  proclaim  it.  It's  beginning  to  bear  a  fruit  because  people  are  now  exposed  to  the  truth  and  discovering  that  some  of  the  things  

they've  embraced  in  the  past  are  not  biblical  and  are  not  helpful.  They  may  provide  short  term  remedies,  but  not  lasting  impact.  So,  if  this  movement  grows,  I  believe  we'll  see  considerable  change  in  the  character  of  the  church  itself  in  Ghana.      CW:  Can  that  change  all  happen  just  from  a  seminar?  I  mean  do  people  just  come  for  a  single  seminar  and  that's  it  and  they're  transformed?  I  don't  imagine  so,  how  does  it  all  work?    FA:  The  training  seminars  are  a  starting  point  because  the  intention  is  to  build  a  grain  movement.  We  have  a  seminar  level  one,  which  is  basic  introduction  to  text  of  Scripture,  how  to  read  and  discover  what  is  meant  there  originally.  In  some  context  level  two  focuses  on  the  Old  Testament.  Then  the  third  level  is  of  course  on  the  New  Testament,  the  Epistles  and  so  on.  Then  beyond  that  we  go  on  to  train  other  trainers.      Beyond  the  seminars,  we  have  what  we  call  preaching  clubs,  which  meet  in  most  cases  once  a  month  with  like-­minded  people  to  share  their  experiences,  maybe  with  difficult  texts.  To  study  such  texts  together,  and  just  encourage  one  another  in  their  journey  of  discovering  scripture  and  proclaiming  it  faithfully  in  the  churches  they  belong  to.      CW:  Have  you  any  idea  how  many  preaching  clubs  there  are  in  Ghana  at  the  moment?      FA:  In  Ghana,  yes,  I'm  aware  that  there  are  between  25  and  30  preaching  clubs  that  meet  on  a  regular  basis.        CW:  You're  also  the  director  for  Langham  Preaching  throughout  all  of  Africa  in  fact,  and  there  must  be  what,  hundreds  of  preaching  clubs  in  Africa?    FA:  There  are  hundreds.      

     

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CW:  We've  talked  Femi  about  the  impact  on  the  church  through  pastors  preaching  the  Bible  better,  having  their  training,  going  through  the  preaching  clubs,  meeting  regularly.  The  whole  point  of  being  the  church  is  to  make  some  impact  in  society,  isn't  it?  We  want  to  be  effective,  we  have  a  mission,  we  have  some  sense  of  being  here  on  Earth  for  Christ's  sake  in  the  world,  so  do  you  see  Langham  Preaching  having  any  impact  through  the  church  in  the  community?  In  the  wider,  sometimes  called  secular  society,  or  the  world  itself?    FA:  That's  right.  As  part  of  the  training  we  emphasize  the  character  of  the  preacher,  which  includes  the  pastor  and  lay  people  because  their  life  must  bear  witness  to  what  they  preach  from  the  pulpit.  The  more  people  we  have  going  through  such  training  series,  the  more  the  impact  is  felt.  There  are  indications  that  it's  bearing  fruit  because  we  are  a  theological  institution  so  I've  observed  what  we  do  and  they're  now  asking  us  to  come  and  train  their  students.  There  are  at  least  three  theological  institutions  in  Ghana  who  are  now  considering  making  the  Langham  Preaching  Seminar  curriculum  as  part  of  their  academic  requirement  in  those  institutions.  Hopefully  that  will  replicate  a  new  generation  of  people  who  not  only  know  the  Scripture,  teach  the  Scripture  accurately,  or  as  faithfully  as  possible,  but  also  live  it  out  in  the  public  arena.          CW:  Are  there  any  examples  that  you  can  think  of  in  that  public  arena  where  a  Langham  trained  pastor  preaching  to  the  congregation  has  had  an  impact  in  a  community?  Are  there  any  examples  you  can  think  of?    FA:  Oh,  definitely.  I  can  use  Patrick  Oduro  who  is  actually  now  my  neighbor,  as  a  good  example  of  someone  who  has  gone  through  the  training  seminar  and  runs  a  hospitality  guest  house.  It's  called  Hephziba  Christian  Center.  The  integrity  he  requires  of  his  staff  and  the  way  he  lives  it  out,  paying  his  taxes,  not  cutting  corners  with  the  government  and  so  on,  is  a  testimony  to  the  community.  People  see  that  visibly  and  they  know  it's  because  he  belongs  to  that  circle  of  accountability  that  Langham  Preaching  promotes.      CW:  That's  wonderful  because  it  seems  to  me  that  that's  very  much  like  Jesus  said,  "Let  your  light  so  shine  among  men  that  they  may  see  your  good  works  and  glorify  your  Father.”  What  would  you  say  to  people  who  might  be  thinking,  "Well,  that's  good,  I  could  consider  perhaps  giving  something  towards  this  training  of  pastors  in  Africa,  in  biblical  preaching,  but  you  know  is  it  really  going  to  make  any  difference?  This  huge  continent  and  all  these  vast  needs  and  all  this  poverty,  surely  there  must  be  other  more  important  things  to  do  than  just  teaching  people  how  to  preach  the  Bible  better."  What  would  you  say  to  someone  thinking  like  that?    

     

God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye  

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FA:  Well  I  would  say  the  challenge  is  huge,  but  we  have  a  proverb  in  Africa  that  says,  "The  only  way  to  eat  an  elephant  is  one  bite  at  a  time."  If  you  don't  take  the  first  bite,  you'll  never  eat  the  elephant.      CW:  I  wasn't  think  of  eating  an  elephant  actually,  but  I  can  well  see  the  point.    FA:  In  terms  of  being  so  overwhelmed  by  the  challenge,  the  corruption,  the  ethnic  conflicts  and  so  on,  the  remedy  is  not  to  abstain  from  doing  anything,  but  actually  to  engage  with  it,  to  invest  in  it.  Looking  at  the  indication  of  fruit  that  we  are  beginning  to  see.  If  that  can  be  replicated,  what  a  joy  it  will  be  for  those  who  invest.  To  have  that  as  an  ongoing  movement  in  our  continent.      CW:  We  often  think,  those  of  us  who  live  in  the  West,  of  Africa  as  the  place  where  we  need  missionaries  to  go,  we  need  biblical  preaching  there.  And  so  we  often  think  of  Africa  as  a  country  that  needs  to  receive  what  we  can  offer.  You're  African,  you're  Ghanaian,  do  you  see  something  reversing?  In  other  words,  that  there  is  some  sense  also  in  which  what  God  is  doing  in  Africa  can  be  a  blessing  and  a  gift  to  the  church  in  the  West?    FA:  Oh  definitely.  I've  experienced  that  in  various  ways,  that  the  body  of  Christ  is  global.  We  serve  a  global  God  and  His  giftings  are  not  restricted  to  any  particular  geographical  location.  We  in  fact  have  some  Africans  in  Europe  and  in  the  United  States  participating  actively  in  the  life  and  ministry  of  the  church,  and  there  are  lessons  to  be  learned.  For  instance,  we  find  that  the  commitment  and  the  perseverance  of  Christians  in  challenging  contexts—as  it  was  in  the  Sudan  before  the  new  Sudan  became  independent,  the  resilience  to  keep  going  in  the  face  of  persecution.  Or  of  Nigerians  who  live  in  Northern  Nigeria  where  there  is  the  militant  Boko  Haram,  who  have  experienced  some  level  of  suffering—they  have  a  lot  to  teach  people  from  other  parts  of  the  world  who  hardly  know  what  it  is  to  be  opposed  or  to  be  persecuted.  The  giftings  of  God  can  be  shared  even  from  Africans  to  other  parts  of  the  world.      CW:  I  think  that’s  an  important  thing  for  us  to  hear,  isn’t  it,  because  we’ve  talked  about  John  Stott  and  his  desire  to  serve  the  church  in  what’s  called  the  Majority  World.  But  in  some  ways  that  vision  that  God  gave  to  him,  and  coming  alongside  Emmanuel  Alijah  to  sustain  or  to  help  the  church  in  Ghana  may,  in  God’s  providence,  be  a  way  in  which  God  is  raising  up  the  church  in  Africa  eventually  to  almost  help  the  church  in  the  West  to  survive.  When  we  experience  persecution,  suffering  or  whatever  might  lie  ahead,  that  we  will  have  things  to  learn  from  and  to  gain  from  the  life  and  the  vigor  and  the  Bible  

Vibrant worship within a church in Ghana, growing in depth from their Langham-trained pastor teaching

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God on the Move in Ghana: A Conversation between Chris Wright and Femi Adeleye 7

teaching  that's  now  happening  in  Africa,  so  it  could  be  a  wonderful  way  in  which  God  is  reversing  the  direction  of  what  we  always  thought.  Is  that  the  way,  how  you  see  things?  

FA:  Yes,  that's  how  I  see  it.  We  in  fact  have  international  students  in  other  parts  of  the  world  who  have  embraced  the  Gospel  in  Africa,  but  now  find  themselves  in  North  America  or  Europe  and  they're  actively  involved  in  campus  ministry  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  There  is  some  research  that  indicates  that  some  of  the  most  vibrant  churches  in  the  West  are  actually  migrant  churches.  Churches  populated  by  immigrants  from  Asia,  from  Africa  and  Latin  American.  It's  really  that  partnership,  we  need  to  be  open  to  the  way,  the  Gospel  moves  across  cultures  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole,  learning  one  from  another.  .  .  And  particularly  in  our  context  because  I  remind  my  African  friends  that,  well  if  you're  going  to  be  a  missionary  to  Europe  you  better  be  sound  in  your  knowledge  and  understanding  of  the  Bible.  Embrace  it  deeply,  otherwise  you'll  pass  a  cross  half-­baked  cake  to  wherever  you  go  in  the  world.  I  see  that  as  a  deep  sense  of  urgency  in  our  context.  

CW:  Good,  well  I'm  here  talking  with  Dr.  Femi  Adeleye  from  Ghana  about  Langham  preaching  in  that  country  and  indeed  throughout  Africa.  So  thank  you  Femi.  

FA:  Thank  you  so  much.  

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