Tuesday, July 22, 2014

African Ministries; An In-Depth Analysis

By Sharron Cantu


The African continent in its current state has 54 recognized states and is recognized to be the most populous continent. Its reputation also includes a number of war torn countries, massive rates of unemployment, poverty and many more/other problems associated with under-development everywhere in the world. However the inhabitants are very religious from years of missionary activity and this is reflected in the high number of African Ministries in the continent and their huge role in challenging the said problems.

There exists two comprehensive types of ministries, governmental and church based ministry for instance Anglican Mission Agency as well as other church based agencies. The two have the chief duty of providing service to people. They both base their work in the community thus work concurrently and in so doing complement each other.

The two key ministerial bodies vary slightly in some areas. These areas of drift include for starters leadership structure indifference such that church agencies normally really on the clergy to serve as leaders whereas administrative ones are managed by democratically elected ones. Likewise when it comes to which structures each chooses, religious ministries prefer direct engagement with society while on the other hand government ministries have structures that are seemingly distant from the community. Individually however, the two types perform their own unique roles.

Government holy orders play defined roles contained in various legislative acts but lie in executive arms of an administration. The roles played include distribution of resources equitably, supervising development projects, provision of security and quality health services as well as ensuring fairness in service provision. Theirs are pretty defined and standard everywhere.

Christian religious ministries outnumber those spreading the Islam religion. This mainly because missionary activity started earlier and was quite vigorous thus attracting more and more followers compared to the Islamic one. Consequently northern region of Africa is hugely administered by Islamic ministries as most communities are Muslim. In turn, the western, southern and eastern regions are covered by the Christian faith i. E. Protestant and Catholic.

The current kinds of religious agencies differ and most often based geographically. Northern Africa being primarily Islamic has few Christian based ministries as they operate a lot on Islam based laws while the eastern as well as the western regions of the continent have both protestant and catholic ministries as is the case in the south. They all tend to provide different services in their areas of operation depending on the available needs.

There also exist a number of bumps towards the fulfillment of ministry work. Some range from political incorporation, cultural barriers, religious fundamentalism, geographical hindrances to mobility and harsh terrains. This hindrances are however manageable.

There are trials experienced by both categories of evangelism in provision of services. Some of these difficulties include tireless fights and conflicts, cultural practices resistant to faith and law, corruption among local leaders and many more. Nevertheless, the work done by the various holy orders is increasingly being appreciated and therefore cannot be overlooked or over ruled but be encouraged for an end to all the suffering.




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