The renewing of your mind

An Introduction and a plea for help.

In 2021, an African pastor shared with me some concerns that he had about a number of men in his church that were engaging in extra marital affairs. I must admit, at the time I was greatly concerned about what he told me. It seemed to me that the very foundation of our faith was being undermined. What kind of message were we sharing with the world, when the outcome was that marriages were being disregarded, families torn apart, and men acting with complete disregard to the message of Jesus that they claimed to follow?

Some time later in conversation with a young African lady who had joined a western church. She bemoaned the lack of community in her church, the way she and others that she knew were marginalised, the way that the main members of the church seemed to ignore her, apparently uncaring of the difficult conditions that she faced. I was about to give my wry smile and a trite comment that this is how ‘we are’, when it struck me. There are some things that shock me in the church, and there are some things that I just accept, knowing that it’s not right. Some things that make me want to confront the ‘evil doers’ and some things I just explain away, even in myself.

We all have a worldview, a way of seeing the world, a way to make sense of what goes on, a way to decide what’s good and what’s bad, what’s right and what’s wrong. It is this worldview that shapes our behaviour at the most fundamental level.

So why this blog series? And why now?

During October 2024, we gathered a group of Christian leaders from different nations in Hilton, South Africa, with the aim of sharing together our understanding of different worldviews and in particular, how to make effective disciples of Jesus in a culture dominated by a traditional African worldview.

Our time together highlighted for me the huge differences between the traditional African and the modern western worldview, and the blind spots that exist when it comes to understanding other worldviews. Although I’ve lived in Africa for 10 years now, I found myself wondering if I’d ever really started to understand this world.

The implications of understanding different worldviews in Christian leadership are vast, both for the African and western church. The African church has been heavily influenced by the traditional worldview, as you would expect. However, it has also been influenced by the modern western worldview of the missionaries of the 18th and 19th centuries. Seeing and understanding these influences is crucial in helping people to be truly ‘biblical’ in following Jesus.

The western church has had numerous influences over the years, going all the way back to a Greek view of the world. However, in more recent times, as the impact of immigration has been seen in the church, Christian leaders are now required to understand and speak into many different worldviews, as they pastor their church community.

The premise of this series of blogs is that it is only when someone’s original worldview is replaced by a biblical worldview that we can see that person fully embracing what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. This was true for the original disciples of Jesus, just as it is for those who are now following Jesus as their Messiah, from all over the world. My goal is to begin to formulate what people from the East and the West can both call a ‘biblical worldview’.

It’s my intention to post each of these blogs as a way of starting a conversation. Often we only realise that we have a particular worldview when we encounter someone from a different worldview. We can only see our blindspots when someone from outside our culture explains how they perceive us. Perhaps we may even consider something to be biblical just because it has been our traditional practice in the church. Only in respectful conversation can we truly learn. I really hope that what I write will be received simply as my current view, which needs to be challenged, added to, endorsed or corrected. This is where you, dear reader, come in. I don’t want to do this on my own. As I consider the way different worldviews impact us, I need your voice to add to the conversation. So if you have a point of view, please share it for the benefit of the rest of us.

Ultimately, I hope that this series of blogs, along with the revisions that come out of the conversations that take place, will be made available as material for the pastors that I work alongside all over the world. So please don’t keep your comments and insights just to yourself, share them with the world!

In advance, thank you.

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