Learning from Evangelism in South Africa

Historically, the South African cities were places where apartheid held sway. However, in the post-1994 democracy, many white inhabitants have fled the cities or relocated from the city centres to the suburbs. The inner cities are now settled by the poorest Africans, and have become multi-racial, multicultural, and multi-religious. A rise of individualism is eroding any sense of community values, and there is an increasing gap between rich and the poor. The AIDS infection rate in South Africa is the highest in world, and many youngsters have grown up without a parent figure or any corresponding discipline. Poverty, unemployment and crime are at an all-time high, and South Africa has unacceptable rates of murder, rape and other forms of gender-related violence. Many South Africans (especially in the cities) are homeless and landless, and levels of corruption in government are appalling.

It is this very difficult cultural context that such Christian groups as Pretoria Community Ministries (PCM) are attempting to evangelise, and central to their approach is an emphasis on a ‘Ministry of Presence’. They have recognised that long-term relationships are essential for evangelism to be effective, and they have a vision for “restored, whole, empowered inner city communities where people flourish in God’s presence.” As a result of this philosophy, Pretoria Community Ministries are involved with many of the marginalized in South Africa’s inner-cities, aiding them with housing and economic development. They believe that, in their context, they “cannot proclaim Jesus without responding to the needs of the people around [them]”.

For PCM, evangelism is a process of becoming present alongside people. It is about listening to others as much as it is about proclamation, and being respectful to their views and beliefs. Evangelism is concerned with the real lives of those who need to receive the Gospel, and with engaging in real conversations with them. Evangelism must include addressing issues of injustice, and participating in projects to relieve hardship and suffering. As the South African Christians do evangelism in this way, becoming companions and friends to those whom God loves, they trust that non-believers will experience the Good News of Jesus for themselves.

We in the UK church can learn much from the experiences of the South Africans. Personal relationships with unbelievers are very important for them, and they seen that proclaiming the Gospel must go hand in hand with practical demonstrations of God’s love, as well as a witness to God’s concern for the disadvantaged and marginalized. They do not hold Evangelism and Social Concern in tension, but rather allow each one to authenticate the other. Neither can we, in the UK, “proclaim Jesus without responding to the needs of the people around us”, and without entering into real, personal, friendships with non-believers. It is sad that so many in the UK’s churches have few, if any, friends outside of church at all.