Africa Reflections 4 - Theology

Theology and doctrine are extremely important to me. Few other things in this world, whether material, ideological, philosphical, etc., cause a deeper emotional response than theology.

I rejoice in biblically sound and God-centered theology. I feel angusish, anger, and even...hatred, toward unsound, man-centered theology. I believe God reacts the same way.

In America, dealing with conflicting theologies has been somewhat straight forward. With those that I agree with, I read/teach their books, listen to their sermons & attend their conferences. With those I disagree with, their books stay off the shelf (Read @ B&N / borrow, but don't buy) and their sermons stay off the iPod. And then, I may mention their names (Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers, T.D. Jakes, etc.) so that others don't get misled by them.


In Africa, I pondered this conflict somewhat differently. We visited various organizations with varying theology. I had to ask:

• How similar must our theology be in order for us (me / church) to be willing to partner with that organization?
• Where must we agree, and where can we allow for some disagreement?
• Does the work of saving lives, helping the impoverished...supercede a the necessity for theological alignment in some areas?

There are a lot more questions to ask, but those were a few.

My temporary personal conclusion is that, given the reality in Africa*, we can partner with organizations that:

• are evangelical (excludes Mormons & JWs, but includes various denominations - Pentacostal, Lutheran, Baptist, etc.)
• but specifically not affiliated with the prosperity & self-help Gospel (Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, etc.)

So I am essentially saying that there are instances where the work being done by the organization supercedes some areas of theological misalignment, but not all, when it comes to potential for partnership. Therefore, partnering with an organization is not necessarily an endorsement of their theology, but it is an endorsement for the work it is doing.

So...a couple of personal lessons / reminders:

1) Keep your theological gun clean. By that I mean, we must always guard our life and our doctrine. There are no exceptions or excuses to compromise on teaching, preaching, defending, right theology and doctrine.
2) But don't use it to shoot at everyone, everywhere, all the time. Just some, in the right places, at the right time.

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*"given the reality in Africa" - at least from my understanding based on a week in Kenya and Uganda, no single denomination / theological camp is the only organization serving a given major constituency. For example - Lutherans, non-denominational Christians, and prosperity-Gospel ministires all help orphans. So, our decision to not work with prosperity-Gospel ministires doesn't mean we abandon helping orphans entirely. However, there aren't that many ministries present that we have the 'luxury' to shop around till we find one that believes everything we believe.