The Gospel of Luke as a model for mission in an African context: With special reference to the challenges of mission in the Anglican Church of Tanzania

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to offer the Anglican Church in central Tanzania (ACT) a new biblical mandate for mission so that its mission can bring holistic transformation to the community. To achieve this objective the study is divided into three parts: the first two chapters examine the historical mission of the ACT in the colonial context, the work of Church Missionary Society (CMS) in central Tanzania and the East Africa Revival Movement (EARM) influences upon its mission formation. The study finds that, because of the dominance of a Matthew 28:18-20 based narrow missional understanding of the CMS and the EARM, the ACT's mission in the post-colonial era has failed to address the political and social changes that have overtaken Tanzania in recent decades, despite the shift to indigenous church leadership. Chapters three to five form the second part, the reading of the Gospel of Luke. These chapters begin by proposing a hermeneutical method for reading the gospel, using a Tanzanian ujamaa lens. Ujamaa is a communal ethos which aims to build an equal society by liberating the community from threats to human well-being, such as poverty, ignorance and preventable disease. The ujamaa lens therefore allows an approach to the text that focuses on the social issues apparent in the world behind the text, the world of the text, and the world in front of the text. I demonstrate that Luke's gospel presents Jesus as saviour of all, especially the socially marginalised poor. Throughout the gospel, Luke presents Jesus in solidarity with the powerless and the voiceless poor, bringing them life-transforming good news and intending to liberate them from suffering and dependence. As the manifesto in chapter 4.16- 21 shows, Jesus comes to realise the promise of the prophets, bringing good news to the poor, releasing captives from bondage, and announcing the year of the Lord's favour. Jesus' mission thus has practical effects, bringing transformation, hope, and justice to communities, and so aligning with the Tanzanian ujamaa culture. For further evidence of this alignment, I examine the story of Jesus raising the widow's son in Luke 7:11-17. Read through the ujamaa lens, this text appears pressingly relevant to the Tanzanian situation and so to the ACT's mission. Thus, in chapter 6, this thesis argues that by using an ujamaa lens, the ACT can recover Luke's missiology, and so expand the church's limited mission praxis to better reflect the mission of Jesus. In this way, the ACT will be equipped to practise holistic gospel mission that is transformative for the whole community.