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News and Ideas from around the Anglican World |
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June 2006 Photo: Sue Careless
Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Bishop of Kaduna in northern Nigeria, holds a doctorate in Islamic Studies and is co- founder of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christianity. This May, Bishop Josiah addressed the Wycliffe College Refresh! Conference where Sue Careless spoke with him.
TAP: You were able to study in the West thanks to a bursary from theologian John Stott. Should African clergy today be schooled in Africa now that the West has become so theologically liberal? Bp Josiah: No. The challenge of study in the West is that your assumptions and stereotypes are put to the test. Cross-cultural education is important—but at orthodox colleges.
TAP: When the North American Churches blessed same-sex unions and consecrated an actively gay bishop how did Muslims in Nigeria react? Bp Josiah: Muslim leaders just thought the Church had gone mad. Some of my friends said to me that they began to question our relationship. They now doubted our commitment to the Bible as the Word of God.
TAP: How did Christians react? Bp Josiah: Nigerian Christians believe our brothers and sisters in the West are departing from Biblical Christianity. The West is trying to reinterpret the Bible to conform to their society.
TAP: Doesn’t the Nigerian Church also tend to make the Church conform to its society? Bp Josiah: We believe polygamy is not consistent with the New Testament teaching. Polygamy is a part of the Nigerian culture but we cannot bless it.
TAP: How does this work out in practice?
Bp Josiah:
For a non-Christian who becomes a Christian, we baptize the man as a
member of the Church and his wives but the husband and the second
and later wives cannot be confirmed, only the first wife can be. Nor
is there communion except for the first wife, until the bishop is
convinced the husband won’t add another wife. For someone who
professes to be a Christian but who takes a second wife, he remains
a member of the Church, however we deny him and the second wife
communion. Polygamy is part of our culture but not the way we
understand the New Testament, so we go against our culture and
support and uphold the Bible. Polygamists can hold no
leadership roles in the Church. They cannot be lay assistants or
Sunday school teachers. The second wife knows she is doing something
she shouldn’t
TAP: Has Sharia law been imposed in Kaduna? Bp Josiah: In Kaduna state Sharia law has been imposed but the governor has said it only applies to Muslims not Christians.
TAP: Have Muslim Christian relations improved in Kaduna since 2000 when 4,000 lives were lost in bloody riots? Bp Josiah: Yes. The Danish cartoon riots hit Nigeria badly. Muslim students in Maiduguru went on a rampage and several people were killed. Christians went to the press and condemned the cartoons. The next week fanatics issued a midnight call to prayer – a bad omen- and students at the technical college came and set the college chapel on fire. However Muslim leaders alerted the Christian Association of Nigeria. By 1:30 am the Muslim governor of Kaduna was there, Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Makarfi. He said, “I want the chapel put back” and so the riot was contained.
TAP: What reaction was there to the Abdul Rahman case of the Afghan who converted to Christianity and who was threatened with legal execution unless he returned to Islam? Bp Josiah: I got text messages asking for prayer. We’ve been campaigning against the globalization of conflict.
TAP: What warning would you give the Church in the West? Bp Josiah: She must go back to her roots and impact the society -- not the other way around -- and stand firm on Biblical principles without being offensive. The revisionists are unashamedly aggressive about what they believe. I don’t expect the Gospel in the West to be presented in exactly the same way as in the Developing World. We are passionate that we have the Good News. Don’t be oblivious to the adverse affects of relativity.
TAP: Do you think that “evangelism is a colonial legacy” as some were saying at the World Council of Churches this year? Bp Josiah: No. We may need to develop new methods of reaching out but the work of proclamation and evangelization is the only job Christ gave at the Great Commission. If we remove proclamation and mission we are not the Church. At the same time it has to be contextualized. Proclamation without mission is deaf; mission without proclamation is dumb. To the Church in the developing world the West is well-endowed with scholarships and resources and facilities. The global Church needs to use these.
TAP: Can you describe the Jacaranda Farm Project that you have initiated? [During Bp Josiah’s two week visit to Ontario, $18,000 was raised for this project] Bp Josiah: Jacaranda Farm was a commercial farm that had been abandoned during violent religious riots. It was purchased by the Kaduna Archdiocese in 2003 to provide employment, education and food for people in the surrounding area regardless of their tribe or religion. It also serves as a peace project bringing Christians and Muslims together to study and work. We have some Muslims on staff. In one three-month period we are able to produce 3,000 chickens. We have begun building a third poultry barn. When it is completed we shall be able to raise 4,500 birds every three months. We want to begin raising rabbits and have already test-run our fish ponds. The chapel is ready and we want to teach pottery. Jacaranda will help bring young Christians and Muslims together and teach them skills to help them out of poverty.
TAP: This Sunday there will be more people in Anglican churches in Nigeria than in all of North America or the United Kingdom. Most of these Anglicans live in southern Nigeria but is the church growing in Kaduna which is a Muslim state? Bp Josiah: Yes, since 1998 we have 40 new congregations with 65 priests and 66 evangelists, all paid. The evangelists live in rural areas and work very hard discipling new converts. They prepare them for baptism and confirmation and oversee the Sunday schools. The diocese encourages every family to have morning and evening devotions, which the new converts would join into. After breakfast the children go off to school, the adults to work and the new converts to study with the evangelists, only returning at the end of the day.
TAP: What does the church in Kaduna have to offer the West? Bp Josiah: We have nothing to give the West but the ease with which we share our faith. We talk about Jesus. We’re very poor but very rich in Christ. Persecution for us is a given. The Shepherd’s way is a costly way. He emptied himself. The mark that we really do believe that the Shepherd laid down his life for us is that in some measure we shall do the same and find joy in it. Jesus Christ is worth every sorrow.
(See also the Refresh! article)
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Josiah
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Copyright The Anglican Planet © 2006 |