Q&A: Ministry Across Religious Climates

NICKY: I’ve led 87 Alpha small groups for 18–35-year-olds over the past 30 years. With every course I lead, there are trends that surface. Atheism was big five or six years ago. Now, it’s kind of died. In the past, prayers sounded really boring. Now, everybody prays because it’s like mindfulness. Healing used to be a difficult concept to teach on. Today, there’s so much out there in the secular world about healing, and people think, why not? Culture is always shifting and evolving.

NICKY: There have been times in history when people have asked, How can I know God? How can I be saved? I think the big question people are asking now is, How can I find meaning—purpose—in life? That is a huge opportunity. What are we living for? Every human being is asking that question. That is the question to which the gospel is the answer for this generation.

People are also asking, Where do you find community? Where do you find a marriage partner? Unless you work in an organization where there are masses of people, which most people don’t, there’s a pretty limited number of people you can know. Church is one of the very few places anywhere where people find real community, and the only place where you’re going to find unconditional love and acceptance.

NICKY: On the first night of Alpha, we always ask, If it turned out there was a God after all, and you could ask one question, what would it be? It’s always the question of why God allows suffering; this is the biggest objection to Christianity. And there is no easy answer to it. The internet has changed the world because knowledge is available to everybody. You can’t not be exposed to the suffering of the world. Ultimately, the only answer to it is in Jesus, who suffered for us and suffers with us. So that is the answer, but it’s much harder to get to. We’ve got to answer their questions, but more importantly, they want to know what we’re doing about [suffering]. If the Church is doing nothing and is not engaged in social action against homelessness, poverty, racial injustice, climate change or any of these issues, young people are not going to be very interested.

JACKSON: Kenya is a deeply religious country because nearly all Africans and every tribe has a faith in a god of some kind. Today, Kenya is about 80 percent Christian, 10 percent Muslim, and the rest are considered traditionalists.²⁰ Since 1844, when the modern missionary movement began in our country, Kenya has embraced Christianity. It wasn’t hard for Christianity to penetrate into the landscape of Kenya because these are people who already have a belief in a god. There is a big disconnect, however, between Christian faith and Christian practice. Many of us profess to be Christians, but it’s increasingly difficult to see how it’s impacted our everyday life.

The youths, which make up about the majority of Kenya’s population, are finding it difficult to cope and to relate to the Christianity of their parents, despite the fact that they go to church on Sunday. They still see fighting at home, they see protests led by politicians and tribal leaders, and they see hatred emanating from their community and against that community. Our young people are finding it difficult to relate to this faith that does not portray in practice what we say we believe in and what we read in the Bible. We have a big following of Christianity in Africa, but when it comes to practice and living out the Christian faith, it’s a big challenge.

JACKSON: My struggle as the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya is how to create community around the Church—how to make the local church the symbol of mission where the church gathers people for worship, and then outside of normal church times convenes for Bible study and small groups. These discussions would cover topics we’re all concerned about, such as bringing farmers together to talk about production of their farms or inviting young professionals to give back to society in terms of what they have acquired through their education and learning.

The Church still holds some level of trust, especially in Africa. We also need to be courageous enough to go to where people are, to introduce Christianity in the market and in the workplace so that when people are working, there is an opportunity for them to be able to know what God is saying to their life.

DR. CHRISTIAN: My church has been struggling with why we’re not able to attract new young people into the Church. Our young people are drawn to strong, dynamic movements. In recent elections in India, millions were first-time voters. Every political party went after them, but the Church is unable to get a similar response, possibly because young people don’t see the Church as relevant to the causes and issues that matter to them. We also have the complication of a lack of credible leadership within the Church. In a country that’s looking for leaders, the Church is not able to provide an alternative.

I also think the Church is struggling with young people having access to information that many of the previous generations never had. It’s just significantly complicated life and choices for the younger generation.

DR. CHRISTIAN: Many of those who belong to religious minorities experience living in fear. The political environment is not conducive for minority religions to flourish, and I know from a Christian or Muslim perspective, eviction, abuse and disenfranchisement are common fears. Religion has been used to divide, and “religion” for many is a bad word now.

DR. CHRISTIAN: There’s a lot of good will for Christians in terms of social service. We’ve done good work, and we’re known for caring, being respectful to class, color, creed and gender. We are known as people who have given our lives for the cause of the poor and the cause of the nation. I think the Church has a unique advantage because we offer a relationship; we don’t offer a religion.