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"Reading Scripture with African Pentecostal Eyes; Implications for Eco-care and Eco-mission:. - Pastor Emmanuel Paa Kwesi Awudi

By Anonymous
PASTOR EMMANUEL PAA KWESI AWUDI WRITES:


I presented a paper today at the Faculty of Theology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany on the theme, "Reading Scripture with African Pentecostal Eyes; Implications for Eco-care and Eco-mission".
Looking at the filth that has engulfed the African continent, one would expected to see serious theological discuss on ecology, especially on the part of African Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals (the fastest growing Christian movement in Africa). But this is not so. In my opinion, this is due to what I call, "reading scripture with African Pentecostal Eyes".
When we lack sufficient biblical definition of God’s mission for humanity, we tend to exclude care for creation other-than-human in our Christian mission. And since Africa has become a heartland of World Christianity, eco-theology must feature extensively in African theological discourse and mission praxis, for the theology that matters is where the majority of Christians are.
Inadequate understanding of how Scripture speaks to eco-care and eco-mission is likely to result in the acquisition of worldviews that do not motivate creation care and mission. This is because our worldviews of creation affect the way we treat them. I observed that African Pentecostals' interpretations of the doctrines of the dominion mandate, redemption, and eschatology does not motivate eco-mission.




 However, the announcement of the kingdom (Mtt. 4:7; Mk. 4:15) therefore, is for both humanity and creations other-than-humans. Thus, “the redemptive work of Christ Jesus is holistic, with the understanding that the purpose and plan of God is ‘to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as the head’ (Eph. 1:10, GNB).African Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals’ definition of the Great Commission which has been their driving force and a source of motivation for spreading the gospel, needs to include all creation. This means that they must rethink their definition of the Great Commission since God’s love towards the ‘cosmos’ is not limited to only humanity. The writer of the gospel of John probably had this in mind when he said God's love compelled Him to to give His only begotten Son to the kosmos - where kosmos here defines the entire universe. Like the Old Testament prophets who did not exclude other-than-human creation from God's redemption plan (Is. 2:2-5; 11:1-9; Mic. 4:1-5), the Apostle Paul also linked redemption of humanity with that of all creation (Rom. 8:18-22).The mission of the church should therefore be a mission of reconciliation (for Christ has given the church, ministry of reconciliation, 2 Cor. 5:18) at all levels and ecological conversion which involves the development of the awareness of our connectedness with the rest of creation and our responsibility as God’s image.I concluded that there are many biblical texts that describe God’s love and care for creation and His expectation for humankind among His creation. However, our attempt to quickly find texts that speak about eschatology, faith, gifts and baptism of the Holy Spirit, holiness, justification, redemption, regeneration, sanctification, tithes, and other ‘Pentecostal-friendly doctrines’, can easily cloud and blur our vision as to how such scriptures speak of other-than-human creation. The solution therefore lies in refracting our African conservatory practices through the prism of the Gospel. This therefore, calls for the reading and re-reading of Scripture with what I call, 'Green Eyes’.Thanks for your prayers and may the Lord bless us all.EPKA#PossessiontheNationsCommunityandCosmology



Source:SmartNewsgh

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