African Christians and the (Re-)evangelization of the West

Abstract

It will be recalled that the theme of the first African Synod was “The Church in Africa and Her Evangelizing Mission toward the Year 2000: ‘You will be my witnesses’ (Acts 1:8).” The main concern then was the Church’s mission to evangelize in Africa, a continent where, in the main, Christianity was a young religion and Catholics only represented 14% of the total population. In the just ended Synod, the call for evangelizing Africa by Africans has been renewed. Given that the second African Synod recognizes the steady growth of the African Church in members and clergy, should the African Church not consider evangelizing those parts of the world where the Christian faith is on the wane? With Pope Benedict XVI, the article that follows consider the second Synod an opportune time to renew evangelical zeal3 and extend this zeal to the postmodern world.