Towards an African Ecclesiology Emergent fromAfrican History

Abstract

What happened to the African art of storytelling? What is our story today? What is the story of those with whom we come in contact? The answer(s) to these questions lies in our (hi)story – a chequered his-tory of great shame, but also of formidable resilience. Everyone and every community have a right to their story.1 A life lived detached from its story can only be one of bondage, perpetual denial, or schizophrenia, and has missed an opportunity to grow into higher levels of existence. On the other hand, the only valid relationship between different persons and communities is one of dialogue and rapport between stories, a relationship of mutuality of experiences.