Utumishi Blog

Is that a fair assessment of the church in East Africa? Across the continent more generally?  I’m in no position to judge but here are a couple of reflections from the parable of the sower:

1.  Wherever the Word is sown you will get a variety of depths.  As Jesus sends his disciples out to preach (Mk. 3:14) he warns them to expect at least four different receptions: (1) zero depth – the Word bounces off; (2) shallow reception – initial enthusiasm but thin soil and short roots; (3) depth but distractions – there is reception and maybe even roots but the ground is full of weeds leaching the soil of nutrients, stealing the light and restraining fruitfulness; (4) depth and fantastic fruitfulness – a long-lasting, flourishing plant deeply rooted in good, nourishing soil. That is what we should expect in every corner of the world to which the gospel has gone.  And that’s what we see everywhere isn’t it?  In Europe, in North America, in Asia – everywhere are wonderful stories of joy and transformation but also the same problems of nominalism, short-lived enthusiasm and the challenges of persecution, prosperity, worry and worldliness.  There is a need for greater depth and discipleship everywhere.  David Watson wrote: “The vast majority of western Christians are church-members, pew-fillers, hymn-singers, sermon-tasters, Bible-readers, even born-again-believers or Spirit-filled-charismatics – but not true disciples of Jesus” (Watson, Discipleship, p.16).  We should expect the church in Africa, as everywhere, to be a mile wide and of varying depths – zero, an inch, a yard, a mile. I’ve certainly encountered all four of those in Kenya.
2. Where the true Word is not sown we should not talk about depth at all.  It’s so obvious that you can miss it – the key ingredient is the seed.  As a friend pointed out to me, the thing that would strike a farmer listening to this parable would be, “That is amazing seed! A hundred-fold! Where do I get this seed?!”  The only hope of genuine growth and genuine fruit is in the sowing of genuine seed.  What is the seed?  “The word” (Mk. 4:14), “the word of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:19), “the word of God” (Luke 8:11).  (It’s worth noticing in passing that in each case “word” is logos not rhema.)  What exactly is this ‘Word’?  Michael Pahl (‘The ‘Gospel’ and the ‘Word’’, JSNT 29:2, 2006: 211-227) shows that the most common meaning of ‘the Word’ (esp. ‘the Word of God’) in the New Testament is the gospel. A very clear example of this is 1 Peter 1:23-25: “you have been born again.. through imperisable seed… the word of God… this word is the good news…”  Acts 20:17-28 is also very helpful. Here Paul is summing up his ministry and perhaps Luke is using his speech to sum up apostolic ministry in general. How does Paul describe the content of what he preached? “Turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (v21), “good news of God’s grace” (v24), “the kingdom” (v25 cf. Matt. 13:19), “the whole will/counsel of God” (v27), “the word of his grace” (v32). It’s all the same thing. That’s the seed. The historic gospel of Jesus alone, faith alone, grace alone. The question comes though: Is that what is being consistently preached in all the churches in our context? Is that what is being preached at all our missions and crusades? Is that the seed being sown? To be blunt – people may be putting their hands up or coming forward at altar calls, people may be coming to church regularly, they may be praying and fasting and reading their Bibles regularly, but if they have been drawn by a ‘different gospel’ (Gal. 1:6) then we have to ask whether they are genuinely born again. It is sobering that, in Matthew’s account, straight after the parable of the sower comes the parable of the weeds (Matt. 13:24-30). Not every seed that is sown is good gospel seed. When bad seed is sown (“Give your life/money to Christ and get your problem fixed / become a better you”) then the answer is not discipleship. The problem is not an issue of depth but conversion. What is needed is to plough up the ground and start all over again with the right seed. The church, any church, might look a mile wide, how much of it is actually barrenness and weeds?