Encountering the Mbuti Pygmies : a challenge to Christian mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
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Authors
Musolo W'isuka Kamuha
Issue Date
2013-06
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
All Nations , Challenge(s) , Christian Mission , Church(es) , Conversion , Discrimination , Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) , Encounter(ing) , Formal Education , Imgae of God , Integrated Theological Education , Mbuti Pygmies , Missio Dei , Mission (missional) encounter , Northeast DRC (Ituri rainforest) , Pygmy Peoples
Alternative Title
Abstract
This thesis explores the Mbuti Pygmies, a sub-group of the Pygmy peoples, one of the
main ethnic groups of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Mbuti
Pygmies are settled mostly in the Ituri rainforest, and are, with regard to Christian
mission, still unreached and unchurched. The oversight of the churches vis-à-vis these
people is highlighted, through this thesis, as a challenge to Christian mission. This
challenge is a result of the way Christian mission is understood and undertaken in
DRC, namely in the selective and exclusive way of missioning, according to which
some peoples are targeted and others forsaken.
Churches in the DRC shy away from the Mbuti Pygmies probably because, on
the one hand, these forest dwellers belong to the group of Pygmies whose existence as
full human beings is enigmatic and very controversial. Because of the uniqueness of
the Pygmy peoples in terms of physical features, culture, and way of life, on the other
hand, the non-Pygmy peoples, including Christians, suffer from a kind of complex of
superiority that creates in them a spirit of discrimination against the Mbuti Pygmies.
As the Mbuti Pygmies are discriminated against even by Christians, it is very difficult
for them to be taken into account within the mission agendas of the churches. This
challenge to Christian mission is highlighted by two facts. Firstly, Christian mission is
designed for all the nations to which the Mbuti Pygmies belong. Secondly, the
churches, with their missional mandate to all the nations, shy away from the Mbuti
Pygmies as if these people were outside the scope of Christian mission and, thus,
unworthy of God’s grace and love.To remedy this challenge, with the aim of implementing Christian mission in
the DRC, this study suggests a missional encounter as a way forward to addressing the
Mbuti Pygmies. In practice, this may be implemented through the missionary
conversion, the right perception of the Mbuti Pygmies as being fully made in the
“image of God” and fully part of the “all nations”, promoting formal education among
the Mbuti Pygmies, and sustaining the churches by an integrated theological
education.
Description
Citation
Musolo W'isuka Kamuha (2013) Encountering the Mbuti Pygmies : a challenge to Christian mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/11863>
Publisher
License
University of South Africa