Evangelisation in Africa. Commemorating and Redefining Our Missionary Identity, Relevance and Role in the World Today.

Throughout the world, let us be “permanently in a state of mission.” Let us not fear to undertake, with trust in God and great courage, a missionary option capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channelled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation. The renewal of structures demanded by pastoral conversion can only be understood in this light: as part of an effort to make them more mission-oriented, to make ordinary pastoral activity on every level more inclusive and open, to inspire in pastoral workers a constant desire to go forth and in this way to elicit a positive response from all those whom Jesus summons to friendship with himself. As John Paul II told the Bishops of Oceania, “All renewal in the Church must have mission as its goal if it is not to fall prey to a kind of ecclesial introversion.” (Letter of the Holy Father Francis for the centenary of the promulgation of the Apostolic Letter Maximum illud on the activity of missionaries in the world, 22.10.2017). We can’t imagine a better text to help the Church in Africa prepare herself for this Centenary. Commemorating and redefining our missionary identity; along with it, seeking the relevance and role of Mission in the world today is the new agenda. This book gives all the insights on where to look and how to go about the mission in this millennium.