Small Christian Communities, a Vital Force for Mission Activity in East Africa
Date
2001-02
Authors
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
When I started participating in the SCCs during my pastoral year in Tanzania and later in
Kenya, I was amazed by the spontaneity of the members in sharing the Bible according to their
own understanding. When they pray, they speak to God with confidence and express their
problems, praises, joys, sorrows and difficulties. The atmosphere helps their meetings to be like
the first Christian communities and they do what they can for others. This motivated me to
choose this topic for my long essay and to do research and so come to know more about the SCCs
in Eastern Africa. This essay has been an opportunity to do research and to understand better the
dynamics and the role of the SCCs in the evangelization process and in missionary work in the
future.
I hope that this essay will be useful for future missionary students who come as a
missionaries to Eastern Africa. SCCs are a source of great hope in the Church today. The revised
code of canon law acknowledges how essential the notion of community is. It gives an
understanding the mystery of God's presence in our church and canon 204 speaks of the Christian
faithful as "constituted as the people of God".
This essay is based on the idea of mission by which the Gospel values ofJesus may be lived
and proclaimed effectively. According to me, SCCs are essentially missionary and mission
oriented. SCCs are more fraternal, more adapted to people's life situation than traditional
parishes. Cardinal Bernard in one of his writings suggests that the parish must be a community
made up of many small communities. It can be seen as a natural follow through from the days of
Catholic Action. Many people can thus bc involved in the parish activities like evangelization,
teaching Gospel values. proclaiming Christian values in word and deed. The SMA is one of the missionary societies that brings its charism of primary
evangelization to the world in accordance with founder's vision when he was a bishop in India and
as a missionary. The society's founder believed that primary evangelization should be carried out
everywhere where Christ was not known. SCCs can be effectively used for this.
As we are stepping towards 21" Century, we have to create a new history and a new
project for the future. Over a number of years in the life of the Church in Eastern Africa since
1973, SCCs have played a significant role in development and in proclaiming the Gospel of love.
They have enabled believers to develop a more profound union with God and with one another.
They have played a vital role in the growth of the Church. SCCs offer great hope for the future
development of the Church in Eastern Africa. The recent increase and interest in SCCs is one of
the more significant developments of our modern era for the renewal of the Church and the
transformation of the world. Through small communities many people are discovering the value
of community itself
Today, as many varieties of small communities develop around the world they offer the
promise of new vitality for the Church and give added impulse for people to live Gospel values.
SCCs have become the main stream of the parish life when they cooperate well with each other.
In a few decades of the last century there were many SCCs developing in the Eastern Africa in
particular. SCCs are a witness to the communitarian nature of the Church. God dwells in
community. The three persons of the blessed Trinity love and share to such a degree that they are
one God. Jesus implied such a similarity with the union of God's children when he prayed the
prayer of unity. The community of the Trinity is not only the model of community but the source
of grace, strength, faith, hope, and love which sustains and nurtures Christians in community. Pope John Paul II says that the notion of communion was "at the heart of the church's self
understanding". This communion is "primarily a sharing through grace in the life of the Father
given us through Christ and in the Holy Spirit." The Church as a communion "is realized through
the sacramental union with Christ and through organic participation in all that constitutes the
divine and human reality of the church, the body of Christ, which spans the centuries and is sent
into the world to embrace all people without distinction."
As a missionary, sharing the paschal life with others concretely is something great. In
SCCs, people are free to speak about Jesus, and their faith and witness help to evangelize others.
In SCCs, they participate in the paschal mystery of Jesus' life, suffering, death and resurrection.
In SCCs, people are able to look at their lives as in a mirror. Ideally, people are helped to live in
the power of the spirit by choosing freedom and liberation from sin.
It is a challenge to SCCs' members that they give wholehearted or unconditional
commitment to the movement of God's spirit within themselves. They seek total openness to
God's grace moving them to holistic spiritual growth and so to influence the community and the
world.
Later I will deal with the participation and involvement of the missionaries in the growth
of the SCCs and their involvement in parish activities. A Christian must have an environment in
which Christianity is openly accepted, talked about and lived. if he is going to be able to live a very
vital Christian life. If he does not have this, his whole life as a Christian will be weakened, and
might even die away.According to my experience in SCCs in Tanzania and Kenya, building SCCs is a
challenging spiritual task, because it is in the small groups that each one's spiritual life is tested and
challenged. When the spiritual life is challenged according to the signs of the times the Gospel
message can become truly relevant to African cultures and traditions. When SCCs meet and the
members take the Gospel into their lives with faith it becomes African Christianity. A Community
of faith is necessarily a community springing from and nourished by the word of God in
participation and involvement. SCCs are a vitally effective means of evangelization where
Catholics' gather in small groups in order to pray, read scripture and share. Because SCCs are
part of the wider Church calling for fuller knowledge and understanding of the Gospel and its
teaching, they are a powerful force influencing the whole Church.
Mission is thus be opened to participation of the people in order to decide whether any
proposals the parish council are realistic, feasible and likely to further the purposes for which the
mission exists. God wishes people to help, to care, support and love each other regardless of
class, colour and creed. SCCs are committed to coming together on a regular basis throughout
the year. Members challenge one another to live out the Gospel message.
Many advantages can result from such an approach to some of the problems confronting
the rapidly growing church in Africa. The Church in Africa looks towards an indigenous Church
in independent African states with a pluralist society considering areas of cooperation with the
state such as education in which the Church has a special interest. As for me SCCs seem to be
the one of the best ways for true evangelization and for the inculturation of the African Church. The dialogue which I had with the elders in the SCCs has been a source of learning with
its many ramifications. It has been a human endeavour. Much human effort must also be
expended in developing the SCCs. Nevertheless we must always remember that we are not alone.
The work we do is God's work and we are merely instruments. So, a SCC reaches maturity when
it starts to reach out to its surrounding milieu. SCCs are really locally oriented - that is, they
become self-ministering, self-propagating and self-supporting.
This essay has traced the historical development and pastoral priority of SCCs in Eastern
Africa in general. It has looked at Kenya and Tanzania in particular. Our study calls for
inculturation. The time has come to take that issue seriously. In fact, the special assembly of the
synod of Bishops for Africa hasn't failed to stress this point. So we need to find true
inculturation instead of superficial adaptations. This research takes place at the level of the SCCs
where people live their Christian lives. What is needed is to find out how to go about
inculturation, and not discussion on whether it is necessary or urgent.
Description
Keywords
Small Christian Communities, Force, East Africa, AMECEA, Pastoral Care and, Mission