“The African Spiritual Realm” by Jennifer Lalley

While other teammates are making their final edits to be featured on www.thewillbrown.com, Jennifer Lalley continues cranking out the good stuff.

From Pictures

On the day I left Atlanta, a random Westminster staffer told me, without knowing the nature of my trip, that after being in Africa I would not be able to doubt the existence of God. After 24 hours of experiencing Mamelodi, I am struck by how spiritual their faith is compared to my calculated, rational view of God. Not that one is more “right,” but it is interesting that we experience the same God in different ways as a product of our culture—I am not sure what to do with that. As the people of Mamelodi tell me about healing services, and testify that they were sick, but now they are well, I am instantly skeptical, and I wonder,
“Does faith really heal? Do I believe that?”
“ Do I ‘disacknowledge’ the power of the spiritual realm?”
Historically, African cultures are spiritual. In their tribal groups, diviners and healers (people who communicate with the spiritual realm) held the most esteemed places in their communities. As Pastor Vincent showed us a graveyard filled with graves adorned with items for the dead to use in the afterlife, we saw that many Africans put their faith in the power of their ancestors. To many, relatives that are no longer living still interact with them and have the ability to help or harm them. They spend their lives trapped in the fear of punishment if they do not pay the dead the appropriate respect. Pastor Vincent describes this belief as one of the most deeply rooted threats to the Church.
With the knowledge of Christ, however, this has transformed lives of people in Mamelodi. Their belief in the spiritual realm has also lead to the rapid spread of Christ because the gospel brings a beautiful truth in contrast with the traditional cultural mindset.