Abstract
Anyone involved in youth ministry will be able to testify to the fact that no perfect youthministry model exists. Youth ministry models employed should consider the vision, missionand needs of the contexts in which they are to be used. Although not new, the term ‘decolonise’has become a prominent part of African discourses after the 2015 and 2016 student protests atvarious university campuses in South Africa. A strong call to decolonise theology and how wedo church has been included in these calls. Students have argued against a theology andecclesiology that is exclusively based on European and other international foundations. Mychallenge with all these discussions has been discerning the difference between decolonisationand contextualisation within theology. I have often wondered whether those calling for adecolonised theology are actually referring to problems connected to a theology that is notcorrectly contextualised. When I ask whether youth ministry models in Africa should bedecolonised, I do so in the awareness that these models have brought with them both challengesand opportunities for ministry on this continent. Youth ministry models employed in Africaneed to stem from the contextual situations and readings of the biblical text in which they findthemselves. This article is aimed at exploring the work of Scripture Union as a mission-basedyouth ministry model in Africa in view of the present call to decolonise theology.
Highlights
We need to employ all of our resources to start an effective nucleus of SU work in the Black community and give all the help there is in the world for that nucleus to expand, so that the young people of South Africa, Black and White, will know the Lord Jesus Christ and honour Him in their lives. (Philip Nkabinde in Prest 1988:210)
How has it been possible that a European founded mission organisation like SU has flourished for many decades within Africa? How has church planting through the foundation of schools benefitted from the ministry of SU? Has anyone ever challenged this European way of doing youth ministry from an African perspective? When I ask whether youth ministry models in Africa should be decolonised, I do so in the awareness that these models have brought with them both challenges and opportunities for ministry on this continent
Discussions about decolonising or contextualising youth ministry models in Africa need to consider how foreign models have enhanced the faith formation of youth in this context. This means that young leaders groomed from these models should be able to continue the work by using localised youth ministry models relevant to the context they are ministering into
Summary
We need to employ all of our resources to start an effective nucleus of SU work in the Black community and give all the help there is in the world for that nucleus to expand, so that the young people of South Africa, Black and White, will know the Lord Jesus Christ and honour Him in their lives. (Philip Nkabinde in Prest 1988:210)In a chapter entitled ‘The Perfect youth ministry model’, Mark DeVries (in Dean et al 2001:109–120) argues that no perfect youth ministry model exists. In a recent article entitled ‘A (South) African voice on youth ministry research: Powerful or powerless?’, I (Weber 2015:1) argue that youth ministry practice in Africa has relied heavily on research composed by American and English or German scholars and practitioners. This has been evident in how international mission-focused youth ministry organisations, such as Youth for Christ, Scripture Union (hereafter SU), Youth with a Mission and others have taken root and have been flourishing in Africa for decades. The main aim of this article was to argue that international research on youth ministry is valuable in an African context, but this research needs to be culturally contextualised (ibid)
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