The Role of Scripture and Catechesis In Evangelization

Abstract

-Immediately after his resurrection but before his ascension, Christ Jesus gave a mandate to his disciples. He said poreuqe,ntej ou=n maqhteu,sate pa,nta ta. e;qnh( bapti,zontej auvtou.j eivj to. o;noma tou/ patro.j kai. tou/ ui`ou/ kai. tou/ a`gi,ou pneu,matoj‖ (going therefore make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit). The church believes this to be a perpetual imperative that defines her vision and mission to the world at large. In order to fulfil this mandate, she sees the scripture as the primary source of the teachings handed on by her founder, Jesus. She assumes the responsibility of interpreting and communicating this message of evangelization. In order words, she has the message enshrined in the inspired Word of God and then she communicates it to people through her catechesis. This paper examines the role the Scripture and Catechesis have played and still play in evangelization. The paper moves from general study of the roles and then zeroes it down to African specifics. The primary preoccupation is not so much with the impact of the missionary catechetical method. The paper takes up some notable challenges posed by aberrations sequent to misinterpretation of the bible and then postulates the best way to evangelize Africa without exploiting the ignorance of our people enrich ourselves instead of winning them for Christ.