LESSONS FROM THE CHURCH IN THE ARAB WORLD

INTRODUCTION Seventeen centuries ago, multitudes of Christians lived among the peoples of North Africa and the Middle East. In the fourth century AD, this were the one of the great heartlands of Christianity. Christianity in the Arab world goes back to the beginning of church history. In Acts 2:11 we read that Libyans and Arabs were among those whose responded to the first Christian preaching on the day of Pentecost. In Antioch (present Syria) the disciples of the Lord were first called Christians (Acts.11:26). In Acts 18:24 it speaks about Apollos born in Alexandria. Cartage in Tunisia and Alexandria in Egypt were (along with Rome) the leading cities of the Christian world. They were home to the most influential writers and theologians after the apostles (Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Augustine) Athanasius was bishop in Alexandria. It was the place where the Septuagint, de Greek translation of the OT was produced. During the first 5 centuries after the rise of Christianity the church grew rapidly in the Middle East and North Africa. As early as the third century AD, Tertullian, writing in defense of Christianity, could declare: We are a great multitude, almost a majority in each city. The Gospel traveled deeper into North Africa and the Middle East than ever Roman rule did. Relics of church buildings, for example, have been found in North African villages too remote for Roman records.

History of Church in North Africa

Christianity is a fundamental part of our rich North African heritage. The way of Christ was known and loved here long before it reached northern Europe and America. The Gospel took root in North Africa in the first century as the vulnerable faith of a persecuted minority. For three hundred years the Imazighen (Berbers) heard and responded to the Word of God, not because of Roman power but despite it. Indeed, Roman governors and magistrates did their utmost to suppress the faith, to destroy its leaders, and to drive its followers back into the pagan temples. A relentless stream of stringent laws, designed to wipe Christianity off the face of the globe, were enacted at the highest levels by a succession of tyrannical emperors. During these years of persecution, the churches of North Africa flourished. So firm was their faith, and so effective their outreach, that by the third century most of present-day Tunisia and much of present-day Algeria were known to be Christian. The early believers achieved these marvelous results by means of personal witnesswithout radio, correspondence courses, audio or video cassettes or printed literature. North Africa produced many celebrated martyrs and some of the greatest theologians. Three of the foremost Christian writers of all time, Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine, were Algerians. In the fourth and fifth centuries, however, this spectacular Christian growth was followed by an equally remarkable collapse. The churches which were poised to take the gospel throughout the length and breadth of Africa faltered, stumbled, and shortly afterwards disappeared without trace. They failed completely to capitalize on the freedom offered to them by the Edict of Milan in AD 313. When Vandal and Arab invaders arrived in the fifth and seventh centuries, the churches were in no condition to offer any resistance or to survive the introduction of new religious systems.

To what can we attribute the North African Christians early success?

1) They proclaimed a very practical gospel. It related to the felt needs of both educated and uneducated. It was offered as good news to be received rather than a rival philosophy to be debated. There was really nothing to debate. Outsiders were already aware of the weaknesses of their old religion, and the process of intellectual proof and disproof seems to have had a very minor role in their conversion. The reformation of morals, however, was a major theme, accompanied by the affirmation of the great eternal certainties of the gospel. This brought hope, the opportunity of a fresh start in life, and the strong assurance of life beyond the grave in a world where death was an everpresent reality. These are the emphases of Tertullians earliest writings, such as his great Apology in AD 198. Application: Are we presenting a practical gospel that relates to felt needs and comes across as good news? 2) They developed a supportive Christian community built on the admirable principles of love, trust and honesty. The world could see the difference that the gospel made to the character of the believers. Outsiders who longed for a better way of life knew where to find it. The study of books, which often preoccupies the modern European (and tends to exclude or humiliate the uneducated) seems to have played a very small part. The Christian communities were practical support groupsfellowships in the fullest sense. They devoted themselves to personal worship and prayer, and to mutual exhortation and encouragement. They called one another brother and sister, and cared for one another as family members. Again this is clear from Tertullians Apology. Application: Are we developing supportive Christian communities where all feel fully involved? 3) They sought to be light and salt in their street or village. They helped their neighbours at every opportunity in the name of Christ, not hiding their faith but rather showing its fruits. The response of Cyprians church to the onset of the plague in Carthage is a striking example. Application: Are we encouraging believers to serve others imaginatively and prayerfully in the name of Jesus?

4) They welcomed persecution as an opportunity for public witness and for eternal reward. They held prayer meetings in prison, and preached with great boldness to the assembled crowds whilst awaiting execution. Many bystanders were converted in consequence. These were the most effective openair meetings that North Africa has ever seen. The account of Perpetua and Felicitas in Carthage AD 203 is a fine example. There are many others. Application: Do we welcome persecution as an opportunity for witness and eternal blessing? 5) They had a very simple and effective organizational structure. During the first two centuries, the senior men, or elders, evidently shared leadership of each independent local group, all contributing according to their diverse spiritual gifts. Chosen according to Pauls instructions to Timothy and Titus, these were working men with family responsibilities. The churches generally met in the home of one of its more wealthy members, not necessarily one of the elders. In addition to these established local leaders, there were traveling evangelists who proclaimed the Word far and wide. They introduced new converts and contacts to the group before moving on. The evangelists were single men, inured to poverty and hardship. Without any salary, they looked to the Lord to supply their needs through the local churches. (See the Didache, Tertullians Apology, and also Greens Evangelism in the Early Church, Chapter 7) Application: Are we encouraging the development of simple Biblical churches with plural leadership? Should we be praying for the training itinerant national evangelists? The Christian communities, which showed such promise in the first and second centuries, gradually abandoned the Scriptural principles which would have guided and guarded them. The great lesson of Christian history is this: Churches flourish while they follow Biblical principles; they start to decay and die as soon as they abandon those principles.

What reasons can we find for the failure of the Churches in North Africa to survive?
1) The churches of the third and fourth centuries allowed and encouraged the development of an educated priestly caste which alone had the right to teach, offer sacraments and make decisions, and which left the laity passive, lazy and worldly. The subsequent exile and death of the priests left the churches without effective leadership and with no concept of vigorous body life. Application: We should be wary of any trend toward the appointment of an exclusive clergy. On the contrary we must encourage every believer to feel accountable to God, to participate fully in the church as led by the Spirit of Christ, and to seek opportunities every day to serve and help others. We should not exaggerate the importance of a literary education; many spiritual gifts do not rely on academic skills. 2) The local churches failed to resist the imposition of centralized (Catholic) organizational control. Far from enabling better co-ordination of effort and more effective strategic planning, this administrative structure simply stifled local initiative and local leadership. Application: We must encourage the leaders and members of each local church to seek the Lords will with regard to their meetings, outreach and discipline. There should be warm informal links between the churches, based on mutual respect and prayer, but no attempt at centralized control. 3) The churches had tolerated immorality and worldliness to the extent that many were called Christian who had no intention of denying self, taking up their cross and following Christ. Those in the church who genuinely wanted to follow Christ stumbled and turned back in the face of cynicism and mockery from other church members. Outsiders laughed at them, saying that becoming a Christian would be a change for the worse.

Application: We should deal firmly with moral lapses and compromises in the churches, remembering that we are called to be saints. Those who are seen to be hypocrites should not participate in worship. Believers who are known to have sinned must show signs of genuine repentance before sharing in the Lords Supper. In our teaching we must rebuke worldly attitudes, priorities and prejudices, and expect each believer to testify to recognizable progress in these areas. 4) The churches were distracted and demoralized by internal controversy. The Donatist dispute, and the Arian controversy, in particular, led to the establishment of rival groups, harsh feelings, bitter words and sometimes violence. The programme of the churches sank rapidly from the heights of vigorous outreach to the depths of denominational survival. Application: We should warn against controversial novelties, and do our utmost to forestall any impending dispute relating to doctrines or personalities. In essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things love; this is our aim. But if major prolonged doctrinal or personal differences occur, we must pray for grace to deal with them wisely and with restraint, and for truth to prevail. Whatever happens, loving kindness must still be the hallmark of the Christian community. It is forbidden for us to judge and condemn (Matt. 7:1). Our attitude should be: I love my brother. I may grieve for his sin or for his error and I will do my utmost to help him; but I cannot speak evil of him, and I cannot hate or resent him. 5) The churches of the fourth century entangled themselves in social and political issues that had nothing to do with the gospel of Christ. Initially the Donatists alliance with rebel groups brought visible successa mass movement with wide popular support. Ultimately, however, it led to bloodshed, military reprisals and the dispersal of the half-converted masses, and it ended in great disillusionment. The Catholics support for the Roman State made them powerful but unpopular, and it meant that when Rome fell, they fell too. Application: We must not take sides in any social or political conflict, however attractive the possibility of a mass-movement might seem. Christ told us My kingdom is not of this world. What accord has Christ with Belial? 6) The churches failed to make Scripture available in a form understandable to the ordinary people. Using only the language of the educated they could reach only the educated, those who lived in urban centres and whose parents could afford to send them to Latin school. The churches also failed to initiate

literacy programmes to teach their members how to read the Bible. Application: We should distribute Scripture widely in its most understandable formsimpler translations, smaller portions, larger print, audio cassettes, psalms set to music, etc.so that all have access to Gods Word. The educated townees, meanwhile, will naturally prefer the literary medium, and they should be encouraged to use it, without despising other versions. 7) The churches lost their vision, their God-given aim, and their spirit of self-sacrifice. Although they enjoyed freedom, royal favour and the resources to reach all of Africa with the gospel, the fourth and fifth century churches failed even to get as far as the Sahara. Too many believers had become getters rather than givers, looking to acquire prosperity and influence in this world rather than a reward in the world to come. Application: We must pass on to our national brothers our Godgiven concern for the lost and our God-given vision for the name of Christ to be loved and honoured throughout this land. If the churches do not catch this vision they will never start to reach their own people with the gospel. But when they do catch it... When a thousand North African believers are willing to spend and be spent, to count the cost and to lay down their lives, to leave home and set out for the mountains and the plains bearing nothing but the promises of God and the power of His Spirit, then we will begin to see the harvest we are longing and praying for. The work of evangelism must be placed in the hands of bold, self-denying, humble, Christ-like national brethren. Our task is to prepare and equip the churches for this great enterprise. BdR/5/2002