The African concept of Ubuntu, which loosely translates as ‘I am because we are, and because we are therefore I am’ insists that to be human consists in a continual community of being, knowing, and becoming.
Africans, by and large, especially pre-colonial Africans found identity in kinships and friendships that knit hearts together like a knot.
The community named children, and the naming ceremony was more than a formality. It welcomed the young ones into the human family. In essence, it made one human.
This truth is well captured by the statement “umuntu ngumuntu nga bantu” which roughly means that ‘to be a human be-ing is to affirm one’s humanity by recognizing the humanity of others and, on that basis, establish humane relations with them’ (African Philosophy Reader, Second Edition).
In other words, at the core of being human in Africa is existence in a community. In this understanding then, community is as old as humanity. That is the first idea communicated by the Ubuntu saying.
The second idea flowing from this concept is the notion that, to be human is ‘be-ing becoming.’ That is, we are continually becoming, which seems to be a synthesis between static being and the flux of becoming.
These two concepts; that our identity constitutes in something beyond our individual selves, and that to be human is to be continually transformed; are very crucial for us to remember.
But being human in this way is easier said than done, especially in this spaceship of modern life where we hardly meditate on what it means to be, in light of deadlines to beat and existential questions that constantly threaten our being.
We wake up to the demanding office desk or fieldwork and retire in the evening with the next day’s work on our mind. We hardly set aside time to be in community.
As such, work defines the humanness and identity of many in this generation. The problem is that materialistic capitalism is an inhumane master to entrust with our humanity.
Materialism demands our souls, our all. And then it destroys us.
So, we are quickly losing our Ubuntu as we spend more time before screens than we do before actual people. We interact more with emails than real minds. In this spaceship, life so flies at rocket speed that we hardly know when to stop and ponder the direction of our course.
Why We need the Local Church as Ever
As we grapple with the negative consequences of materialistic modernity, the Church in Africa, I think, must provide an avenue to rethink the purpose and meaning of existence.
The Church through the ministry of presence must personify what it means to be and know in community. Local churches must be outposts and refreshment centers for frantic souls crushed by meaninglessness created when materialism defaults on its promise.
To do this, first, the church must remind us as Africans that Christ is the real definer of reality and identity. It is true that our humanness is grounded in something beyond our selves. Yet that ‘something’ is not another finite individual or man’s setup, but God, the infinite One.
It is in the family of Christ that humans can find real meaning to life which transcends all human limitations.
Thus, the African Christian says, ‘I am because He is, and because He is, therefore we are.’ Christ, and not community, is, and must continually be the reference point and source of being, becoming, and knowing. Only He does not undergo ‘becoming’ since He is immutable.
Secondly, the Church must learn to tell the same old story, as our African elders told tales at the family fireplace. Then, the elders passed on important ancestral traditions to children. Now, the Church must creatively, certainly, and lovingly retell the story of the Cross to this perishing generation.
The Church must use the points of contact in our culture to recast the vision of the Cross. As we would know, communal living, as a Gospel reality, is something intrinsically African.
Indeed, the Gospel insists that this Christ who makes us Abantu also constitutes us into a community of brothers and sisters, where we share mutual affection, friendship, and knowledge through the Spirit of love and holiness, thereby transforming us into His image.
Hence, the Church must model what it means to exist and learn as an involved community. Being is communal. And becoming is as well. As materialism demands and destroys our souls, Christ, through His Community picks up the shreds and remakes us into sons of God.
And corporately in Him, we become what we could not individually be; the body of Christ.
Some Practical Points
As such we must, as Christians, treasure our communion in Christ. We should, always, make it our aim to be part of a local church.
And when we are in a local church, we ought to be active members, since the process of becoming (like Christ) is not static, but dynamic. We are formed into Christ-likeness as we participate in the life of His body, the Church. Transformation is both an active process and an end achieved through participation in the local church’s life.
The second thing is that as members of this family, God calls us to reach out to the broader human community, inviting everyone to this fellowship in Christ. It would indeed be helpful to ask ourselves when the last time we requested an unbeliever to a church fellowship was.
The third thing is that we must be embodiments of both being and becoming wherever we are, and especially in the marketplace. We are the extension of the local church beyond its the four walls. For this reason, our life ought to exude the uniqueness of the Gospel.