Advocates for aid for Africa say they believe it is now possible to stop the spiraling crises of poverty and AIDS in Africa if the world – and its leaders – put their minds and money to it. Religious organizations aren’t waiting. From Rick Warren’s AIDS conference Nov. 29-Dec. 1 and the increasing efforts of megachurches to the longtime support of other organizations, U.S. religious groups are sponsoring more sustained efforts to promote peace and tackle poverty and HIV/AIDS.

Decades before Bono became an advocate for Africa, religious organizations were building hospitals and schools while they tried to win converts. The recent rise of megachurches and independent churches has led to an increase in the number of U.S. religious groups doing work in Africa. Today many U.S. church groups work in partnership with African organizations and churches. Rosalind I.J. Hackett, religious studies professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, notes that in the post-colonial, post-independence phase, African churches are independent with indigenous leadership. Americans are usually well received, she said, if they don’t try to dominate, though some African religious leaders reject dependency.

Dana Robert, co-director of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission in Boston, warns American missionaries against assuming that small grassroots efforts can solve Africa’s problems. There is no substitute, she says, for the kind of systematic reform needed to clean up corruption, eliminate poverty and protect human rights. The most effective relations are sustained partnerships between Western groups and their African counterparts.

Why it matters

As world leaders focus their attention on Africa, it’s important to look at the historic contribution of religious organizations and the growing influence of megachurches and independent churches that are looking beyond evangelization to tackle social problems, such as hunger and HIV/AIDS.

Questions for reporters

• What Christian and non-Christian religious organizations have been most influential in Africa?
• In the early days, did they focus on evangelism, social services or both?
• Describe the missions of religious groups today.
• What projects are they funding? What social issues are they addressing?
• Are they working with African religious organizations?
• Are they less focused on winning converts?
• What groups have been most successful?
• What kind of contribution are megachurches making?
• How influential are independent churches?
• How do Africans receive these U.S. religious groups?
• How do Muslim countries in particular receive non-Muslim groups?
• When has war or political instability forced missionaries to leave Africa?

National sources

• Dana Robert is professor of world Christianity and history of mission and co-director of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University School of Theology. She is the editor of African Christian Outreach, Vol. 2: Mission Churches (Southern African Missiological Society, 2003) and co-editor of Frontiers of African Christianity (Unisa Press, 2003.) She notes that the problem of HIV/AIDS has drawn more American interest to Africa. Many religious groups have begun AIDS ministries, setting up clinics, housing orphans and educating about prevention and treatment. Americans are also drawn to Africa to address human rights abuses, such as the enslavement of southern Sudanese by northern Sudanese. Contact drobdan@bu.edu.
• Todd Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., is an expert in demography and statistics. Johnson notes that a recent trend in missionary activity is for independent churches to send missionaries directly from their churches rather than an agency. He says it’s too early to tell what impact this will have. Contact 978-646-4194, tjjohnson@gcts.edu.
• Frank Salamone, chairman of the sociology department at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., has written about African religions and the Krishna Consciousness Movement in Nigeria. Religious groups, he says, are being invited to resume control of education and hospitals in Africa once again since most African countries have been unable to run such institutions successfully. Contact 914-637-2746, Fsalamone@iona.edu.
• Rosalind I.J. Hackett is a humanities and a religious studies professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has written about gender and religion in Africa, radical Christian revivalism in Nigeria and Ghana and the gospel of prosperity in West Africa. Contact 865-974-2466, rhackett@utk.edu.
• Linda E. Thomas, professor of theology and anthropology at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, has written about survival and resistance in an African indigenous church and about ritual process and spiritual resilience in South Africa. Contact 773-256-0778, lthomas@lstc.edu.
• Tom Lansford, political science professor at the University of Southern Mississippi in Long Beach, has written about religion in West Africa. He notes that U.S. groups have found it difficult to establish a presence in the Muslim states of Northern and Eastern Africa. Contact 601-266-4310, tom.lansford@usm.edu.
• Paul Freston, professor of sociology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., has written about evangelicals and politics in Africa. Contact 616-526-6207, pcf2@calvin.edu.
• Julie Howard is executive director of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, which formed in 2000 to mobilize public and private support in the United States for increased assistance to Africa. Its leadership is drawn from U.S. and African public and private sectors. Contact 202-479-4501.
• The One Campaign, launched in May 2005 with the help of Bono, is urging that 1 percent of America’s budget be spent reducing AIDS and extreme poverty in other countries. The campaign is supported by a variety of religious groups. Contact 202-464-1345.
• Live 8: The Long Walk to Justice coordinated concerts worldwide on July 2, 2005, to draw attention to the need to increase aid to Africa and to urge G8 leaders to help. Contact Live8media@live8live.com.
• Stephen C. Smith is professor of economics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and author of Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works (Palgrave MacMillan, 2005). The book discusses the role of faith-based organizations. Contact 202-994-8086, ssmith@gwu.edu.

INTERFAITH

• On Sept. 11-13, 2005, the Consultation of Religious Leaders on Global Poverty drew more than 1,000 representatives of more than 40 religious groups – including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus – to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to pray for an end to global poverty. Contact the Rev. Canon John L. Peterson of the Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation at 202-537-5745, jpeterson@cathedral.org.

CHRISTIAN

• Jennifer Stapleton is media associate at Bread for the World in Washington, D.C., a Christian advocacy organization that lobbies to increase funding for more and smarter aid to Africa. Stapleton will direct reporters to policy analysts. Contact 202-464-8123, jstapleton@bread.org.
• The Rev. Jonathan Bonk is executive director of Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Conn., a renewal center for missionaries of all Christian denominations. He is the project director of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography and the executive director of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. Contact 203-624-6672, bonk@OMSC.org.
• Jim Wallis is president of Call to Renewal, a national network of churches, faith-based organizations and individuals working to overcome poverty in America. Call to Renewal participated in the September 2005 Consultation of Religious Leaders on Global Poverty. Contact 202-328-8842.

CATHOLIC
• Hilary Roxe is communications officer for Sub-Saharan Africa at Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore. Catholic Relief does emergency response, such as shelter and famine relief, and long-term projects in education, agriculture and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention in about 40 African countries. Contact 410-951-7408, hroxe@crs.org.
• The Rev. Tony Fevlo is a member of the Society of African Missions in Dedham, Mass. The American province of the missionary group, based in Tenafly, N.J., has 34 priests tending to the spiritual and social needs of Africans in Liberia, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. Contact 781-326-4670, Fevlokoku@yahoo.co.uk.

EVANGELICAL
• The Rev. Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Zondervan, 2002), is sponsoring “Disturbing Voices,” an HIV/AIDS conference Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. It is part of his new initiative, called the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, to engage people of faith in global efforts. Contact through A. Larry Ross Communications, 972-267-1111.
• Wendy Norvelle is spokeswoman for the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in Richmond, Va., which sends missionaries “sharing the good news of Jesus Christ” in Africa. Contact 804-219-1477, wnorvelle@imb.org.
• The National Association of Evangelicals broadened its agenda in 2004 to include poverty, including Africa. Contact vice president of government affairs Richard Cizik, 202-789-1011, rcizik@nae.net.
• Dean Owen is spokesman for World Vision in Federal Way, Wash. The Christian relief and development organization’s activities include building health clinics, sponsoring peace-building initiatives and addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. World Vision is providing famine relief in Sudan, Zambia and Niger. Contact 253-815-2103, dowen@worldvision.org.
• Scott Bessenecker is director of Global Projects at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship in Madison, Wis. As a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, the organization sends teams of students to work with African churches in Kenya, Egypt and Ghana on short-term projects. Contact 608-443-3762, sbessenecker@intervarsity.org.
• The Rev. Clyde Lanier is senior pastor of Westwood Missionary Baptist Church in Winter Haven, Fla. The church’s missionaries have helped spawn 200 churches in Kenya, and they continue to evangelize there. Contact 863-294-2219, Westwoodmbc.org.
• Sharon Glidden-Cole is spokeswoman for the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Colorado Springs, Colo. Since 1884, the alliance has been evangelizing, starting churches, educating Christian church leaders and offering medical care in Africa. Contact 719-265-2006, glidcoldes@cmalliance.org.
• Chris Nogueira is international ministries coordinator at the American Tract Society in Garland, Texas. For five years the 180-year-old society has produced tracts in local languages for local African churches, which distribute the material. Literature addresses such issues as the AIDS pandemic. Contact 972-276-9408, cnogueira@atstracts.org.

PENTECOSTAL
• The Rev. Michael McClaflin is Africa director for the Assemblies of God in Springfield, Mo. Through partnerships with local churches, the Assemblies of God evangelizes, starts churches, trains pastors, assists displaced refugees, runs mobile clinics and baby shelters, digs wells and works on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Contact 417-862-2781 ext. 3165, mmcclaflin@ag.org.
• Bishop Joseph Campbell is with the Church of Christ (Holiness) USA in Jackson, Miss. The church has sent missionaries to Africa. Contact 601-352-5978.
• Caroline Crews is communications director for missions at the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Los Angeles, an organization that builds churches and trains local people to carry on the work in East, West and Southern Africa. Contact 213-989-4338, ccrews@foursquare.org.
• Randy Howard is director of global outreach ministries of the Church of God of Prophecy in Cleveland, Tenn. Howard says the church runs schools, clinics and orphanages but focuses on “planting churches” as the single most effective way to evangelize a nation. More than 95 percent of the church’s pastors are indigenous men and women. Contact 423-559-5203, Wmcogop@aol.com.

MAINLINE PROTESTANT
• Church World Service – the relief, development and refugee assistance ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations in the United States – launched an Africa Initiative in 2004 that is addressing food security, water, displaced people, peacebuilding and assistance to families and children affected by HIV. Contact the executive director and CEO, the Rev. John L. McCullough, 212-870-2061.
• Will Browne is associate director of ecumenical partnership in worldwide ministries of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Louisville, Ky. The church focuses on education and community and economic development, and on running secondary and theological schools, hospitals and health programs that focus on people with HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Contact 502-569-5348, wbrowne@ctr.pcusa.org.

ORTHODOX
• International Orthodox Christian Charities, the international humanitarian organization of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, has programs in five African countries. Contact 410-243-9820.

OTHER
• David Semonian is assistant manager of communications for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is evangelizing in every country in Africa. Semonian can provide reporters with branch leaders in each country and information about its publishing arm in South Africa. Contact 718-560-5600, OPI@jw.org.

JEWISH

• Ronni Strongin is director of public relations for American Jewish World Service in New York. More than 40 percent of the organization’s programs take place in 16 African countries and focus on education, health care, sustainable agriculture, the building of a civil society and women’s empowerment. More than 70 percent of its HIV/AIDS prevention and care projects are in Africa. Contact 212-273-1657, rstrongin@ajws.org.

MUSLIM

• Arif Sheikh is media manager of Islamic Relief in Burbank, Calif., which runs relief, education and development projects in Sudan, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa. Contact 818-558-7428, Arif@irw.org.

OTHER

• Paula Wright is a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, which has missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Contact 801-240-0298, wrightpg@ldschurch.org.
• Phil Davis is a spokesman for the Church of Christ Scientist in Boston, which does outreach in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Ghana. Contact 617-450-3300, davisp@csps.com.
• Anuttama Dasa is director of international communications at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in Potomac, Md. The society runs Food for Life, a vegetarian food relief program in several South African cities, and operates several temples. The society also has outreach programs in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda. Many Africans and people of Indian origin have joined the organization. Contact 301-299-9707, ad@pamho.net.
• Ellen Price is with the office of communications at the U.S. Baha’i National Center in Evanston, Ill . The Baha’is entered Africa in the 1950s and went on to establish outposts in every country. Rather than providing material assistance, the Baha’is encourage Africans to use their own resources to produce change. Contact 847-733-3559, ooc@usbnc.org.

Background

• The World Bank has a web page that links to measures of poverty in Africa.
• The Global Policy Forum’s web page on poverty and development in Africa includes links to recent news articles.
• HIVInSite has a page devoted to AIDS in Africa, including statistics and links to reports.

ARTICLES
• Read an October 2005 Christianity Today story on Rick Warren’s mission in Africa.
• Read the July 6, 2005, Washington Times article “Christian groups unite against worst African ills.”
• Read a June 29, 2005, Christian Science Monitor story about U.S. churches addressing poverty in Africa.
• Read “Can rockers and religious leaders end poverty?” posted on Beliefnet.com.
• Read a history of the church in sub-Saharan Africa from the web site called African Christianity.
• Read a history of women missionaries and explorers in Africa, from Africabib.org.
• See a list of collections on Christianity in Africa in the Billy Graham Center archive.
• For information on Africa from a Catholic perspective, see an entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia.