An Africa-Europe Ecumenical Roundtable on the legacies of colonization and the future of ecumenical relations took place 24-25 October in Berlin.

The gathering drew Christian leaders from Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Cameroon, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Haiti, Kenya, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo, the United Kingdom, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Over two days, participants immersed themselves in exercises of remembrance – recalling how their lives got connected through painful, exploitative circumstances visited by the racist colonial and imperial projects of Europe in which most missionaries were complicit.

However, the same process of remembering did bring some moments of rejoicing when participants acknowledged the positive and lasting impact of some missionary interventions, acknowledging the role that mission schools, hospitals, and the Bible played in awakening Africans to the horrors of enslavement and colonization, seen in the number of Africans that joined the liberation wars from mission schools.

Discussions focused on how colonialism and colonial infrastructure paved the way for the successful spreading of Christianity in Africa—yet how, in some cases, missionaries acted as the bridge that opened up new territories for colonial systems.

Participants also acknowledged that colonization was disruptive of traditional lifestyles, as it introduced concepts that were not known to Indigenous people. Colonial economic systems forced Indigenous people to seek jobs, and venture into cash crop farming, thereby disrupting traditional economies and weakening traditional social security systems.

Through the structural and systemic interventions by the colonial, capitalist entrepreneurial, and missionary actors, Africans were reduced to consumers of knowledge, culture, political systems, and practices, losing their position as equal producers of knowledge, culture, economic, and political systems.

In assessing the past and the present, Rev. Ruppert Hambira highlighted the importance of not focusing only on “what they did but also what they destroyed” when looking at colonial and missionary activities in Africa.

A second process in which participants engaged was one of reclaiming the present. They discussed how “colonization is not a relic from the past; it remains active and persistent in our lives today” said Prof. Johnathan Jodamus, manifesting through “coloniality – the continuing impact of colonial systems in Africa and globally.” These systems are impacting and finding expression in conflicts, economic, and development.

Participants also discussed how, even in the midst of unforgiving colonization and coloniality, Africans have always, directly and indirectly, retained a level of agency against the colonial hegemonic powers.

Participants determined that decolonization is much more than diversifying; it seeks to disrupt the framework of domination, privileging, and controlling the other, instead of accommodating and integrating the other into the unchanging framework of asymmetrical relations.

They concluded that decoloniality is not about rejecting western systems; it is about recentering other global systems into a healthy ecosystem of ecumenical relations that embrace diversity.

In a third and final session of engagement, participants focused on a process of reimagining the future of ecumenical relations, as communities, churches, and Christian organizations. The participants affirmed that enslavement and colonization were immoral and crimes against humanity and the systems they employed that continue to manifest in various ways and whose consequences continue to be felt today ought to be disrupted and dismantled.

They also collectively prayed for the rejuvenation of the European church for stronger ecumenical relations with the church in Africa based on the gospel maxims of sisterhood and brotherhood, relations built on equality and equity. Rev. Rainer Kiefer opined, “For the evangelical mission around the world, without clarifying the mistakes and failures of the past, it will be very difficult to create an ecumenical future together”.

They called on churches and other ecumenical players to engage in intentional exchange of staff and expertise that will lead to sustainable and shared processes of decolonization and healthy interdependence among Christian communities.

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