Partnerships with Congregations and Churches in Africa from a Perspective of Theologies of Mission

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Theology - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Bonn (Evangelisch-theologische Fakultät, Zentrum für Religion und Gesellschaft), course: Master's Programme in Ecumenical Studies, language: English, abstract: Mission or partnership?In many cases even Christians adopt an ambiguous attitude concerning Christian mission.They sympathize with the term partnership instead, particularly in connection with contemporary relations between Christians in the Northern Hemisphere and those in the Global South. But many of them are not aware of the close relationship between the history and different understandings of Christian mission, its theological background and the contemporary understanding of Christian partnerships. The present thesis contains a critical analysis of the complex connections between Christian mission, different mission theologies and church partnerships today. Based on a review of the historical development of European external mission and its theological foundations, contemporary church partnerships will be analyzed with a particular focus on relationships between Protestant Western German churches and congregations, and Protestant Western and Southern African churches and congregations. Special emphasis will be placed on the question to what degree these partnerships are influenced by mission theological perspectives and how much awareness of the connection between mission, mission theologies and partnerships exists among those persons who are involved in the partnerships.