“God will provide,” finding the secular and sacred in the lives of Kenyan Christians.
With my colleague Prof. Afe Adogame and Princeton Theological Seminary students, I spent two weeks on a travel course in Kenya intending to understand other cultures. I encountered so many Kenyans in the streets of Nairobi and surrounding cities. I met a baggage handler at the hotel, an airport toilet attendant, many students and professors at the University of Nairobi, and the founder of a thriving Christian University, Daystar. Churchgoers in one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nairobi.
As I interacted with Kenyans, I noticed a constant in their lives - the importance of faith in their decision-making process. I was amazed at how the people of Kenya live a life of faith in all of their endeavors. Their trust in God is pragmatic and determines everything they do. Faith in God is paramount to their existence.
Take, for example, the baggage handler I met at the hotel. He worked a long shift with a very low salary, making around $30 a month. He has several children and a wife. When I asked him how he copes with meeting his needs, his answer was what I heard so many times in the two weeks we were there. “God will provide.“ When a student does not have money to pay his tuition, the first words that come out of his mouth are “God will provide.“ "How would God provide”, I kept asking them, "Why couldn’t you ask for a salary increase or find another job", I would push back. But they were adamant. “God will provide." I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
What I experienced in Kenya, however, reminded me of my upbringing in Kinshasa, DRC. The common phrase there was and still is “ par la grace de Dieu “ (By God’s Grace). Everything is by God’s grace - health, education, food consumption, clothing. I still remember in the early nineties, witnessing the scene of the young man who was praying at the post office window that his letter would reach its destination.
My many years of living in America and my academic training in theology and religion have shifted my understanding of faith. Could we still take faith literally? Does it still really work? Could someone still give room to the Divine in secular matters? Is there a demarcation line between the secular and the sacred?
In America, we are so sophisticated, almost mechanical, and compartmental in our quest for the divine. Often faith is a remote and an abstract concept. Mystery and ecstasy are not part of our spiritual expression. Our belief in God is flat and secular. Most of us are much more into civic religion rather than a living faith.
In many cases what counts is our individualistic efforts in planning and making things happen. We generally believe that our success or failure depends on our empirical sophistication and our ability and skills in planning. If anything goes wrong, we believe that we were not up to the task and we did a poor job of planning. This way of thinking entrenches our society and collective consciousness in the running of our churches, schools, businesses, and personal lives.
Is there any room for Divine mystery in our daily lives? Could planning be coupled with faith in God? What does it mean to rely on and trust God?
I left Kenya with those questions on my mind. I wonder whether African Christianity is thriving because they have learned to hold on to the mystery of the Divine and break the line of demarcation between the sacred and the secular. Shouldn’t the mainline American churches follow suit in this brand of Christianity?
