Liturgical conversion refers to incorporation of a potential convert into Christianity through a formalized liturgical system like Baptism and Confirmation. As will be seen, missionaries from the mainline churches, of course based on their respective theology, linked conversion with Baptism or Confirmation as an intrinsically inseparable entity56. I
56 See more discussions on the role of the sacrament of Baptism and Confirmation on conversion with regards to Lutheran orthodoxy as unpacked in chapter five (5:2:1).
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stated in chapter one that conversion and Baptism, normally with the so-called Christian names (western or biblical), were highly elevated as if the two are compatible. In discussing this we are faced with a critical missiological question: Although missionary Christianity and some mainline churches like Lutheran church in the Northwest Tanzania today link the two sacramental initiations, how can we hermeneutically explain the work of the Haya indigenous missionaries‟ work before their liturgical conversion, that is, through Baptism and Confirmation? Professor Niwagila (1991:85) who recorded the missionary work of the three57 younger Haya men who encountered Christianity in Uganda through the Ganda woman Lucia, writes:
These three young men, after being convinced that Christianity was the only hope for the future of Buhaya, organized themselves into a small group and conducted a prayer service. They also went to the neighbours and explained to them about the Saviour Jesus Christ. This small group was growing every day. [They were] able to convince even the son of king Mutatembwa, known by his name Kalutasingwa and … explained to him about Christian faith.
History reveals that these Haya believed and accepted Christ as their saviour before they were liturgically baptized and confirmed and it is clear that with their new faith they started missionary work among their fellow Haya. The question is, when did they really convert, was it after or before Baptism and Confirmation? Was it when they encountered Christianity in Uganda in the year between 1895 and 1896 or in the year between 1901 and 1917 when they were baptized formally and liturgically by the British missionaries?
These questions require a critical missiological investigation which is perhaps not within the scope of this dissertation.
It is argued, however, that while we cannot underrate the method of conversion which links it with some liturgical traditional rituals or sacraments such as Baptism and
57These younger men were Ikate, Mpandakyarao and Kibira. We learn from history that after their encounter with Christianity in Uganda in the year between 1895-1896, the British missionaries baptized some of these Haya converts in Kashenye as follows: in 1901 Zakaria Ikate, in 1904 Abraham Mpandakyaro and Abraham Kibira in 1917 (see Karne ya injili 2010: 5). Kajerero, who became a famous indigenous church leader in Buhaya, was baptized in 1906 by Protestant missionaries even though he had a first encounter with Roman Catholic missionaries which did not have a strong spiritual impact on his life, although he learned writing and reading in a Roman Catholic missionary school (Niwagila 1991:90-91).
One notes that Baptism came many years after they had encountered Christ and started evangelistic services for Him, even if they had not undergone liturgical conversion.
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Confirmation, authentic Christian conversion should be seen beyond formalized church practices and the church should leave a space for the recognition of the possibility of conversion outside the church creedal confessions and liturgy. True conversion should touch the heart of a convert and transform him or her ontologically, reflecting new life in the faith in Jesus Christ as saviour. The challenge should be: how do we maintain the balance between the sacramental and experiential dimension of authentic conversion? Can we have an integrative approach that can take into account both possibilities?
Scholars such as Peace (2004:8) and Kraft (2002:328) regard the liturgical conversion method, which was popularized by western missionary Christianity and is still now perpetuated by post missionary mainline Christianity, as a kind of conversion by socialization. Children are incorporated into the church when they are brought by their parents for Baptism (Peace 2004:8). Protestant churches maintain that children can be initiated into the family of God on the basis of parents promising to raise them in Christian values and life. According to Kraft (2002:328) “this practice is intended to imply that, [at] appropriate point in their lives, those who have already been baptized on the basis of their parents‟ confession and commitments will themselves opt for Christianity”. Post Baptism nurture in the mainline churches for both adults and children is mainly done through Sunday School instruction, catechism and Confirmation classes. In most cases it is taken for granted that to be a Christian is to be engaged with other believers and active in a life of concern for others (Peace 2004:8).
What Peace notes is certainly what was being done by missionary Christianity and now by post missionary Christianity in the Lutheran Church and other mainline churches in Northwest Tanzania. During missionary Christianity and even today in the mainline churches such as Lutheran, it is traditionally and dogmatically maintained that conversion is endowed during Baptism, and Confirmation is the actualization of conversion for children who were baptized during infancy. During infant Baptism, parents and Godparents recite a confession prayer renouncing Satan and his works and committing themselves to Christ. During Confirmation baptized young people are expected to recite
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the baptismal confession as an indication that now they can stand by themselves in Christian faith58.
Peace (2004:10), nonetheless, alerts us to see the danger of this approach. He argues that liturgical conversion can lead to some to see conversion as mechanical and devoid of real content and meaning. Peace believes that liturgical conversion can produce nominal Christians when he says: “when conversion is the outcome of a ritual that is entered into for a variety of reasons – custom, expectation, family, convenience, social status, as well as genuine faith – it can result in nominal faith”. Therefore the challenge remains to maintain the sacramental view of theology while emphasizing the experiential side of conversion.
Peace, for that matter, observes an important feature in the mainline churches which is the actual reality of our context when he talks of church members with regard to their faith analogy. There are those whose faith, according to Peace (2004:8), is what he calls intrinsic and those whose faith is extrinsic. For the former faith is alive, real, and personal while the latter, is more of form, duty, tradition, and obligation. Therefore, the challenge which faces the mainline churches in this regard, is “to help members move from extrinsic faith (nominalism) to intrinsic faith (inner conviction)”. They also point out that “this kind of change is a kind of conversion itself”. Hence Peace‟s challenge to the mainline churches is invaluable (2004:9-10):
Mainline churches need to help their membership commit themselves consciously to what is implicit in church activity and membership. Without such consciousness, church membership becomes like club membership: you hang out with nice people, but when you go home, such membership makes little difference in [their] life and the lives of others. We need to create ways for people to grow in all aspects of faith: belief, commitment, service, relationships, justice, spirituality, and more.
It is worthwhile to acknowledge that although Peace doesn‟t seem to explicitly suggest ways in which Christians in the mainline churches should grow in all aspects of faith, it
58 See for example the Haya Lutheran liturgical and hymnal book, Empoya (2004:208,216).
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appears to me that his challenge is relevant since faith in Christ needs to be realized beyond being liturgically and externally transmitted as it was and still is the case in most mainline churches. It has to be internalized in order to be real, viable and authentic conversion.
Liturgical conversion which was apparently seen as effective by missionary Christianity and now post missionary Christianity, being influenced by western creed and dogmatic formulation of western Christianity and theology, is challenged by East African and Charismatic Revival African Christianity as shall be discussed in the next chapter. I therefore argue that the liturgical conversion method needs to be reflected in the light of the Haya contextual and traditional worldview of religiosity and spirituality if it is to be relevant to most Haya Christians.